My favorite supporter-of-authors, Amazon.com, is sponsoring "Cell Phones for Soldiers--Help Our Troops Call Home" by enclosing a free business reply mail envelope with the orders they are fulfilling. All we have to do is pop our old cell phone into the envelope, seal and slip it into the mailbox. Easy! And it keeps electronics out of landfills. Thank you Amazon!
If you want to contribute, you can send your cell phone on your own. Send it to:
Cell Phone Recycling Center
2555 Bishop Cir W
Dexter, MI 48130-9828
Or check www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Our Soldiers and Others
Just a quick post here. You'll get a few of these posts on good reading. After all, I am an author and poet and so I figure it's my duty (Ha!) to let you know about published books that deal with any of this blogs subjects and/or the way I see them as intertwined.
The first is a new novel by Israeli Ron Lesham and translated by Evan Fallenberg. It is Beaufort. LA Times reviewer Tim Rutten suggests it is a "defining novel of men in combat," particulary men in the the ongoing Israeli Wars. It is published by Delacorte. I'm thinking readers of this blog may not want to miss this book.
Readers of this blog may also want to check out My City by the Sea, a book of poems by Gary Carter. It includes a poem called "Universal Soldier." Carter has been honored by the Military Writers' Society of America. To order it send an e-mail to Gary at ngcarter@harborside.com.
Please note that these books will be listed under recommended books in the resource segments you find at the bottom of this blog.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
The first is a new novel by Israeli Ron Lesham and translated by Evan Fallenberg. It is Beaufort. LA Times reviewer Tim Rutten suggests it is a "defining novel of men in combat," particulary men in the the ongoing Israeli Wars. It is published by Delacorte. I'm thinking readers of this blog may not want to miss this book.
Readers of this blog may also want to check out My City by the Sea, a book of poems by Gary Carter. It includes a poem called "Universal Soldier." Carter has been honored by the Military Writers' Society of America. To order it send an e-mail to Gary at ngcarter@harborside.com.
Please note that these books will be listed under recommended books in the resource segments you find at the bottom of this blog.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Holiday Wishes: Hang in There for the Viet War Memorial (-:
I want to send my blog visitors holiday wishes!
I'm including a Christmas prose poem, which means that even those of you who may not be much for poetry should find it accessible. Even those of you who don't celebrate Christmas may find its message of peace pertinent. It is my take on what would happen if the creche the city fathers and mothers of Malibu place on the cliffside overlooking the Pacific came to life, started a pilgrimage and ended up at the Viet Warm Memorial.
Out of Malibu: America's Fulfillment of Prophecy
Prophecy: "Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
the one to be ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting."
Malibu celebrates the young son's birthday. Every November the city installs a family of balsa on this bluff in a lean-to, here where they would feel at home -- if they could feel. Sunshine. familiar palms. A sea like Sinai's. Unintended, they become graven images, feet statue-still. Once they were folk, now they're revered, waiting, waiting for a miracle to come. Their design never to be worshipped, they ask this night of nights for compassion. And, lo! A birthday gift in this new age. A white star in LA's skies, usually seen dim through Pacific's fog, now a silver sequin. Their feet quicken from carvings to flesh, their robes soften, the child's skin now luminescent wears still a circlet of strawflowers placed on his head by Our Lady of Malibu's first grade class. The choice to stay or go away now theirs, they leave behind those who thought they loved them but imposed burdens beyond endurance. They travel interstate byroads at night when they will not frighten other sojourners, they -- homeless, shoeless, unfamiliar robes, faces still immobile from decades practicing the art of crèche. Now, in mountain blizzard -- unlike weather they had ever known -- a new kind of pageant, idols unnoticed in the snow. A trek, an adventure, a calling! As Chaucer's pilgrims sought redemption, they trudge East. The babe burrows for warmth beneath its father's robes. Here an arch marks a river, mighty as any they had seen, this monster land, roads like veins, Mapquest's blue design. Unlike worshippers, they follow no light but their own, come upon an open swath, Washington's obelisk, rotunda like Rome's, somehow their kin, erected for the ages. Beneath their feet the Post, sodden, headline bawls War. Fine drizzle diffused by starlight they stand before another, newer wailing wall, a granite gash. This, this! their destination. Rain turns to doilies (as this small tribe turned from human tissue to wood and back again), decorates their cloaks, caps, hoods, slides down the polished façade before them. Wet-white punctuations attach themselves to incised names on this family’s own reflected images. The infant reaches out his hand to quench the flow.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of a chapbook of poetry, Tracings, published by Finishing Line Press, available on Amazon. It was named to the Compulsive Readers Top Ten Reads list and was honored for excellence by the Military Writers' Society of America.
