you may think you've covered everything--and you have, for the most part.
but somehow, somewhere, there's an (unintentionally) italicized comma.
and someone, somewhere is going to see it.

With an unexceptionally Arab family name like Saïd connected to an improbably British first name (my mother much admired the Prince of Wales in 1935, the year of my birth), I was an uncomfortably anomalous student all through my early years: a Palestinian going to school in Egypt, with an English first name, an American passport and no certain identity at all. To make matters worse, Arabic, my native language, and English, my school language, were inextricably mixed: I have never known which was my first language, and have felt fully at home in neither, although I dream in both. Every time I speak an English sentence, I find myself echoing it in Arabic, and vice versa.

-- Edward Saïd

downtown is a cold, depressing place after 10pm. one man's repeated nighttime howling, ejected from opposite ends of queen st and directed at nothing and nobody in particular, is soon met by a younger man's shout of response. the space between them widens and widens, but this frantic dialogue continues. a hamburger drops from the young man's pocket--he swears profusely, picks it up, and eats it. his wild laughter punctuates the scene.

this is real life, i know, but it feels like something out of someone else's feverish dream..

i did not officially commemorate (on paper) what i consider to be a real victory in Lausanne. there was significant relief at home the minute it was announced; even my mom responded with a flurry of hopeful emails.

we've been assured left and right that it's not a full agreement, but even the "framework" of one is cause for optimism. now if only Netanyahu could keep his mouth shut and act like a human being...

the other day i listened to a recorded conversation in which i took part and noticed the weirdest thing: i have an accent! one or two people have said so, and many others have pointed to my (unnecessarily strong but at this point habitual) enunciation--and yet i've never believed the former.

i hear it now, though... an honest-to-god accent!