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Homeplanet Security
by Elizabeth Sawin
— October 31, 2001 —
“Sobs racked the body of a middle-aged man as he cradled the head of his baby, its dust-covered body dressed only in a blue diaper, lying beside the bodies of three other children, their colorful clothes layered with debris from their shattered homes.”
I held this sentence, from a Reuters report on the civilian casualties [...]
Living Up To My Beliefs — For My Children And The Children of Afghanistan
by Elizabeth Sawin
— October 15 , 2001 —
Here in Vermont it is daytime.
Here my baby mashes banana in her hair and talks about the moon. Moonnna. Mooonnnnaah.
Here my daughter, just home from preschool, holding a purple painting of a tree, pirouettes around the living room in a sunbeam.
Here my husband serves lunch — warm potatoes with butter, parsley and basil. [...]
Declare War on Escalation
by Andrew Jones and Elizabeth Sawin
— September 15, 2001 —
Which came first, the violence or the retaliation? That is today’s somber version of the old “chicken or the egg” riddle.
On September 11th, it sure felt like the violence came first. But the men who attacked the U.S. almost certainly saw their actions as retaliation for earlier violence. Osama bin Laden [...]
Enlarging Our Definition of Beauty with Some Help from the Neighbors
by Elizabeth Sawin
— September, 2001 —
Everywhere I have lived, I have had neighbors, sometimes in houses just fifteen or twenty feet away. Always I’ve had a garden and woodpile, sometimes bees, chickens, and fruit trees. In each place I have lived, I have given the garden a lot of my love and care, the lawn and shrubs a bit less. [...]
What Does It Take To Say, “Better Safe Than Sorry”?
by Elizabeth Sawin
— August, 2001 —
We were exploring an unfamiliar pond. My four-year-old daughter was out in the water, up to her knees, when I called her back to shore.
“It’s so muddy I can’t see if the pond gets deep quickly, and I couldn’t reach you if you fell in. Better safe than sorry.”
Parents try to give their kids room [...]
