American Ingenuity

[Daisy Cutters were] so named because they were designed to explode just above the ground so the main force of the explosion was horizontal in order to cause the maximum destruction at ground level. The…

A Writer and His Readers

And nothing would make me happier than having made it possible for some of my readers to recognize their own experiences, difficulties, questionings, sufferings, and so on, in mine, and to draw from that realistic…

McNamara and Co./2

I’d chain all of the politicians to that haunting Vietnam memorial and have them read—slowly—every name aloud. Then the war would end for me. Take all of them, all of them who gave us the…

McNamara and Co./1

In his 1995 book, In Retrospect Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara [translation: former Secretary of Aggression) Made an apology to the American public For the harms brought to the country Because of his unwillingness…

What Some Americans Say (1970)

The Vietnamese and we have indelibly stamped each other with our marks. We have destroyed beyond hope of remaking parts of their ancient culture; they have destroyed our innocence and belief in our own goodness….

A Little Perspective

You can plan for five hundred years, but you don’t know what will happen in the next moment. –Neem Karoli Baba, quoted in Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush, Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of…

You Are My Hero

“… le dur désir de durer…” –Paul Eluard “You are my Hero” Yes, that’s what I inscribed In your copy of The Book of Mev No, I am not putting you on a pedestal Proclaiming…

How Sha Concluded Her E-Mail

Thank you for being here or anywhere else with grateful heart to have connection with people I wish you enjoy every moment of your life –Sha Li was a delightful student in my Humanities and…