On Sunday, May 4th, I joined my friend Debbie in going to see Cirque Du Soleil ["Varekai"] out on Randalls Island. Our tix were for the 5pm showing. Took subway up to 125th Street, where Debbie joined me and we got on special buses [$4 roundtrip] bound for Randalls Island. A short ride and a nice, sunny spring day. After leaving the bus we stroll, along with the crowd, to were the many yellow/blue stripe tents are situated. Then the usual procedure ... go thru security check, show ones tix, look at the merchandise, hit the bathroom and then find our seats. Its like a "one-ring" circus only there are no animal acts, delightful music and costumes are fantastic. Believe me, when I say, there isn't a bad seat in the whole venue. The show started shortly after 5pm, had one 20 minute break and ended close to 7:30pm. Amazing show! Fantastic! Visually appealing and all the performers were incredible. I highly recommend to all in seeing a Cirque Du Soleil show at least once in their lifetime. Worth the price of admission. No doubt about it.

A friend of mine sent me a terrific article ["My Country: The World"] by historian and author Howard Zinn. It can be viewed at:

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0505-07.htm

Here is a quote from that article:

[Tom Paine used the word "patriot" to describe the rebels resisting imperial rule. He also enlarged the idea of patriotism when he said: "My country is the world. My countrymen are mankind."]

I've also finished the book by Mark Hertsgaard called "The Eagle's Shadow" and will have a review end of week. Stay tuned..............