In three parts:

(1) Melanie Morgan, from the esteemed Move America Forward, thinks she has solved the mystery of the Times Square recruiting station bombing that has so far eluded FBI investigators (the very same ones who have visited several of my friends at WRL, SDS, and PMR). Her answer: Why, it must have been the oldest secular pacifist organization in the nation, the War Resisters League! Her baseless accusations have spawned some rather entertaining hate mail directed our way (which, hilariously enough, was CC’d to several email addresses at Fox News — they must be so proud!):

Subject: To the Disgusting Cowards Who Attack Military Recruiting Stations

To the war criminals at the NYCWRL,

Your actions speak volumes about the cowards you are.

Legislation is being formed right now to treat you all as war criminals and send you to Gitmo where you belong, indefinitely. It won’t be long before you get your one way ticket to Cuba.

Where did you pathetic people come from, and who raised you miserable poor excuses for humans? From a practical point of view, I’ve never seen such moronic, twisted, and demented behavior. Ultimately, your only danger is to yourselves. Believe it!!!

Where to begin? I’m certainly curious about this new legislation he’s referring to. But it’s better not to feed the trolls, I guess — even though it’s heartening to me that some in our group actually wanted to send a thoughtful reply to this person, despite the fact that he not only makes no attempt to appeal to rational thought, but also considers us to be pathetic, moronic, twisted, and demented war criminal cowards who belong in Gitmo, indefinitely.

(2) On a more cultural note, I actually went to see a movie — Chicago 10. It’s a creative retelling of the Chicago 7 (which is actually the Chicago 8, but which the movie refers to as the Chicago 10 in order to include the trial’s lawyers), combining animation and documentary footage to recreate the events surrounding the protests of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and the subsequent trial of several principal agitators (including, most notably perhaps, Abbie Hoffman). The film is pretty good, although it might be better as a rental. The voice actors are nothing less than an all-star cast, including Roy Scheider, Jeffrey Wright, Hank Azaria, Nick Nolte, and Liev Schreiber.

The animated recreation of the trial is entertaining and often hilarious, but the real power of the film lies in the documentary footage of the protests and rallies. It’s useful — or, more accurately, extremely depressing — to compare the anti-war movement of that summer to the one we have today. Theirs was more tied into the youth culture, and much more anarchistic (well, the yippees at least: I was struck by how many times I heard someone from the 7 disavow any kind of leadership role for the movement). I kept thinking — now that’s the kind of rally I want to be at, not these boring-ass ones we have today.

Of course, it took a damn near perfect storm of events to create the widespread radicalization of the cultural moment of that time — a hugely unpopular war, the advancement of the civil rights movement, multiple assassinations within a relatively short period of time, and the concurrent emergence of a genuinely anti-establishment counterculture. The national character of the anti-war movement today seems lifeless, stale, and conservative by comparison.

(3) Finally, I actually made it to the Met to see the excellent exhibition of Courbet paintings. Most of his major works were there, excepting a few that are unable to travel due to their condition. One of my favorites is his funky portrait of the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon — I wonder, is this the most famous work of art ever made about an anarchist? The only other moderately famous one I can think of is Ben Shahn’s painting of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Also of special note was a room that I lovingly refer to as The Porn Room: Courbet’s renderings of female nudes, lesbian lovers, and of course, The Origin of the World. It’s amusing to watch families of tourists, who no doubt would find such content horribly offensive in a different context, closely inspect the “paint quality” or “brush strokes” as they lean their faces to within inches of a vagina painting.

And speaking of FBI agents, the highlight of our afternoon, by far, was the coolest celebrity-spotting I’ve experienced in my 6 years of living here in NYC. We were amazed to discover that our appreciation of Courbet’s talents on that day were being simultaneously enjoyed by Twin Peak’s special agent Dale Cooper, otherwise known as Kyle MacLachlan. He was plainly dressed and wore an exhibition headset, but appeared to be enjoying himself immensely.