spring break

I’ve been keeping a brutal pace and I’m beat. Like Roger L. Simon, I’m also feeling that after paying way too much attention to politics (not my natural milieu), I need to take a long, hot shower. And I would be lying by omission if I didn’t also note that the Egyptian Sandmonkey’s announced retirement from the blogosphere has me in a deep funk.

In “Done,” the Sandmonkey explains that he has been too cavalier about his personal safety:

One of the chief reasons is the fact that there has been too treet and asking questions about me since that day. I ignore that, the same way I ignored all the clicking noises that my phones started to exhibit all of a sudden, or the law suit filed by Judge Mourad on my friends, and instead grew bolder and more reckless at a time where everybody else started being more cautious. It took me a while to take note of the fear that has been gripping our little blogsphere and comprehend what it really means. The prospects for improvment, to put it slightly, look pretty grim. I was the model of caution, and believing in my invincipility by managing not to get arrested for the past 2 and a half years, I’ve grown reckless. Stupid Monkey. Stupid!

No—not stupid. He was reckless in his pursuit of liberty. Born freedom fighters are like that sometimes. In the police state of Egypt, where the Sandmonkey lives, that is indeed dangerous. I worry for him.

I hope to come back refreshed after a breather. Meanwhile, I leave you with a message from New York City.

and here it is in context

corner of Thompson and Bleecker, April 2007