Monday, August 16, 2010
Friday, August 06, 2010
The story that spawned the story, "American Widow Project Born From Grief"
A while back I wrote a short story called, "They Washed Him Away." Thanks to my intern Rachel, I was reminded of the story that had inspired it. Read the story below, and read my short story here.
'American Widow Project' Born From Grief
November 11, 2008
Taryn Davis was just 21 years old when her husband was killed in Iraq. As a young widow, she felt bereft and very alone. She channeled her grief into the American Widow Project. It began as a documentary and transformed into a national support group for other widows.
On this Veterans Day we bring you a story about wives who've lost their husbands in war. Taryn Davis lost her husband in Iraq. She was bereft and, as an uncommonly young widow, felt very much alone. Gloria Hillard has this story on what she did to channel her grief.
GLORIA HILLARD: At Taryn Davis' home in Buda, Texas, there are a pair of combat boots near the front door, right where her husband, Corporal Michael Davis, always left them.
Ms. TARYN DAVIS (Founder and President, The American Widow Project): You know, when he'd come home, he'd leave his boots there. And so I leave them there. And actually, I have a pair in my bedroom, too. Because every day I wake up and I would think, you know, it was just a dream. He wasn't dead. But then you'd hear the people outside in your living room talking and bringing in flowers and...
HILLARD: But eventually the people and the flowers stopped coming. It was the spring of 2007. Taryn Davis was 21 years old and a military widow. She wondered where were the women her age, women whose husbands were killed in combat. One day she picked up a camera and went looking for them. The voices of six different widows, all young, became a poignant documentary called "The American Widow Project."
(Soundbite of documentary "The American Widow Project")
Unidentified Widow #1: I remember that I heard the dogs bark, and I looked out the window. And I saw a white van, and there were two soldiers in it. And I knew.
Unidentified Widow #2: I had never believed that the world could actually, like, spin before your eyes, and it did.
HILLARD: The film gave birth to the nonprofit organization of the same name. Today more than a hundred and fifty women post their stories and pictures on the group's Web page and chat with each other on a MySpace page offering support and inspiration.
Ms. NICOLE HART: And this is us on our last vacation with...
HILLARD: Twenty-three-year-old Nicole Hart of Burbank, California, lost her husband Sergeant David Hart earlier this year. She says without the women she's met from the American Widow Project, she doesn't know where she would be today.
Ms. HART: It's helped me in healing, knowing that I'm having a hard time waking up this morning, and I know without a doubt that another widow is too.
HILLARD: Hart met her husband when she was 12 years old. They were best friends even then, she says.
Ms. HART: And the next shadow box has his medals...
HILLARD: Framed pictures of the petite, dark-haired Nicole and her six-foot-three, red-headed husband share wall space with some of his cherished possessions. Everything he owned in Iraq was sent back in eight black boxes. That's what happens when your husband dies in war, Hart says. You receive his belongings in small black boxes: his favorite watch, the letter that he hadn't sent, his clothes.
Ms. HART: And what goes, if it's foremost in your head, are the clothes because you can't wait to smell him. You know that they're going to smell like him. And you open it, and it smells like Tide. Everything was washed. Everything sanitized. Everything was wiped down.
HILLARD: Besides the black boxes, you also get a large black binder. Taryn Davis remembers it was entitled "The Days Ahead."
Ms. DAVIS: Which has everything from the different caskets to choose from to the different urns to, you know, numbers to call.
HILLARD: But there's not much in there to deal with the emotions of the days, weeks, and months ahead. Davis hopes to change that.
Ms. DAVIS: Our overall goal is that one day that our DVD is in there. And when they're handed that binder, we know that they are going to have six widows in their house sharing their story.
HILLARD: Next month Taryn Davis and Nicole Hart will be packing up an RV and taking their message on the road. They plan on traveling to military bases and towns across the country to reach out to the hundreds of newly war widowed, listening to their stories and sharing their own. For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.
'American Widow Project' Born From Grief
November 11, 2008
Taryn Davis was just 21 years old when her husband was killed in Iraq. As a young widow, she felt bereft and very alone. She channeled her grief into the American Widow Project. It began as a documentary and transformed into a national support group for other widows.
