Essays Category

LARK ASCENDING

I stand in the opening of the garage in my home in Vermont, chucking balls for the border collie to chase. The yard is veiled under a heavy blanket of leaves, the amber and bittersweet tinge of fall’s bruising. I’m wearing winter fleece under my rain jacket. The dog doesn’t care about the cold or […]

Read More

PLEASE DO NOT WISH ME ‘HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!’

This Mother’s Day is May 11th. It also happens to be David’s 64th birthday. Chat GPT says it’s a rare occurrence happening in intervals of 5, 6, and 11 years. He has missed 24 birthdays and Mother’s Days. My mother has missed 43 Mother’s Days. She never met David. The last Mother’s Day when Dave […]

Read More

THURSDAY BRIEFINGS: Part 1 – The Defense

VFMs are on the edge of their seats in back-to-back meetings, on the verge of the plea entry for the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

Read More

IT’S A GO!

January 5, 2025 Thursday, January 2, VFM’s (Victim’s Family Members) received a cautionary email from the Victim Witness Specialist, Will Andreu from the Office of Military Commissions, recommending that we do not begin travel to Andrew’s AFB, MD until Friday afternoon. Additonally, if we have not heard from the office prior to our departure, to […]

Read More

AS THE CLOCK UNWINDS, A DECISION ON THE JAN 6-17 9/11 PTA ENTRIES HEDGES ON THE BALANCE

January 1, 2025 2025 begins by ringing in the New Year with family in the south eastern corner of PA, idoling 100 miles from Andrew’s Air Force Base, after boarding my dog and driving 430 miles from Burlington Vermont. This first box on the calendar finds me checking email periodically for a notice from the […]

Read More

9/11 PRE-TRIAL HEARINGS – Update: Day 1 NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA

November 7, 2024 Hello from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I am attending weeks one and two of the final three-week session of the 9/11 pre-trial hearings. This is my fourth trip in twelve months. After a three-day threatening weather related delay, the final 2024 session of pre-trial hearings in the 9/11 case, regarding the four (of […]

Read More

WHAT VFMs DO WHEN WAR COURT IS CLOSED

Good afternoon from JTF- (Joint Task Force) Guantanamo. What do VFM’s (Victim Family Members) do when pretrial hearings are unexpectedly recessed? Shop for sundries at the NEX. Shop at the Military gift shop for stuffed Iguanas and T-shirts. Tour the @41sq miles of landscape, including abandoned prison sites, on an air-conditioned passenger bus accompanied by […]

Read More

BESIEGED

8-27-2024 Night over Vermont home.

Today’s post is surrendering of what I hold as publish-worthy prose to journalistic testimony in the raw.

Read More