Dear Nancy,

Thank you for writing, for slogging along, for saying out what's within. Thank you for choosing life, time and again. Thank you for modeling so strong a response to what it is to be seen as different/outcast/less-than. Thank you for writing about loss, its lessons, contours and ordinariness, Thank you for your candor and courage in evaluating yourself and your motives. That’s worth saying again: thank you for modeling honesty and bravery; thank you for your candor and courage.

Thank you for questioning, for not pretending to have the answers. Thank you for lifting the lens of feminism, for allowing me to look through it with you at the world, our society, my motives. Thank you for thoughtful reflections, wry humor, truth-telling.

Thank you for offering hope.

I have read all your books save the most recent one, and that one I ordered today. Finding “On Being a Cripple” in an anthology of essays led me to ferret out your books at our local university library. I read Plaintext, Ordinary Time, In All the Rooms of the Yellow House, then before I finished Remembering the Bone House, I had to return the lot. I was hooked. I ordered a copy of each, paycheck by paycheck. By now I’ve also read and wept and laughed and cheered and underlined my way through Voice Lessons and Carnal Acts and A Troubled Guest and Waist-High in the World.

You show me myself. This dumfounds me. I am not a woman, a wife, a mother. I am not a cripple. I am no Catholic. Yet you lead me into the plain, ordinary, bone yellow house of myself. It stinks. It smells beautiful. It leaves a metallic tang on my tongue. You open one chamber after another, invite me to peer inside. This room reeks of growing up, that one of being different, discounted, discarded. This one smells of sex, cum and desire; that one carries a whiff of wholeness, of bodymindspirit. And here—oh compelling fragrance!—indignation, independence, inseeing.

Am I looking at you? At me? At me through you? You lead me to realize—no, to real-ize, to real eyes. You help me see what’s around and inside me. What you write, what I read rings true. You do not candy coat your experiences, opinions, evaluations. You look long and hard at life, at self, at society. You are candid about the pain involved in all of these endeavors. Yet you come down on the side of hope, of life, of joy. When my journey lands me in similar places I find you already there, already exploring the territory, explaining what you’ve heard, seen, smelled, tasted, touched.

Your writing inspires, instructs, encourages, equips. Your writing resonates, reverberates, reassures. In reading you I better know myself; I lean more deeply into my own losses and my responses to them. I am reaffirmed in my daily decisions to choose life.

Thank you for your acts of creation and co-creation. I remain

Gratefully yours,

A vivid, horrifying portrait of Angola post civil war. Philip Winslow has brought to life the daily torment of the Angolan people, pawns in a national and international war not of their making. While the combatants battled for ultimate control of the country Winslow focuses on the forgotten citizens caught in a deadly power struggle that has little to do with them yet has devastating consequences for their lives. In the aftermath of the war, his descriptions of Angolans trying to navigate through daily life are searing and almost surreal. We learn, sadly, that these wrenching experiences are very real and afflict all but the country's elite. I have read articles on Angola before but Winslow's spare prose has a stark beauty and power that moved me to genuine anger at the plight of these benighted people. His accompanying photographs add immensely to his story and the ironic love song at the end filled me with a lingering sadness for a place and a people most of us rarely hear or think about.
A job very well done. I would like to hear more from this correspondent.

That's a frightening piece of recent history-- and a beautiful song: American guitars never sound like that.

Come be with me

Inspired by the sounds,
footprints and the noise..
I rise up onto my feet,
found standing in the sand..
Hands held back reaching for her,
come, come, to be with me...
Fingertips almost touching,
she held back...
I reached for her,
all the fail attempts..
I cried, I cried,
until there were no more tears...

By: Sapp-hirepoetry

The message

Is it by chance we met?
there is nothing by chance..
it was planned..
Somewhere in this big universe...
I stopped turning and landed here..
You may say, Who is this writer?
that's not important...
The message ones hears are the importants
of life..
As if this poem was written days and days before...
Nope...tonight, right now, as I sit...
I shall truly be passed on..
because I will be heard..

By: Sapp-hirepoetry

I await thee

My darling dear,
I await you like night falls on an empty sky..
forfill my longing..
touch my hands...
warm breeze across my lips..
I cross my legs, patiently for thee I await you...
forfill the longing I so much desire..
my heart breaks...
oh how my heart breaks...

By Sapp-hirepoetry

A good book to read ladies:

My she to love, spirit of sappho, by: Sapp-hirepoetry

Hi Nancy - just saw this here so repeating the comment on your blog to keep the record... straight... or gay... or queer:)

It was great having you at the conference and thanks for the report. I agree our positions are not that far apart, and I think you describe them in a very accurate way, which is why I want to say that when you say "He [that is me... - AG] opposes the fight to same-sex marriage for many reasons" - that one line is actually not a precise description of my position. I question this fight and especially much of the rhetoric around it. I tend to support the abolishment of marriage as a state institution. But as long as it exists and as long as in some places there are differences in rights between civil partnerships and same-sex marriage (also it could eventually matter in US for federal and in other places for international recognition) I do not opppose this fight altogether. I think it's a complex strategic choice whether to engage in this fight if you can expand some rights. But I want to ask carefuly at which price and whose expense, to critcize much of the rhetoric around it, and to examine whether we cannot achieve similar rights without engaging in the glorification of marriage...

Hi,

Great site!!!!! Sleep is very important. It helps your body repair its self for the next day. Sleep, the right diet, execise and water is necessary good health and well-being. Being a cancer survior my health is my greatest asset and more precious than anything.

We live in a multifamily dwelling now and so don't need to mow the grass on our lawn, but when we had a single-family home I, too, enjoyed the "acoustic," people-powered feel of our manual mower--- and the exercise (as with snow shoveling) it required-- even as I also resented the time it took to mow that law. And it would have taken just as long with a gas-powered mower. Two cheers for acoustic mowers, then, and three for vegetable gardens, flower gardens, rock gardens, smaller lawns.

