Elvia Alvarado
Our Latin America Reading Group will discuss Elvia Alvarado’s testimony, Don’t Be Afraid, Gringo on Thursday 30 May at 7 p.m. at Café Ventana. I imagine Elvia meeting up with Che And the revolutionary…
Category: Activists
Norman Morrison
Now, maybe some U.S. citizens over 65 Remember the name “Norman Morrison” But many people in Vietnam of all ages Know that name The young Quaker immolated himself in 1965 Deliberately close to Robert McNamara’s…
Mark Chmiel is Made of Non-Mark Chmiel Elements
Thich Nhat Hanh teaches out of the Buddhist tradition: There is no separate self capable of existing on its own One thing is connected to so much else The sheet of paper is made of…
Dorothee Sölle Collage
Why had I never noticed the number of sick people who appear in the Gospels? Who or what made them sick? It was not theologians who invented the cross, rather, the Roman Empire thought up…
Mechaiehs
Mechaiaeh… Pronounced m’KHY-eh, to rhyme with “messiah.” The kh sound is, of course, the way a MacTavish would roll it out. From Hebrew. Pleasure, great enjoyment, a real joy. … Mechaieh comes from the Hebrew…
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…
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…