Susan notes: in this guest blog post originally published in the Huffington Post, spiritual author, speaker, teacher and AWR friend and fan Dr. Susan Corso (pictured left) suggests her fellow Americans rethink their collective response to the Ground Zero mosque debate – and I think she’s probably right! Read more about Dr. Curso’s eclectic qualifications below.

Oooh, I am so mad

The AWR Facebook page has been on fire with heated debate over who's wrong and who's right in the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict that came to yet another head last week with deaths aboard a ship whose stated goal was to bring aid to the blockaded Gaza strip, but whose main purpose was more likely to break said blockade.

Strong opinions on both sides of the fence, or perhaps I

The tweet from @UKFPI was pretty direct:

"You fucking moron - your chums just murdered my friends - HOW DARE YOU."

He duplicated the words in a comment on yesterday's blog post There Are As Many Truths As There Are People To Tell Them, in which I share a video showing the Freedom Flotilla activists beating the Isreali IDF forces as the soldiers land on the deck of one of the

Over the last couple of days, I’ve watched more-than-I-care-to-see versions of Israeli soldiers storming a Freedom Flotilla ship that sought to bring supplies to the blockaded Gaza strip in Palestine.

As a paciivist, I find the escalating violence, hatred and seemingly irresolvable conflict nauseating. I want to turn it off, as one would a light switch.

At the same time, my insatiable

“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.”

The line from Janis Joplin’s 1960s hit Me and Bobby Mcgee (written by Kris Kristofferson), was the first thing that sprung to mind when I read @farah_way’s dm asking if I would write something about freedom for the Free The Hikers blog.

I went to YouTube (where else?), and searched the tune to see what I could find.

A Powerful Noise is an extraordinary film with a simple yet compelling message: empowering women changes communities for the better.

My own corollary to that message is this: changing communities for the better is the first step toward changing the world.

Considering the less-than-ideal situation in which many of us find ourselves, that can only be a good thing. This inspirational movie

“What do you think of this ad from Air New Zealand?”

The question, and a YouTube link, came from my friend Bebhinn Kelly, Chief Fashionista at www.hellwafashion.com, and a regular supplier of juicy, thought-provoking and sometimes controversial material for AWR.

I clicked. I watched. I pondered. I considered blogging. I demurred.

That was earlier this week. This morning, I got my daily

The Burj Khalifa (formerly known as The Burj Dubai), the world's tallest building, officially opened today, January 4, 2010.

For the past 12 months, I've lived in its shadow, about a kilometer away from where it towers. Each time I left my not-so-temporary home-away-from-home in Jumeirah 2, one of Dubai's more established areas, I cast my eyes on "The Burj," in all its dubious

Susan updates: This blog entry was posted December 29, 2009. It's now the end of March 2010, and tensions still run high in Palestine and Israel. Nevertheless, many, many people, including women around the world, continue to build peace bridges...

One year ago this week violence erupted once again in Palestine. It continued unabated for weeks. Hundreds of people were killed. Thousands of homes

Susan notes: US journalist, author, blogger and self-confessed “dove” Sara Davidson is in Afghanistan researching the views of Afghan women on the US military presence in their country, and more. Her blog posts are fascinating. In this, the fifth to date, she documents some of the paradoxical views she and her colleagues have discovered. Links to Davidson's blog and website are at the end of this