20

They serve a “Spanish late” at the cafe on Fourth Avenue; it’s tasty; I guess they use cinnamon.

I’m reading the headlines: the low-level conflict between Hezbollah and Israel seems to have reached a turning point: for the last couple of months, H’s calculus was that it was more likely to get a ceasefire by not escalating; perhaps they no longer think that’s the case — or perhaps the ruling far-right Israeli government wants to strike preemptively to buy itself more time to reinforce its hold on state power; it wouldn’t be the first time vis-a-vis Lebanon.

Also in the news (and reinforced by the anecdotes I’ve overheard): younger generations don’t have the form of attention for narrative coherence. They don’t read novels in school, only excerpts. What am I writing for, if the future may not even have the linguistic wherewithal to take in this medium? And how will we teach socialist theory?