I'm including a Christmas prose poem, which means that even those of you who may not be much for poetry should find it accessible. Even those of you who don't celebrate Christmas may find its message of peace pertinent. It is my take on what would happen if the creche the city fathers and mothers of Malibu place on the cliffside overlooking the Pacific came to life, started a pilgrimage and ended up at the Viet Warm Memorial.
Out of Malibu: America's Fulfillment of Prophecy
Prophecy: "Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
the one to be ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting."
Malibu celebrates the young son's birthday. Every November the city installs a family of balsa on this bluff in a lean-to, here where they would feel at home -- if they could feel. Sunshine. familiar palms. A sea like Sinai's. Unintended, they become graven images, feet statue-still. Once they were folk, now they're revered, waiting, waiting for a miracle to come. Their design never to be worshipped, they ask this night of nights for compassion. And, lo! A birthday gift in this new age. A white star in LA's skies, usually seen dim through Pacific's fog, now a silver sequin. Their feet quicken from carvings to flesh, their robes soften, the child's skin now luminescent wears still a circlet of strawflowers placed on his head by Our Lady of Malibu's first grade class. The choice to stay or go away now theirs, they leave behind those who thought they loved them but imposed burdens beyond endurance. They travel interstate byroads at night when they will not frighten other sojourners, they -- homeless, shoeless, unfamiliar robes, faces still immobile from decades practicing the art of crèche. Now, in mountain blizzard -- unlike weather they had ever known -- a new kind of pageant, idols unnoticed in the snow. A trek, an adventure, a calling! As Chaucer's pilgrims sought redemption, they trudge East. The babe burrows for warmth beneath its father's robes. Here an arch marks a river, mighty as any they had seen, this monster land, roads like veins, Mapquest's blue design. Unlike worshippers, they follow no light but their own, come upon an open swath, Washington's obelisk, rotunda like Rome's, somehow their kin, erected for the ages. Beneath their feet the Post, sodden, headline bawls War. Fine drizzle diffused by starlight they stand before another, newer wailing wall, a granite gash. This, this! their destination. Rain turns to doilies (as this small tribe turned from human tissue to wood and back again), decorates their cloaks, caps, hoods, slides down the polished façade before them. Wet-white punctuations attach themselves to incised names on this family’s own reflected images. The infant reaches out his hand to quench the flow.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of a chapbook of poetry, Tracings, published by Finishing Line Press, available on Amazon. It was named to the Compulsive Readers Top Ten Reads list and was honored for excellence by the Military Writers' Society of America.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Charlie Wilson's War: A Movie By and About Heroes
Charlie Wilson's War is a movie that took many heroes to make. George Crile, the amazing journalist/war reporter who wrote the book, Aaron Sorkin who has a knack for bringing unpleasant truths to the general public, Mike Nichols who does the same and manages to apply his incredible humor to them to make them palatable. Then there is Charlie Wilson himself, his helpmate Gust Avrakotos, his inspiration, Joanne Herring, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts who use their celebrity to encourage large numbers to consider what their government has been up to and what it may be up to.
I just completed a review for the Glendale News-Press. It is schedule to run Thursday, Dec. 28, for those who would like to see the entire thing. Here is a quotation from it:
"When Joanne questions him about the covert war they have just engineered, Charlie says, "There has never been anything like it . . . ." And there may not be. Charlie's War has its proud moments, its amazing moments, and many, many funny ones. But then there's that other sad thing about this movie, besides the fact that Crile never got to see his story on the screen. It's that that the war portrayed is really only unusual in its aspect of David-with-money against an unsuspecting Goliath. Since WWII there have been more than 300 so-called conflicts (as counted by the Red Cross in attendance) similar to the Afghan-Soviet war. Refugees. Suffering of children. Horrors unmentionable on the parts of the military and their governments. Unlike WWII -- a war we left with dignity -- we left this Afghan war and many other conflicts callously with little or no care for the war-stricken. We left them mo peace. Much poverty. We left them seeds for radicalism."
