Author: Kathleen

  • Rejecting “Us versus Them” in the Aftermath of Paris

    Rejecting “Us versus Them” in the Aftermath of Paris

    The day after the attacks on Paris, I had a spaghetti dinner in Prenzlauerberg (a neighborhood in the former East Berlin) with a German man I am just getting to know. We talked about our concerns that these deaths would lead to more escalation in political violence, especially actions by the U.S. and member states…

  • Later, you’ll be glad you didn’t kill your children

    Later, you’ll be glad you didn’t kill your children

    In the final few years of my mother’s life (she died in 2008) I was living across the country, but visited her three times a year. Inevitably, at some point in these visits, we would go out to dinner, or be waiting for a bus, and my mother would end a lull in the conversation…

  • Pleading for a father’s life after a mother’s murder

    Pleading for a father’s life after a mother’s murder

    I felt such a sense of horror when I read about a 14-year old girl who petitioned the state of Missouri asking them not to execute her father for the gruesome murder of her mother and sister. Her petition was turned down, and the state executed Richard Strong this week. The state willfully orphaned her,…