WASHINGTON, DC, 14 May 2021 — I haven’t posted about this project for the past few weeks because I’ve been busy with university business and with preparing the book for release. We’re almost there. I’m giving the manuscript a final review this weekend and plan to deliver it to the independent publisher next week. Depending […]
AMBRIDGE RESERVOIR, Pennsylvania — The Ambridge Reservoir was built in the 1950s to accommodate the water needs of nearby towns and villages in southwestern Pennsylvania, one of them being the town of the same name. Incorporated in 1905, Ambridge takes its name from the industry and the company upon which its inhabitants once thrived – […]
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, 1989 — I never liked El Salvador. It had extracted too much blood from too many people and too many of its victims were my friends and colleagues. A tiny and overcrowded country, El Salvador had a menacing, sinister feel about it. Death squads prowled the streets at night and frantic, […]
From our vantage point in our 1956 Plymouth, the mills were black monsters, dinosaurs lounging along both sides of the river, coughing smoke and flames. My memories of them, and of this period of life with my family, are mostly black and white, with shades of gray in between. Almost never in color. The river […]
MONACA, Pennsylvania, 1979 — During my trip to Pennsylvania after the revolution in Nicaragua, my brother takes me down to his wine cellar. A single yellow bulb hangs from the beams that support the main floor of his home. Strung from those beams are home-made Italian sausage and great legs of prosciutto, all products of […]
Excerpted from the memoir sub-titled, “A True Story of War, Love and Rock & Roll” Lt. Francisco Noel Talavera (L) is a 19-year-old from the northern mountain city of Jinotega. He has a bad complexion and the habit of spitting through the gap in his two front teeth. He also happens to be the commander of […]