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson occasionally reviews movies for the Glendale News-Press, an LA Times affiliate. She wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
I just completed a review for the Glendale News-Press. It is schedule to run Thursday, Dec. 28, for those who would like to see the entire thing. Here is a quotation from it:
"When Joanne questions him about the covert war they have just engineered, Charlie says, "There has never been anything like it . . . ." And there may not be. Charlie's War has its proud moments, its amazing moments, and many, many funny ones. But then there's that other sad thing about this movie, besides the fact that Crile never got to see his story on the screen. It's that that the war portrayed is really only unusual in its aspect of David-with-money against an unsuspecting Goliath. Since WWII there have been more than 300 so-called conflicts (as counted by the Red Cross in attendance) similar to the Afghan-Soviet war. Refugees. Suffering of children. Horrors unmentionable on the parts of the military and their governments. Unlike WWII -- a war we left with dignity -- we left this Afghan war and many other conflicts callously with little or no care for the war-stricken. We left them mo peace. Much poverty. We left them seeds for radicalism."
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson occasionally reviews movies for the Glendale News-Press, an LA Times affiliate. She wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Help Soldiers. Little Ways. Big Ways
This post includes a resource for those casting about for something we can do other than put out yellow ribbons and send emotion-laden e-mails. This, like other ideas for doing something meaningful for our troops will become a permanent part of this blog. Scroll down to the element at the bottom of the page for more information and if you have any ideas, please let me know. Please include links or addresses necessary to follow through with help.
An organization known as Move-On is helping the USO provide thousands of phone cards to servicemen and women stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and around the world, so that they can call their friends, family, and loved ones this holiday season.
You can give $15 to buy a phone card for our troops.
They are doing that by helping the USO phone cards program. $15. will give a soldier several minutes visiting loved ones by phone. To chip in copy and paste this URL:
https://civ.moveon.org/donatec4/holiday_troops.html?id=11829-3256130-FOqrta&t=2
To learn more about the USO, a non-governmental, non-partisan organization, please visit www.uso.org.
------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
An organization known as Move-On is helping the USO provide thousands of phone cards to servicemen and women stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and around the world, so that they can call their friends, family, and loved ones this holiday season.
You can give $15 to buy a phone card for our troops.
They are doing that by helping the USO phone cards program. $15. will give a soldier several minutes visiting loved ones by phone. To chip in copy and paste this URL:
https://civ.moveon.org/donatec4/holiday_troops.html?id=11829-3256130-FOqrta&t=2
To learn more about the USO, a non-governmental, non-partisan organization, please visit www.uso.org.
------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Travis Before Iraq
This is a picture of Travis and his girlfriend BI2. That's before Iraq, the second time. It was taken near a famous rock in Colorado. One of the reasons I'm including this is because it was e-mailed to me from his other grandmother. At the bottom was this message:
NOTICE: Privacy of this message may have been breached by the National
Security Agency�s surveillance program as part of the Global War On
Terror. The NSA or other governmental agency currently has executive
authority to log, read and/or archive all electronic and some telephone
correspondences.
Now, I'm glad the NSA (National Security Agency) is taking such good care of us. And because this has a military flavor, I'm relatively sanguine about it. My worry is that such surveillance is being carried too far. I do appreciate their being open about it; I do hope I never see one of these on an e-mail that has nothing to do with the military. (-: I believe we must be cautious, of course, but I also believe that if we lose our freedome of speech, those who would see us doomed will have won.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Returning Our Wounded to Health
In the spirit of dialogue and support, I invite (and sometimes accept) essays, poetry, stories and editorial on War, Peace, Tolerance and Our Soldiers. And about how they relate to one another. This is from Yvonne Perry, author and owner of Authors in the Sky Creative Services.
