The Invisible Library

Bruce Springsteen has an OpEd at the Times:

Personally, for the last 25 years I have always stayed one step away from partisan politics. Instead, I have been partisan about a set of ideals: economic justice, civil rights, a humane foreign policy, freedom and a decent life for all of our citizens. This year, however, for many of us the stakes have risen too high to sit this election out.

Through my work, I’ve always tried to ask hard questions. Why is it that the wealthiest nation in the world finds it so hard to keep its promise and faith with its weakest citizens? Why do we continue to find it so difficult to see beyond the veil of race? How do we conduct ourselves during difficult times without killing the things we hold dear? Why does the fulfillment of our promise as a people always seem to be just within grasp yet forever out of reach?

I don’t think John Kerry and John Edwards have all the answers. I do believe they are sincerely interested in asking the right questions and working their way toward honest solutions. They understand that we need an administration that places a priority on fairness, curiosity, openness, humility, concern for all America’s citizens, courage and faith.

Julius draws us a little picture of just how the Bush administration has been using terror alerts to distract the public from news that reflects badly on them. It’s a big picture, because they’ve been doing it for more than two and a half years.

While the Alamo is the most famous mission in San Antonio, it is not the only one. There are four others, Mission Concepcion, Mission San Jose, Mission San Juan, Mission Espada. The missions follow roughly the path of the Rio Grande, from the middle of downtown San Antonio, all the way out to the countryside. Just beyond the missions there is an old railroad track.

Legend has it that one night, a school bus returning from a field trip stalled on the tracks. No one was around to hear the children calling for help as the train approached, unaware. Ever since then, any car that stalls neer the railroad tracks will be pushed to safety. You don’t even have to be in any danger for this to happen and often times, people will come out to the Ghost Tracks, put their car or truck in neutral and enjoy the ride over the tracks and down the embankment.

While I was in SA this past week, my wife and her parents took me to experience the Ghost Tracks. We drove up to the tracks, put the car in neutral and almost immediately, felt ourselves moving forward. we rattled over the tracks and dad steered us down the slope and off to the side of the road. we tried this several times, in various combinations: engine on, in neutral, engine off in neutral, close to the tracks far away from the tracks; once we were about three hundred feet from the tracks and still we were pushed to safety.

While we were there, another family drove up in a pickup truck. They were there to give some visiting relatives a thrill as well, which made us feel better. Camaraderie in silliness is always reassuring. They, however, came prepared with a sack of flower.

Part of the legend says that is you dust the trunk or tail gate of your vehicle with flour or baby powder. you can see small handprints appear after you’re pushed across the tracks. so they did and my wife, had her camera handy, so we could photograph the evidence.