Facing the Facts
1. In fact, there is no way that I know of apprehending the world from within American culture (with a whole history of exterminism and incorporation behind it) without also apprehending the imperial contest itself. …
Category: Compositions
The Global Family
1. In the early days of the Cuban Revolution Che Guevara received a letter from a woman in Spain Her name, too, was Guevara She was curious to find out if they were related He…
When Hamlet Saw Sri Anandamayi Ma
What an uncanny phenomenon is this woman! How penetrating in perception! How infinite in faculties! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god!…
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…
What the President Says/What the First Calvary Sang
1. And one of the most painful chapters in our history was Vietnam – Most particularly, how we treated our troops who served there You were often blamed for a war you didn’t start When…
Somebody’s Lying
1. “The United States Army has never condoned wanton killing or disregard for human life.” –Major General Franklin Davis, Jr., 1971 2. “Murder, torture, rape, abuse, forced displacement, home burnings, specious arrests, imprisonment without due…
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…
Reading/Writing/Seeing
for Emily, Kelley, and Lindsay 1. In reality every reader is, while she is reading, the reader of her own self. The writer’s work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to…
Seeing
1. Since coming to Sri Ramakrishna, M. had lost all relish for lectures and for books written by English scholars. The only thing that appealed to him now was to see the Master day and…