The Lancet is a highly respected British medical journal, which estimated in December 2006 (over a year ago) that 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the war that started in 2003. That’s almost twice the estimated 300,000 people killed by Saddam Hussein during his 23 years of brutal rule. More American soldiers have died in the Iraq war (3,008 and counting) than were killed in the 9-11 attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania (2,794). A growing number of conservatives openly challenging the Bush administration’s war tactics have agreed that a full military victory to establish democracy in Iraq is not possible. Senator John McCain said American troops in Iraq were “fighting and dying for a failed policy.”
Nevertheless, the war rages on and many of our loved ones such as my dear friend Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s son continues to fight on our behalf.
What about those soldiers who come home from war with serious injuries? What help is available to them? Blastocystic (embryonic) stem cell research might have produced a cure for spinal cord injury or at least given hope to soldiers and others who suffer with debilitating disease and medical conditions had our president not vetoed The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. He vetoed it not once, but twice. All the legislation wanted to do was change the law to allow the creation date of the cells produced via in vitro fertilization to 2007. This would only include blastocysts belonging to couples who no longer need them for reproductive purposes. These cells would have otherwise been discarded.
The Bush administration already allows federal funding for cells produced prior to August 2001. These NIH-approved cell lines that were supposed to have such great promise have been found to be unusable for research purposes because they were developed using animal feeder layers of cells. Being created in such a manner poses a risk of contamination with mouse viruses or proteins making these cell lines clinically unviable for human research or for treating diseases in humans. These cells are clearly inadequate to advance stem cell science, let alone to take that science from the lab to the bedside. Furthermore, there are only about 19 cell lines remaining and they do not represent a wide variety of genetic diversity.
Since 2001, scientists have developed techniques for establishing embryonic stem cell lines without using mouse cells. Researchers say that the Bush-approved lines are hard to work with, and most stem cell researchers won’t bother trying to grow new lines from them in the lab. The knowledge of how to work with the old lines is obsolete, and researchers who are new to this field do not have the “old” knowledge. Instead, they possess cutting-edge and up-to-date skills in working with newer lines that are easier to work with because they renew more quickly for reproducibility. These new lines would include diversity in race and genetic types. What is so significant about a date? If the U.S. is willing to fund research on a limited number of IV-Bs, then why not fund research on all of them? It could mean the difference in a US soldier being able to support his family. It could be your loved one who might be able to walk again.
We’ve wasted enough energy protesting something that might be used for the good of millions of suffering Americans. The war will hopefully be over soon and it is my prayer that all our soldiers are returned safely home. For those who do come home with paralyzed limbs, I pray that funding for blastocystic stem cell research will be released and that the technology will provide cures and treatments for those who have served our country.
Unfortunately, the very same President who sent our loved ones to war has prevented any chance for their recovery through the very promising stem cells derived from what might be considered medical garbage. Religious beliefs and the spread of false information by right-wing extremists should not stand in the way of humanitarian policy-making in the US.
The only way we are going to discover the potential contained in blastocyst stem cell technology is to allow research to take place, and that requires many funds that could be appropriated from government programs that are wasting taxpayers’ money.
The Bush veto and controversy over stem cell research is totally unnecessary. If only people knew the truth about the biology of the research. The misinformation out there bothered me enough to provoke me to write a book about it. My purpose is to educate folks so they can make their own decisions about whether or not to support blastocystic stem cell research. Even if you don’t purchase my book, I invite you to visit my blog
and learn as much as you can about this important science.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
The Lancet is a highly respected British medical journal, which estimated in December 2006 (over a year ago) that 650,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the war that started in 2003. That’s almost twice the estimated 300,000 people killed by Saddam Hussein during his 23 years of brutal rule. More American soldiers have died in the Iraq war (3,008 and counting) than were killed in the 9-11 attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania (2,794). A growing number of conservatives openly challenging the Bush administration’s war tactics have agreed that a full military victory to establish democracy in Iraq is not possible. Senator John McCain said American troops in Iraq were “fighting and dying for a failed policy.”
Nevertheless, the war rages on and many of our loved ones such as my dear friend Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s son continues to fight on our behalf.
