Dear Hisam, father of Ahmed, may he rest in peace,
I learned of the death of your son, Ahmed Musa, through a one-sentence newsflash on the Palestinian news station Ma’an last Tuesday: “Ahmed Musa, a young boy, was killed by a bullet of the occupying forces in Nil’in.” I was immediately overcome with shock and grief and bitter tears. And above all, that relentless feeling of powerlessness that I know too well.
We Palestinians cannot protect our children from being killed. Not because they are soldiers on the battlefield, but because we cannot imprison them in our homes. They must live their lives, play outside the house, go to school. We tell ourselves that there must be in our land a safe place to protect our little ones. Should not our villages be safe? Should not the courtyards...
Lifestyle
Dear Thatcher,
Thanks for the invitation to bring my family to your place for Independence Day weekend. It's not every brother-in-law who is so generous to his extended family, and I would like to offer some small token of my gratitude.
It is a modest gift of something I think your otherwise lovely home is in sore need of. I've observed that because of its proximity to the water your property tends to be infested by hordes of insects during this time of year. I've discovered a product that can remedy this. It comes in cylinders of leaves rolled around each other. It comes in various lengths and widths, according to your needs. Don't worry, the composition is purely organic. I'm told the product is made from specially-raised tobacco leaves that have been carefully aged and cured....
4,772
Dear Brother,
Allow me to start this letter by saying that there is no one in this world that I respect more than you. I came from a two-parent home, watched a black man bust his back to feed five kids and we're now watching another black man bust his back to lead our country. You're a strong breed of man. Almost a super human. You're fast, you're strong, you're loyal. These are all reasons we as women respect you. Sad thing is, recently we don't feel we get that respect back.
What's wrong with us as women that we know longer deserve your respect? Have we not held down the home. Did a black woman not give you life? Don't we stand beside you through the good and bad? Why aren't we allowed to have the good in you? No, this isn't about you dating outside the race. Frankly, that...
3,424
Dearest Little Brother,
I love you a lot. I really do, even if you think all I do is sit in my room and work on school the whole time, or talk to my friends. That being said ... interacting with you is beginning to feel like a real pain. You don't have to micromanage me and tell me what to do. You're not my mother. And half the times, I've already done the stuff you tell me to do, so then it just gets irritating. Mom gets on my case enough as it is. I don't need her to have another minion.
Also, when our parents get angry at me, and start lecturing me about one thing or another, you really don't need to make faces behind their backs at me. You get in trouble a lot more than I do, and how would you like it if I did that to you? And then it gets worse, because our parents think I'm...
4,080
Dear Friends:
This letter has taken me several weeks to write. I have so much that I want to say to you and I wanted to find the right words to express my feelings appropriately.
My name is Ron Martin. I am the brother of David Martin. David took his own life on April 6, 2002. For my family this was a life altering day. The death of my brother shattered our world. It was unimaginable to us why David would take his own life. He was married, had two wonderful sons, a thriving construction business on the west coast of Canada and the world seemed to be his oyster.
Although David outwardly appeared to have a great life, there always seemed to be something missing. No-one could ever figure out what that was. He often appeared to be far away. He suffered from alcohol addiction, a...
2,731
Dear Mr. Schultz,
As members of the community of Newtown, Connecticut, we are writing you today because during our search for solace in wake of the events of last December it has come to our attention that your company continues to allow guns to be carried into its stores. Although we here in Newtown love our Starbucks, we are very concerned that your policy undermines the safety and wellbeing of our citizens.
As the tragedy that befell our community last year demonstrates, and as you well know, guns are dangerous. Starbucks itself prohibits guns in its corporate headquarters and other companies, such as PEET’S Coffee, IKEA, and Disney, have exercised their legal right to ban guns on their private premises. Since your company has been a champion of admirable causes in the past, such...
2,989
Dear CeCe,
This letter to you, sister, is past due. We are late to the struggle. And for that we are sorry.
But like so many other moments of solidarity – especially those that come after crises have already ripped apart the lives of would-be comrades – we now show up as allies in your struggle against a system that abhors you as much as it does each of us and so many other black and brown CIS, trans, straight, and LGB people.
We write to let you know, first and foremost, we love you and we value your life. Your life is a crossing–an intersection where your youthful black trans female body endures the sting of others’ hatred and rejection…a four-way corner where the state moves about suspiciously looking for a reason to police black bodies, evidencing its failure to make due on...
2,416
Dear Palestinian brothers,
It is with a heavy heart I write to you today. Gaza is burning. The border with Israel is under fire. Children on both sides of the fence are terrified, traumatized for life, wounded in body and soul. Life!! Life is lost. Blood flows! Pain and tears and anguish abound.
How familiar it all is, my brothers? How well we know these images, this fear clutching our throats, hope slipping away from our hearts?
A new year has begun. I am sitting here near my computer in the dark night, in my home by the sea. This sea that is ours, our Mediterranean sea, our culture, we the people of wandering, we the homeless, the homesick, we the fighters ,the builders, the survivors, our dreams like waves and tide, pulled by the moon and stars to eternity.
Since that...
2,300
Dear Most Worshipful Brother Jorge L. Aladro, Grand Master of Masons of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Florida, and To All My Brethren in Freemasonry,
I provide this as both an open letter to all Freemasons and a plea to Most Worshipful Brother Jorge L. Aladro, the Grand Master of Masons in Florida.
On November 28, 2012, W. Bro. Aladro took the step of banning Paganism, Wiccan and Odinism, Agnosticism and Gnosticism.
He provided in a written decision, “...any member of the Craft that professes to be a member of one of the groups mentioned above shall tender his resignation or suffer himself to a Trial Commission whose final outcome will be expulsion…”
W. Bro. Jorge, you have declared here that a man is not even provided a fair trial. He is tried and then punished. This...
3,099
Dear AHA,
I hope you don't mind me addressing you as AHA. I know we don't know each other on personal terms to go that far, but at this point I must admit that I have no idea whether you're an Ayaan, a Hirsi or an Ali. My guess is you're a little of everything since you can't make up your mind. And besides, where I live now, the integration process has taught me that it's quite alright to address people with their abbreviated names if you like. And speaking of integration, I think the proper way to do it is not to "act it" but to actually live it and feel it.
As a woman who rejects manmade religion surrounding Islam, I take a firm stand against how you go about your business, and it is your business not mine, no doubt about that. It is one thing to fight for one's rights, it is yet...
2,339