I love being quoted. It makes me feel all special inside.

Kind of like a beautiful ray of sunshine.

Or something.

None of which explains why someone doesn’t slap Hu Jintao for being such a blatant ass. If I had his email address, I’d give him something to “purify.”

For that matter, why doesn’t someone slap the hell out of the racist bastards commenting on this story. How the hell does everything get to be about race in the news today?

We all know that any man, with just the right emphasis and a raise of the eyebrow, can make almost anything sound like a walking case of sexual harassment (ask me to demonstrate at the Blogger Bash, if you’re curious). What is it in some people that make even basic news stories into another battle in the race wars? That’s a sickness, folks.

And if you read this piece by Shawn Macomber, you’ll finally get to this:

May the innocent victims of this tragic event rest in the knowledge that it has strengthened our resolve to work for a world in which man is able to live alongside his brother in peace.

Not his words, but the words written on a memorial in Mombasa. Every once in a while when I’m reading Macomber’s pieces, I’m reminded of the style a young, less truculent Paul Theroux. I’m not sure that Shawn would appreciate the comparison, but Theroux is one of my favorite authors.

The words are evocative to me--at one moment, I’m angry at the idiots in the World Social Forum, in the next moment I’m laughing at the slogan spattered t-shirts and signs. I get a great sense of place, with the smells, the images, and the people all walking those Nairobi city streets in my mind. And in the middle of it all are reminders of events that some people seem to find so easy to forget.

I look forward to the full length piece later.