I’m flying to Los Angeles today and staying for most of the week. Because I expect my Internet access to be sporadic, I’m planning not to blog until July 24. That’s probably a good thing, anyway. By the end of August, I owe a book manuscript about youth and the future of democracy. If I can spend a week without the distractions of email and blogging, I think I can get close to finishing the book. Besides, it’s hard to think about any topic of public importance right now other than the conflagration that seems to have engulfed most of the region from Mumbai to Gaza. On that topic, I have no insight, no expertise, no special knowledge–nothing but the Aristotelian response to tragedy: pity and fear.