On this Veterans Day we bring you a story about wives who've lost their husbands in war. Taryn Davis lost her husband in Iraq. She was bereft and, as an uncommonly young widow, felt very much alone. Gloria Hillard has this story on what she did to channel her grief.
GLORIA HILLARD: At Taryn Davis' home in Buda, Texas, there are a pair of combat boots near the front door, right where her husband, Corporal Michael Davis, always left them.
Ms. TARYN DAVIS (Founder and President, The American Widow Project): You know, when he'd come home, he'd leave his boots there. And so I leave them there. And actually, I have a pair in my bedroom, too. Because every day I wake up and I would think, you know, it was just a dream. He wasn't dead. But then you'd hear the people outside in your living room talking and bringing in flowers and...
HILLARD: But eventually the people and the flowers stopped coming. It was the spring of 2007. Taryn Davis was 21 years old and a military widow. She wondered where were the women her age, women whose husbands were killed in combat. One day she picked up a camera and went looking for them. The voices of six different widows, all young, became a poignant documentary called "The American Widow Project."
(Soundbite of documentary "The American Widow Project")
Unidentified Widow #1: I remember that I heard the dogs bark, and I looked out the window. And I saw a white van, and there were two soldiers in it. And I knew.
Unidentified Widow #2: I had never believed that the world could actually, like, spin before your eyes, and it did.
HILLARD: The film gave birth to the nonprofit organization of the same name. Today more than a hundred and fifty women post their stories and pictures on the group's Web page and chat with each other on a MySpace page offering support and inspiration.
Ms. NICOLE HART: And this is us on our last vacation with...
HILLARD: Twenty-three-year-old Nicole Hart of Burbank, California, lost her husband Sergeant David Hart earlier this year. She says without the women she's met from the American Widow Project, she doesn't know where she would be today.
Ms. HART: It's helped me in healing, knowing that I'm having a hard time waking up this morning, and I know without a doubt that another widow is too.
HILLARD: Hart met her husband when she was 12 years old. They were best friends even then, she says.
Ms. HART: And the next shadow box has his medals...
HILLARD: Framed pictures of the petite, dark-haired Nicole and her six-foot-three, red-headed husband share wall space with some of his cherished possessions. Everything he owned in Iraq was sent back in eight black boxes. That's what happens when your husband dies in war, Hart says. You receive his belongings in small black boxes: his favorite watch, the letter that he hadn't sent, his clothes.
Ms. HART: And what goes, if it's foremost in your head, are the clothes because you can't wait to smell him. You know that they're going to smell like him. And you open it, and it smells like Tide. Everything was washed. Everything sanitized. Everything was wiped down.
HILLARD: Besides the black boxes, you also get a large black binder. Taryn Davis remembers it was entitled "The Days Ahead."
Ms. DAVIS: Which has everything from the different caskets to choose from to the different urns to, you know, numbers to call.
HILLARD: But there's not much in there to deal with the emotions of the days, weeks, and months ahead. Davis hopes to change that.
Ms. DAVIS: Our overall goal is that one day that our DVD is in there. And when they're handed that binder, we know that they are going to have six widows in their house sharing their story.
HILLARD: Next month Taryn Davis and Nicole Hart will be packing up an RV and taking their message on the road. They plan on traveling to military bases and towns across the country to reach out to the hundreds of newly war widowed, listening to their stories and sharing their own. For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.
Thursday, August 05, 2010
I just died and went to dress heaven
I know all I've been posting are dresses and jewelry and beautiful things that I want, but I don't have time to do anything else.
But seriously--look at these gorgeous dresses. I want them. I want them bad.
Tibi City wool-crepe dress
ModCloth's Best Time Dress
But seriously--look at these gorgeous dresses. I want them. I want them bad.
Tibi City wool-crepe dress
This one ain't half bad either.
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Want: Kate Spade Book Clutch
If you love me, you will buy me the Great Expectations one (although the Great Gatsby one is prettier).
If they make a Jane Eyre one it's over.
