Category Archives: quotes

one soldier, one story

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Cpl. William A. Long, an Army honor guard member who helped bury about 600 soldiers before deciding that he wanted to aid the military effort in Iraq, died in a grenade attack while there and was buried at Arlington National Cemetary on June 27, 2005. Brig. Gen. John MacDonald presents the American flag that was on Cpl. Long’s coffin to his mother, Susan Cordner. (Photograph by Jay Talbott/Scripps Howard News Service)

“Our heroes are those who act above and beyond the call of duty and in so doing give definition to patriotism and elevate all of us…. America is the land of the free because we are the home of the brave.” David Mahoney

global hugging

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earth-from-space.gif

This Sunday is Earth Day. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone did something this weekend (and beyond) for our planet? You could plant a tree, change your lightbulbs to those weird curly florescent bulbs, buy canvas bags to use at the grocery store, vacuum the coils in your refrigerator, recycle your trash and buy recycled products, adjust the thermostat at night and when you’re not home to use less heating and air conditioning…if we all do a little we can make a difference. Earthday Network has a lot of good info on how we can protect our planet and our children’s future. I just ordered some canvas grocery totes from St. Jude’s, they’re on sale for only five bucks, you can’t beat that!

We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road, the one less traveled by, offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth. ~Rachel Carson

maya on love

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The novel I’m writing right now is about love and how it changes people. I came across this poem by Maya Angelou and was amazed at how much it reflected what the characters in the book were going through. I saw a Sundance program with Ms. Angelou and Dave Chappelle once. She is such a force, gentle and wise and it was fascinating to see her share her words with a young man, who soaked them up as fast as she could speak them.

Touched by an Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love’s light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

down on the bayou

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“But the man who caught my eye was the short one. He seemed wrapped too tight for his own body, the same way a meth addict seems to boil in his own juices. His mouth was like a horizontal keyhole, the corner of his lip exposing his teeth, as though he were starting to grin. He listened intently to every word in the conversation, waiting for the green light to flash, his eyes flickering with anticipation.”

Detective Dave Robicheaux is at it again in James Lee Burke’s fifteenth installment of the Robicheaux series, Pegasus Descending. My mom Carol, a crime fiction fiend, is burning through all fifteen books right now and is my “guest” reviewer and book suggester today. She loves books that take her someplace else, in this case, into the southern Louisiana culture of the Cajun French people via the flawed but fundamentally ethical character, Detective Robicheaux. Burke, two time winner of the Edgar Award, continues the saga of Robicheaux in his latest novel, an “unforgettable roller coaster of passion, surprise, and regret.”