My spouse, Jan Seymour-Ford, research librarian at Perkins School for the Blind tells me this is a magnficient book - and has instructed me I will love it when I get to it, just a couple down on the pile I've carried away for the holidays...

I have linked to this posting along with others celebrating and remembering 40 years since Stonewall. http://www.theliberalspirit.com/?p=1037

I appreciate your acknowledgement that the evils of slavery and its legacy should not be placed solely on the South. However, as a child of the South myself and the descendant of slave owners, I have to say that the South bears a great part of the burden and responsibility.
In looking back at this part of our history and then looking forward from here, my view is that reconciliation comes with personal acceptance and acknowledgement and moves up the line to a national acknowledgement, such as was done by Congress on "Juneteenth".
I say this from personal experience. I have traveled on a personal journey with many of my Hemings and Carr cousins who descend from slaves in Virginia. They had taught me a great deal, changing my perspective from a purely intellectual one to one of personal understanding.
But, it was one incident -- a defining moment that came without warning, that I finally had an understanding. I was going through papers that had been stored in my Aunt's attic for over 40 years. And among the papers were Bills of Sale for slaves from my great great great grandfather's home in Albarmarle County, "Carrsbrook". On them were listed first names, a description and a dollar amount. It was one of those moments you don't expect, you don't think it will affect you. With startling speed, the air rushed out of me -- I now understand the term - "took my breath away" -and brought me to my knees. I was overwhelmed so unexpectedly that it took several moments to realize what had happened. I knew then. I knew that this is what we had reduced life to -- a piece of paper with a name and a price. And it was finally real to me. And this was only a tiny tiny part of what happened in the South. Of course, it is not my fault, not my doing, nor would I have ever condoned such a thing. But, I am the living representative of my ancestors. I accept that. And if it helps our progress on the journey to reconciliation, I offer an apology, on behalf of my family, willingly. So, do not absolve the South, even a little bit. The North played its role as well, you are correct. But, it was here that we let it exist throughout our society.

A very informative article. I did not fully grasp before the difference between "outposts" and "settlements" and Winslow makes a good point about the strategic impact of the former.
I continue to wonder what form of pressure President Obama can bring on the Israeli government---should he even contemplate such a step---beyond critical words and some sighs of weary disapproval? Are there realistic points of presure the US can apply to push Netanyahu towards serious accomadation? In other words, what works?
I look forward to more from Mr. Winslow, who is an excellent and balanced guide to this complex region.

People should lose the books, lose the pride. We should all be working together to make this world we were given a better place. This would glorify God, Buddha, or any other deity you choose to believe in more than anything else. Why are people so self-serving and greedy that they would tarnish the Word of God? We are all sinners, but on top of that we neglect our responsibilities to our fellow man. We know the right things to do, we don't need a book to tell us.

Great list, Jeremy. My additions: Eric Carle's Mr. Seahorse http://www.amazon.com/Mister-Seahorse-Eric-Carle/dp/0399242694 about all the ocean species in which the male takes care of the offspring, and the perennial favorite "Guess How Much I Love You" http://www.amazon.com/Guess-How-Much-Love-You/dp/0763641758/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245354710&sr=1-2 which is a little subtle but Big Nutbrown Hare is always referred to as "he."

Two ones we like in our house:

"Animal Dads," by Sneed B. Collard III (Author), Steve Jenkins (Illustrator: a great book about how different, well, animal dads, take care of their offspring. http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Dads-Sneed-Collard-III/dp/0618032991

"The Daddy Mountain," by Jules Feiffer, a great book about a girl climbing her dad as though he were a mountain and offering advice along the way on how to make such a perilous journey. http://www.amazon.com/Daddy-Mountain-Ribbon-Picture-Awards/dp/0786809124/

Most recent generations of artificial turf have underdone strict environmental testing to include lead and mercury. The issue of lead mostly resides in the rubber crumb infill that could be found in older versions of synthetic grass. Now you have the option of various sand infill or none at all. http://www.actglobalsports.com

Matt, you've still got it. I read Jennifer, your 'inner child' in every paragraph you wrote. She could draw it out of the cracks and give it hell! Best wishes and good luck in writing that 'next book'.

There's a paper on SSRN about just how rare cert grants are, even for big cases like this:

http://ssrn.com/abstract=1377522

In the discussion about Dr Tiller's murder here is another point to
consider: Why are so many abortions performed in clinics at the mall, where
they are isolated and vulnerable to harassment and attack? It is because the
medical community has not embraced abortion as an integral part of
women's health care. The hospitals, and especially the academic medical
centers, are to blame for marginalizing abortion, putting both patients and
the personnel who care for them at risk.

The hospitals that advertise their high-risk pregnancy services often
have no doctor on staff to do a late abortion should the mother's life
become endangered by the pregnancy or if a sonogram reveals severe
defects in the fetus, which may not be diagnosed until late in pregnancy.

"Prenatal testing without prenatal choices is medical fraud," Dr. Tiller said.

Also, we should avoid the phrase "late term abortion." Like "partial birth
abortion" it has no scientific meaning, but is meant to make us think of
a full term 9-month baby being killed. Late abortion, second or third
trimester abortion, or mid-pregnancy abortion are better terms.
And heroic people like Dr Tiller should be referred to as providers of
complete pregnancy care, of which abortion is a part, not simply
labeled "abortion doctors." Don't let the right wing create and manipulate
the language in which this (or any other) issue is discussed.

Amen. Visit www.iamdrtiller.com for more inspiration.

The subject of your piece might be George Tiller's legacy, but it stands as a lovely memorial to his life and his work.

