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…

The Cry of Vietnam

Published in 1968, The Cry of Vietnam is a short collection of heart-breaking poems and stirring drawings by Thich Nhat Hanh and Vo-Dinh. The book’s epigraph is taken from the classic Vietnamese work, The Tale…

The Struggle Is One

“In Portuguese, a luta, or in Spanish, la lucha, is the struggle for survival, the struggle to bring about the Reign of God: a piece of bread, a plot of land, a just wage, a…

Litany/2 (¡Presente!)

The following was near the end in the original version of The Book of Mev. Ignacio Ellacuría, engaged intellectual, credible witness, Fearless announcer of God’s Kingdom . . . ¡Presente! Ordinary eco-friendly folk, hallowers of…