A Mentsh
For years I read him to get a bearing On the atrocities the U.S. enabled in Central America I wrote my Master’s thesis on him On Israel/Palestine and liberation theology When I met him at…
Category: Activists
Present Moment, Only Moment
One day last fall Dianne told me on the phone “I think Hedy is dying of pancreatic cancer” I didn’t believe it But in any case All there was to do that day Was to…
Why Gandhi Was Cheerful
1. You spend all this time Preparing for the event, the party, the action Texts, Twitter Phone calls, Facebook Your excitement builds “This is gonna be great!” Instead of the huge number of people you…
The Nazis Come To Power by Hedy Epstein
I was eight years old when Hitler came to power on 30 January 1933. I knew that my parents and other family members had hoped that this wouldn’t happen. They were hoping Paul von Hindenberg…
Gratitude
While Cafe Ventana was having its Tenacious Trivia Night, our Latin America Reading Group was discussing “I, Rigoberta Menchu” and life in Guatemala — what insight, connections, and sharing with Fatima Rhodes, Cindy (who’s from…
A University Can Ruin You
Activist Abbie Hoffman on his father: “Until the day he died, he always blamed Brandeis for my corruption, be it divorce, dope, hippies, or schvartzes, he always ended up cursing Brandeis.”
There’s a Difference
Last night, twenty of us gathered to discuss Mev’s The Struggle is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation. People ranged in age from 20 to 65; some of us knew Mev personally, others had read…
Our Wars
On David Harris, Our War (Random House, 1996) Today there exist tremendous and unprecedented possibilities for knowing the reality of our world just as it is, with all that it has in it of anti-kingdom…
An Unpayable Debt
Upon beginning Martha Hess’s book, Then the Americans Came: Voices from Vietnam, I was immediately reminded of my late wife Mev Puleo who embarked on a similar project at about the same time as Hess….
Deep Listening
“I’m sorry. We Americans have never taken responsibility for what we did.” –Lady Borton Lady Borton worked for the American Friends Service Committee in South Vietnam from 1969-1971. A decade later, she assisted Vietnamese boat…