The 'Innocent Prisoner's Dilemma'

Expected to show remorse, the wrongfully convicted in America's prisons face a moral dilemma. How can we allow this to happen?

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/06/04/nyregion/1247467961918/the-innocent-prisoners-dilemma.html

Another vigil. February this year in a bitterly cold field in front of Florida State Prison in Raiford. Martin Grossman was being executed on this day and standing there waiting for the news of his demise, all i could think of was how premeditated and calculated this was. How can we as a society allow this to happen? The caption under this photo of me published online by TBO says "Giusi Branca stands outside of Florida State Prison to protest the death sentence of Martin Grossman". It's more than that actually. It's standing in disbelief that we can kill so cold-bloodedly without a thought for what exactly we are doing. How can we extinguish a life which, within the barbaric confines of prison walls, has already been extinguished? We are committing the ultimate barbaric act, by telling our children that this person shouldn’t be allowed to breath the same air we do. So, what then makes us better than the individual accused of committing his abhorrent deed? Who will judge us one day for extinguishing a life in the name of a justice system that leaves a lot to be desired........a justice system that regards due process with more favor than the innocence of an individual?

I was looking at the sun shining behind the prison in that moment. Life actually giving birth to life, day moving to night with a crescent moon smiling down at us in a cloudless sky. Who ever was in that building preparing to kill Martin, must have at some point look into his eyes. What did they see? Fear? Did they ever stop to feel the despair of a man about to loose his life after years of living with his own deeds, in his own limbo? I doubt it. Doesn’t that make us all wonder? If we don’t spread humanity, if we don’t listen to the people around us, look deep into their eyes and try and understand, how can we ever repair what is broken in our society? It is as though the victims have died in vain. That is the tragedy of this whole charade. This was a sad day, for Martin, his victim, the families and all who were touched by the killing machine at work that day. All these executions are as horrific as the murders these inmates are accused of committing. To stand in that 'play pen' as a friend of mine refers to it, and wait helplessly as another human life is destroyed, makes you wonder have we learned anything, will we ever, about humanity? There is something wrong with this picture, with this whole scene. And what of the emotions after the execution? There is emptiness, i don’t believe that we can feel anything but that. What have we achieved when we are left with our deed and nothing more,  the victim is after all not miraculously returned to us. When we have removed from this world another individual who was already buried in the system, does it make anything better, does it change what is left behind? If not, what then? What is the point, not only for the grieving families of the victims, but for us as a community?  Have we achieved something profoundly good? Something which will inspire us to move forward? And if so, how? How do we learn about forgiveness, how do we learn about redemption if the very individuals who can teach us, who in thier own suffering have come face to face with horror and have faced our fears,  are destroyed and buried? There are so many questions we don’t dare ask, so many questions left unanswered because we don’t want to go to that place where we need to ask them, because they don’t fit into our conveniently sheltered worlds. Do we take responsibility as a society? It doesn’t feel as though we are. This all seems so pointless and such a waste of our efforts to bring peace and to stop violence in this world.

http://www2.tbo.com/photoalbum/2010/feb/16/grossman-execution/3/

Back again

For the last few years my world has wrapped itself more and more around the belief that every individual has something to give back to society. Even those who may seem lost deserve to be given a chance of some sort, not because we accept what they have done but purely because if we don't spread light and love, all we have left is destruction. It is so easy to destroy, but loving, forgiving, accepting......it takes so much more to embrace these philosophies, and in a society where we mindlessly follow the leader because it's so much easier, at what point do we stop and ask ourselves where it is taking us.
Thank you Mina for kick starting back to updating my blog. There is so much to say and so much to do, and it takes a community of people working together to achieve the impossible: justice.

The sky above Florida State Prison

Last October I was present at the vigil for Richard Henyard. In the moments surrounding the execution the sky was filled with an embracing light......it seemed to reach out and hold in it's purifying ray the other souls on death row. It was mesmerizing and overwhelming. It was a moment of death, a moment of re-birth that I will never forget.

The Right Thing to Do?

Former Florida State Prison Warden Speaks Out

Time to Reflect

FLORIDA:

Abolish the death penalty ---- State executes child killer

We should abolish death penalty. Despite my opposition to capital punishment, I too would have stood outside the death chamber wearing a T-shirt asking for justice. Mark Dean Schwab's crime appears so heinous as to overwhelm my capacity for forgiveness.

And this is the very reason why capital punishment should be abolished. One of the government's functions is to keep us from hurting ourselveswhen we lose control of our best judgment.

Schwab's execution has two unwanted consequences for society. The first is the delusion that there may be closure from death. It is impossible not to sympathize with a grieving mother who has lost a young child, yet it is naive to think that Schwab's death could bring closure to her grief. As an old physician who experienced many deaths in his personal life and professional capacity, I learned to see the death of a loved one as an interrupted letter, whose end will remain one of life's mysteries. The only way to cope with death is to learn to live without closure. The politicians who espouse the death penalty as a form of closure are not different from the drug peddlers who promise few moments of relief from our daily pains.

The second consequence of Schwab's execution is the denial of the very principles at the foundation of a civil society. Once the government sanctions the cold-blooded killing of a person, it implies that people in power have the right to exterminate anybody considered undesirable. And it sanctions, together with capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia and eugenics. The foundation of a civil society is that life is something of value by itself, something that cannot be eliminated for somebody else's convenience!

Lodovico Balducci, Tampa

legal update on Mumia

Date: June 10, 2008

From: Robert R. Bryan, lead counsel

Subject: Legal Update on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, death row, Pennsylvania

This Legal Update is made on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on Pennsylvania’s death row.

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit entered an order extending the due date for submitting the Petition for Rehearing En Banc on behalf of my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal. We will file it on June 27, 2008.

There apparently is still confusion regarding the March 27 federal decision. A new jury trial was ordered on the question of whether the penalty should be life or death. The court did not rule that Mumia should receive a life sentence as some have stated. The penalty-phase was reversed because the trial judge gave misleading and unconstitutional jury instructions. Nonetheless, I expect far greater gains.

