It was almost warm today and windy and the sky seemed scrubbed and the black water tanks on top of the apartment buildings were gleaming in Ramallah. “How come I never noticed before,” thought I to myself, “that they are beautiful?” The wall at Qalandia was not beautiful of course, though it did seem a little crisper than it usually does and everyone was cheery at the checkpoint, maybe not cheery, just disinterested and not actively murderous, and Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, you had on your best clothes this afternoon! The ultra-orthodox men looked ultra sharp and the falafel guy was even ruder than the norm and the American teenagers seemed especially American. Even their vowels slouched.