feeling is mutual-- the blog!

4/18/2007

Monday night Chris and I stayed up past our bedtime to watch "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience" – the latest powerful installment of the Iraq War documentary series "America at a Crossroads" which is playing all this week on PBS.

The documentary, which features a variety of dramatic readings and author interviews, showcases several works from the pens of soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For as much as the media has documented the war in Iraq, I've seldom viewed any coverage that truly expresses the human emotions and struggles of those who are most involved. I have never before been exposed to anything as heart wrenchingly honest as the stories of these soldiers. The documentary is tragic and intensely beautiful in an indescribable way.

The Iraq War has become so politicized that, to most people, it's become just one more issue to polarize the nation. We discuss the war, but do we even realize what we're talking about? We've turned it into an abstract idea when there is nothing more concrete than what these men and women are going through. We, as civilians, have become far too removed and far too complacent.

Watching this film – listening to the first hand accounts – has humanized the war for me and given me a much deeper appreciation for the nightmare these people endure. With each vignette I understood that, soldier or civilian, we are all the same. That soldier on screen fighting fear and dust and boredom could just as easily be my husband, or my brother... or me.

Labels: literature, pbs, tv, war

posted at 11:34 AM

2 comments

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4/06/2007

Has anyone in this vast community of the interwebs read any books out of "The Voice" project? Lauren Winner's contribution,The Voice of Matthew, recently popped up on my amazon recommended list, and I was thinking about making the buy. Not that it's a huge purchase or anything but my "to read" shelf is becoming a little daunting.

It's snowing here in Oklahoma... It's EASTER for crying out loud. I am NOT okay with this. However, it did provide me with a nice opportunity for an "I told you so" since it took some prodding to get Chris to cover the tomato plants last night. I won't say it out loud because, as you know, I am the world's most perfect wife. My inner monologue is quite the harpy though.

Labels: books christianity, life, oklahoma

posted at 11:49 AM

2 comments

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I was recently chastised by my father for being a little heavy on the Obama. I tried to explain that I'm not obsessed with the campaign... I'm just lazy about posting, so it just looks that way.
There are two solutions to the problem of perceived over-obamanation: 1) Create an entire post on the positive aspects of one republican pundit of my dad's choice in order to create balance. 2) Post more often.
I'll go with upping my post frequency since I'm tired and, as admitted above, lazy. Dad would probably choose someone like Ann Coulter anyway and, while I enjoy a challenge, I don't think my fragile soul could take it.

Things I'm enjoying at the moment.
1. Online Comics
2. New curtains in the studio
3. Today at work we're ordering biscuits for breakfast. ROCK!
4. New art in the mail from Ashleyg! Thank you!
5. Tiny Showcase
6. Rollie Fingers