There was a lengthy dissenting opinion on the issue of racism in jury selection. It found that there was prima facie evidence of the prosecutor engaging in racism. He removed prospective African-American jurors for no reason other than the color of their skin. That violates the United States Constitution. This extraordinary dissent goes to the core of our effort to secure an entirely new trial. The first step in that process is what we presently are about—convincing the entire federal court that the case should be reheard and full relief granted. This dissent serves as the basis for that effort and, if need be, going to the United States Supreme Court.

Mumia remains on death row. The prosecution has vowed to appeal and continue its quest to see him executed. I will not let that happen.

Donations for Mumia's Legal Defense in the United States The only way to ensure that donations in the U.S. go only to the legal defense is to make checks payable to the National Lawyers Guild Foundation (indicate "Mumia" on the bottom left). The donations are tax deductible. Checks should be mailed to:

Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal

P.O. Box 2012

New York, NY 10159-2012

Conclusion This case can be won. In over three decades of successfully defending people in capital murder cases, I have not seen one more compelling. Racism is a thread that has run through the case since its inception. My objective remains to obtain a new jury trial in which Mumia will be acquitted by a jury so that he can return to his family, a free person.

On behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, I thank you.

Yours very truly,

Robert R. Bryan

Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan

2088 Union Street, Suite 4

San Francisco, California 94123-4117

Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

[RobertRBryan@aol.com

Mum and Dad finally arrive.

It's hard to describe the emotion of seeing your parents again after so long. I hadn't seen mine for almost a year and seeing them arrive at the airport, watching the smile of joy shine from their faces after the long 24 hour journey from Australia as we first caught sight of eachother, was a priceless moment, one that you wish you could stop in time. The next two weeks will be wonderful, just having them around. I feel blessed and i feel inspired. Thank you for making this long journey to be with me.

The problem with assumptions

DALE RECINELLA SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC
Published: 06.06.08

When I was an economics major attending Catholic college in Kentucky almost 40 years ago, a popular academic joke was: "Two economists find themselves thousands of miles from civilization stranded on a deserted island where there is no edible vegetation and there are no animals. How do they survive?" The punchline was: "One of them assumes he has a can of food and the other one assumes he has a can opener."
The point of the jest is that the discipline of economics is fragile indeed, because the outcome of the deliberations always rests on the assumptions. The result is only as good as those assumptions. My specific discipline was mathematical economics and the assumptions were frequently stated in statistical formulae that ran for pages. Yet, no matter how complex or intriguing the integrals and summations of the model might be, the juice was always in the assumptions.
All this quickly came to memory as I read the seven opinions totaling a hundred pages that comprise the recent U.S. Supreme Court's decision authorizing Kentucky to proceed with lethal injections. Contrary to the pronouncements by many pro-death spin doctors, the court did not rule on the constitutionality of capital punishment in America. I know that because the justices said so. Their written opinions say that, for purposes of the Kentucky decision, capital punishment is assumed to be constitutional.
That is not all. Contrary to the sound bites in the media, the U.S. Supreme Court did not even rule on the constitutionality of lethal injection. Once again, I know that because they said so. Their opinions say that, for purposes of the Kentucky decision, lethal injection is assumed to be constitutional.
So what did the U.S. Supreme Court actually decide about capital punishment? The answer is: incredibly little. In the 7 to 2 decision, the highest justices in the land proclaimed that assuming capital punishment is constitutional in the U.S. and assuming lethal injection is a constitutional way of killing people in the U.S., then the two death-row inmates from Kentucky had failed to put forward enough evidence to justify forcing Kentucky to change the chemicals that the state uses to kill people.
Actually, the result is even more narrow that that. The Supreme Court justices, ruling in favor of Kentucky, relied heavily on the fact that Kentucky did not botch its one lethal injection.
Perhaps this is why even some of the justices who agreed with Chief Justice John Roberts predicted the decision would spawn an explosion of death penalty appeals. For example, what about the states that have had problems with lethal injection? What about states like Florida that has had horrendous problems? What about states like Ohio that have had people screaming in agony on the gurney? What about California, and Missouri, and North Carolina and all the others that have not had a one-good for one-shot record?
The most disturbing element of the narrow decision has gone unmentioned in the press. Most states prohibit the lethal injection chemicals used by Kentucky (and the other lethal injection states) from being used to euthanize animals because they can cause extreme and unnecessary agony and suffering. What was the authoritative source used by our five Catholic Supreme Court justices to override that concern?
The authority that our Catholic Chief Justice Roberts cites for this purpose is none other than the horrendous handbook for assisted suicide and euthanasia in the Netherlands. Our Catholic Supreme Court justices are citing the Dr. Kevorkians of northern Europe as authority for lethal injections in America. The Dutch bible of the culture of death has now been enshrined in our case law.
Dare we assume that the precedent set by the Kentucky case will never be applied to us in our nursing homes? That is not an assumption I would bet money on.

Recinella is the coordinator of Death Row Ministries, St. Mary's Church, Macclenny.
http://www.thefloridacatholic.org/rop/2008_rop/2008_roparticles/20080606_rop_recinella_assumptions.php

Just back!

Just got back from my trip to the USA. It was wonderful and very inspiring. Now the work starts again to help all those on the row who are in danger. It struck me while i was away that we cant capture the essence of ourselves by just looking in the mirror; it takes understanding how others see us to make us reflect on where we must go to find the essence of who we are. No man is an island.......and understanding ourselves, means understanding others above all.

How many more?

How many more journals can I make and fill? My latest distraction.......

