Jody's Letters from the Road

Sounds of Silence June 23, 2018 For most of my life, I have lived near air force installations and listened to the buzz of planes in the skies above.  I remember the sonic booms of the super sonic bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base as a child.  Our house would shake from the boom of the plane passing overhead breaking the sound barrier. Eventually, environmental concerns outlawed this practice but I remember it so vividly.  A few years later, I moved to Texas where I lived right by Carswell Air Force Base.  Planes were always in the air.  I remember one particular incident where  I was walking my dogs on a field near my apartment and a formation of fighters flew so low and fast overhead that my Cocker Spaniels lay down in the field. Then I moved to Colorado and lived near Buckley Air National Guard as well as the flight path to DIA and the smaller Centennial airports. Even when I visit my brother in Texas, he lives on the flight path to Dallas Ft. Wo...

Guitars and War Memorials As I have told some of you before, I have visited many war memorials over the years.  If I can, I have played a few songs on my guitar about remembrance and hope in these hallowed places.  I feel like, even as unaccomplished a guitarist and singer as I may be, these men and women whose lives were taken with all their hopes and dreams deserve to have someone stop and say I love you and miss you and not be just be engrossed by the statuary. Today I went to three memorials in my little town in Armenia.  Two were war memorials and the third was a memorial marking the day and time of the earthquake that devastated Armenia in 1988.  I did not have my guitar with me when I visited the Earthquake and World War II memorials but I intend to return before I leave.   This is on the top of a very high hill on the outskirts of town.  It is a memorial to those from my little town who died in World War II  fighting against the N...

Thank You RFK Today, I need to go a little off the current happy postings about my Peace Corps life I Armenia. Yes, everything is fine, and I am very happy with my decision to be here.   It is about the decision to be here that I need to write a few words, so please forgive me if I sound like I am proselytizing. On June 5, 2018, the fiftieth anniversary of the day Robert F. Kennedy was shot, his daughter, Kerry Kennedy, published a book on how her father had influenced some specific people in America.   The preface was so touching because she continually refers to “Daddy”.   Many men are fathers, but you must earn being a daddy.   The title of the book is Ripples of Hope . The title comes from a speech that he gave in South Africa on June 6, 1966 to the National Union of South African Students at the University of Capetown.   It was the University’s “Day of Reaffirmation of Academic and Human Freedom”. It was a period when few United States leaders challen...

The First Nice Day in my New Town June 5, 2018 First, I believe I need to clarify the title of this note.  The town where I have moved to do my Peace Corps work for the next two years is beautiful.  The townspeople, my host family, and the incredible team who have welcomed me to their organization have been warm and friendly and patient with my lack of Armenian language. The problem has been the weather, which if my brother is correct, is all my fault.  Every time I visit Texas with my bicycles, it rains.  They have been in droughts when I show up with my bicycles and it rains.  So, I come to my village and it rains and rains.  My organization team told me this is unusual so, of course, I realize it is all my fault.  Hopefully it will not rain every day for the next two years, although this week's forecast is not very good.              My morning view from the front porch.          ...