Read my latest flash, Venison, at 52|250.

I finally made it back to my little apartment on the campus of Shengda College late enough last night for it to be early morning. The flight on which I had been rebooked in San Francisco boarded on time and in a fairly orderly fashion, only to be stuck on the tarmac for two hours while crews checked the plane for an unspecified problem. This time wasn’t too unpleasant, as the flight attendants gave everyone drinks and little bags of Fritos, but of course any added time in that cramped space is unpleasant and the possibility of a mechanical problem with the plane made every bit of turbulence that much more worrisome for the duration of the flight into Beijing.

By the time I landed in the capital, I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to get on a flight for Zhengzhou that night. In fact, had it taken as long to get through passport control as it did the first time I traveled through Beijing, I probably would not have been able to. This time, however, there was no wait, and my suitcase was one of the first to appear on the belt.

I got a ticket on the 9:55 PM flight, checked in, and headed straight for the gate where I was fortunate enough to run into two other teachers from Shengda College. This was especially fortunate as they had pre-hired a taxi, so I was able to split the fare with them rather than flagging down my own cab and haggling over the price while terribly exhausted.

I’ll be finding out my course schedule at a meeting tomorrow, which gives me until Monday to come up with lesson plans. I’ve already noticed changes that have taken place in Longhu since January: a large arch has gone up over one of the roads beside campus with signs pointing the way to locations selling plane and train tickets, which will certainly be an added convenience.

I’ve also been warned that tonight is the Lantern Festival, which means I’ll have to be careful to avoid getting burned by, or losing a hand to, fireworks.

In reading various commentaries on the death of a woman in a holding cell at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, I’ve seen many people express the opinion that a woman in her condition should have been accompanied given how stressful air travel has become.  While there may be some validity to that opinion, it misses what should be an issue in the public sphere.  It fails to ask the essential question of why airports should be such hostile environments.

Today, everyone planning to get on a plane is treated as a suspect, which is of course ridiculous.  The vast majority of people planning to get on a plane are tired and/or excited travelers headed off for vacation, business, or even just to see their families.  In no other area of our lives would we stand for this sort of treatment or consider it reasonable: fear has clouded our better judgment.  Are we really going to say that as long as the treatment wouldn’t cause a “normal person” to snap, it’s acceptable?  I’d always thought that the main reason for treating people decently was respect for human dignity, not the desire to avoid a scene.

But that’s the insidious nature of the “War on Terror”.  Along with its claims to protect life and freedom comes the assumption that anyone harmed by it must have done something wrong.  Either they were a threat or they behaved in an inappropriate way (such as failing to heed soldier’s orders to stop).  We need to stop questioning the victims and start questioning the war.