The Good News
Portland is a lovely city, and I am immensely grateful to my hosts, Anne-Marie Oliver and Paul Steinberg, for hosting me during my stay there. When people talk about how nice people are once you leave New England, Anne-Marie and Paul are who they're talking about. They put me up for several nights despite the fact that we'd never met before, and they were doing a favor for the head of the local Harvard club. For a complete stranger, they: picked me up at the airport...made me an outstanding home-cooked meal...drove me around town...and just generally made me feel welcome in every way.
This despite the fact that they are the very busy parents of two wonderful daughters and have, of course, demanding careers of their own. Paul and Anne-Marie are the authors of the just-published
The Road to Marty's Square: A Journey Into the World of the Suicide Bomber, which I am just now starting to read. It is fascinating and disturbing and important, and anyone interested in Israeli-Palestinian issues specifically and, more generally, the origins of violence, should read it. Congratulations and many, many thanks to Paul and Anne-Marie.
