Beckie Loewenstein

Now how to get close to turkeys? They scare and run off the table so easily! Meet the turkeys of Brookline. They live in the woods with the coyotes.

Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act (H.R. 1211) passed the House of Representatives on June 23, 2009, and now moves onto the Senate. There's a focus on improving professional mental healthcare access to women veterans. Will this bill just increase the number of mental healthcare professionals available at clinics in the U.S. side? How about giving resources to mental healthcare professionals in combat theater, too?

Braving the crowds on the banks of the Charles River, I chaperoned three exchange students to the July 4th fireworks in Boston. They learned about Independence Day in class. But entering the patriotic ambience of red, white and blue gave the feeling. Finding space to sit on the grass took persistence. Blue tarps, tents and flags marked boundaries of prime fireworks-viewing real estate. Folks in kayaks, canoes and motorboats watched from the water. The 104th Fighter Wing units flew over while we were waiting in line for fresh-squeezed lemonade and fried dough. Music of the Boston Pops and Berklee College of Music performers gave a nice sound background for our wait.

Red-tailed hawks hunt for brunch on the morning of July 4, 2009. I observe these hawks regularly at the Showa Boston campus. It's the second sunny day of July after a full month of rain, and these hawks are calling out and soaring in the fresh air and sun. With perches on trees and electricity poles, the hawks maintain their view of rabbits, grey squirrels, chipmunks, rats and mice. Scurry! Swoop! Thump. I heard one hawk pouncing on a rodent before seeing a mouse clenched in the hawk's yellow talons. The falcon devoured the rodent by tossing it in the air and stripping off the skin. Sometimes I find leftover animal hides around the grass.  

Sophie and her daughter Sophia pray at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Roslindale, Massachusetts, on July 3, 2009. Sophia holds a photograph of her father who was unable to attend this service. Prayers in Haitian, French and English focus on faith through financial difficulties, solitude without partners and the economic recession without jobs. The congregation motivates each other to guard a positive attitude through singing and dancing. The sermon of this Catholic service includes the message to stop overestimating the problem and underestimating G-d: