The morning of my Dad’s funeral dawned as another sunny day in Tucson. I had gone out for a walk at 6 am to write his eulogy in my head as I walked. When parents move to another city to retire, it is as though they join the witness protection program. All that they were, […]
"John Wilkes Booth: A Sister’s Memoir" by Asia Booth Clarke
This book (which really has no title — the editor, Terry Alford, supplied one) is the best guide to the inner life of John Wilkes Booth, yet was only published in 1938! Asia’s family discovered the manuscript in 1888, realized a sympathetic portrayal of John Wilkes was too unsavory for America, and waited 50 years. […]
Afghan Riders Saddle Up for Buzkashi Season
– By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif (ARR No. 287, 24-Apr-08) Springtime in northern Afghanistan brings the sound of hundreds of horses thundering over the dusty ground near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. This is the season for “buzkashi”, a wild sport in which troops of horsemen fight to seize control of a dead calf and […]
Musharraf Not Going to Quit
The perceived isolation of President Pervez Musharraf and his sidelining after the swearing-in of the new government has not happened in a haphazard way but is the result of a well-thought-out strategy, one of his aides said on Friday. "It was decided a long time ago that Musharraf would take a backseat after the 2008 […]
Clean Water Set to Refresh a Village’s Life
If there is one thing Robert Eperu wants more than anything, it is access to clean water, close to his home in the Katine district of Uganda. Only then will members of the family no longer need to walk four miles each day to collect water from a well covered in algae, contaminated with feces […]
Woman Dies after being Kicked in Chest by Horse
A WOMAN has died after being kicked in the chest by a horse while riding with a group of friends in Victoria. Police said the 44-year-old woman was riding with six friends on a private property off Forest Road, Paraparap, 107kms south-west of Melbourne, when the accident occurred at 2.30pm (AEDT) today. The group had […]