From Iraq

The following is from an ex-student of mine; he graduated from high school last year and, apparantly, has fallen in love in the most unlikely of places (he is Gunner's Mate in the Navy) and in the most unlikely of circumstances (in the midst of a war).

He's not even twenty and he writes better than I do.

I always feel sad when the sun goes down. But then she is replaced with the scream and fire of the guns, and I am no longer sad. I am glad to be alive, behind these cannon, instead of on the shore, hearing the scream and not the boom.

This is a tiny, dark place, and in it's confines, I am a god.