There was much news coverage of Dr. Tiller's recent prosecution (more accurately a persecution) and acquittal on charges of technically violating Kansas law regarding his professional relationship with a doctor providing a second opinion in cases of medically necessary abortion.

Many of those accounts mentioned that one of the patients he attended during the time in question was only 10 years old, as if that was supposed to be a bad thing. I strongly suspect that this patient was the same little ten year-old girl whose family made her appointment with Dr. Tiller from my own counseling room during that same time frame.

She had been in this country only a few weeks, and her family members here had had no suspicion that she could have been pregnant before she arrived. She might have weighed about 55 pounds, and was so tiny that, when she sat in her chair, the tips of her shoes didn't even touch the carpet.

When I asked her what had happened to her, she leaned close to me, her little-girl eyes turned a thousand years old, and she whispered, "I don't know."

George Tiller was a man whose heart was full of mercy, and the world is a less merciful place now that he is gone.

Thanks for clearing that up. Ayers is a great thinker, and it would be a shame if all he was known for was his infamous youth, rather than the passionate activist author and education advocate that he became.

Like the smears against the community group, Acorn , its a shame the political machine feels it must destroy and insult to justify its ungodly powers.

One love.

A lovely post, thanks for this. President Obama's words are so true, and yes I too am from a mixed heritage. The reach of Beacon books overseas and multiple language translation is excellent.

Well put. Sometimes-- and I was skeptical to begin with-- the process of winning equality requires a kick-start from the courts, even though it's best when MOST of the work gets done through public persuasion, in this case state by state. Also, the Prop 8 electoral loss should demonstrate how not to run a ballot campaign-- from everything I hear the No on 8 people were nearly the only progressive campaign force that got outsmarted/ out-tactic'd by opponents in Nov 2008. If there's another ballot campaign in CA I hope the side of equality and justice gets different people to run the ads and the ground game-- as I'm sure it will!

It is interesting to know that Israel's use of white phosphorus munitions have been an intensely debated issue. Anyway every country should follow International law and set protocols.

Like many who see the low per capita consumption in densely populated regions as a model for the U.S., you fail to recognize the role of population density in driving down per capita consumption, and that per capita consumption and per capita employment are inextricably linked. By advocating low per capita consumption, you are unwittingly advocating an approach that will send unemployment and poverty soaring.

Take Japan as an example. The average Japanese lives in a home less than a third the size of an average American's, not because they like living in cramped, tiny homes but because, being ten times as densely populated as the U.S., there is no room for anything else. With less than a third of an average American's home to heat and light, of course their per capita consumption of energy is much lower. That may sound appealing to an environmentalist until you consider the ramifications.

Because their per capita consumption of dwelling space is so low, so too is Japanese employment in the industries involved in building, furnishing and maintaining their homes. And, since their per capita consumption of nearly everything (with the exception of food and clothing) is similarly affected, their per capita employment in providing goods and services for domestic consumption is equally diminished. This makes overpopulated nations like Japan and the other places you've mentioned utterly dependent on manufacturing for export in order to sustain their bloated labor forces. Without countries like the U.S. to absorb their productive output, such nations would collapse into abject poverty.

Environmentalists (like myself) are concerned about total consumption and its impact on the environment. Total consumption is a function of per capita consumption and population. The only way to reduce total consummption while still avoiding soaring unemployment and poverty is to reduce our population to a sustainable level that still allows for a high standard of living.

If you‘re interested in learning more about an important new economic theory that deals with this issue, then I invite you to visit either of my web sites at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com or PeteMurphy.wordpress.com where you can read the preface, join in the blog discussion and, of course, buy the book if you like.

Pete Murphy
Author, "Five Short Blasts"

Well put. The best argument for greater access to birth control in developing countries isn't a claim about environmental impact, nor a claim (directly) about population growth, but a claim about common humanity: women in Nigeria, just like women in New Jersey, are morally entitled to decide what to do with their bodies, including the decisions as to whether and when to conceive.

hi i found out when i was nine and then properly much later that my mum was my nan and that my sisters were my aunts,this led to much sole searching and upset,as my real mum left me with relatives but,i found out in 1992 that i had a half brother who had been left and then adopted to another family,but i was still angry with my biological mother and i'd had a very upsetting reunion when i was 29 which was not good for her or me.my brother has contact with her but not me,im now 50 and time is running out to meet up properly. r.bawden

I do blame the ticks. Peent!

I really like the story

While marriage equality is important, LGBT couples in those states need to realize that they will not get everything they want with a marriage license, particularly inheritance. NONE of the marriage equality states gives 100% inheritance to a surviving spouse. Having 100% inheritance can come through legal partner protection planning, and not with a marriage license. For more information, my blog is at www.rainbowlegaltalk.typepad.com—Jeffrey G. Marsocci

Congratulations!!! Quite an honor. Sometimes one's enemies turn out to be more perceptive than polite reviewers. The fringe often grasp more clearly what exposing them to the light of day might do.

When the Institute for Religion and Democracy (IRD) came after a moderately feminist church-women conference called "Re-imagining" in 1993, we created an honor roll of women they smeared and trashed. I will suggest you be added!

Look forward to reading your book.

Great work, I hope my blog could measure up.

Has anybody been sued by The Educational Resources Institute (TERI)? They are dragging me into court in July of this year, demanding full payment of $10k+ for a loan that I took out in chiropractic school back in 1993.

In 1999 I had an unexpected disaster that took its toll on my business and I had to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. My bankruptcy attorney automatically believed that all student loans were non-dischargeable, but he told me to list them all anyway in the bankruptcy paperwork.

In 2000 I consolidated all of my loans with the USDE via the William D. Ford consolidation program. All the loans I listed for consolidation were consolidated, except for the ones guaranteed by TERI.

