The following was written as a spoken word poem in November, 2002, before the US invaded Iraq. It was an emotional and cathartic outpouring of expression which took place over course of a three day solo retreat in a cabin at Fairystone Park in Stuart, Virginia. Later, it was read at several Peace Rallies, open […]
Bye-bye, Miss American pie … Drove my chevy to the levee … but the levee was dry … I picked up the CERC Museletter mail at our local post office, dropped it on the front seat of my car, glanced over to it while turning the key in the ignition, and noticed the front page […]
The following was first published at Just Response and also can be found in the March/April issue of The New River Free Press. We teach our children not to resort to violence as a way to solve problems, and yet our country models it to the deadliest degree every day in Iraq. Even though violence […]
The thing I’m most disappointed about lately is that I didn’t hear Robert Kennedy Jr. when he recently spoke at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Being only 45 minutes away from the Tech campus, I’ve been able to hear some distinguished authors and inspiring activists over the years, such as Kurt Vonnegut, Toni Morrison, Helen Caldicott, […]
Days after former American President Gerald Ford passed away, a Reuters newspaper article titled “Ford Speaks from the Grave, Criticizes Bush on Iraq” caught my attention. Apparently even Ford thought the invasion of Iraq was not in the best interest of our national security. He told journalist Bob Woodward in a July 2005 interview, which […]
The Bush Administration and its supporters would like to know, whose side are you on? Are you one of those terrorist-supporters who wants to “cut and run” in Iraq, or are you a true American willing to “stay the course,” even though the course has cost the lives of over 2,500 U.S. soldiers and more […]
“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” — Nelson Mandela What do you believe? Is it true? In an effort to examine her belief systems and better understand what divides us, Rachel Pickett has taken to the road to talk to […]
We have never had a presidency in which the single unifying thread that flows through its major decision-making was incompetence – stitched together with hubris and mendacity on a Nixonian scale. ~ Carl Bernstein In a recent Vanity Fair article, Watergate veteran Carl Bernstein called for an investigation into the Bush presidency for what Bernstein […]
Have you ever been to a peace march or felt strong enough about something to protest? I was against the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. I followed the first Gulf War and the devastating effect the sanctions had (primarily on children) intently, and I wrote political commentaries on the subject. I never thought Saddam […]
The following poem, written for the New Year 2004, was a featured “Poem of the Day” at Poets Against the War online that year and also appeared in The New River Valley Free Press. I think it still applies. Sign of the Times Put a “Do Not Disturb” sign over the forest Hang an “Out […]
It is not only the living who are killed in war. ~ Isaac Asimov Leaving the Café Del Sol, after our Scrabble game on Sunday, my friend Mara and I discovered that we were unexpectedly stuck in town, but we also had front row seats to our local Veterans Day Parade. Unlike most parades with […]
This is a photo of me and my brother Bob. One of us voted for and still supports Bush. The other thinks he’s ruined U.S. credibility and should be recalled or impeached. You could say we’re on opposite ends of the spectrum, but when you add to the equation that Bob leans towards Libertarianism and […]