OUR OTHER SELVES

By GAYLE REAVES, PHOTO BY JOHN HOLBROOK

Shooting through thick glass into the narrow box of a prison interview cubicle, John Holbrook had few options as a photographer. On Texas’ death row, the inmates’ uniforms were routinely white, the walls barren, the lighting harsh. But there were faces, body language, hands. And so he used those things to tell the story: hands clasping each other, or pressed against the glass, folded in prayer, spread across a chest. Eyes looking straight at the camera, or giving a sideways glance.
Holbrook, who also is a private investigator, is a confirmed opponent of the death penalty, and his photo essay was originally suggested by fellow anti-death penalty activists. But along the way, he said, he realized that his pictures are as much for himself and the families of the killers’ victims as they are for people who’d like to abolish capital punishment — mainly because Holbrook came to the death penalty debate through hate and guilt.
In 1994 and 1995, Holbrook worked as an investigator in a capital murder trial, studying crime scene and autopsy photos of a 16-year-old’s grisly death — raped and tortured, she’d been finally shot in the head, the exit wound making a ragged hole between her eyes. As he studied the pictures and learned about her, he grew to hate the two “animals” who’d so viciously attacked her. “I was wishing I would be the ones injecting them,” he said, referring to the drug cocktail used in executions.
Holbrook wasn’t working for police or prosecutors, however — he was working on the legal defense team of one of the defendants. And so he took the anger and revulsion and hate and tucked it inside, where it stayed for years, his own private hazardous waste dump, leaking its toxins into his psyche.
Along the way, Holbrook began taking pictures of homeless people and other social outcasts around North Texas, often depicting them with halos or in saintly poses. His work drew the attention of churches, homeless advocates, and CNN and became part of a national exhibit.
But amid the recognition, something was wrong. Holbrook had begun to notice that he was becoming fixated by various round images, like the hole in the concrete he passed on his daily run that he’d stop to stare at for long minutes. A hubcap, a drainpipe — same thing. And as he stared, he’d begin to see again the decomposing body of the murder victim, with the wound in her forehead. “I might have killed myself, it was that bad,” he said.
A psychologist diagnosed Holbrook’s problem as post-traumatic stress disorder, brought on by the time he spent with the gruesome pictures from the young woman’s murder. His photos of the homeless, the psychologist said, were an unconscious attempt by Holbrook to replace the horrible images with good ones.
Over the years that followed, Holbrook came to another realization: He not only had to replace the images in his mind, he also had to replace the hatred with something more positive.
As he worked his way through that process, Holbrook continued to take photos of homeless people. That led, last year, to an inquiry from two anti-death-penalty activists from Oslo, Norway, who approached him about doing similar photos of the men and women on death row in Texas. As it turned out, one of the two activists had been a pen pal for the killer who had tortured and murdered the young woman in the pictures that had caused Holbrook so much anguish a decade earlier.
Negotiations on that project broke down temporarily, and Holbrook approached Fort Worth Weekly about doing the death row portraits for this paper — to put a human face on the most active death row in the country.
And so Holbrook went down the path followed by many before him: He started turning his anguish into art. Beginning in January, Holbrook made repeated trips to Livingston, where men sentenced to death in this state are housed, and to Gatesville, where the women on Texas death row are incarcerated. He has photographed only a handful of the condemned – one of nine women, 10 of about 380 men. Since then, two of the men have moved off death row: Thomas Miller-El of Dallas dropped his appeal, which had been based on Dallas’ formerly racist jury selection procedures, in return for a life sentence. LaRoyce Smith, not pictured here, was granted a new trial.
Holbrook’s subjects range from a man convicted of beating two women to death with a skillet to Darlie Routier, the glamorous Rowlett housewife convicted of fatally stabbing her two sons, to Travis Runnels, a young man who, already serving a long sentence for aggravated robbery, graduated to death row by knifing a prison factory supervisor. They also include Randolph Greer who, though only 18 when he was arrested in Houston, was also an accused serial rapist, described by police as a remorseless psychopath. Tony Ford is another subject, convicted largely on the basis of one witness who has since recanted and another whose identification of Ford is suspect due to the inmate’s eerily close resemblance to the man that even police have heard was the real killer. And then there’s Nelson Gongora, a longtime violent Fort Worth gang leader with a ruthless reputation, who shot his victim in full view of several witnesses; he asked Holbrook to send copies of his picture to his mother.
“I have deliberately chosen to photograph those who are very obviously guilty of the crimes they are convicted of and those who are probably innocent as well,” Holbrook said. “If you feel compelled to figure out which is which, please do so.”
For the most part, Holbrook is not an apologist for the inmates. “Most of them are guilty, and most of them are lying,” he said. But that doesn’t change what he sees as his mission.
The ultimate conclusion he came to, Holbrook said, is that, for families of the dead and for collateral-damage victims like him, “The only way we can truly stop suffering is to love and forgive those who have caused the suffering.” He wants viewers to see the common human link between the killers and jailhouse preachers and themselves. “The ultimate question we are trying to answer when we look at these condemned human beings is, ‘Am I capable of that?’ And the answer is yes,” he said, “given the same life experiences they have had. … They are our other selves.”
If that all sounds mystical and churchy, Holbrook is decidedly the first but not the second. He believes in God but has no use for organized religion.
And so Holbrook also realizes — and doesn’t care — that many of the inmates agreed to be photographed because they’re grasping at any straw that might save their lives: If they look meek and reverent, maybe someone will help with their appeal or join the fight against the death penalty in time to keep the needle away from them.
The inmates had different reactions to Holbrook and his camera. Ford, for instance, wanted to be photographed while engaging in prayer. Routier flirted. When he took Greer’s picture, Holbrook said, “It was as if I was not there. He used the brief photo session to escape into some kind of fantasy world. He posed like he was the subject of some kind of exotic fashion shoot.”
Holbrook said he found that Miller-El — arrested following a shoot-out with police, after killing one man and leaving another paralyzed by his wounds – has, over the decades, become one of the most beloved people on the death row unit, respected by guards and inmates.
The 43-year-old photographer believes in the “spiritual transformations” that inmates such as Miller-El appear to have undergone. “Would they have made these transformations if not for the fact that they were about to be killed?” Holbrook asks himself, and he has no answer.
Holbrook was most affected by his session with Ford, whom the photographer said “has the best innocence claim of anyone I have photographed.” That causes Holbrook great anxiety. After that trip, he said, “I woke up at 3 a.m. and had a panic attack.”
But the “reality of the death penalty finally set in,” Holbrook said, after his visit with Runnels, who committed his murder behind bars. “I was taken by the absurdity of wasting such a perfect physical example of a human being” — and by knowing what Runnels did to end up where he is.
Holbrook hasn’t talked to the victims’ families, but he doesn’t expect them to accept his view. It took him a long time to come to it, after all, and he personally has lost no one to a murderer except, almost, himself, and a girl he never met in life.
He intends to keep taking death row pictures, if he can. And the Oslo group and others are again working on plans for the photo exhibit to tour Europe, where opposition to the death penalty is much stronger than in this country. The portraits will also be shown around the United States.
The man whose defense Holbrook was working on back in 1994 got a long prison term. His accomplice was sentenced to death and executed in April 2007, the photographer said, “about five days before my son was born.” Holbrook still aches for the “beautiful human being” who was the victim in that case, and still get echoes of the psychological stress he went through back then. But Holbrook said he’s learned the mechanism for defeating those demons.
Forgiveness, he said, “works like magic.”
The Murder Victims
Fort Worth Weekly was unable to obtain pictures of most of the victims of the murders for which the inmates in the portraits were convicted. In some cases, local newspapers or government agencies declined to allow photos to be copied.
Here are the victims and their circumstances:
• Houston grocer Kenneth Kwan, 43, was killed in 1991 when several men overpowered him and a security guard as Kwan returned from a bank carrying cash. George McFarland was convicted in his death.
• The stabbing murders of Devon, 6, and Damon Routier, 5, in their Rowlett home in 1996 became an infamous case. Darlie Routier claimed that an intruder had killed her sons, but many suspicious circumstances — such as finding that the knife used to cut a window screen had been returned to its place in the kitchen — led police to charge her. She was convicted in the death of Damon and not tried in Devon’s murder.
• Walter Chmiel, 47, was slain in 1991 by a robber who took money and 25 weapons from Chmiel’s gun store in the Bellaire enclave in Houston. Randolph Greer, convicted of the murder, was identified by three women as their attacker and was a suspect in violent crimes in North Carolina.
• Armando Murillo, 18, of El Paso was shot to death in 1991 by two men who broke into his mother’s home. His mother, Myra Conception Murillo, and her two daughters were also shot but survived. Tony Ford was convicted in Armando’s death.
• Delfino Sierra, 36, brought his family from Dallas to Fort Worth in 2001 to attend a quiceañera. When he left the party to get some air, witnesses said, Nelson Gongora shot him in the head.
• Douglas Walker and Donald Ray Hall were working as clerks in an Irving hotel in 1985 when a robber bound and gagged both men and shot them. Walker died. Hall, permanently paralyzed, survived and identified Thomas Miller-El as the attacker.
• James Mosqueda, 27, and his girlfriend, Amy Kitchen, 22, were found slain in their North Dallas home in 2000. Ivan Cantu, Mosqueda’s cousin, was charged in both deaths and tried and convicted for killing Mosqueda.
• Stanley A. Wiley, 38, was working as a supervisor in an state prison shoe factory in Amarillo in 2003 when he was attacked by an inmate. Numerous witnesses identified Travis Runnels as the man who slashed the supervisor’s throat. Wiley died in a local hospital four hours later.

