[LEMONS] 2.12.2002
Just a year ago, Harper and I were talking about traveling back to Iran (where I spent my youth). For those of you who haven't been keeping up, Iran has been liberalizing faster than a politician courting the anti-WTO vote. But things are getting scary again, largely because we've now deemed them an "axis of evil." Why the hell have we done this? Why are we causing a backlash to the popular upwelling of Western values that took place throughout the 1990s? This year we were closer to having a relationship with Iran than we have been at any time since 1978. That's done. Finished. And I'll be amazed if we don't end up bombing them.
It's weird for me to read about Iran. I've read several books on the country, and I always try to read the news of Iran. And it's hard to reconcile fact with half-memory. It's disconcerting to see a monument in a New York Times article and to associate it not with the news, but my boyhood. I desperately want to go back there, but I wouldn't dare bring Harper unless it's completely safe. And it won't be completely safe until we normalize our relationship with them. I pray that happens before my memories fade much further than they already have.
- l i n k -