At first the private lender that originated the loan sent me collection letters. Then I began receiving and phone calls from private collection agencies. I ignored all of them because I honestly believed that all of my loans were consolidated with the USDE. I ignored the harassing calls for years. Now, almost 9 years later they are hauling me into court.

What really hurts is that the trial will be held in the town in which I have practiced for nearly 14 years. There will definitely be damage to my reputation.

My attorney is a good attorney, but he is essentially clueless in matters of student loan law. I have spent hours researching the internet for any info. that will help him prepare for my defense. I am stressed out of my mind over this upcoming trial. My wife is stressed and my in-laws know nothing about it, but they soon will. It could result in dire consequences to my marriage and family relationships.

I am claiming dismissal on grounds of statute of limitations, which is 5 years on promissory notes in the state where I am being sued, (I'm not even a resident of that state, thought I work there). I know there is no SOL on federally insured loans, but TERI claims I can't use SOL because they are a non-profit guarantor.

Does anyone have any personal stories similar to mine? I mean, have you been sued by TERI and what was the outcome? Any resources you can tell me about?

Scott Fehrenbacher is failing to note the close ties between his Colorado Springs based organization (New Iron Media) has with the Dobson groups. Both VP's and one of the Faculty Consultants being from the Focus on the Family organization.

NDPTF isn't simply promoting "An encouragement to pray for our nation - in your own personal way..." but promotes only one faith tradition. This raises an opportunity (a challenge?) for UU's to become more active and organize our more inclusive events as alternatives to Dobson's narrow & exclusive program.

Mean? Come on. Of all the crazy proclamations by Congress you choose to find fault with a day encouraging personal prayer? The national day of prayer is much bigger than Shirley Dobson or the National Day of Prayer task force. It is a very simple message: An encouragement to pray for our nation - in your own personal way - which indeed can be in your own privacy if you choose. There are plenty of worthy fights to pick, but targeting an encouragement to pray for our country is pretty lame.

Yes. Is there a National Day of Interfaith Understanding? Or a national week (it would have to be a week, since the holy days fall on different days of the week) in which people of faith and people of no faith are encouraged to visit the services and the religious buildings of faiths other than their own (Protestants visit mosques and Catholic churches, Jews visit Buddhist temples and megachurches, atheists visit something, etc.)? Because that would be cool. Maybe there is one already.

Sky has definitely not fallen yet in Massachusetts. Can't speak for Conneticut.

There was an exhibit of similar ideas at Harvard's Graduate School of Design recently!

Where can we get duckweed, if we want to make a duckweed pond?

Do click through to those photos. Children's faces are apolitical, or pre-political, too: and that's the point, or should be...

Oh best of luck to Maxine!

Please spare 6 minutes of your life and watch this film. Over 2,000,000 people have watched and shared this film, who care about hunger and human inequality. If you deem appropriate, please share it with your members, friends, students, and family - all who care about hunger and its impact on human race.

----------------------------------

THE FILM :

Chicken a la Carte
Director: Ferdinand Dimadura | Genre: Drama |

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who lives on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people.

Thank you for remembering David Schwartz, his fierce belief in free speech and his courageous approach to bookselling.

Thank you as well for your kind words regarding the Schwartz Bookshops.

Great to read you again, Philip. Enlightening, informative, with your unmistakeably human, ironic, agile, tremendously enjoyable, style. I hope to read many more of your pieces, also from other places.

I like the idea that people can be as happy as asparagus. I know someone writing a lit-crit book who was just told that her (intelligent but nonspecialized) readers won't know what a bobolink is, that we have to be told. Did prior generations of American readers know bobolinks intimately? or has it always been an odd word, an odd bird?

The experience that "Valerie" had with Salie Mae is not strange. I am a physician who went to medical school overseas. I recieved a top notch education from a respected university in a first world country. I went there because I married a citizen. I had gone to graduate school previously and put those loans in deferment/forbearance to attend medical school. In my 2nd year, the AES people called to tell me that my $46,000 was now due because I had "no business going to medical school overseas when I had an outstanding loan." Seriously.
The school pulled major strings with TERI and got me a double loan to pay off the first loan. Irony was that the new loan was also serviced by AES. All they did was collect a second origination fee.

Who knows what made Sesay the brutal and cruel young man he became? This thought comes not from the 'everyone's a victim' school; it's more about what might have been.
Congratulations Philip C. Winslow. You are such a fine writer.

thank you.

I'm married to the current research librarian at Perkins School for the Blind, which trained Anne Sullivan Macy, and which had its own complex relationship with both women.

Personally I find both Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan enormously compelling figures.

And with them, as is often the case, their value is found after we get past the plaster saint part.

On the other hand that glow of sanctity has its uses as well.

I don't think a week passes when Jan doesn't get an inquiry from some child somewhere who wants to know more about Helen Keller and or Anne Sullivan Macy.

Jan then dutifully provides some information and pointers...

Who knows where this will lead?

But I suspect, wherever, it will never be in a wrong direction...

Just to return to Mr. WInslow's report--the last paragraph caused me to reflect more on the deceptive natures of characters we've seen in recent history of outstanding cruelty. Are not psychopaths often described as clever and humorous? I remember death squad leaders in El Salvador and Lebanon were often known for their "live of the party". demeanour when away from actual killing fields.
Winslow, though clearly repelled to his very core by the cruelty he witnessed finds he rather liked Issa Sesay. One of the values of his searing piece is its reminder of how well-disguised can be even the truest form of human evil.

As one of many who probably only know Anne Sullivan Macy through her work with Helen Keller and the play/movie "The Miracle Worker," I enjoyed reading this very human account of her struggles and desires. I hope that Nielsen continues writing about this important woman and sharing it with us.

