It has been hard to write.

Many drafts with not just incomplete thoughts, but incomplete sentences, sit neglected in the queue right now.

In just this past week, I’ve been paying attention to Eliot Spitzer’s resignation from the office of governor in my home state; the security culture here in Washington as more CCTVs go up, as more allegations of three-letter agency abuses of power breaks (and with two false alarms in DC with an “airspace violation” and a bomb scare); and the state of independent media as Brian from Alive in Baghdad visited (he came to town to contribute material to IVAW’s “Winter Soldier” summit) and I host a Brazilian Indymedia filmmaker in my apartment today.

We’re also approaching the fifth anniversary of the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq. When the news broke 5 years ago, I was in downtown DC that night, and ran out of the Metro back to my internship at the Institute for Public Accuracy.

I have been able to take photographs. That’s been easier and more natural. I don’t share them all, but some. The most significant ones this week are of a tragedy in my neighborhood. A large apartment building, a home to mostly immigrant tenants went up in flames. Allegations of neglect by a landlord eager to convert to condos are swirling about, and don’t seem far-fetched. Whatever the cause and contributing factors, about 200 people (maybe many more) are without a home.