Two incredible wrongs were done, two crimes committed. Two men are in prison, charged with these crimes, but I am confident that not everyone who is guilty will be charged. Aiding and abetting takes many forms. I am speaking of the murder of Khalid Jabara, a 37-year old man, on August 12 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, […]
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News in my email box this morning reminds me of how fortunate I am and prompts me to do something I have never done before—use this blog space to brag about it. It’s fair, I think. After all, this website relates to my memoir, In Borrowed Houses, and so does the news, indirectly. Aliki Barnstone […]
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The first paragraph of the preface to the American version of Radical tells us that Americans misunderstand Islam and Muslims misunderstand America. Consequently Maajid Nawaz feels that his book is an act of diplomacy, disguised as the story of his life. Indeed we learn from his story things very important for us to know. […]
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The Solution We Are Afraid to Try A relative of mine who had earlier divorced in his wife, created a scandal in our family with his relationship to another woman. There were two horrifying things about the relationship. First they were a man and a woman living together and not married. Second, she was black […]
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On the Fourth of July my husband and I happened to be in Dallas, Texas, where we were visiting a young couple from Lebanon. We have known the wife since she was a cute little seven year old. Now she has a hospitable husband and two handsome little boys. That evening we all drove […]
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Recently, while traveling, circumstances beyond my control caused me to become uncommonly hungry. Hunger is something I cannot endure well, because of a tendency to hypoglycemia. I have on occasions become dysfunctional, unable to think, and afterwards could not remember what I had done. But on the day I am speaking of, I just […]
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Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, whoever he was down deep, whatever his motivation, regardless of his legal right to own an assault weapon, has done more than he could have expected to do when he planned to slaughter a roomful of unsuspecting people. He may not have intended to play into the hands of a reckless […]
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Memorial Day is a perfect time to commend and defend the soldiers whom we as a country have burdened with tasks risky to their bodies and souls. It goes without saying that, if our country is at war then the people on the front edge of executing that war deserve our love. This does not […]
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Jesus was an original thinker, a revolutionary, with a tendency to turn the prevailing ideals upside down. But when Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” he was quoting the Old Testament, reminding his listeners of something they were supposed to know already. And you, my reader, know that […]
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In the last ten or more years of her life my mother was quite deaf. The results of her deafness were fascinating once I learned to step back and think about them. First, she tended to fill her silence by talking a lot, a thing she had never done before. Second, she interrupted other […]
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