Praising Jon, once again. Let's go to Washington Oct. 30.

The writing workshop could also be Sunday Oct. 24 if the 17th is too soon. Let me know.

So, yesterday - serenity, hah! One thing hit after another, a long morning battling Roger's - getting bamboozled by a smooth-talking salesman into a package I don't want or need - then calling about my enormous Hydro bill, and then I got very upset about something here and so upset other people. Luckily a good friend got wind of my mood and told me I was overreacting, which I can very, very occasionally, do. Yes, it does happen that I deviate from my customary serenity and get upset. That's when good friends are needed to inject a little sanity into the situation.

Which is what Jon Stewart is trying to do on October 30 in Washington.

Notice that segue from my own silliness to Jon? Artfully done, madame.

But the day was saved - my home students came for an in-class writing session, and there was honesty and laughter and there were tears; they always amaze me, this bunch which feels more like a group of best friends than a class. And then Jon Stewart, now at the perfect hour of 10, was even more spectacular than usual, holding a serious, respectful interview with the King of Jordan. I was expecting someone in long white robes and fiery speech; instead he's an articulate, soft-spoken man in a suit. Their talk was one of the most important, along with anything David Suzuki says, that I've ever heard. Literally, they talked of how to save the world. How much depends on these current Palestine-Israel talks - and specifically, let's be frank, on Netanyahu making concessions about the settlements.

If Israel doesn't budge, the King was saying in so many words, the world will never stop fighting and we will all be swept into the conflagration. These two men were speaking directly to world leaders - at least, Jon was giving the king a forum to do so. How incredible that at a time when political parties are in a morass - the ones of the right unspeakably vicious, manipulative and hysterical, appealing deliberately to the worst in human nature, and the ones on the left appallingly lost and spineless - that a comedian, carrying our moral compass, has ridden in to save the day.

I want to go to Washington Oct. 30. The best people will be there. I checked Air Canada - more than $500. Time to check travel points.