Mr Weightman, a distinguished author and historian, raises a good question. I did not track down the rebels but UNAMSIL, with which I served, was in regular touch with rebel leaders in trying to persuade them to abide by the terms of the 1999 Lome Peace Accord, flawed as that agreement was. Although the accord gave RUF leader Foday Sankoh a place in a new transitional government, rebels refused to disarm. They splintered into other groups and continued their rampages, killing and maiming civilians. Most of the instigators, such as Sesay and Kallon, were not hard to find. UNAMSIL military and civilian personnel met with them frequently, urging them to enter the disarmament and reintegration progress. In fact, the rebels did see UN personnel -- the unarmed Military Observers and armed peacekeepers -- as a danger to their impunity. At one point they kidnapped and held more than 500 peacekeepers, and killed several of them.

This is really a great piece on Sierra Leone and the long, hard struggle for justice! Unfortunately, the topic is not often considered sexy enough for papers and blogs but it is important for understanding the impact of the global movement against impunity. So it is gratifying to see an article that captures both the particular viciousness of the Sierra Leonean conflict and the effectiveness with which many key figures have been brought to justice in a court of law.

Philip Winslow is clearly a man with nerves of steel. His report is vivid, frightening and yet with a hint of optimism which is as heartening as it is surprising. There was a question though, in my mind. If he was able to track down these blood-thirsty killers why did they escape capture by armed militia for so long? Was he able to interview them because they knew he was unarmed and no danger to them? I hope to read more of Winslow’s vivid and transparently honest journalism.

Phil Winslow is a terrific writer and storyteller. It's great to get an insider's view of the sitation in Sierra Leone, particuarly as Winslow gives us some real insight into the personalities there.

I'm an old woman now, but not so old that I don't recall feeling some (though not all) of what you're talking about. It's funny how experiences with people one meets almost accidentally change one's whole life view. In my early teens, I met three of them. In different ways, they showed me where to look to break out of what might have been your trap, and I believe enabled me to recognize my soulmate when he appeared and rear our children without shackles like those you endured. If only well-intentioned people could see the harm they do with zealotry!

Especially important given that younger people in countries with genocide in their own pasts literally don't believe what happened: see today's NYT story about Cambodia, both hopeful and awful in its distance from their own history--

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/world/asia/08cambo.html?_r=1&ref=world

I'm not sure whether books and bookstores can literally prevent genocides that would otherwise get underway, but they can certainly help in the decades-long process of repairing countries afterwards, and of figuring out what went wrong-- thus, if you're optimistic, creating conditions that make genocides less likely to occur in the same place again.

A profoundly moving, and ultimately encouraging, story by Phil Winslow. He clearly knows the subject well and does a great job of taking us through the sad complexities of that tortured land.

Also--great to see P. Winslow back in print again. Canadians remember his TV reports from the field (he should record some of his items) and I also always enjoy his print reports in the press.

I hope he will do an update on his book about "The Dragon's Teeth" on landmines as that horror seems to have dropped from public attention these days.

I look forward very much to more frequet columns from him.

lead poisoning occurs after exposure in the environment and lead is not biodegradable. Old paints, water pipes and even dishes can contain lead and may pose a health hazard from breathing in lead dust, drinking water from lead based pipes or ingesting it...

No one is obliged to offer him a soapbox either.

Ayer's Dad left him plenty to pay for his own soapboxes...

If Bill "Guilty as Hell, Free as bird" Ayers were smart he would shut up because the pressures building now to ask Holder to go back through the evidence http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/guilty_as_hell_free_as_a_bird_1.html

No one is obliged to go hear Bill Ayers, though it's my understanding that people who study urban education think he has some smart things to say. What's distressing is when private entities, such as universities and bookstores, feel obliged to cancel events at which people who wanted to do so could turn up to hear him--- "obliged" in the sense that they felt lots of external pressure, and caved in to that pressure. That's not right.

Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn ran what amounted to a cult with SDS-Weatherman after the split in 68 and lead a lot of comrades down a path of self destruction. They landed on their feet in cushy jobs thanks to Ayer's Dad's money and influence in Chicago and with Mayor Daley. They really should go shut up, and there is no good reason why anyone should be obliged to hear their drivel. Bill's got a blog. You publish him... good enough.

Thank you Susan Campbell for sharing about shame. As a child development specialist and parent educator, I spend a great deal of time and energy supporting change in how we guide children's behavior without using shame as a motivator and how highly detrimental shame is to healthy human development throughout the lifespan.

My husband spends his working hours re-framing childhood shame for people for whom shaming lead to adult addictions.

Shaming is not a loving act and therefore has no place in living a healthy faith!

Thank you once again for sharing your story!

Non-traditonal Adult Studens BEWARE:

I returned to college at age 44 to finish my degree. During my lifetime I had been told over and over that if I had a degree I would qualify for this or that position, bunk!!!

In an effort to finsish my degrees quickly I was shown how easily I could live off my loans, and work part time to complete sooner. At 44 I did just that, worked 50 hours a week, wife worked 40 and we barely made it.

I truly believed others when they told me the Masters would imporve my job opporutnites and then the Docotroate would make my dreams of being that academian administrator come true... What bunk... rarely are 50 year old caucasin, recenlty graduated men selected as Vice Pres. or Presidents, no matter the business expereices they have had.

So after 10 years of wasted time, $160,000 in student loan debt and now saddled with poor credit, not being able to pay for or receive a loan for a home, and living on a middle income I cannot pay an additonal $2000 a month. I work in the construction field; great use for the doctorate!

I am now 60 years of age and can never own a home or have good credit all because of repayment of student loans. I am constantly turned down for mortgage loans becuase fo the debt ration I owe for these loans. I have no credit cards, and only have two vehicle payments and the household rent.

If we can help poorly managed automotive companies why can't we help the citizen who is trying their best?

I was also told by a friend that soon I will not be able to get health insurance because of this debt. If I had know the true implications and true value of these degrees I would not have returned to college. I try to convince anyone interested in college to find a good career where such is not needed.