http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=6895

In a Gem

An Angel posed a question to me
Asking softly~What do I see?
When I looked at this crystal she held in her hand
Admiring all the beautiful colors swirling around
I took a moment for
I could not contain
The many tears from built up pain.....
I did not know why they streamed down my cheeks
But the emotions I held in~Began to leak
The crystal represented a value so high
A priceless gem that came from heavens skies
Chiseled with precision from an Angel’s tools
Each cut unique and out of this world
Only in my dreams have I seen a crystal such as this
For it was always out of reach but I did wish
The colors that turn and shimmer to life....
Green is my favorite with blue by its side
I don’t think of money or material things
But the earth and the sky and the value that they bring
So much of our land has been destroyed and our air polluted
The Rainforest is depleting and the animals endangered too
Red and aqua represent the sun and water to me
Too much or too little can be damaging
The ozone layer has been disintegrating slowly
And the water affected by oil spills and wastes from the cities
The lavender color reminds me of love
My heart beats faster for there are many people I think of
The crystal possesses a deeper meaning than its outer beauty
Without all five elements~Life would mean nothing……

A Tapestry

"Apart we are two separate threads,

a common experience to the human eye.

But when we are together we weave,

into a tapestry of beautiful design.

The picture is there to be seen,

for those who take note of what we are:

The Frog made into a Prince,

by the kiss and love of his little Star.

Only god could weave such a love,

that could shine so bright, eternally:

With His breath to give us life,

we honor this gift, most fervently."

Wisu

Time alone

"I am here alone for the first time in weeks, to take up my "real" life again at last. That is what is strange- that friends, even passionate love, are not my real life unless there is time alone in which to explore and to discover what is happening or has happened."

~ May Sart

My Day 2008

We had a nice birthday dinner last night at the concert hall in Amsterdam overlooking the Amstel river. It was a wonderful setting and it was an evening of wine and melancholy talk about the past......a true walk down memory lane. I wonder if everyone does that on their birthday or is that just a sign of getting older and wiser as you look back and wonder about past choices? Who knows......... i have good memories of last night today anyway, and that must mean it was good.

The view on the port and the island from our restaurant seats.

It ended in a cake at home with the cats and new hamster. Rob made sure there was chilled Champagne and candles on the cake. I didnt really need much more than that to feel special. Low key was just fine this year.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who made my birthday so special today! It isnt a day that i really look forward to but it reminds me that I am not forgotten. It has been a quiet but special day, and I am looking forward to all that the new year is going to bring me! Hugs to all my friends.

NCADP: BAZE RULING SIDESTEPS THE CRITICAL ISSUES; DEATH PENALTY SYSTEM REMAINS AS FLAWED AS EVER

David Elliot - NCADP Communications Director - April, 16 2008

April 16, 2008 – The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Kentucky’s lethal injection protocol sidesteps the critical issues surrounding the death penalty debate in the U.S., the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty said today.

