Our Blog
Hope, Support, and Pathways to Possible Impossibilities
Recently Lenore described our work with the GI Rights Hotline to a Guatemalan immigrant friend. “The government must not like you,” he said. “Once you’re in the US military, they make it almost impossible to get out.” Not everyone with whom we talk...
Pedaling Cheerfully
One elderly Friend used to cycle sedately to meeting each Sunday along country roads lined with hawthorn and cow parsley to arrive refreshed and exercised and mindful of worship. One morning as he was cycling along, a sports car driven by someone who was probably...
The Selective Service’s Selective Hearing
The Selective Service System is currently being scrutinized, hopefully with an element of discernment involved. That’s where you come in. We depend on you to comment during this short window of time during which decisions are being made about future...
“You Will Never Touch Me Again”
This is about a past client, but I hope that all current and future clients of domestic violence have her attitude. She was married to an active duty soldier for several years, and then he retired from the military. He did not handle his transition to...
The Violence We Give Away
The violence we give will always come home to us. A bomb dropped in Cambodia will explode in a classroom in Colorado. The bodies of Guatemalan mental patients, mangled by the experiments of American researchers, will be cremated in the fires of Ferguson, Missouri. The...
War, Artificial Intelligence, and Humanity
Artificial intelligence in war weapons rarely makes it into the news. Yet, it requires our careful attention because it is already part of international and national lawmaking. The United Nations (UN) Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on the Convention on Certain...
Victims are Both Hard to Recognize and Easy to Spot
You might think I made a mistake with the title of this article, as it contradicts itself, but read on, and I will explain. Many people have a preconceived notion of what a “battered woman” looks like—poor, several children, high school education or GED, submissive,...
Friends Keep Lines Open After Hurricane
When Hurricane Michael took out our internet for a few days, hotline calls were not interrupted because nearby Quakers, Heather McIver and Suzanne Lowe (pictured with Steve), opened their door and shared their working internet with us. Here we are in their living...
Coming Full Circle to Gratitude
Last week we received this email from Gary, one of the conscientious objectors we helped apply for discharge when he could no longer reconcile his Christian faith with being in the military. “One year ago I gave you a call. Today I got a call from my Company...