I’ve been in a ferment since Sunday evening. The kind that begins with strange dreams I can’t remember when I wake up. They aren’t frightening or foreboding, though they’re regularly about circumstances that Read the rest of this entry »
one atop another
grief teeters
tiny fists
clench defiantly
storm heaven
fallen comrades
gather round
cold drizzle
and fierce gusts
notwithstanding
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Cairn O’ Mount in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It’s the last day Read the rest of this entry »
The first time a blogger nominated me for an award, I didn’t know what to do. Was I happy? Yes! Thrown into inner turmoil? Yes! It felt like an interruption that would derail my writing.
I decided Read the rest of this entry »
It’s January 2010, already past my bedtime. A friend is driving D and me to visit the old Cairo bazaar. Vehicles and people fill the streets and sidewalks, including families enjoying the cool night air. Read the rest of this entry »
Elouise and Diane (Sister #3) playing Carrom in Savannah, Georgia, June 1967.
When I was young, I became addicted to at least two ‘parlor’ games. They may not have been the greatest games going, but neither was on my father’s list of R-rated games. Besides, Read the rest of this entry »
I can’t remember when D sent me this cartoon. I do remember taking one look and saying I’ll NEVER post that cartoon!
So why not? Read the rest of this entry »
As requested by John, here’s a challenge photo for your challenge story.
Anyone else out there Read the rest of this entry »
Painting by John William Waterhouse (1849-1917), Tate Gallery, London
In 1983 I began teaching theology at a seminary in the Philadelphia area. Though my office was small, it had a window and built-in bookshelves on almost every wall. The other wall slanted in at the top–taking up precious space and head-room. Read the rest of this entry »
feet shuffle
down multiple aisles
approach the altar
sacraments of life
and death remembered
the sound of shoes
resonates against concrete
moves us to receive
hope for life and death
a crumb and a drop
spiritual food for body and soul
It’s 1980-something. Read the rest of this entry »
Russian women and children in underground bomb shelter, 1942
Women will always fear war more than men because they are mothers.
A woman will always have a baby, her own or her children’s in her arms.
She will always be tormented by fear for her children,
the fear that one day she might be a witness to their own deaths.
Natalya Baranskaya, Russian Writer
It’s easy to think that in the USA we don’t have a long history of overt warfare. We do, however, have a history of covert warfare that is traumatic for those living with it daily on the streets, at home, in prisons, or in places of employment.
I recently began following Fiction & Development, a blog that uses fictional literary works to discover and highlight international development issues. I’ve linked to their recent review of selected literary works about women and children during times of war.
The reviewer points out that protection of women and children has often been used as a propaganda tool to persuade citizens to support war efforts. To this I would add, to persuade citizens to vote for this or that politician. Look at the box of quotes (not fictional) at the end of the review to see how world leaders have done this in recent years.
What woman or child doesn’t want safety? How does one vote against propaganda that assumes wartime creates lack of safety for women and children, or that going to war will make things safer for ‘our’ women and children? Put another way, how does one vote for the reality that all women and children are vulnerable at any time, and that the rhetoric of war denies this truth?
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Thanks to my blogging friend Herminia for inviting me to take part in this challenge! If you don’t know her already, check out her blog. Herminia is a go-getter. She doesn’t waste time or words. Every post is short and to the point.
Here are the rules for this challenge:
Here are my last three nominees:
No Rush and No Obligation ~ You don’t have to report in to anyone!
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 29 Sept 2015
Photo credit: Arkady Shaikhet, 1942, found at pinterest.com
Telling the Truth 