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Sonoma Valley Sun Articles
 U.S. Foreign PolicyTime to rethink our understanding of war? 7-15-10After a long career in human resource management, Michael Millerick retired to this town where he’d grown up and one day handed me a book written by Dan Maguire. He had no way of knowing the author was one of my favorite professors when I... read more… Who was on those boats in the Mediterranean Sea? 6-17-10When you see pictures of folks on those boats approaching the port of Gaza two weeks ago, can you see yourself among the throngs? Embarking on any such mission, activists thoughtfully consider the risks. People committed to standing up for just... read more… Current news about earthquake-devastated Haiti 5-13-10Today we have reports from the beleaguered nation of Haiti.Many of you remember Margaret Trost and her wondrous What If? Foundation. If you’ve missed Margaret on one of her visits to Sonoma, please read her inspiring story in “On Th... read more… The definition of a “settlement” 4-08-10Greatly encouraged by the feedback in response to the “just joan” column of March 25, I offer today some additional preliminary information. In that column, I pondered the feasibility of keeping my commitment to provide readers with refle... read more… To see is to believe. To experience is to understand. 3-25-10Feedback from my March 11 column The audacity of the Haitian populace (read at http://3hmm.com/thesun/?p=16225) has been profound and profoundly one-sided. Not a single person has told me they are angry with me for bringing truths about this little n... read more… The audacity of the Haitian populace 3-11-10To understand why Haiti was so extremely devastated by the 7.0 earthquake while Chile was actually less damaged though its quake was 500 times more powerful requires some knowledge of the history of the past 200 years.Actually, let’s star... read more… They REFUSE to hate each other 2-25-10“It is such an important time to gain a better understanding of what is required to create peace in the Middle East,” says Lorin Peters, the Bay Area teacher previously featured in this column who travels to the Holy Land annually for pea... read more… Welcome my guest: Jacqueline Jill-Rito 2-18-10For the first time, just joan is providing space today for a Guest Columnist. Confident readers will support this decision … I’m offering a piece of prose written by a friend in New York.Jacqueline Jill-Rito, a single parent and en... read more… A time for Truth, a time for action 2-11-10Have you sometimes felt confused, overwhelmed or mystified by all the reports of trouble in the “Holy Land?” Have you ever wondered if some personal contact with people having alternative viewpoints might offer clarity and understanding? ... read more… Generosity, outrage, misery, courage and dare we say –“racism” 1-28-10Few in Sonoma will soon forget the intense sense of outrage we felt recently when insult was hideously heaped on tragedy. How could anyone, we wondered, be so callous as to break into the victims’ home after the entire Maloney family was killed... read more… A few bright spots among Haiti’s horrendous devastation 1-21-10While luxuriating in a hot shower this morning, I thought about my cold showers while living in Haiti. About those afternoons I was first to get to our back yard where the generous tropical sun had primed the outstretched garden hose for a hot-water ... read more… The remarkable Contagious Love Experiment 12-03-09Having received no intel that day, Conor had led his squad house to house on random searches, looking for weapons or anything else which might suggest trouble or hint at terrorism.Now Conor stood in a handsome courtyard, quite astounded to see ... read more… Peacemaking through a poignant exchange 10-02-09Loren Peters is one of my heroes. After meeting the Bishop O’Dowd High School (Oakland) teacher, I applied and was accepted to be a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams two-week delegation in Israel/Palestine.When invited by local peace and... read more… What do Europeans think of America? 6-19-08In the laundry room of my apartment complex, I learned one of my columns had gone on a long journey when I ran into Christine von Rosen. A month ago Ms. Von Rosen was sitting at her daughter’s kitchen table in Paris. Also present were her d... read more… just 'cause 5-19-08The Sun editorial written by The Sun's publisher and published on 6-19-2008: Joan Huguenard takes us out of our personal comfort zone. And that can be a good thing. That’s the case with the periodic topic for “just joan”: ... read more… Energy Task Force of 2001 defines today's actions in Iraq 2-01-07"While the Bush administration, the media and nearly all the Democrats still refuse to explain the war in Iraq in terms of oil, the ever-pragmatic members of the Iraq Study Group share no such reticence."Thus begins an article published Dec... read more… Writer visiting Sonoma says, It's all about oil in Iraq 1-25-07Antonia Juhasz stood with us on the Sonoma Plaza for an hour on Jan. 11 to protest escalation of the war in Iraq. Then she stood at the podium at Readers Books for another hour to tell us of her personal experiences of dealing with the United States ... read more… Sonomans object to escalating the war 1-18-07In more than 1,000 locations around the country, many thousands gathered a week ago today to protest President Bush’s announcement that he was ordering additional troops to Iraq. The protest was coordinated by activist groups as a prelude to a ... read more… How to love a bomb-maker 11-10-05“I worked on the hydrogen bomb,” the man remarked, almost casually. Anne Symens-Bucher was somewhat stunned. After all, she had barely met the fellow and she had spent much of her adult lifetime opposing nuclear armament. Once past the in... read more… Nonviolence blurs the line between "us" and "them" 11-03-05In late winter of 1982, they went into the desert for 40 days to witness against nuclear violence. The Lenten experience, reminiscent of Jesus’ retreat into the desert nearly 2000 years earlier, included some 350 persons over the 40-day period.... read more… Compassion created the School of the Americas Watch 10-27-05Roy Bourgeois was in the Bay area again a couple of weeks ago, booked for three speeches every day. This passionate protestor of our nation’s foreign policies seeks every chance to educate citizens about the expenditure of their tax dollars ... read more… This is one school we want closed! 10-20-05“A Celebration of Hope” is what the founder calls the annual gathering in Columbus Georgia. More than half a dozen Sonomans have already made travel arrangements for this year’s event and you, too, can take part in this exhilaratin... read more… |
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