If you have something to say...
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Hours before they played a sold-out show at Webster Hall in New York City, the Sounds performed a stripped down version of their title track off their current LP, and took time for a chat about their success thus far.
Algeria can no longer pretend that it has no vital interest in or responsibility for the outcome of the Western Sahara situation. Abductions of foreign nationals from their sovereign territory make Algeria a partner in the discussion, whether Algeria wishes it or not.
Children have been stolen, sold, and placed as orphans in corrupt international adoptions to well-intentioned Western parents ever since the industry began in the 1980s.
As I've watched the drama unfold surrounding 11-month old Lisa Irwin, who vanished overnight on Oct. 3, my thoughts have turned to an eerily similar case.
It's a parent's worst fear. You go to sleep thinking all is right with the world only to wake up and find your baby is gone. It must feel as though you are trapped in some cruel dream from which you cannot wake up.
Which is it? Is the release of Gilad a time of sadness or joy? Is it a time of upset or elation? Is it the time to mourn with the mind or celebrate with the heart?
Indeed, this trade, in all its controversy, seeming paradox, and ardent instability, is a consequence of a deep and overwhelming love of life.
"Responsibility is a difficult thing. Most people prefer to accept a common code of behavior that takes from them the need to make choices and leaves them simply with the obligation to obey ... "
The kidnapping eleven days ago of American development worker Warren Weinstein prompts this week's column. I don't know anything about the man except ...
The first few hours in the case of any missing child are the most crucial in successfully finding a child alive. Having an accurate description of your child and a recent picture can make the difference.
Last month marked the fifth anniversary of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit's kidnapping, who was just 19 when Palestinian militants captured him. He has been held by Hamas in Gaza with none of the rights accorded to a captured soldier under the Geneva Conventions.
"Sometimes you tell a lie long enough and you start to believe it," says Joyce McKinney in the first part of the documentary she is the subject of which opens this week on July 14th.
I registered surprise by how quietly the five-year anniversary of Gilad Shalit's abduction passed. It seems that those outraged -- and rightly so -- at the state of affairs in the Jewish State no longer have space for the causes that first seduced them into loving such a complicated country.
In 2006, Facebook had just 10 million users, Justin Bieber was 11, and Gilad Shalit was free. A lot can happen in five years.
There's dramatic movie violence -- and then there's sadistic, nihilistic movie violence. If you've got a taste for the latter, Kidnapped should be right up your alley.
Marjan Vayghan is a 26-year-old performance artist who's turned a harrowing detention by Iranian police into a cathartic work of experiential art.
