To Westerners, the name of Manchuria conjures up romantic images of nomadic warriors roaming vast plains that bake in the summer sun and freeze in the winter's sub-zero gales. The reality since the turn of the last century, has been less proud.--Coveted as the breadbasket of the Orient for its rich harvests of soybeans, rice and barley, Manchuria was being passed from hand to hand by occupying armies until, in the early years of the 20th century, it was reduced to a crumpled puppet state under the absolute control of the commander of Tokyo's Kwantung Army. —— Amelia Hill; The Day the Earth Died; On 7 August 1942, seven-year-old Caiqiu Tan woke up screanming to find herself covered in blood - her face rotted and black; Observer; March, 2 2003

Stone spent years as a nomadic writing teacher, moving from campus to campus with three children in tow, and this has left its mark. In ''From Boston to Binghamton,'' a single bus trip expands gorgeously into a kind of Everyjourney: ''the great moving mass / of us is on the road, unblinking / mirage; getting from here to / there in the intense purpose that / we must fulfill. Strange / superficial gauze; slipping stroke / and burning center of the veil.'' —— Melanie Rehak; Ordinary Time; The New York Times; Feb 23, 2003

“Veiled to all men beyond her family, a young Bedouin woman wears the classic face covering of her people. Given only passing mention by the Koran, Islam’s holy book, the veil is an ancient custom traced to India and Persia; it was adopted by Arabia’s nomadic tribes, which enforced a strict code of female modesty.” —— From “Women of Saudi Arabia,” National Geographic magazine; Oct 1987