False information has reached a crescendo, but it’s hardly a new phenomenon. Originally published in Saturday Evening Post. ON A RAINY MORNING IN MAY 1917, residents of Boise, Idaho, opened their city’s newspaper to see column after column of World War I dispatches. One report stood out from the rest. It topped page 4, next […]
Zero the Mind
The U.S. military is using mindfulness to tap into focused attention of troops under extreme stress. Will it adopt the practices? Should it? Originally published by Mindful Magazine. THE BELL RINGS, AND THE 21 CADETS in Major Matt Jarman’s leadership class at Virginia Military Institute stand at attention as their highest-ranking classmate salutes the professor. […]
A Voice of Dissent in the GOP
Haunted by his vote to authorize the Iraq War, the Republican congressman is standing up against US military actions. Originally published in The Nation. ON THE DAY IN LATE JANUARY that I interviewed Walter Jones Jr. in his office in Greenville, North Carolina, the Republican congressman was feeling particularly apocalyptic. He had just read a […]
Lifting the Emotional Embargo in Cuba
An unorthodox blend of anthropology and poetry is cultivating reunion and reconciliation among people and cultures that have been estranged for decades. Originally published in Sapiens. THE JUNE HEAT WAS SO INTENSE, the air so still, that the open balcony doors offered little relief. Anthropologist Ruth Behar felt her clothes sticking as she looked over […]
Brothers in Arms
How two friends came to rest side by side at Arlington National Cemetery. Originally published in Parade. ON MEMORIAL DAY 2004, TRAVIS MANION, a newly commissioned Marine officer, went to cheer on his roommate and best friend, Brendan Looney, at the national lacrosse championship in Baltimore. It was an emotional afternoon. Three days earlier, both […]
Women Vets: A Battle All Their Own
While female service members confront the same problems as male veterans, they also face distinct struggles. Originally published in Parade. WHEN STACY KEYTE WAS DEPLOYED Iraq in 2005, her life as a young wife and mother had just begun to take shape. She had a 15-month-old son, Caleb, a happy boy who loved dancing around […]
Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid
When an American ex-diplomat decided to re-create an icon from Casablanca in Morocco, it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. A different version of this story was published in American Way. THE EVENING I LANDED IN CASABLANCA, Morocco, I decided to lose myself in the Ancienne Médina, the old walled quartier that butts up […]
Tomorrow’s wars
An interview with Sherri Goodman about climate change and military readiness Originally published in On Earth. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA’S NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE director, Dennis Blair, warned the Senate in February of a growing threat to global security. Climate change, he said, could affect “domestic stability in a number of key states, the opening of new sea lanes and […]
A Mean Machine
For all its combativeness, the Republican National Convention failed the address the country’s most fundamental issues. Scenes from a week in St. Paul. Originally published in Indy Week. THE VETERANS MARCHED IN LOCKSTEP as they approached the Minneapolis State Capitol, which sits on a hill overlooking downtown St. Paul. Some wore Army greens. Others wore camouflage […]
RNC Day 3: Young, But Not for Obama
More than two years after his father died in Afghanistan, a North Carolina guest at the GOP convention reflects on the war. Originally published in Indy Week. THIS WEEK, AS NICK OCHSNER ATTENDS THE Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., the Elon University sophomore can’t listen to all the pro-military speeches without thinking about his father. Sgt. […]
