Cheney Reaction

Acclaimed author Terry Tempest Williams is currently on the road for a cross-country "Open Space of Democracy Tour" sponsored by Orion Magazine and Orion Books, publisher of her most recent book, The Open Space of Democracy.

Brooke and I are at the University of Puget Sound. Together. The students have been radiant. And to the reader, I can only say this: For the past hour and a half, I have been writing this dispatch sharing the students' work, sharing impressions, images, hour by hour. And as I went to send my dispatch ... it vanished. All my words written from 4:30 a.m to 6:00 a.m. this morning -- poof -- gone. A treatise on hope and hopelessness. Our dance with paradox. The students' writing, the students' wisdom. How Vaclav Havel says, "Hope is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart."

But those words are gone. I must let them go. Again. Perhaps they were unnecessary. Perhaps they were meant to be private.

This is what is holding my attention now as a train roars through Tacoma.

Today's news from Florida:

CHENEY RETURNING TO SW FLA.
By Betty Parker
Published by news-press.com on October 12, 2004

Vice President Dick Cheney will return to Southwest Florida on Thursday for a noon rally at the Alico Arena on the Florida Gulf Coast University campus. ...

FGCU President William Merwin last week postponed an Oct. 24 appearance by Utah author Terry Tempest Williams at the school, citing fears that her talk would be too critical of President Bush, and too partisan on behalf of Democrats, for students who are required to attend the event.

But FGCU officials said Monday that Cheney's appearance is different.

The National Republican Committee is renting the hall for Cheney, just as other groups can rent it for concerts or other types of events, said school spokeswoman Susan Evans. Williams was appearing at school facilities at no cost to her.

Students also were required to attend the series that included Williams, Evans said, while there is no such requirement for Cheney. ...

"They're just totally different kinds of events," [Evans] said of the Cheney event at the school and the Williams event that the school postponed as too political.

Williams has since announced that she will speak at the school for free on Oct. 24.