If they make a Jane Eyre one it's over.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Want: Tibi Calla Lilly Mini, Frank Tell Copper Glow Athletic Sheath, Garnett Jewelry Glass Locket
Tibi Calla Lilly Mini
Frank Tell Copper Glow Athletic Sheath
Garnett Jewelry Scalene Necklace, Glass Locket
I want to lock it all up in my pocket it's my bar of chocolate...
Friday, July 30, 2010
V Magazine: The Sexy Body Issue
Picked this up in my monthly mag snag, and have never seen so much T&A in my life.
It's fantastic.
V66: SEXY BODY ISSUE from V Magazine on Vimeo.
It's fantastic.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
I Bought Books: Jane Austen, Stephen Chbosky
Sense and Sensibility, because I wanted to read it after finishing Pride and Prejudice and realized whoever borrowed my copy (I really need to start keeping track of who I lend books to) never returned it.
Autographed copy of Perks of Being a Wallflower--because everyone tells me I need to read it and I figured if I'm going to buy it why not an autographed copy.
Autographed copy of Perks of Being a Wallflower--because everyone tells me I need to read it and I figured if I'm going to buy it why not an autographed copy.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something green?
Would you wear green to your wedding? Oscar de la Renta included this piece in his Spring 2011 bridal collection. I love the skirt (the top not so much).
You know I would =)
Rich Peoples Organs are a Delicacy
They'd be free range rich people.
Let's all eat a little meal called justice, friends.
Let's all eat a little meal called justice, friends.
via illdoctrine.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Cave Houses in Cappadocia, Turkey
"The first period of settlement in Göreme goes back to the Roman period. The Yusuf Koç, Ortahane, Durmus Kadir and Bezirhane churches in Göreme, houses and churches carved into rocks in the Uzundere, Bağıldere and Zemi Valleys are all carriers of history that we can see today. The Göreme Open Air Museum is the most visited site of the monastic communities in Cappadocia (see Churches of Göreme, Turkey) and is one of the most famous sites in central Turkey. The complex contains more than 30 rock-carved churches and chapels, some of them have superb frescoes inside, dating from the 9th to the 11th centuries."
Cappadocia via Wikipedia
via @ebertchicago
I really want to visit these some day. But I want to see the Anasazi houses in New Mexico first.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Stuff I'm looking at today: Tab Candy, Sustainable Prefabs, Julian Koenig and Chrome Experiments
Firefox Tab Candy
Mozilla's new "Tab Candy" seems like an awesome fix to the problem of crammed tab browsing (the Boyan always gets mad at me for having a million tabs open), but the question still remains, "Is is as fast or faster than chrome?"
Amazing pre-fab sustainable homes from Method Homes.
http://methodhomes.net/factory-built-green-homes/sustainability.html
This American Life: 383 Origin Story
If you've been watching Mad Men some of this story might sound familiar. Real life Mad Men fighting for recognition for some of America's most iconic advertising campaigns on This American Life.
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/harmony/
Mozilla's new "Tab Candy" seems like an awesome fix to the problem of crammed tab browsing (the Boyan always gets mad at me for having a million tabs open), but the question still remains, "Is is as fast or faster than chrome?"
http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/tabcandy/
Amazing pre-fab sustainable homes from Method Homes.
http://methodhomes.net/factory-built-green-homes/sustainability.html
This American Life: 383 Origin Story
If you've been watching Mad Men some of this story might sound familiar. Real life Mad Men fighting for recognition for some of America's most iconic advertising campaigns on This American Life.
"TAL producer Sarah Koenig tells the story of her father, Julian Koenig, the legendary advertising copywriter whose work includes the slogan “Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking” and Volkswagen’s “Think Small” ads. For years Sarah has heard her dad accuse a former partner of stealing some of his best ideas, but until recently she never paid much attention.Then she started asking her dad for details of this fight for his legacy, and what she learned surprised her. "
Chrome Experiments: Harmony
Playing with HTML 5. This Chrome experiment is fun, creative, and highly addicting.
Playing with HTML 5. This Chrome experiment is fun, creative, and highly addicting.
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/harmony/
Friday, July 23, 2010
Picking up after my AT-AT is the dumps, but I love him
Great video by Patrick Boivin. Via my friend at shape+colour.
Inspiration from Emerson
"Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world, a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you."
-- Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thursday, July 22, 2010
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