Beware the Beautiful Lie

“Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” – Dylan Thomas   It looks like any other summer morning, where children climb onto buses, memorize songs, study maps, and learn stories about who they are and where […]

Hope in the Face of Evil

When I was younger, Saturday mornings were sacred. I would crawl out of bed, shuffle to the pantry in mismatched socks, snatch an expired fruit snack, and plop down on the couch to watch Scooby-Doo.   Same plot every time: a monster terrorizes the innocent, the Mystery Gang investigates, and in the final scene—mask off—the […]

My Stuffed Cat from Afghanistan: A Reminder of the Soft Side of War

When my dad returned from his deployment in Afghanistan, tucked among his belongings was a small stuffed cat. Its stitching was imperfect, its bead eyes unassuming. Back then, I was too young to understand why he had gone. I didn’t understand military strategy, regional instability, or the ideological fault lines that send soldiers like my […]