Supplementary material, photographs, outtakes, and commentary
Advent 2023
As soon as we arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the early 60s, my parents went “church shopping,” visiting Methodist churches one after another. Things went awry every time. One church didn’t have a Sunday School. The minister at another told newcomers to…
Still, the journey
The last three times I have traveled it was to Vietnam. I prepared in all the usual ways—passport, suitcase organization, contingency plans—and I used Rosetta Stone and/or Duolingo to study the language. I had no illusions that I would be able to speak…
The POW-MIA Metaphor
My writing group, The Pen and the Sword, considers topics related to any war, but the Vietnam War in particular. Our theme at the moment is After War—the ways in which cultures, communities, individuals leave war behind and transition to peace time. We…
A Place for Interesting Things
I used to think, because this is how I was trained—in high school, in college, in grad school, in life—that I had to have a Theme. If I wanted to host a blog/website/discussion/writing space, it had to have a Focus, a Purpose. I…
WHY WRITE A MEMOIR
I enlisted in the Army at the height of the Vietnam War—1967. I came from a southern family with a strong military background and felt that serving the country was the right thing to do in a time of need. Because I wanted to…
Vietnam War: Facts and Opinions
Arnold Isaacs in his 2023 Salon piece described “perceptions and opinions on both sides of the argument” about the U.S. role in Vietnam offering reference points of “tragic mistake or noble cause.” The writer closed his discussion by highlighting the current political environment…
WRITING ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR IS STILL RELEVANT – AND NECESSARY
In the decades since the end of the Vietnam War, while other wars have followed and the world has changed, discussion of the Vietnam War has not. In … After All These Years I look at why this might be. I invited Al…
Continue Reading WRITING ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR IS STILL RELEVANT – AND NECESSARY
… After All These Years
You’d think, after giving it more than 50 years, that we, the Vietnam War Generation, would have managed to make some sense of it. Fifty years worth of education, life experience, technical skill, hobbies, travel, social engagement—all those things that add value to…
A scene that (probably) won’t make it into the book
“And what did Catarine say to you?” “I don’t remember clearly …” “Because she never makes much sense,” Cristophe interrupted. “Something about someone who knew me and would teach me. She acted like she already knew who I was. Marie Villiers said I…
Continue Reading A scene that (probably) won’t make it into the book
The Writing Benefits of ‘Flu Brain’
While the flu had hold of me, I couldn’t remember the names of things. It was like my brain had just stopped dealing with minor details as it re-ordered itself. That frightened my daughter who began to ask for instructions on paying bills.…