“The death penalty system was a flawed public policy before the Supreme Court agreed to review Kentucky’s lethal injection protocol,” said NCADP Executive Director Diann Rust-Tierney. “It was a flawed public policy while the Court debated the protocol. And now that the Court has ruled, it remains as deeply a flawed public policy as ever.”

The relatively narrow scope of the Court’s deliberations did not address basic issues of fairness, bias, ineffective assistance of counsel or innocent people being convicted and sentenced to death, Rust-Tierney said. She noted that the U.S. has gone almost seven months since an execution – the longest period of time without an execution since a 17-month hiatus that stretched from early 1981 into late 1982.

“Now, with the possible resumption of executions, we renew our commitment to discuss the critical issues surrounding the death penalty system,” Rust-Tierney said. “Since the last person was executed – on Sept. 24, 2007 – we have seen a number of remarkable events. Four names have been added to the list of people freed from death row after evidence of their innocence emerged, bringing that number to at least 128. New Jersey has abolished the death penalty. Nebraska has no effective death penalty after its Supreme Court ruled the electric chair unconstitutional. The American Bar Association has called for a nationwide moratorium on executions. And the United Nations, reflecting evolving trends around the globe, has voted for a worldwide moratorium.”

In addition, Rust-Tierney said, California and Tennessee have held state hearings in order to study their respective death penalty systems. Constitutional questions have been raised in New Hampshire and New Mexico and wrongful conviction and DNA lab scandals continue in Texas.

“And that’s just in seven months,” Rust-Tierney noted. “It seems that the more we learn about the death penalty, the more we learn we can live without it.”

Indeed, Rust-Tierney noted Justice Stevens’ concurrence in today’s opinion in which he warned that debate will continue – not just over lethal injection protocols “but also about the justification for the death penalty itself.”

Mumia protest 19th April

Join the Campaign to End the Death Penalty in Philadelphia (at the Federal Building at 6th and Market) this Saturday, April 19th at 11 AM as we stand in solidarity with Mumia Abu Jamal.

DC area activists will be gathering outside Takoma Metro (red line) this Saturday at 8 AM to drive to Philadelphia. We will return around 5 PM. Please RSVP if you'd like a ride at: mikestark2003@yahoo.com.

In Philadelphia, we will be joined by hundreds of activists from dozens of organizations from up and down the east coast as we gather outside the Federal Building at 6th and Market, Philadelphia in a show of support for Mumia Abu-Jamal. On March 27, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals refused to overturn Mumia's conviction and instead upheld a lower federal court's decision to vacate his death sentence. Mumia and his attorneys had argued his entire conviction should be overturned citing evidence of racism and corruption by his original trial judge and prosecutors. The Court's decision will force prosecutors to seek a new sentencing hearing if they wish to reimpose a death sentence -- otherwise his sentence will automatically be converted to life in prison.

Mumia was originally sentenced in 1982 by a mostly-white jury for the murder of policeman Daniel Faulkner. Many national and internationally based human rights groups upon investigation have denounced Mumia's trial as grossly unfair and biased. An Amnesty International report titled, "A life in the Balance -- the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal," found that prosecutors illegally used political statements made by Mumia as a teenager as evidence against him at his original trial. They also found that politics has played a role in preventing a full and fair hearing of the facts in his case. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/001/2000/en/dom-AMR510012000en.html

Amnesty International has also stated that overturning Mumia's death sentence is not enough and does not amount to justice since his original trial did not comply with international standards of justice: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR51/183/2001/en/dom-AMR511832001en.html

Since his conviction, Mumia has become the "Voice of the Voiceless" as he continues his journalism through hundreds articles and several books exposing the horrors of death row to millions or readers. Recently, Maryland death row prisoner John Boothe described Mumia's book "Live from Death Row" as an incredibly important contribution in the fight against the death penalty. "By capturing the experience of living on death row and reminding prisoners that they are not alone, Mumia gave us all a voice and some hope."

www.nodeathpenalty.org

Darkness

"Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

The Owl in the Tree Book

For a week now i have been working on trying to get this little book right. I think the cover is done and the fun of it isthat, hidden there, in the middle of all those leaves and branches there are surprises...a pair of eyes looking out, a lady bird, a snail...... the fun of creating is the sparkle in the eyes of the people who are enjoying it and discovering the mind of the artist. However, it isnt quite finished....my art never is. There is always something missing, and this is no exception. Ongoing adventures.....that is what each and every piece I make means to me, no matter how simple.

What forgiveness means to me.

Forgiveness is a process. Perhaps God is speaking to you about a person you need to forgive. You can begin the process of forgiveness today, but that doesn’t mean you will instantly feel the freedom of complete forgiveness.

For deep offenses, it may take years to experience the full freedom of forgiveness. I compare forgiveness to peeling layers off an onion. You can dig deeply and take off many layers at once, but there are lots of thin layers as well, which makes forgiveness a process of patiently addressing the issues that come up.

Committing to the process means admitting that you’re powerless to forgive on your own. You’re telling God that you want Him to forgive through you. You’re willing to begin, knowing it may take years before you feel the complete release of God’s work of forgiveness in your heart.
Forgiveness is a decision. The most important contribution you make in the process of forgiveness is to trust God enough to make the decision to forgive. In human matters, forgiveness comes down to a decision. It’s a decision to trust that God knows more than you do and that forgiving the person who hurt you will heal you.

No one can force us to forgive, and no one can keep us from forgiving. Forgiveness is a decision to trust not our own instincts but the voice of God. When I’ve decided to forgive, it wasn’t because the offender asked me to do so or even acted in a way that created a desire in me to forgive. I forgave because I trusted that God loves me and that He would never tell me to do something that wasn’t good for me.

I’ll always remember the most significant experiences of forgiveness in my life. These memories are of spiritual victories whereby God overcame the fear, rage and resistance created in my soul by another person’s actions toward me. In true forgiveness, I release my hatred, self-protection and desire for vengeance, but I keep all of my short- and long-term memories. When we’ve experienced the healing power of forgiveness, we never forget the release we feel in our souls. Through forgiving, we’re able to forget “what lies behind” and reach forward to “what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13), which involves letting go of the pain and being freed from hatred, fear and bitterness. We remember those painful circumstances in a way that gives us hope for the future. True forgiveness gives us back our lives.

