I assign “homework” to the veterans in the writing workshops I facilitate, to encourage them to write between the workshop sessions. Recently, the “homework” topic has been “pulling a memory.” I want them to write about their lives and experience and since holiday season is upon us, someone suggested writing about memories of the season. As I sat to write my homework (I do the homework, too, hoping to set a good example), I felt resistance and heard the inner voice that says so many times, Nah, you don’t want to do that. So I became still and let my … Read More

Have you ever wondered about the little girl whose father is deployed? What is it like for her to say goodbye, to hug and kiss him one more time—afraid to let him go? Afraid to watch him walk away because she knows in her heart she’ll never see him again. And as he boards a ship, an airplane, a train, he hears her calling out: “Daddy! Daddy! Please don’t leave me!” He glances over his shoulder, and watching her reach her small arms toward him, disappears into the belly of the beast. I bet most of us have never thought … Read More

Since the inception of Returning Soldiers Speak, we have held the belief that a neutral space allows our veterans to express their views and stories without fear of being judged or rejected. If we had said, “We are a liberal organization,” then the veteran with conservative views might have turned away. It we had said, “We are a conservative organization” then the veteran with liberal views might have fled. It does not matter to us if the veteran’s views are to the left or to the right or in the middle of the political spectrum. What has always mattered is … Read More

In 2005, I started writing about the wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq. I needed to somehow make sense of what I was seeing on the news and media about the war. As I continued writing, I decided I wanted to help soldiers and veterans write their stories, so in May 2010, I introduced a creative writing workshop at the West Los Angeles Veteran Hospital in the Domiciliary. That was in late May. Soon after I started facilitating the veteran’s writing workshop, my friend and fellow poet, Lee Mingh Sloca, asked me to help with an upcoming event in November … Read More

As I was driving home from Joshua Tree on a recent Saturday afternoon after a silk screening workshop for a project I’m involved with I thought of how vibrant, fresh, and innocent the young marines who attended the workshop are. I felt the joy still in my heart from sharing such a cool and tender time with them. I could be their grandmother. They could be my grandchildren—maybe the youngest could be my great grandchild if I had pushed it in my youth. It’s probably their first time away from home. I heard one of them talking on his cell … Read More

I was invited by the American Legion, Post 13 in Pasadena to a special reception and ceremony for the traveling exhibit of Remembering Our Fallen, a state specific memorial for the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Wars on Terror since 9/11. The exhibit is photographs of the 700 military service men and women from California who died while serving their country in Iraq and Afghanistan. So many IEDs, so many killed in combat action. Men and women, young and middle-aged. Some almost children, still in their teens. Some fathers and mothers, … Read More