I said that that was the way I would feel upon seeing the hills in Petaluma, on my way back up into northern California. And that's the way many of us who lived in Manhattan felt about the towers of the World Trade Center.

My towers of Manhattan are gone, thanks to the terrorists. But Dragan's television tower is gone, too --- thanks to US. Which one of us has the more right to cry?

The very notion of having postcards from your country which depict the devastation of war, like the one from Belgrade accompanying this article, is novel enough to provide part of the answer to the question.

Like many of my travels, the people and images I've encountered have given me a slightly different view of the world than those of many of the people I know who've never bothered seeing the rest of the world. I realize in moments of clarity that those experiences have made my view unique. It's even more disheartening when I encounter international travelers who have managed to keep their blinders on when faced with perspectives that might differ from their own -- people who go to Paris, for example, and eat at the McDonald's because it's "just like home." I have to wonder if the whole purpose of leaving home, for these people, was only the snapshots of themselves in front of "sights."

I have had a lot of time to reflect on differences of perception as I've listened to the sound-bites provided by my fellow countrymen which are the staple of the news media these days. Skeptical or challenging voices are all but non-existant. So it's no surprise that I've noted little reporting about the 20,000 people who marched in London today advocating peace, or the thousands of others who did the same in Berlin, Glasgow, Gothenberg, Sydney and Melbourne. The message here is too monolithic to include such perspectives, I guess. That's why I'm pleased that we could bring you GARY GREENBERG's first-hand reporting on the Anthrax scare in Boca Raton, Florida, this week. It gives a dead-on perspective on media-spin you won't find elsewhere.

PETER BENNETT, from Australia, also provides a gem this week in his reporting in MEMOIRS OF THE INFORMATION AGE on DNA banking. If you're concerned about the rapid advance of biological technologies, it's a must read.

My own personal saga, a staple of this column, also has taken a turn for the better. The paralegal job begins on Monday, so in about two weeks I should be able to begin digging out of the financial hole I've been stuck in so long and satisfy some of my impatient personal creditors. I'll breathe a huge sigh of relief when that process can begin...

I'll sleep better, too, I trust.

The household situation, on the other hand, remains iffy. With any luck, perhaps I'll be able to store a few acorns for the winter and finally move to more suitable accomodations. For now, one great goal is to be away from here for Halloween, when the visigoth invasion is planned to reach a height. I'm sure I'll feel more like sharing the details with you when I can assure a means of escape.

One thing I have noted is that my own ability to tolerate a lot --- something I felt was nearly boundless before --- has now reached heroic proportions. The real question is how long my natural impatience can be kept in check. I long for a respite already. What could be close for others still seems light-years away for me right now, like Alpha Centauri, and that wears on the spirit.

Needless to say, I'm in a milieu at the moment where concern for things spiritual is not very high on most people's lists.

I have at least one project in the works about which I'm quite proud. I've been in the process of designing a course in editing for the Internet for a journalism school in Eastern Europe. From what I understand, this course will be something of a first, so I am working very hard in my "spare" time to make sure it meets the goals of a pioneering effort. I may very well deliver the course, including a series of online lectures, myself it appears. I'll keep you posted. And wish me luck...

The voices of friends seem to have ground dim and distant lately, with the exception of my dear brother Darryl. I get a few e-mail snippets from others, but a silence seems to have settled in. It could well be the shock of our political situation right now, all the war and fear... Fear is thick in the air, even among people who try to come off as cynical or oblivious. It's difficult not to notice it.

I posed a test to one friend today: would a message of hope like yesterday's peace demonstration make it onto the radar screens of any of the Mouthpiece Media in the United States this weekend?

You tell me.

Actually, as we've said in these pages innumerable times, it will probably be more easy to get a "news" report about a twisted prankster perpetrating a local hoax for their fifteen minutes of fame (on- or offline) than it would be to get the sentiments of people anywhere else in the world to the situation or --- even when tens of thousands of them take to the streets to express their feelings --- a blip in the Media Media. If you read us, you already know what's wrong with this picture.

To paraphrase, fundmental for a free society is a truly informed citizenry.

THINGS I DREAM ABOUT THIS WEEK

Rod was a columnist for the Andover News Network, where he wrote over two hundred articles on web design and development issues. He was also principal writer and Editor for IT Manager's Journal, where he reviewed technology issues weekly, producing 383 editorials. He became the Managing Editor for Electronic Mail/Newsletter Publications at Andover.net at the end of February, 2000, and left in September of the same year. He was a contributing writer for ACCESS magazine, which appears both on- and offline for 10 million readers in 100 newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Post, Boston Herald, Austin American-Statesman, Denver Post and Orlando Sentinel, among others. Rod was the US reporter for Silicon.com, a division of Network Multimedia Television in London, UK, reaching 3.5 million European readers, until May, 2001.

Rod lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, right now. The new home of the magazine. But he plans to return to Serbia next year.

He continues to be committed to integrity, chastity and a dose of humility.

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