Thank you to Dr. Deborah Newman

Journey to Forgiveness

“What an incredible story... abduction and escape is only half of this story. The rest deals with traumatic aftershock...and the long, painful road to become whole again. There's refreshing honesty in these pages as Debbie reveals her own fierce struggles and mistakes so others can gain insight and courage.” Sister Helen Prejean Author of Dead Man Walking.

No one in the country can forget the controversy stirred over Sister Helen Prejean's book, Dead Man Walking. The book's chilling true story and the subsequent movie, starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, focused the entire world on the horrific crimes committed by Robert Willie and Joe Vacarro in Louisiana in 1980. For most of us, Dead Man Walking awakened our own conflicted feelings and beliefs about the extremes of crime and punishment .

For Debbie Morris, it reawakened the nightmare she had been living with since surviving an unspeakably brutal experience at the hands of the man who was the subject of Dead Man Walking. While the rest of us debated the ethics of executing a man clearly guilty of heinous rape, torture and murder, Debbie Morris found she had a life-changing decision to make. Keep silent about her terrifying experience as a teen-ager, or share her story with the world — make a private pain a public revelation. In a dauntless act of faith and courage, she chose to speak.

The path Debbie has walked since the summer night in 1980 when she was kidnapped, raped and held for thirty hours is the story her audiences most want to hear. It's a story of unfathomable courage in the face of absolute terror as, after her escape, she helped police first save the life of the young man she was with the night of her abduction, and then eventually capture and convict both Willie and Vacarro. More importantly, Debbie Morris' story, is a powerful testimony of forgiveness and redemption on a road of spiritual, emotional and physical recovery littered with alcohol abuse, depression and panic attacks. Her journey back to wholeness eventually brought her to teaching special needs children and a solid, fulfilling family life with childhood friend, Brad Morris.

Debbie's story, first told publicly on PBS Frontline, proved so inspirational she was encouraged by many people, including Sister Helen Prejean, to write about it. Forgiving The Dead Man Walking was published in 1998. Since the publication of the book, Debbie Morris has appeared on the Today Show, Leeza, The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, Focus on the Family, and National Public Radio's Fresh Air, among others. She has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, Marie Claire and Today's Christian Woman and many other of the country's most popular home, women's and Christian lifestyle magazines.

Today, Debbie Morris is a highly sought speaker at conferences and retreats across the country, including Women of Faith conferences. In 2001 she appeared with Dr. James Dobson on Focus on the Family. The subject of forgiving—how to forgive, when to forgive, why to forgive, has become a topic of increasing spiritual interest across mainstream America, transcending religious affiliation. Debbie's mission is to share her transformational story of healing and grace, one she prays will help others discover the same life-altering power and freedom generated by the act of forgiveness.


AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY TO FORGIVENESS
FORGIVING THE DEAD MAN WALKING
DEBBIE MORRIS, ( speaker and author)
THURSDAY, MAY 1ST, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH WORSHIP CENTER
138 S Washington Street
Prattville, AL
Tickets are $ 5:00 at Lifeway Christian Store or First Baptist Church
For more information, call church office at 334 365 0606

The Tree

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.

William Blake, 1799, The Letters

I Believe You Can Fly....

Everything Happens for a Reason

Everything in life happens for a reason. In fact, your very presence here now reading this very article has its reason too. Why are you here? To seek for yourself some answer to discovering your life?

Absolutely nothing wrong with that! How wrong can there be? When in doubt, always ask right?

This is the very way of life. All events that happen in life always lead to a next event and so on and so for. What will happen next? We wouldn’t know and this is for you to find out. This is an ever-going cycle in the law of nature. At the end of the day, what matters is where will they lead you to.

And for what reasons would these events be, good or bad? It very much depends on you. This is the cause and effect of life. You have to understand this. It is always your actions that decide what should happen next. Picture them as a good cause and positive actions will follow. Picture them as a bad cause and more negative actions will just follow, leading to undesired outcome.
And for some reasons or so, many of us tend to just always prefer to have negative thoughts (pessimistic) than to having positive thoughts (optimistic) And with such thoughts in mind, even things that indeed happen for a good cause will just turn out to be for bad cause; leading to more and just more unnecessary stress and worries.

Why? Is there anything wrong to think positive? Is it against the law to think positively?
Perhaps let me just ask. To talk about a forest fire, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Terrible and frightening?

But what if I were to tell you that a forest fire is necessary and a must? (not talking about those created by man of course) In actual fact, natural wildland fires are essential for the correct functioning of many ecosystems; to allow the forest to renew itself; to bring about benefits for both the nature and us.
Understand this. Not everything in life happens for a bad cause.

To just share with you, I have known of a good friend who previously got retrench from his job. Back then, he was definitely feeling real depressed and lost. Not to mention that it took him almost close to a year before finding a new job. But it is because of the change in job that he met his love, to actually start a new chapter in life; happily married now.
Now, isn’t that for a good cause that he actually got retrenched back then? Just recall. I am sure you have come across many encouraging events in your life too?
Or are you going to still, be complaining? Perhaps complaining about all those additional work assigned to you?

Sometimes, all those additional work which you may find rubbish are there to actually prepare you for your next journey. Think of it this way. Won’t these new acquired skills and experience just come in handy if you were to start your own business?

Complaints won’t get you anywhere. Open up yourself and you will see more. All those events you meet in life, be they little or major are there for a reason. Uncover them and they will lead you towards a new journey…


By: Master Jon Sim
www.art-of-fengshui.com
© 2007 Jon Sim. All rights reserved.

Jon Sim is the Principal Consultant and Master Trainer of Art of Feng Shui Consultancy. A master in the practice of Chinese Metaphysic Art, which include Classical Feng Shui, Life Destiny Reading, Time and Space Metaphysics. With the wise knowledge in the law of Yin & Yang and Life Destiny Reading, he has helped and counseled many, both online and onsite, to acquiring and experience the benefits and joy of balanced living.

