Sometimes I would slip into the library and give myself a reading of Time or Newsweek. I had enjoyed much of these "escapes" and though I am reading mostly "history" as the issues arrive much later than the dates printed on the covers... they were still worthwhile reads. I am, afterall, reading them not because of the the information or analysis eck. Truth does not have to come in glossy pages. Instead, I read them as literary journals.... I was reading much of the prose and the poetry.....more than the fact. Here are some favorites:

".... I savored her sorrowful voice, felt the ca - chunking rythm of the wheels in my bones, the echo Thomas Wolfe called the sound of forever, and looked outside to see whom I could say hello and goodbye forever all at once. A young soldier huddled by a cooking fire. I waved. He flipped me off." - Mike Meyer, "Immigrant's Song," Time, August 19 - 26, 2002.


"...As the train eased into Moscow, the conductor pulled me aside. He'd also been silently worrying. 'Listen, little brother,' he said, placing his arms on my shoulder. 'Be careful. You're a foreigner here. A tourist. It's not safe. Don't drink too much.' I remembered him putting me to bed the night before. 'Germans can drink. Mongolians can drink. You ar nor German or Mongolian.'
'But what about.....'
'Her?' The conductor chuckled, looking to Miss Zhou. 'She's Chinese. She'll be fine.' The train shuddered to a stop. We stepped from it into the world. A pair of kindly looking aunties greeted Miss Zhou by name. She waved goodbye and walked with them, toting her little bag, chattering happily in Chinese. I stood alone on the platform, wondering where I was." - Mike Meyer, "Immigrant's Song"

"Every piece of duckweed floats down to the sea; People will always meet each other somewhere." - "Journey to the West", Time, August 19 - 26, 2002.

"A day in the life of Africa," Newsweek, October 21, 2002