Today in French class the teacher showed a recent news piece from French television about the visit from gw bush and his meeting with French prime minister Chirac. Having not subscribed to TV for the last six months, I felt sickened from it and filled with anxiety, so I left the room. My skin was crawling and I felt as though I had to vomit. I had forgotten what it was like in the world of tv... being so insulated the last few months in my own little private world.

When I returned to the class, our teacher Ms. Peggy asks me ‘Fishy what prompted your abrupt departure? Too good for French television?’ ‘on the contrary Pegs,’ I answered, ‘I'm just not going to watch that bullshit, pardon my French,’ everyone laughs, because I answered her in English, not in French, which is a big no-no. ‘I'm looking for a good cowboy?!’ I exclaim. ‘you know what the worst part is? he's not kidding. Your French television makes light of it, thinks its funny... but he's not kidding... he's totally serious. But you guys just don't even recognize it. he's not fooling around. this guy is a cowboy and lets not forget it. and there's nothing cute or funny about cowboys... I don't know about you, maybe its just because you are new to our country Pegs, and so you don't know, but when I think of cowboys, I think of a bunch of cocky idiotic uneducated murdering fuckhead bastards killing native Americans and stealing their land and raping their women... growing up watching cowboys on TV, that's what cowboys mean to me.’

This really sexy girl in our class from the country of Jordan looks at me with her eyes wide open, ‘wow. Too bad more people don't feel like you do Fishy.’ she says in more of an English accent than a middle eastern one. ‘You are very bold to think like that.’ ‘yeah. It is too bad Ines,’ I answer her. you could see and feel my displeasure and my anger at having to watch that news piece. ‘The most dangerous terrorist on the planet today is traveling around to all of these different countries this week, and every one of these countries had an opportunity to stand up and speak their mind. All they had to do was refuse to allow him into their country and they really could have made their point that they didn't agree with his invading Iraq but instead they let him in and spent the last four days showboating and pretending for the TV cameras. And he has the nerve to say he's looking for a good cowboy. What the fuck do you think he means by that?’

Someone else speaks up and says that we cannot just abandon all of our relationships... that these other countries have to continue to keep relations good with America even if they don't agree with our foreign policy because of what it could mean to business for all of the different countries... ‘yeah, easy for us to say here in Manhattan,’ I answer. ‘its all about money isn't it?’ another student comments. ‘we’re here in this nice little school in the center of Manhattan and so no one we know is being killed. So its easy for us to just sit back and say yeah better to keep relations good with America... well I'll tell you what, if here in New York hundreds of thousands of our neighbors and family members were getting killed everyday, we wouldn’t be so easy on letting this guy travel around the world and not speaking up about it... these other countries that didn't agree with us really had an opportunity to be strong and show the world that we aren't going to put up with this kind of crap... but instead they just backed down... and so now what? who’s next? that's the fucking question. Who’s next?’ ‘o.k. enough of politics. lets get back to French,’ Ms. Peggy tells us. ‘Fishy, I promise I won't play anymore French television if its going to upset you so,’ she announces. ‘Pegs, I would appreciate it.’

As for French itself, lets just put it this way.... I have gone beyond the point of just dipping my feet in the water. I am full on into it now. present, past, and future tenses etc etc... not easy. I am not studying enough on my own. lazy I guess. Need to study more on my off days. find it very difficult compared to all the other Latin languages which now seem so simple in comparison. The only rule in the French language seems to be ‘we’re going to keep making exceptions to our rules if we feel like it.’ But French is essential. Not just because of France itself, and because they are some of the most liberal and intellectual people on the planet – every artist finds his home away from home in France at some point once the barbarians of his own country kick him out for being too smart or too aware or too honest... so why not prepare now by learning the language ahead of time.

But even more exciting than that, for me personally, is the opportunity of being able to travel the continent of Africa with at least one language that some of the people speak and understand. I think I am more compelled to learn French because of Africa than because of France really... God can you imagine? Fucking Africa. The motherland. There is nothing like African music... Senegal, morocco, Ghana, Mali... this is the deepest music going on anywhere...