Beckie Loewenstein

Jose Ramos-Horta: We had to deal with the psychological, emotional trauma of twenty-four years of violence, compounded by the most recent one, the 1999 violence. We had to start a process of national healing and reconciliation.

Jose Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor MIT Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship The Legatum Lecture Series Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA September 29, 2009 Thank you for the invitation by the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship in bringing me here. This is not first time I come to MIT and I came here over the years. I came here in 80s and 90s to meet with the great professor from here, the only academic at the time who spoke thoroughly about East Timor throughout the U.S. and in the world, and that was Noam Chomsky--who obviously became even more famous, if he were not already famous enough when Hugo Chavez made reference to his book in a TV interview in New York a year, two years ago. I wish I had given a book of mine to Hugo Chavez.

The kindness of Jewish strangers in a Brookline neighborhood guided me through Rosh Hashanah on September 18, 2009. I began the Jewish new year 5770 with a walk from Cleveland Circle Station down Beacon Street to Coolidge Corner.

A casual stroll through Boston carries unexpected encounters. Celebrations for India Independence Day were at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River on August 16, 2009. I expected saffron colors and joyful noises of Bhangra performances. Riding Bus 39 on my way there, another kind of celebration got my attention. Children and their parents were splashing in the fountain of the Christian Science Plaza at sunset. Taking a small detour, I jumped off the bus early to go photograph.

Summer night in Boston with India Day at Hatch Shell, Boston Commons, and Larz Anderson Automobile Museum on August 16, 2009. [gallery columns="2"]

Last song and dance at India Day in Boston. Tally ho!

On Sunday August 9, 2009, I took the train to Chelsea, Massachusetts, to visit members of The List Project to Resettle Iraqis Allies . Ben Dunay hosted the social gathering with a potluck meal. Two brothers, one daughter, and mother of one Iraqi family attended. The father of another family attended. Single Iraqi men and women were there with their American family hosts. Finding employment in the Boston area was the main topic of discussion.

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:

While the heat of the summer could slow outbreaks of the H1N1 influenza virus, summer camps need to get prepared. Campers in the great outdoors might be less likely to give each other the flu than students in a confined classroom. However, healthy precautions such as handwashing need to continue through summer vacation.

BOOK REVIEW The Wish Maker by Ali Sethi Ali Sethi’s The Wish Maker serves as a time capsule for 1990s family life in Lahore, Pakistan. Making a wish Pakistani style means doing it yourself.

a small grain of doubt erodes a relationship faster than storms

Meep. Meep. After a thunder storm on the hill, I hear a strange sound. "A scared, soggy cat?" I wonder. I spy a hawk ruffling its feathers. Other smaller birds swoop in to antagonize the hawk. "Go away! Go away!" The hawk perches on top of the kitchen stove pipe. Warming up and drying off, I assume, the hawk basks in the evening sun light.

Sunrise on Hanover Rail from Rex Cooks on Vimeo .

Sunrise on Hanover Rail on Vimeo

Fancy rinses shampoo Brent Compagni whooshes hot air Ready for dry cut Pini Swissa, my 'uncle' Hands meditate deep in thought Dreaming with scissors Bow chin to touch chest Close eyes to avoid mirror Listen to slow snips Hair today Soft brown flutters to floor Gone tomorrow Dedicated to Pini

oh, black pine beetle lays eggs, chews, stains pine bark blue wakes to chainsaw fuel Dedicated to mountain pine beetle threatening American lodgepole pine