This nascent war is sort of strange to me, in my own personal time-line, if only because most of the people I work with were here (i.e. working in this building) during the prior Gulf War conflict. I've worked here long enough myself that people tend to assume I've been around that long as well. On the contrary, I was still at WWU in Bellingham.
I remember I wrote & illustrated a children's story for a class assignment titled Kashka Goes to Baghdad. Kashka is a tuxedo-cat (he's way too large to be a jellicle cat, though he otherwise fits the description handily) belonging to a friend - I've forgotten most of the details, though I do remember drawing him riding in a tank. The story earned a C, which it richly deserved, being somewhat of a last-ditch effort and fairly mediocre to boot. The idea was partly inspired by the Kate Bush song from which the cat's name is drawn, and partly from the Gulf War being the idee fixe of the time.
Small correspondences continue to amuse me, because I'm Just That Way:
In Bellingham, there were protests on campus that occasionally interfered with my ability to get to class/work, and they took place in Red Square, a brick-covered plaza with a Noguchi sculpture.
In Seattle now, there are protests in front of the building which occasionally interfere with my ability to get to work, that take place on a brick-covered plaza - with a Noguchi sculpture, no less.
It's no wonder my life seems somewhat circular at times.