I’m not worried about the long run with these barbarians. They give off the whiff, the white heat of desperate knowledge. They know they’re done. It may take twenty or thirty years, hundreds or thousands of dead for that to come to completion. It won’t be pretty, but it is inevitable. We know it too. We understand […]
Tag: War
World Refugee Day
“Those who cannot remember the past, are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Thanks Barb.
The Soldiers’ Pocket Books That Legitimized Paperbacks
Even though pamphlets and softcover books have been available in Europe since the 16th century, US readers looked down on them until well into the 20th century. As a recent Atlas Obscura post by Cara Giaimo explains, without a mass-market distribution model in place, it was difficult to make money selling inexpensive books.
Although certain brands succeeded by partnering with department stores, individual booksellers preferred to stock their shops with sturdier, better-looking hardbacks, for which they could charge higher prices. Even those who were trying to change the public’s mind bought into this prejudice: one paperback series, Modern Age Books, disguised its offerings as hardcovers, adding dust jackets and protective cardboard sleeves. They, too, couldn’t hack it in the market, and the company folded in the 1940s.
Wartime Reading
Soldiers in Virginia wrangle with hardcover books donated through the VBC. Image via Atlas Obscura.
Then, war came. In September of…
View original post 1,156 more words
Democracy… no, sadly it is not.
Thank you Sally for your courage. There are very few words here that I haven’t said myself, not that anyone was listening. My only disagreement would be on the views of Western Europe regarding the American Image. I’ve been living the past decade in Western Europe and find that the image is faded, tattered and torn. For those sitting on the fence, drop what you are doing and do yourself a favor. Start by reading The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn.
Why I have Always Hated Independence Day (July 4th) in the USA I am not the only one, either. Fireworks I could enjoy the fireworks from a great distance and up high, only. Sometimes I could get to my own or someone else’s rooftop or high window and watch from afar and admire the colors […]
via Why I have Always Hated Independence Day in the USA — Sally Ember, Ed.D.
Division
“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” – George Orwell
“One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
–
Division
An adage I heard often
As a little girl
The bigger they are
The harder they…
Beyond cracked,or tectonics
Seams rival Grand Canyon
Each day new fissures appear
America, broken the
Faults emerging everywhere
Targeting everyone, who
Isn’t part of the problem
There is no unity
States could not be
More divided
Your moral compass sank
Can the ship be far behind?
You cannot make
America great again,
By subjugation, violence
Hatred is the the brand name
We know who is selling it
Bisous,
Léa
Mind’s eye
Originally posted on 31 December 2011
“Wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“The first casualty when war comes is truth.” – Hiram Johnson
Mind’s eye
My father fought
A war
Years before
My birth
As I grew up
I watched him
Fight it
Again and again
His sinewy hands
Trembled
As he pried apart
Venetian blinds
Scouting the enemy invasion
Of our suburban neighborhood
Armed with a bottle of juice
A newspaper
Or any other munitions
At hand
He held his ground
Paralyzed
By his reality
Bisous,
Léa
When the eagle lands: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
“History with all her volumes vast, hath but one page.” – Lord Byron
“Is it only in the army in the Philippines that Americans sometimes commit deeds that cause all other Americans to regret?” – Theodore Roosevelt
“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man objected and no man rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.” – Clarence Darrow
When the eagle lands: Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
Despite luggage filled
With packages of raisins
Jars of peanut butter
And other edibles as
Directed by Huyen
I felt as the guest who
Shows up for the feast
Empty handed – on arrival
In Da Nang
Despite numerous trips to
Tijuana in my youth
This traveler was not
Prepared for the depth
Of poverty – starvation,
Suffering at every turn
It was easy to spot
Hidden behind toothless grins
The kind gentle hands
Welcoming this foreigner
Whose generous form was
Warmly and securely enveloped in
Skeletal arms – for those still able
Fragile, contorted bodies in
Wheel chairs or makeshift
Gurneys – smile with what is
Left to them – perhaps the light
Radiating from their eyes
Their parents exposed to
Agent orange – a gift
In their own best interest
Bestowed by America,
Monsanto and Dow Chemical
The same Monsanto producing
Between 70% – 100% of all
Genetically Modified seeds
Declare war on life itself
Flashbacks of mutilated bodies
Float into my periphery
As the chemical giants
Tally ill gotten gains – where
Will they strike next?
MARS, GENERAL MILLS,
KRAFT, NESTLE, PEPSICO,
KELLOGG’S, COCA COLA
UNILEVER – make up to
90% of food at your
Neighborhood grocery retailer
Under the auspices of your
Elected officials – whose pockets
Deeply lined from corporate coffers
Sociopath ideology; no empathy, no remorse, no guilt, no shame
The masses complain and complain
Yet fail to alter consumptive practices
One month, we walked the streets
Of Da Nang – handing out sacks of
Rice and other foodstuff
Twelve years later
Yet I still feel like screaming
Alone into my pillow
“Out, damned spot! Out, I say
*
Peace
Léa
Victory in Europe
Victory in Europe
No
I was not
Even a gleam
In my father’s eye
As he marched into
Paris
Teeth clenched
Jaw drawn tight
It was years
Before
*
Yet today
I stood with
My village
And thought of
Him
And others
I would never
Know
*
Many laid down
Their lives
Others carried their
Scars back home
Like my father’s
A war he never
stopped fighting
Not all scars
Can be seen
*
Another war
Many years before
Both grandfathers
Trod this precious soil
Though they never knew
Each other
Both went home
With damaged lungs
TB and the other
Mustard gas
*
One I was never
To meet
Yet today
As Europe
Honours those
Who sacrificed
I stood with my village
In the land they fought for
The land that I love
And remembered
Them
*
Bisous,
Léa
Mind’s eye
“The first casualty when war comes is truth.”
-Hiram Johnson
Mind’s eye
My father fought
A war
Years before
My birth
As I grew up
I watched him
Fight it
Again and again
His sinewy hands
Trembled
As he pried apart
Venetian blinds
Scouting the enemy invasion
Of our suburban neighborhood
Armed with a bottle of juice
A newspaper
Or any other munitions
At hand
He held his ground
Paralyzed
By his reality
Bisous,
– Léa
poetry, photos and musings oh my! 