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.
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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.
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