In truth, there are two camps when it comes to Texas singer-songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey: you’re either completely obsessed with his music, with his tunes becoming a pillar of the soundtrack of your life, or you’ve never heard of him. 

To the Editor:

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to rural Georgia with a friend to see the Venerable Monks on their Walk for Peace. It was the same day that we awoke to the news of the United States invasion of Venezuela to arrest Nicolas Maduro. It was an abrupt end to the peacefulness of the Christmas season, making my head spin and bringing me back to chaos that is the hallmark of this administration. Sadly. 

To the Editor:

I volunteered to serve during wartime. We had experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis and had military advisors training foreign nationals in Vietnam. Things escalated quickly and we found ourselves, “Neck deep in the big muddy ....” to quote the song by Pete Seeger. Our nation slowly slid into commitments that would cost thousands of young Americans their lives. 

Editor’s Note: This is the transcript of a recent voice memo Garret left for a friend of his on Thursday, Jan. 8, in the aftermath of the incident in Minneapolis, Minnesota, between a protester and an ICE agent. To note, both Garret’s father (U.S. Immigration) and grandfather (U.S. Customs) were career officers for the federal government (now retired). In 2003, Immigration and Customs combined to form ICE due to the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

Good afternoon. You’re probably slaving away at your [office] desk doing your favorite thing, which is working inside under fluorescent lighting, I would assume. [Laughs]. Oh, man, I don’t know where this message is going to go, but I just was wanting to vent about…[well], it’s almost hard to vent anymore, because it’s like every day is just this chaotic frustration of things outside of my [front] door and things across the country and things around the world. 

To the Editor:

In 2016, while running for President, Donald Trump called the Iraq War “stupid.” He was right. Saddam Hussein was a vicious dictator, but the U.S. had no plan for what would happen after he was eliminated. This war was actually fought for control of Iraq’s massive oil deposits. The power vacuum in Iraq was quickly filled by Shia militias friendly to Iran — and even worse by ISIS fanatics who saw an opportunity to carve out their own territory of slavery and murder. 

The recent history of international relations is fraught with examples where the sanctity of law has been compromised for political expediency. Among the most troubling instances is the Trump Administration’s alarming approach to countering drug cartels — a response that not only skirts the boundaries of legality but also risks undermining the United States’ long-standing commitment to the rule of law on the global stage. 

To The Editor:

My friends who are Donald Trump supporters have been claiming that President Trump has kept all his promises, that’s why they still support him. 

The adage “There are no atheists in foxholes” catches our attention, but is too broad and imprecise for universal application.

According to surveys and government data cited in the online article “The Changing Face of America’s Veteran Population,” 40 years ago about 18% of Americans were veterans. Today that number stands at 6%. 

Every once in a while, I find myself engrossed in a book that suddenly delivers my ignorance to me on a silver platter.