Click on item of interest for greater detail….or scroll down and the same list is repeated below with a short description of each item
Real events that are part of a much larger experience captured in a story form. Most of the stories are built around events that took place in a very limited period of time such as a day or a weekend. All of the stories are factual. Several have been published.
- In His Steps
- A Weekend in Geneva
- Night Train to Riga
- A Bible Story
- How the KGB Helped me Smuggle my Bible
- Night in the White House
- Christmas, Peace and Other Subjects
- Symbols of Wood
- Communion with Canvas – May 1, 1965
- A Time to Give Thanks
- One Saturday Morning
- Life in the Slow Lane – July 5, 2010
- Live 8 and Global Justice
- North America – No Longer an Island
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- 1. In His Steps
A poem written in March 1965 immediately after my return from Montgomery, Alabama where I participated with 5 colleagues from Goshen College and 25,000 others in the final part of the Selma to Montgomery march during the Civil Rights campaign. This is a summary of the original. Read more>> - 2. Weekend in Geneva
A description of the visit to Geneva by a small group of activists including Joan Baez who travelled to Geneva during the Cambodia border emergency of 1980. We were concerned that efforts would be made to slow down or shut down the border access to Cambodia which was controversial but in our view a lifeline to the population trapped at the border of Thailand. Our point of view prevailed. Read more>> - 3. Night Train to Riga
Describes the experience of travel in the Soviet Union immediately after its collapse. I was unable to obtain a flight and ended up sharing a compartment with a Russian woman who had given up on men in her country and shared her story with me. Read more>> - 4. A Bible Story
Published in “Marketplace” November/December 2011 edition together with photos. A series of events that took place during the period 1989-1992 when I spent a great deal of time in the Soviet Union. The events are linked by the common theme of activities around promoting a religious play, printing Bibles inside the Soviet Union and in the end smuggling an antique bible out of the country with the assistance of the KGB. Read more>> - 5. How the KGB Helped me Smuggle my Bible
As published in the MEDA magazine Marketplace with pictures and Minor revisions”. Read more>> - 6. Night in the White House
insert….. Read more>> - 7. Christmas, Peace and Other Subjects
Political travelogue based on travel to Burma/Myanmar, Laos and Ho Chi Minh December 2013 on the occasion of sponsorship by the DeFehr Foundation of a Peace-Building event in Yangon and related travel. Read more>> - 8. Symbols of Wood
A reflective note attached to the Christmas gift to Palliser managers in 2002. It takes a philosophical view of the material and the inequity in our world. Read more>> - 9. Communion with Canvas – May 1, 1965
A reflection on a canvas at the Chicago Museum of Art. This was part of an assignment to study a painting and reflect on its meaning in the Art class of Mary Oyer of Goshen College. Read more>> - 10. A Time to Give Thanks
Palliser at 60 Years…. Read more>> - 11. One Saturday Morning
Reflections from San Miguel written February 9, 2013. It represents an effort to describe what we feel like as we spend our first full winter in a new place with new friends and a new reality. Read more>> - 12. Life in the Slow Lane …..July 5, 2010
Personal reflections on a peaceful moment at our summer home on Lake of the Woods. Read more>> - 13. Live 8 and Global Justice
Presentation in 2005 to MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates). Read more>> - 14. North America – No Longer an Island
An interesting essay on the nature of change and how it particularly affects us in North America. It takes both an anecdotal and philosophical point of view. The date of the essay is not clear. Read more>>