writing

...Then I look into my students' faces, and they look solemly back at me.

"So why does our writing matter, again?" they ask.

Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life; they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyance is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.

Navajo Bear Fetish

strength, inner power to perceive ones present circumstances

A Directional Fetish Carving set carved by Navajo Fetish carver Roy Davis and his brothers Herbert and Jeff, was sent into space aboard the space shuttle "Endeavor" in 1994.

Navajo Rabbit Fetish

The rabbit is believed to be

the special guardian of women in childbirth

and is also associated

with safe birth and long life for children.

Survey Results

Question wording: Do you think the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order to gain important information can often be justified, sometimes be justified, rarely be justified, or never be justified? [Pew Research Survey]

Results

Evangelical Christians (62%) and weekly church-goers (54%) are the largest percentage of Americans who believe torturing terrorist suspects is often or sometimes justified. And while weekly church-goers who believe torture is never justified matches that of the overall population (25%), only 16% of evangelicals think it is never justified.

Susan Sontag article

Leon Panetta article

Alan Dershowitz article

Interrogation Debate