My husband and I have been reading the classic "A Christmas Carol" to our children. Every night at bedtime we take turns reading portions of the tale. The book represents our countdown to Christmas. With imagination, I create a self-absorbed, grating voice to mimic Scrooge as I read. I can't...

Last week's blog created a little bit of tension with some Zimbabweans, who felt that I exaggerated the situation in Zimbabwe. I stand by what I wrote, and believe that the current crisis in Zimbabwe is worse than the outside world knows.

It is no accident that a Human...

Thanksgiving is a time of reflection, and for me it always brings me back to my incarceration in Zimbabwe last year. Every day I am more thankful for my life, my family and for having had some assistance in getting out of Zimbabwe. For this, I am thankful-and reprint last...

Behind the stench of flowing sewage and the smell of disease is a country that is beyond collapse. Yet, nowhere are there more signs of bustling activity than the countries graveyards. On a bright day, in Unit L graveyard in Chitungwiza, the staff opens up 50 new graves for burials....

We are living in a guest cottage of a house that we recently sold. The house and guest cottage are in the Woodside hills surrounded by walking trails and lots of wildlife. The cottage was originally a horse barn, converted to a three bedroom cottage. Built in 1927, history ekes...

It has been an eerily quiet day, today. The quietest I can ever recall on the day of a presidential election. Strange. So many articles will be written in the next few days about the election results that I decided to write about one factor that helped me to choose...

I received this letter via an email chain and found it thought provoking amidst all the pre-election jitters. The writer forces us to think and reveals a perspective that challenges a voter's righteousness in this tough climate. Though I can't credit who wrote this, as I don't know the author,...

In less than a month, we will elect a new President of the United States. This election is the most important event of my lifetime. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know of the many critical issues facing our country. Many of these issues are precarious. Some...

Senator Clinton's speech tonight was spectacular. She was powerful, gracious and Presidential. She connected with the throngs of people on the convention floor through her passionate speech and personal stories. At one point my eyes welled up with tears; for what she spoke and what we lost. My ten year...

Perhaps, I should say "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" but the more we vocalize the name, the less power and fear he will use to violate Zimbabweans. Mugabe. Mugabe. Mugabe. Voldemort is of course a fictional character, who personifies evil and strikes terror at the very heart of the world he inhabits....

I was disappointed. I must admit it was a familiar feeling. Another American politician caught with their pants down in the wrong room with the wrong woman...or worse in a bathroom with the wrong man. The argument I have heard often is, politicians have a right to a private life...

Last Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, that sentencing someone to death for raping a child is unconstitutional. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy stated, "The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child."
What does proportional punishment mean? The Supreme Court decision allows...

Wake up America. We are so close to losing any semblance of democracy in our country. Yes our country. America. Think I exaggerate? Take a moment and think over the last eight years and then, think again.

In a recent blog I wrote about the election situation in Zimbabwe...

Can you imagine? Four dollars would buy most of a fast food meal in the United States, perhaps a cup of designer coffee. In Zimbabwe it is enough to motivate boys to beat pregnant women with nail ridden planks and smash the skulls of old men into the earth, blending...

WHY? I don't get it. Does any country have the courage to confront President Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Of course South Africa's Thabo Mbeki is not on that short list. WHO IS? Why does the world watch in slow motion as Zimbabweans are threatened, beaten and tortured back into submission. One...

What's the difference between a thief who steals your identity and your credit card company?

The Answer: Nothing. They both steal your money.

I am so angry at Chase Card member services this morning, I could scream. Instead, I will take a breath and just cancel my credit cards....

The calm before the storm is a frighteningly familiar feeling for me. As a Midwest gal born and raised, I know that feeling down to my bones. It is the eerily quiet time period before a tornado touches down, before the chaos hits, before destruction visits. Right before that touchdown,...

I have been eaten with anxiety as Zimbabwe's national election loomed closer this March 29th. My mind is torn between the agonizing wait and the fear of the day's arrival. Some of us are terrified at the endless possibilities of violence and death that civil disobedience will bring. I fear...

This is a critical week for the democratic presidential nomination. I am very nervous about the end results. Last Friday, I sent out an email to some of my friends that went something like this "Okay girls, how about a road trip to Texas?" (Think Thelma and Louise with a...