Jennifer Brookland: Holding On When Leaving Feels Like Letting Go
I spent four years in the military and remember it in fuzzy flashes. The little I do recall leaves me with a vague sense of awkward incompetence, confusion, and shame.
Walt Whitman: Come Up from the Fields Father
Open the envelope quickly,
O this is not our son’s writing, yet his name is sign’d,
O a strange hand writes for our dear son, O stricken mother’s soul!
Jyotika Saksena: Common Misperceptions About Refugees
America needs more refugees, not less.
Alfred W. McCoy: Cold Wars, Hot Planet, and New Geopolitical Firestorms
With so many mesmerized by the conflict in Ukraine and the possibility of another over Taiwan, world leaders largely ignore the rising threat of climate change.
Bill Lueders: Beyond Good and Evil | On Wendell Berry’s Brave New Book
A book by the celebrated author, poet, and farmer that takes on racism, the Civil War, and his life’s work.
Robert M. Dover: Nobel peace prize goes to Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists
On the 70th birthday of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Nobel prize committee has recognised the work of three winners who are all battling against Putin or pro-Putin regimes.
Julie Bruck: The Last Two Jews of Kabul
When his roommate finally expired at eighty,
Zebulon said he was relieved to be rid of Isaak.
The pair had held out in a decaying synagogue
under Mujahedeen, Taliban, Americans, more Taliban.
William Astore: Integrity Optional
There is something distinctly dishonorable about waging wars kept viable only by lies, obfuscation, and propaganda.
Karen J. Greenberg: Donald Trump’s Document Grab
A refusal to share information has been part of the Washington scene far longer than the current moment.
Edward Harkness: My Father Meets Margaret Bourke-White 
He finds a Hershey bar
in his breast pocket, offers her a piece.
She flicks her cigarette into the dark,
takes the chocolate and says, Thanks, kiddo.
Benjamin Jensen: Ukraine’s rapid advance against Russia shows mastery of 3 essential skills for success in modern warfare
Ukrainian forces, aided by Western firepower, have upset traditional military logic once again.
Video: The Kites
A girl is playing on the green slopes of a valley in Kurdistan, on the border between Iran and Iraq, when her kite is suddenly swept across the river by the wind. Three boys on the other side see her calling for help, but cannot make out what she is saying: she is just too far away. Separated by the river, the children try to communicate with each other – yet between them lie the explosive remnants of past wars.
Houman Harouni: The Dervish
The postures I held for long breaths by the flow of the Ganges I did not hold to achieve light I held no star in sight as I turned my … Continue reading
Michael Simms: The Horses
People loved her as they might love
A flag or a map or a story
Of a country of green pastures
And low stone walls
Vox Populi 