I would not consider it mystical or irrational to hypothesize that centuries of serious Easter-linked trauma could still be sending out ripples not-that-many centuries later.
(The imagery has deep roots: "Musicophilia" notes that, centuries ago, an early folk-music manuscript referred to music that got stuck in your head as "the piper's maggot").
In his universe, the forces of Light and Dark magic are so evenly aligned that centuries ago they made a truce to avoid a war of mutual destruction.
Affirmative action is at best a superficial, Band-Aid solution; we need to realize that centuries of racial discrimination cannot be undone by letting a few extra black students into college.
The irony is that centuries later, when we have perfected the God's-eye map and become conversant with it, we have, in the thrall of technology, turned back to the ancient way: the itinerary and the strip map.
Near the hemlock cathedral, the gorge narrows and the trail winds along the river before sidling up to craggy stone walls that centuries ago marked farmers' property lines and held their livestock.
