April 2005

The Empire of Everybody

Remembering Marla
Marla Ruzicka’s self-assigned mission in life was to help innocent people who are caught in the crossfire of armed conflict. So, perhaps it was fitting, in the brutally impersonal way of the universe, that Marla herself became an innocent victim of war. On Saturday, April 16, Marla was killed in a car bomb attack as her vehicle traveled along the road to the Baghdad airport. She was 28 years old. by TAI MOSES

Playing With The Gods
The world is awash in gods. So let’s have a “summit” of these sometimes jealous, contentious deities and see if they can at least agree on a common name. Open wide and say, “Ah!” by SCOOP NISKER

America’s Greatest Walkers
Thoreau, Whitman and Muir all walked their talk. This national history of walking pays homage to great American road heroes like Peace Pilgrim and Planetwalker John Francis. by STEPHEN ALTSCHULER

The Empire of Everybody
The author of Field Notes on the Compassionate Life reflects on his “search for the soul of kindness” and offers previously unpublished tales of deliverance from war-torn Sarajevo, the jungles of Burma, and the Sri Lankan tsunami. by MARC IAN BARASCH

Nature: A Real Moral Value
The Bush administration has no mandate to ignore the environment. by ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR

Kind Food
Lydia’s Lovin’ Foods is more than an oasis of organic treats. As Lydia Kindheart explains, her Fairfax fare of soups, veggies, tapas, and sweets is really about community. by ANDREA BLUM

Culture and Mythos
Does our “dominator mythos” doom us to recycle the same wars generation after generation? Discovering history’s alternatives might free us from its destructive, unconscious grip. by GEORGIA KELLY

Journeys: Dark Was The Night
A local songster marvels at how the “greatest tune ever written” got blasted into Deep Space as part of the Voyager probe. by MARC SILBER