Article Source: http://www.newagearticles.com/

Advocacy group for children of incarcerated parents

This is an advocacy agency for newborns and children of incarcerated parents. They provide services to address the needs and
issues of children experiencing the trauma of parental incarceration.

No More Victims, Inc. was founded in 1993 by Marilyn K. Gambrell, a former Texas parole officer. After witnessing the repeated trauma that children with parents in prison were experiencing, Ms. Gambrell created NMVI to support and assist children and families in crisis. The organization offers school, community and corrections-based programming. Over 700 children are currently enrolled in the No More Victims program at M.B. Smiley High School in Houston, TX. The students are graduating, going to college, joining the military or attending vocational school. The older children are role models for the younger children. NMVI has greatly impacted the M. B. Smiley High School through the reduction of violence and crime on campus, teen-age pregnancy and gang involvement. The students participating in the program have greatly improved behavior, grades and attendance creating an overall safer school environment.

The organization has received tremendous media coverage such as articles in the U.S. News and World Report, People and PrismMagazines. A Lifetime Movie Original titled "Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story"was released in August, 2005 on the Lifetime Movie Channel. CNN's - "NewsNight with Aaron Brown" released a special feature news story about Ms. Gambrell and the organization which received an Emmy Nomination as an outstanding feature film.


http://www.nomorevictimsinc.com/about.html

A Letter from Amnesty International

Dear Giusi,

You've seen the images on YouTube and in the news papers...
... Chinese security forces brutally attacking unarmed, non-violent protestors, including Buddhist monks, in Tibet.
But, you don't have to sit idly by and just watch. You can take action right now to help secure the freedom of 15 Tibetan monks who were arrested on March 10 for staging a peaceful protest in Barkhor, Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

We have no information on the monk's current whereabouts. We don't know the nature of the charges brought against them. And, they're at very high risk of torture or other ill treatment.
What we do know, is that by acting together we can place enormous pressure on the Chinese Government at a moment when they are trying to put their best face forward in the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games. By acting now, we can secure the immediate release of the 15 monks and the other peaceful protestors that were detained with them.

In recent days, Amnesty International has met with Congressional leaders, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and with senior White House officials. We are placing enormous pressure on the Chinese Government to stop the violence, open up the region to foreign reporters and to free peaceful protestors.
But, we need your immediate help to keep the pressure on.

Sincerely,
Larry CoxExecutive DirectorAmnesty International USA


Please sign the petition:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=10084

Take a chance......

Take your chances when they come along......they might not be there tomorrow.

Scrapbooking

Time to sort my journals, and there are so many. I am not sure that I like the style I have had in the last year a bit dark, a bit confused and lacking focus. I pilled them with all the bits I've collected, probably too much......... but a change is coming, i can feel it. I want to fill my journals with life and lots of color, i want to fill them with the positive emotions that i am filled with myself these days, and give them a reason. I feel as though i am going towards new realizations, new things..... and my journals will be the first to reflect that, the eyes that see what I believe my dreams will be..... through them i will see what i feel. I thought I had lost my inspiration, but tonight, I felt it come back in a surge. I think tomorrow will be a productive day.

“Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.” Tina Turner

Dutch Pancakes

The most memorable moment of my friend's visit.....? The night we ate pancakes the size of pizza's, we were daunted by the task. But it didnt stop either of us.....we covered our plates with "stroop" and we just worked our way through.....needless to say, niether of us had breakfast the next morning!!

Goodbye ........for now!

I just got back from the airport. I waved goodbye to one of the sweetest people I know, one who is so selfless and wonderful, one who makes me believe again in the wonder and the strength of the human soul. I had a brilliant few days with a person i am really proud to call my friend, someone who has been and will continue to be an inspiration to me. Thank you Ann Kristin, you truly have a huge heart, and your love touches everyone you infect with your contageous smile.

A girl with more get up and go never there was....... and yes, we want you back as soon as possible!!

Earth Hour

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming.

About Earth Hour
On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights. Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switched off, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world.

In 2008, 24 global cities will participate in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis. It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

http://www.earthhour.org/

Thought for the day..........

Friendship

Friendship is a wonderful thing. This morning i heard from a friend who i hadn’t heard from in ages, a friend of many years who lives in Australia. It brought a smile to my face because despite all the silly things that happen in a day, one single hello makes all the turmoil in life just wash away, even if just for a brief moment. All it takes is a smile, an acknowledgement that once we did something to make someone remember us that brings us happiness. And it isn’t just any sort of happiness, it is one that stretches from the very roots of your soul....... the biggest gift you could receive from a person is a "hello".....

And to make things even better, I got a beautiful poem from someone I could never live without ………It made me think too. Made me wonder why so many try to make things more complicated than they should be, why people interfere and make us doubt ourselves when there is no doubt to be had……We all touch eachother, we all move in harmony, sway in the wind, or at least we could, if we learned to be selfless and smile at the fortune and happiness of others rather than focus on ourselves… on what we are missing and how we can get what we don’t have…..…..I think, if we swayed in harmony with the rest of the flowers in this field that is life, we would find a happiness deeper than any ever known.

“…….you and I are never ending…
our love reunites every time we part:
No one can tell us what we feel
For only you and I, know our hearts!”

Wisu

Where is the spring.....?

It still isn’t looking like spring here, and there is a deep yearning now to see the trees start sprouting leaves and new life begin it’s cycle again. Some of the trees on my street have blossoms but i don’t see how they could survive this cutting cold wind. The last few days i have seen little white flecks floating in the wind outside, and without thinking i have imagined them to be pollen blowing in the air, blossom leaves........ but they aren't!! They are snow flakes....... funny how the mind tricks you into believing something you really want to believe. This time of year just lends itself to wishful thinking …..it’s time for the cold to end and the warm seasons to begin, it’s time for the sun to warm and the breeze to cool, not freeze! It’s time to begin new adventures. I am looking forward to seeing the trees on the dunes full of flowers and leaves. I am dreaming about it, and dreams make the fantasy run wild………..

