If there were more productions of Cage and operas like it—presented not as token but as pride and honest beauty—we could maybe at last get back to actual aesthetic discourse without having to settle (beggars/choosers) for cheapened copies of the objects of our love.

Now, take the brackets off. Let 29,313 dead Palestinians rush in. The Staatstheater Darmstadt only seats 956. What are we to do with the other 28,357?

In Bucharest, I thought of Paul, and how strange and terrible and beautiful it is to love another’s love.