I went and saw the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie this evening with my mom. I wasn't expecting much from it.

When Rachel Corrie was killed it horrified me; that's why I was interested in seeing the play. I wanted to know something about her, something more than I'd gotten from the fairly feeble media coverage around her death.

Like I said, though, I wasn't really expecting much from the play. Given that the script is compiled from the diaries of a young activist, I expected a shrill and self-indulgent anti-Israel screed. That wasn't what it was at all.

She wrote beautifully, she was clever, she was funny. She reminded me of people I knew in college. She dedicated herself to doing real things to improve people's lives. She travelled halfway around the world to put herself in danger on behalf of strangers, because she was worried about them. It's a good play, and a fitting tribute.

Today would have been her twenty-eighth birthday.