No Baze decision yet. We are waiting for SCOTUS (the Supreme Court of the United States) to make a decision on the lethal injection case. It's been quite a while since there has been an execution. This is because there is a de-facto moratorium on executions in the United States while the Supreme Court looks at the constitutionality of the lethal injection procedure in Kentucky. Because so many other states use a similar procedure, the court has granted stays in every case where such a request has been made. SCOTUS issues decisions on days indicated in blue or red on the calendar you can find here:

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/07termcourtcalendar.pdf No decision today means the de-facto moratorium continues.

On a sad and distressing note on March 17, the Georgia Supreme Court voted 4-3 against Troy Davis' request for a new trial. Davis, who is on death row for the 1989 murder of a police officer, claims he is innocent and that he was a victim of mistaken identity. Since his trial in 1991, seven of the witnesses called by the prosecution have recanted their testimony. Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote in the dissenting opinion that Davis should at least have a hearing because, "In this case, nearly every witness who identified Davis as the shooter at trial has now disclaimed his or her ability to do so reliably." If the presiding judge determined the new evidence to be credible, it "would show the probability that a new jury would find reasonable doubt of Davis' guilt or at least sufficient residual doubt to decline to impose the death penalty," according to Justice Sears. Last year, Davis received a stay less than 24 hours before he was to be executed in order for the Court to review his claim of innocence. Davis will likely turn to Georgia's Board of Pardon and Paroles to request clemency.

More about this case is here: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=2651&scid=64 and also here: http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/

What is in our Hearts?

The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.

Joan Borysenko

So I wonder......do we choose to live with hate in our hearts or with Love?

What difference does it make to who we are, to how we are?

I bet it makes a lot of difference....I bet it can either fill us with

revenge, or it can fill us with light.....the difference between a

smile for humanity, or turning our backs on those who

rely on the rest of us to find their way.

The lethal injection reform process violates Florida law

"... The State of Florida prohibits medical, cosmetic or pharmaceutical experimental testing,
and “any other health-related experimental procedure,” unless the procedure is necessary for
treating the inmate when standard therapy is insufficient......... "

".........the current approach taken by the state of Florida to reform the lethal injection protocol involves untested medical procedures that are to be tested on inmates who are on death row. The process of review required by courts and the governor has initiated a great deal of change in the system, and the Department of Correction now must develop new procedures designed to avoid theproblems that the previous procedures faced. These procedures involve medical or pharmaceutical testing because they require the injection of a cocktail of drugs. The process by which these procedures are being improved will require systematically overhauling the current system and collecting data on the outcomes of the new system. Thus, this process of reform (and not the lethal injection statute itself) requires medical or pharmaceutical testing on inmates, and therefore, the process of reform violates Florida law"

156 THE GOVERNOR’S COMMISSION ON ADMINISTRATION OF LETHAL INJECTION, FINAL REPORT WITH
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (March 1, 2007),
http://www.law.berkeley.edu/clinics/dpclinic/LethalInjectionDocuments/Florida/lethalinjectionfinalreport.pdf
(last visited Sept. 25, 2007).

White Easter

I dont think I have ever seen the snow come down at Easter this heavily. It was more Christmas like than Spring.....it didn't last too long but it was wonderful to see. The branches in the tree of the back garden looked magical....like an enchanged forest about to unleash some elves or fairies. I saw a few birds trying to build a nest yesterday. I wonder where they hid today to get away from the cold.....or are they hidden somewhere in the branches covered in white? If you look hard, you might even spot them.....

Running

"It seems I’m still running from the monster. These thoughts spark as I read Primo Levi’s “Survival in Auschwitz.” People wonder why we would compare death row to a concentration camp- because it’s all the same. It’s death! It’s oppression! For the many that entered- not as many would leave. And for those that survived, it was a miracle. Like those in the camps, they struggled to live one more day. They held on that….maybe today will be the day I get out. Like them, we have the same thoughts. Just one more appeal, just one more exoneration. Death rows are the Auschwitz’s of the West! Ye gods! What games do you play to torment us mortals?
.............as I search to heal, search to understand…I take another glance out the window, There’s not a smile and there’s not a tear, but there is a knowing. You can crush a rose, but its fragrance will remain. And death row- my fragrance continues. As we keep the fight going, death row, know that I’ll never accept less… I’ll give no less than everything…even if everything is less than what I was expecting… I’ll settle for nothing less.Yes, the struggle does continue, and yes, I do remain (though crushed) the rose that won’t stop emanating from the concrete!"

Haramia KiNassor 2/17/08 4:24 PM
Source, Texas Death Penalty Blog
http://texasdeathpenalty.blogspot.com/

Happy Easter

A friend sent me this wish this morning ..."tanta pace e serenità in questo giorno che promette speranza".Grazie Serena, and I wish to spread the same peace and serenity to the world.

Spring.....but not for us all!!

My cat seems to think that bit of sun means, spring has sprung.... though the rest of us have been in coats, hats and gloves, she is in a blissful world of her own!

Lethal Injection: House approves controversial death penalty bill

Lethal Injection: House approves controversial death penalty bill

This is so hard to believe. Are we moving forwards, or are we moving backwards?

Moon Bathed Sands....

Was it on the moon bathed sands

or under the weeping willow’s wings

on sheets of thousand count bliss

or in a dream, another time?

I have beheld the beauty of you

followed the pathways to your soul

gazed softly into your eyes

and shared countless tales without a word

of the earth, the sky, the animals within

we have spoken in the cries of the wolf

and heard the longings of the soul

we have spoken in the thunder of the storm

and manifest the desires of the heart

to feel

to live

to be refreshed in your crystal rivers

my spirit ascends into your endless skies

and gently rains down upon the dreamers

eyes full with the glowing moon

blend with the tears of broken hearts

penetrate deep into the aching flesh

mingle in the blood

the rivers of our intent and dreams

flow to the source

where all is made real

Was it a yesterday

or some tomorrow yet to come

I saw on moist, emerald hills

the imprints of you and I?

David Stanley Bell