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Closet of Anxieties Politics War and Peace

They Say

Sound bytes are eating my brain. Make it stop!

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Closet of Anxieties Politics The USA War and Peace

Here it Comes

I’m sipping coffee on the back porch, listening to the crickets and the frogs. Their pitch is slurred, slowed by a drop in temperature and punctuated with crow calls. Our crepe myrtles shed golden droplets, like lazy shooting stars, always just outside my field of vision. I stare at one leaf, twirling madly on its […]

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Nicaragua The USA War and Peace

Two Days in September

On September 11, I logged into Facebook and found myself scrolling past a minefield of 9/11-themed posts. I bristled each time I saw “never forget,” that war cry without an exit plan. I hated that this national tragedy had come to be an excuse for revenge, and was frightened by how nationalism has hijacked patriotism. […]

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Happiness Horses War and Peace

Dear Santa

Dear Santa I’d like a pony this year, and world peace for Bob, please. Again, I know. It seems silly to ask for the same things every year, but old habits are hard to break. Both Bob and I were very well behaved this year. We didn’t fight much, we kept the house clean, and […]

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Politics Travel War and Peace

Kill Chicken, Start World War III

“Kill chicken, show monkey,” the Chinese doorman at the Tianjin Hyatt shrugged in reference to a geopolitical news story. This was in 1998 when Bob and I were working in northern China, living in a hotel, absorbing all the nuances of the Far East. I pictured emboldened macaques terrorizing a barnyard flock, the farmer stomping […]