The wave is coming folks. I have uncovered substantial fraud and I am not going to drop the investigation. The comment about Sallie Mae does not surprise me. They illegally capitalized interest onto my loan when it was in deferment, lying and saying they did not get the deferment paper. I took the entire loan away from them. If you have not consolidated then take it away immediately, they cannot be trusted. They have a whole laundry bag of violations and lawsuits against them.
About filing for Bankruptcy students should not be forced into that when they are in hardship. They should be given hardship repayment and the interest should stop. Even if they pay 10 dollars a month. There needs to be a limit to how much interest is capitalized on a federal loan to stop the lender and loan guarantee companies from getting out of hand. Since they are allowed to do this with no checks and balances, fraud is flying. The whole system needs to be overhauled to ensure students legal rights. Currently Students have none. I just spoke with an attorney who is suing the dept of education and he agrees. I am filing my own federal lawsuit this year and it will be open to all students who want to join and make it a class action. Everything illegal going on in the industry will be brought up in this lawsuit. Its about time someone takes a stand. Not just starting websites or organizations. Federal court is the answer.

I can sympathize/empathize with the daunting task of envisioning a memoir as a film, especially one as emotionally powerful as this book. I've had people come up to me and ask about a possible movie version of my book, "The Lyncher in Me" and besides the fact that I just can't see how it could be pulled off, I do get in that mode of "haven't I talked about this enough?..." Tragedy, heartbreak and (eventual) redemption is a worthwhile journey to share, but to delve back into it time after time can be a crippling pattern. Best of luck.

I would appreciate corresponding with Steven regarding Stone Prairie Farm and finding out about other locations that need a caretaker to restore the home and land in this area of Wisconsin.

Dave Ryan
U of Minnesota Forestry grad and certified arborist

Thanks for the disturbing insights. I'm convinced that Plan Colombia doesn't work-- and it may be (I have no idea) that relative inaction by the US would be the best policy towards Colombia (it might reduce the number of internal and external refugees, e.g., even if cocaine production increases a great deal-- a trade I'd take).

But a hands-off policy, inaction, can't be the right plan for Afghanistan, can it? is there anything the US and NATO could do in order to prevent the Taliban from assuming de facto control of the entire country, and giving Al Qaeda unchallenged shelter, again? that didn't seem to work out well the first time.

as the father of a high functioning down's syndrome son,who at birth ,32 years ago,was asked by the nursing staff."where are you going to send him"?. Send him I thought?the lady from Memphis has my heart and prayers.
She is the connection God sends to the salvation of the neurosis Jane has permeated. God Bless You and Jack.

Sounds grim (and very plausible). What exactly can the Obama administration and Senator Mitchell do?

Sometimes I see calls for the US to cut off military aid, or other sorts of aid, to Israel, or to condition such aid in unmistakable terms on a settlement freeze, or on other action to curtail the "natural growth" of the settlements. Do you think such a cutoff, or such conditions, politically possible in the US? It's hard to imagine Congress accepting such measures: Obama might spend a great deal of political capital, alienate Congressional allies, and get nothing out of it (other than a sharp drop in support for Dems among American Jews). It's hard to imagine him taking that big a step, even without the problem of Congress... but what, realistically, can he do?

I heart breaks after reading some of the comments posted on this site. I am the proud mother of Jack, Down Syndrome, and I'm in the same boat--husband and I, both are aging, had a stroke [however, God healed me beautifully] and we have no one to take care of our son once we've gone to heaven. I've started working on a non-profit organization (in Memphis)to raise money to build an "affordable Christian-environment home for special-need children/adults." [www.meetup.com Memphis Parenting-Special Need Children/Adults]. If the aging parents who fear their time will run out before their special-need child will be taken care of (as the child's name is on a long waiting lists) would like to contact me, we can form a network to build homes throughout the country.

We can't continue to fear and worry, we need to take action! God bless you! Join me, won't you?

Valerie - Your experiences with Sallie Mae sound pretty strange. I'm in complete agreement that these loan companies (esp. Access Group and Sallie Mae) are running a major scam on students, but I've never had any problems with the representatives that you typically come into contact with over the phone. In fact, they have been so pleasant and (I hate to say it) helpful that I figured they were acting that way because they were under such a microscope right now. Why in the world would they tell you to send $150?

I'm a fan of play-based education (some of the principles you describe, though not the rough-and-tumble part taken literally, apply even at college-undergrad levels as well)-- but I would never have thought to connect the decreased incidence of roughhousing in elementary grades with the increase in ADHD and related diagnoses. (The play principle Piaget describes in children, apparently underpinned by new neuroscience, has its higher-ed equivalent in the theories of Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens.)

Two questions I have no idea how to answer, and wonder if anyone could, or would: does the (new, and laudable) movement against school bullying (in elementary and in middle school grades) work at cross purposes with the new (and apparently necessary) desire to encourage the right kind of roughhousing? And: are there any gender implications in these findings-- prescriptions for how to treat boys and girls in the right way when they are together (or when they are apart, or when, as often happens in elementary grades, they segregate themselves)?

Thank you for writing about this important issue. And lead in children's products is indeed a very serious issue.

However I would like to point out that you made a dramatic mischaracterization of CPSIA in paragraph 7 when you suggest that the CPSC looked around and found lead "here, there, and everywhere" and realized the law would have to apply to an enormous array of products.

CPSIA as written applies to ALL products for children 12 and under. There was never any question as to whether a product contained, didn't contain, might contain, or could never contain, lead. The law covers all products by default.

As you mentioned there is a one year stay of execution on most of the testing requirements of CPSIA - and thank goodness. It would have put almost all artists and craftsman who sell primarily to children out of business. My wife is an artist. Fortunately she sells primarily to adults but if she did sell children's products I can tell you unequivocally there is no way in heaven or on earth that she could have complied with the CPSIA testing requirements.