What about those soldiers who come home from war with serious injuries? What help is available to them? Blastocystic (embryonic) stem cell research might have produced a cure for spinal cord injury or at least given hope to soldiers and others who suffer with debilitating disease and medical conditions had our president not vetoed The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. He vetoed it not once, but twice. All the legislation wanted to do was change the law to allow the creation date of the cells produced via in vitro fertilization to 2007. This would only include blastocysts belonging to couples who no longer need them for reproductive purposes. These cells would have otherwise been discarded.
The Bush administration already allows federal funding for cells produced prior to August 2001. These NIH-approved cell lines that were supposed to have such great promise have been found to be unusable for research purposes because they were developed using animal feeder layers of cells. Being created in such a manner poses a risk of contamination with mouse viruses or proteins making these cell lines clinically unviable for human research or for treating diseases in humans. These cells are clearly inadequate to advance stem cell science, let alone to take that science from the lab to the bedside. Furthermore, there are only about 19 cell lines remaining and they do not represent a wide variety of genetic diversity.
Since 2001, scientists have developed techniques for establishing embryonic stem cell lines without using mouse cells. Researchers say that the Bush-approved lines are hard to work with, and most stem cell researchers won’t bother trying to grow new lines from them in the lab. The knowledge of how to work with the old lines is obsolete, and researchers who are new to this field do not have the “old” knowledge. Instead, they possess cutting-edge and up-to-date skills in working with newer lines that are easier to work with because they renew more quickly for reproducibility. These new lines would include diversity in race and genetic types. What is so significant about a date? If the U.S. is willing to fund research on a limited number of IV-Bs, then why not fund research on all of them? It could mean the difference in a US soldier being able to support his family. It could be your loved one who might be able to walk again.
We’ve wasted enough energy protesting something that might be used for the good of millions of suffering Americans. The war will hopefully be over soon and it is my prayer that all our soldiers are returned safely home. For those who do come home with paralyzed limbs, I pray that funding for blastocystic stem cell research will be released and that the technology will provide cures and treatments for those who have served our country.
Unfortunately, the very same President who sent our loved ones to war has prevented any chance for their recovery through the very promising stem cells derived from what might be considered medical garbage. Religious beliefs and the spread of false information by right-wing extremists should not stand in the way of humanitarian policy-making in the US.
The only way we are going to discover the potential contained in blastocyst stem cell technology is to allow research to take place, and that requires many funds that could be appropriated from government programs that are wasting taxpayers’ money.
The Bush veto and controversy over stem cell research is totally unnecessary. If only people knew the truth about the biology of the research. The misinformation out there bothered me enough to provoke me to write a book about it. My purpose is to educate folks so they can make their own decisions about whether or not to support blastocystic stem cell research. Even if you don’t purchase my book, I invite you to visit my blog
and learn as much as you can about this important science.
-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Today My Grandson Leaves for Iraq--Again. Here's What We Can Do
On this, the day my grandson flies from his base in Colorado to Iraq, I thought I'd begin this blog with a letter published in the Glendale News-Press. The city had decided to hang banners supporting our toops. As you can see, I had mixed emotions about that:
As a writer I am a proponent of the power of words. Put those words on a banner and the effect may be even greater.
Nevertheless the idea of our city's spending a large sum of money on banners (see GNP Thursday, Aug 23, 2007 Page A3) when so much needs to be done for our troops bothers me. In the past I've blogged to encourage our citizenry—in the midst of a fervor of well-deserved support for our troops—to do more than pass around patriotic photos of troops on the Web, wave flags or, yes, hang banners. We need to do more because many of the military issues we heard about in the past have not gone away. Here are a few:
1. A huge number of soldiers still earn beneath the poverty level of a citizen of the US.
2. Many veterans, including a poet friend of mine who suffers from PTSD, are not receiving the medical benefits they were promised and deserve.
3. I'm not sure about the flak jacket and armored vehicles snafu (my grandson who just returned from Iraq said he was issued his flaks) but last I heard there were some 10,000 faulty ones that hadn't been recalled out of 30,000.
4. Benefits for our soldiers (general ones—not just health benefits) have been cut in the last few years, not increased.
5. Most of our soldiers called up from the reserves—some of them for the third time—do not receive education benefits when they return home.
