TAIPEI, Taiwan – He stepped off the plane with a mission: Make history by becoming the most senior Chinese official to visit Taiwan. Sign a landmark trade deal. Draw the wayward island closer to motherland China.

Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin did all those things during his trip that ended Friday. But his five-day visit also highlighted how — socially and politically — Taiwan and China are not merely like two separate countries. They are more like different planets.

NEW YORK—In a stunning reversal of their long-stated reluctance to take it, members of heavy-metal band Twisted Sister announced Monday that, after 24 years of fervent refusal, they are now willing to take it. “I acknowledge that we promised not to take it anymore, but things change. The world is a different place today, and with that in mind, we would like to go on record as saying that, starting right now, we are going to take it,” read a statement released by the band’s lead singer, Dee Snider. “To clarify, we would still prefer not to take it, but as of now, taking it is an option that we would be open to. That is all.” Bassist Mark “the Animal” Mendoza also stated that, in regards to what he wants to do with his life, he no longer solely wants to rock, but would instead prefer doing other things, such as raising a family and working as a claims adjuster in Rye, NY.

Brought back memories…

What really struck me in the interview were Daniel and Frida’s comments about the difference in media treatment of protests in the sixties and today:

Dan: When I think, let’s say, with beginning around 1965 or so, when things got serious in my life about the war – given the public situation today with media, and the foul politics, and the war making and so on and so forth – it almost seems like the early Sixties were a very innocent period. And that one could still hope for a certain kind of fair assessment of one’s life in the media – it was not all bought off and bought out and sold out – and that was certainly part of a very different picture at that point.

I remember when Phil was sentenced to, I think, five years after the first – ’67 – the first action in Baltimore City.

There was an editorial in the [New York] Times (we quite took it for granted), and the editorial said that the judge exceeded all logic and all legal precedent in giving this outrageous term in prison. Well, today, this would be unheard of: that there would be any public media protest at a draconian sentence… There was still the possibility of a public voice in the media which later, certainly by ’80, had quite disappeared and around the time when we went into the King of Prussia³ and so on, there was no possibility of a public debate following (let alone public approval).

That’s one great difference that occurs to me by way of lost innocence: we’ve lost the media. And that’s a very important kind of cultural demise, it seems to me, with regard to political responsibility and the hope for some kind of public fairness… But Frida, you were going to say something.

Frida: [laughing] Was I? Well, I started thinking about Cindy Sheehan and how she sort of retired from the peace movement not too long ago, and actually got a lot of press… She’s the one national figure today that is identified as antiwar and pro-peace – and there are no others. [pause] She’s the only one, I would say, and that she’s only there because her son was killed and there’s this personal story, that you can only really be against the war and dedicate your life to peace if you’ve been personally impacted and lost something very great. And she’s characterized, at least in the mainstream press, as somebody who is seeking attention. Right? Not that she has a position or that she speaks for a lot of other people – just that she wants attention. I think that’s an example of what you’re talking about.

Dan: Yeah.

Frida: And she’s been chewed up, and ground up, and spit out. And who would want to be a leader if that’s how leaders are treated? That they’re made by the media and then they’re unmade by the media.

Dan: That’s right.

Sobering. But I wonder what they would think of the potential of the Internet as an alternative to “the media” that they speak of, that they say “we’ve lost.”

Downstairs someone with a light British accent talks to people on her cellphone, inviting them to a dinner party at an Indian restaurant at 5:30. (That restaurant’s food is good–we’ve been there before.)

There’s sort of an inexplainable youthful unattached feeling here–ex-girlfriends talking to ex-boyfriends, flying around and working in different parts of the world. (Though the ex-boyfriend is flying back to the US to see his grandfather in the hospital, so there is not a complete rejection of commitment to family.)

Talk of schedules, though–”I hate my schedule.” Control by time.

I see the exes as I leave. Smile inwardly at the fact I had the correct mental image of the woman based on her voice–she’s a young Marcia Wallace (pre-Simpsons era; more like Match Game/Bob Newhart era–but without the scarf):

The guy was a surprise, though. I expected a crew-cut business type, and instead got Tony Carey (but a little thinner):