ARGONAUT NEWS: Finding Sura

Twelve years after the bombs fell on Baghdad, the enduring spirit of one Iraqi girl remains unforgettable http://argonautnews.com/living-large-in-limbo-finding-sura/ Twelve years ago this week I sat in my Santa Monica apartment glued to coverage of President George W. Bush’s “shock and awe” campaign against Baghdad. The surreal images of bombs exploding in the night sky were […] Read more »

ARGONAUT NEWS: Life Beyond Politics

Sometimes to find yourself you have to leave everything else behind… http://argonautnews.com/living-large-in-limbo-life-beyond-politics/ I got into politics to change the world. I got out of it when politics changed me. For 30 years I was a political activist living in Santa Monica, working with dynamic women to help create Heal the Bay, preserve the Ballona Wetlands […] Read more »

IRAQ: How the U.S. Can Stop ISIS – Peacefully

Before we hear Pres. Obama’s national address tonight, where he is expected to make the case for a “limited,” three-year “boots on the ground” reinvasion of Iraq (in addition to the 1,000 troops currently stationed there), let’s hit the pause button and consider non-military options. Yes, ISIS, a brutal offshoot of al-Qaeda that stretches from […] Read more »

BOOK: “Tongue-Tied” Singled Out by Reviewer

So, here’s something cool: A book reviewer singled out my essay in The Chalk Circle — an award-winning anthology of award-winning essays — as one that particularly touched her. (That’s me on the cover! No, not the old woman, the one eating the ice cream…natch…) TheMomEgg.com Book Review Download an mp3 of Tell only the […] Read more »

IRAQ: Canceling Baghdad…

If Marla Ruzicka had penned her own obituary, she would have written about Faiz Ali Salim, her 43-year-old Iraqi driver and aide in documenting the impact of the US-led invasion on Iraqi civilians. While US troops were bombing, Marla was bonding, literally canvassing door-to-door in Baghdadi neighborhoods in order to count the number of civilian […] Read more »