Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come.
April, for some, brought the last vestiges of winter – snow, ice, and freezing temperatures – while others experienced more moderate weather, including showers for spring flowers. With the arrival of May, folks are busy tilling soil in small or large patches to house little green plants that will one day yield a colorful backdrop with their distinctive floral scents. Others prefer to prepare the ground for an impressive array of tomato plants and garden vegetables. Imagine those that do both! May will be a busy month with an eye toward future pleasures.
ACROSS AFRICA ALONE
The inspiration of this story was Dr. Frank C. Laubach, apostle to the silent billion, who devised Each One Teach One, a simple way to teach illiterates in any language. Louise, 40, trained in literacy teaching by Dr. Laubach, set out on a remarkable journey to train others in a land where countless millions were (and still are) illiterate.
Louise’s 18-month travels crisscrossed the continent of Africa, leading her to enlightening experiences and dangerous encounters. She did it all alone in 1960 driving a Volkswagen Beetle. Read her uplifting story as told to Susan Giffin with ample contributions from South African resident, Heather Kemp.
Louise found herself in the middle of nowhere, but there, she found herself.
“The one who follows the crowd
will usually go no further than the crowd.
Those who walk alone are likely to find themselves
in places no one has ever seen before.”
Albert Einstein
COMING IN MAY FROM PABLO
Sunrise Over Casablanca is the second sequel to the beloved classic, Casablanca, which Pablo debuted a few years ago and which has garnered several 5-star reviews and awards. The story takes the film’s favorite characters and moves them through the drive for independence in Morocco and Algeria. Laced with love and family, the story weaves its way through fierce struggles, guerilla warfare, and painful loss of loved ones.
“We live in a world where we have to hide to make love,
while violence is practiced in broad daylight.”
AnonymouS
GUEST AUTHOR: CARMEN TAHA JARRAH
SMUGGLED STORIES FROM THE HOLY LAND
Carmen Jarrah’s story involves her attempts to unravel the conundrums of Arab life in Palestine/Israel. Three of Carmen’s extensive trips there are compressed into Smuggled Stories from the Holy Land, exploring aspects of Israeli and Palestinian peace groups and their often agonizing confrontations with the military. A grim reality. Yet the Palestinian story shines through – a love of the land, an ancestral home imprinted on the Arab consciousness, a relentless connection to the soil and its old olive trees – and a story resting firmly in an ancient sense of belonging that no amount of checkpoint violence and failed peace plans can remove. These were journeys of awareness for Carmen. This is not a happy book but one of profound insight.
“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed;
if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.”
Mark Twain