We must not ignore the dangers of lead in children's products. But it is possible for poorly written laws to do more harm than good. That CPSIA is doing a great deal of harm is a verifiable fact. So for me that begs two questions:

1) Is the law doing more good than harm? In the case of CPSIA I think that is debatable.

2) Could a well written law accomplish the same goals without so much harm? In the case of CPSIA I think there is no doubt of it.

We must continue to work to make children's products safer. Unfortunately, with its unit test requirements and blanket coverage of products I believe that CPSIA will do more harm than good.

I'm too having a issue with my student loans, I feel salliemae representatives are laughing at me , because I'm trying to put them in forberrance/deferrment due to economical hardship,I was told by representatives of sallie mae to send in 150.00 and that would put them in forberrance/deferrment. I do that and wht you know I'm still getting harrasing calls, I spoke with a rep tonight that told me I took it upon myself to send in the 150.00, nobody ask me to do that,then she sid if im'm unemployed how was I able to send in teh 150.00 , and then ask me how am I living everyday, plese help if anybody is fed up and want to go to congress, we have rights something has to give who knew this recession was coming. help please help. lets all come against theis giant. becasue Giants do FALL

I find it funny that NOW people think we're in a post-feminist world? After the election? I wasn't a Clinton supporter (Obama, thank you), but I found the coverage of her completely slanted by sexism, a sexism so embedded in our culture that it was difficult to see it. Several times in the last year I've thought "if they said the same thing about Obama that they said about Clinton it would be racist." Hillary Clinton severs as an example of how far we've have come and how far we have to go.

I love reading your books. It is really insane.

I just wish that not now, but when people reflect on Boston's Italian American community from fourty five years ago, we could remember East Boston/Eastie. I understand that now Eastie is more of a mix, but not fourty five years ago. Also, if anyone could tell me when Eastie became more of a Cultural mix could you please email me, because Google has much on The North End from fourty five years ago, but not Eastie. I also believe that we should accept all immigrants in all time, wether they be from South/Central America of today, or The Italians and Irish from a half of centory ago. Meaning, by remembering how we accepted immigrants back than, we will learn how to welcome immigrants today. Thank's.

You write:

"It stung to hear the words. It stung because they were true; certainly in my case. I just didn’t know how to talk about issues of race. I certainly didn’t know how to talk about it with people of color."

I think that’s beautifully said, Tom. I certainly have my own issues with race, but this one doesn’t resonate as strongly with me; as you know, I grew up talking frankly about race with friends, classmates, roommates and colleagues of all races. I think it’s largely just a matter of when and where each of us grew up.

In my case, it wasn’t a paradise by any means, but it didn’t look much like the blanket descriptions offered by Juanita or Eric Holder, either. So I think that even people who may relate in part to what’s being said can be turned off when such a sensitive topic is broached in such sweeping and absolute terms.

As usual, however, you manage to phrase the issue in such a way as to pull people into the conversation, whatever their particular experiences with race may have been, and encourage them to explore the ways in which what’s being said may hold truth for them.

If you go to http://dockets.justia.com
you can search under type of lawsuit. If you choose 'Contracts / Student Loans' you can see exactly what is going on. Over 13,000 people have been sued by the federal gov't in the last two years. These civil suits are conducted quietly and out of sight. The media is nowhere to be found and almost every single case the outcome is known before the start of the trail.

The amount 'owed' according to the government makes you question what exactly is going on. Take for example, USA v. DeWitt, the amount demanded by the government was $6,000,000.

Seems a little high if you ask me, but we don't often question a government's judgment do we? Also, why aren't we hearing more about these lawsuits. Over 13,000 lawsuits in 2 years is a big enough number and we know $6,000,000 is big enough. Why?

I almost think that it is best for all student loan borrowers to simply boycott paying their student loams. This will force an extreme crisis and congress will have to act. I mean, isn't this what basically happened to mortgages. Enough people simply stopped paying and the crisis ensued. They talk about it on the news every night. You rarely hear anything about student loans. I know it is unrealistic, but how else can we force their hand

They need to make all student loans dischargable immediately. There should be no minimum amount of time that loans need to be repaid. If someone has filed chapter 7 (with the new rules) it by default means they are in financial hardship. It should not matter how long they have been paying.

I filed chapter 7 withing 2 years of graduating. Unfortunately, the student loans are still hanging over me and still growing by leaps and bounds. There is really no realistic way to pay them off. They are already spread out over 30 years and I am 45 years old.

Just found your evocative memories of Bob
Giroux. I felt honored to be given the office next door to his when I first came to FS and Giroux. And a thousand fold more honored when he asked me to read the
manuscript of his extraordinary book A DEED OF DEATH. One measure of his great
generosity of mind and spirit is the acknowledgements page in the Knopf 1990 first edition of this book.
Much greater measure is the stunning pantheon of writers he nurtured.!!

Watching the news, it's often too easy to forget how varied the voices are within nations. Here, just through the business of book rights, it's wonderful to see people reach out, make the decision to engage in dialogue between nations and bring that discussion back within their own borders.

Thank you for the thoughtful and insightful observation. There is indeed a lot to be done to eliminate poverty and hunger; the least of which is the recognition that it is fundamentally unjust for the choiceless millions to suffer in the land of aplenty and prosperity.

A beautiful and thoughtful post about the powerful reach of progressive ideas.

What a powerful piece, with hope and relevance for our times. Thank you!