Besides a blog and letter here and there, I've donated a foreword to a book that supports Fisher House, a Ronald McDonald's House type service that provides homes for the families of wounded servicemen and women being treated overseas. It doesn't feel as if it's doing any good.
It may seem a bit ridiculous to say, considering that I'm writing this letter, but I'm about worded out. Still, perhaps because my grandson is in the military soon to return to Iraq for the second time, I just can't let go. So here are a few ideas that don't necessarily take a lot of time or money (but could if one was so disposed.):
1. Let's donate to the USO. Or Fisher House (the charitable organization I mentioned above. If everyone sent a dollar, we could make a huge difference.
2. Send letters and care packages overseas. Make that gift something that the guys and gals need so they won't have to spend their precious salaries on things that are cheaper here at our local CVS. Some churches have overseas programs in place.
4. Send similar gifts to the soldiers who are back in the US after a tour of duty. Many of them have had their tours extended--involuntarily--and will be going back to the desert sand soon.
5. Write letters to your congress people and our President about the benefits our new vets (and yes, our Viet vets!) aren't getting. And, yes, send letters of thanks, too, when they actually vote for something that supports them.
6. And, when you see a soldier at your local Italian restaurant, don't just offer, buy the guy (or gal) a meal on the Q.T.. Not out of charity. Out of thanks.
Now about those banners. If we must put up banners, perhaps they could include calls to action? Maybe one or more of the suggestions above, complete with URLs to make helping easier.
------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
As a writer I am a proponent of the power of words. Put those words on a banner and the effect may be even greater.
Nevertheless the idea of our city's spending a large sum of money on banners (see GNP Thursday, Aug 23, 2007 Page A3) when so much needs to be done for our troops bothers me. In the past I've blogged to encourage our citizenry—in the midst of a fervor of well-deserved support for our troops—to do more than pass around patriotic photos of troops on the Web, wave flags or, yes, hang banners. We need to do more because many of the military issues we heard about in the past have not gone away. Here are a few:
1. A huge number of soldiers still earn beneath the poverty level of a citizen of the US.
2. Many veterans, including a poet friend of mine who suffers from PTSD, are not receiving the medical benefits they were promised and deserve.
3. I'm not sure about the flak jacket and armored vehicles snafu (my grandson who just returned from Iraq said he was issued his flaks) but last I heard there were some 10,000 faulty ones that hadn't been recalled out of 30,000.
4. Benefits for our soldiers (general ones—not just health benefits) have been cut in the last few years, not increased.
5. Most of our soldiers called up from the reserves—some of them for the third time—do not receive education benefits when they return home.
Besides a blog and letter here and there, I've donated a foreword to a book that supports Fisher House, a Ronald McDonald's House type service that provides homes for the families of wounded servicemen and women being treated overseas. It doesn't feel as if it's doing any good.
It may seem a bit ridiculous to say, considering that I'm writing this letter, but I'm about worded out. Still, perhaps because my grandson is in the military soon to return to Iraq for the second time, I just can't let go. So here are a few ideas that don't necessarily take a lot of time or money (but could if one was so disposed.):
1. Let's donate to the USO. Or Fisher House (the charitable organization I mentioned above. If everyone sent a dollar, we could make a huge difference.
2. Send letters and care packages overseas. Make that gift something that the guys and gals need so they won't have to spend their precious salaries on things that are cheaper here at our local CVS. Some churches have overseas programs in place.
4. Send similar gifts to the soldiers who are back in the US after a tour of duty. Many of them have had their tours extended--involuntarily--and will be going back to the desert sand soon.
5. Write letters to your congress people and our President about the benefits our new vets (and yes, our Viet vets!) aren't getting. And, yes, send letters of thanks, too, when they actually vote for something that supports them.
6. And, when you see a soldier at your local Italian restaurant, don't just offer, buy the guy (or gal) a meal on the Q.T.. Not out of charity. Out of thanks.
Now about those banners. If we must put up banners, perhaps they could include calls to action? Maybe one or more of the suggestions above, complete with URLs to make helping easier.
------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson wrote the foreword for Eric Dinyer's book of patriotic quotations, Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel. Part of the proceeds for the book benefit Fisher House. Her chapbook of poetry won the Military Writers Society of America's award of excellence.
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