Hah! Back in action! This weekend is merely a sore throat and persistent cough now, and film class has given me impetus to be excited once more. This week we are watching Lawrence of Arabia and The Third Man--both British films. I love Brits! Especially exciting is The Third Man, written by the same author as the book The Power and the Glory, the amazing Graham Greene who does an astounding job taking evil out the realm of the fanstastic or fairy tale and into the mundane where it lives every day. Want to watch them with me?

Film class also has the power to disturb. Joining The Last Laugh and Battleship Potemkin, not to mention M and Citizen Kane, Ladri Di Biciclette ("The Bicycle Thief") has reminded me again that bad things happen to people who cannot find jobs: society is a pitiless machine that rolls over people's dignity with its iron cogs. The closer I meander to the ranks of the unemployed, the more I am convinced that a society that does not provide people with meaningful place is no society at all. And I take too many people to the hospital from the nursing home to believe that American capitalism concerns itself with meaningful social relationships.

If I'm lucky, I'll manage some meaningful place riding a camel across a large desert, discovering a shady haven in a rocky outcrop just in time for afternoon tea.