Please help us. I have been part of a blog recently about private student loans and the number of people now in default is jumping. Meanwhile, I hear the lenders and some federal aid lobbyists claiming that they can't change the private loans because university enrollment is down and people need those loans to go to school. Guess what, community college enrollment is UP! Many of us who did take student loans for private universities have been criticized for our decisions to go to more expensive schools. We were given money in 2001 /2002 without any credit check. I was offered a bunch of money simply because I went to grad school at NYU. I was brainwashed to believe that a master's degree would bring me a higher salary. The private student loan people seemed to think so as well.
It was my mistake to borrow that money but a mistake that will never be made again. Unlike credit card borrowers who are able to claim bankruptcy and then do it again, I will never ask for or be granted a private student loan again. So why should they be allowed to ruin my, and my childrens, life?

Hi, there, and thanks for this great, comprehensive and compelling piece on hunger issues. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is pushing hard for a comprehensive economic recovery plan that will meet the needs of the neediest among us. Today, our communications director, Sean, posted about the importance of including hunger provisions in any recovery package. Hope you'll check us out, too!

Kate at The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Danny--While I think you have a valid point regarding racial identification and heritage, the child discussed in this post is African-American by birth and adopted into a white family. Unless you classify race as something that is entirely socially inherited (a bit of a stretch in our culture), I think that it is perfectly valid for this mother to think of herself as a "white mother of a black child."

Respectfully, I find it interesting how alot of you say "I am a white mother of a black child". Am I the only one that finds that statement very contradictory? If your white, what makes your child "black"? Hasn't America moved on from that very anticuated and racist "one drop rule"? It shows that even though Obama became president, race issues in America still have a long way to go.

Thanks for the comment. Actually, both Durbin and Davis bills applied only to private loans- which makes both not applicable to most borrowers- and I agree, a 7 year repayment period is not acceptable. Period. My only point in mentioning them was to highlight the strength of the student loan industry in killing them.

Hillary Clinton's Student Borrower Bill of Rights (S.511) was the best piece of legislation to be introduced in the past 3 years, but she didn't push it and now is leaving the Senate.

BTW>According to Paul Basken at the Chronicle of Higher Education, Sallie Mae has stepped up their use of "verbal forebearances". Some borrowers are finding their loans placed in forebearance without their knowledge. This is a convenient way for the lender to charge interest while the repayment clock isn't ticking. I would guess this is in anticipation of bankruptcy rights being restored in the next Congress with the ridiculous 7 year repayment caveat attached.

Write me offline, and let's chat any time: justice@studentloanjustice.org

-Alan

I am of mixed race, yet I appear white. It's too bad I cannot overtly capitalize on my "mixed" race status. But, it's all in what you appear to be..black or white, not what you truly are...an American!

very good information

I think I know how you feel. I'm married to a Japanese, most of my friends in Japan are not American, and I come from a bi-partisan family, so the election and inauguration were a tad lonely for me, too. My kids have American passports. They're biracial in a country that prides itself on the homogenity of population, and looks askance at those are different. I've taught them what I can about Obama, about the significance of his race and election, its meaning to the world, and I think I've helped to instill a bit of pride. I even taught my deaf, nonverbal daughter to say "Obama."

Alan, do not promote the Danny K. Davis bill which required a lengthy time period for private student loans to have been in repayment before they could be discharged. You and many others are not aware that most debtors were disallowed discharge on their student loan debt under similar provisions in the pre-1998 law which also required loans to have been in repayment for a period of time. Lenders systematically applied retroactive forebearances and deferments for the sole purpose of protecting the loan from discharge down the road. Judges then cooperated with the lenders by tolling the discharge period, stating time and again in their decisions that lenders should not be penalized for "helping" borrowers stay out of default. Most of the time, the forebearances and deferments had not even been requested by the borrower. There were fifteen-year old loans that were not allowed to be discharged because of the underhanded way that forebearances and deferments were applied. It was also required that the debtor file the dreaded Adversary Petition to determine the dischargeability of the student loan. I say dreaded, because bankruptcy lawyers dread them, won't touch them, and debtors end up filing pro se, and the little guy loses time and again against the big guns of the student loan industry. How many "hardship discharges" have you seen pro se debtors win? Exactly. Do not promote any legislation that requires a repayment time before the debt is discharged, which in turn leads to the borrower having to file an adversary petition to let the judge and the highest paid lawyers decide the fate of the debtor. Lenders have many years' experience at manipulating the dates and paperwork, and when it comes to adversary petitions, they have the judge on their side every time. Debtors will be no better off under a Davis-type bill. I doubt that the well-meaning Rep. Davis is aware of the mine field he would be creating for the distressed low income debtors he is trying to help. Senator Durbin's bill was the only fair legislation to have been introduced and his is the legislation to champion.

As an agnostic and secularist research biologist and academic I find the whole idea of Darwin Day extremely disturbing. Many of the people taking part claim to be rationalists,but in allocating a Day to Darwin they are acting like theists or iconophiles.One expects that soon these Darwin worshipers will divide into two factions,one orientating their prayer mats to Shrewsbury(Darwin's bith place)and the other faction to Down House. We have already seen too much Darwin worship this year,let's get back to some rational behaviour! (Search "wainwrightscience" on Google for "It's Not Darwin's or Wallace's Theory"
Dr Milton Wainwright,Dept. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology,University of Sheffield,UK.

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the book. I received it as a present a couple of years back. Read it from cover to cover in a few days. Fascinating story, which I had heard about from my grandfather as a child, but not in such detail, of course.

This letter is both eloquent and compelling and it has made me cry. Let's hope it reaches the people it needs to and makes a difference.
x

Wonderful letter to Mr. Obama but during my lifetime I read and heard many other similar letters and rhetorics about Palestine and the Palestinians and so far I have not seen any change. It is a very complicated problem and simmple one at the same time. When there is a balance of power in the Middle East we will see a solution.With my respect to Mr. Obama's success, seeking the blessings of IPAC indicates what we should expect of him.