Searching for the Boston Bombing site

Searching for the Boston Bombing site, originally uploaded by RobinJP.

My friend Karen and I walked and walked around Boston. We had lunch. We saw old churches. At one point, we looked for the marathon bombing site. We knew there were two locations. We had an eye out for damage.

When I got back home and looked closely at my photos, I saw clearly that the aftermath of the 2013 bombings near the finish line at Boston Marathon is not destruction. The legacy of that day is clearly renewal and recovery.

Boston Strong is everywhere. Recognition, renewal, recovery. Boston Strong.

Robin, Boston

Sept. 11 - 12 years on. I'm still OK

sept. 11 12 years on, originally uploaded by RobinJP.

Wow. This 12th anniversary of the World Trade Center destruction snuck up on me.

I was walking to work this morning, a Friday-morning lift to my gait, and 'wham!' 

There it was. An event coming up on "September 11."
Oh, yeah, that date sounds familiar.   I'd forgotten all about it.

For years, I've dreaded the date as it approaches.  The 10th anniversary was killer: way too much. Way too many stories were revisited.

But this year, it seems, I was forgetting the significance of 9/11 .. or else I just haven't been carrying it so close to the skin as before.

But 'wham!' This sign, this morning, pushed sweat to my palms, snatched at my breath, spun me around to take a closer look.

Yep, Sept. 11 is coming. The employer panel they are advertising has nothing to do with Sept. 11, 2001.  But I don't think I'd have used the shadowy image of an airplane to draw a crowd to an event on that day.

Here's to a peaceful week and a fine Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013.   Each year gets a little better.


Robin, Phoenix

Yafit: We don't mind if you stick around a little longer

One year ago this weekend, my friend Yafit Butwin and her three children - Malissa (16), Daniel (14) and Matthew (7) - were killed. 

The brutality of their murder was devastating to those of us who knew them and shocking to the rest of our community. They were mourned by hundreds, if not thousands, and eventually their bodies were taken to Israel where Yafit was born and lived until she moved to the United States at 20 years old.

But to a small band of women who meet weekly in Chandler, Arizona, to meditate and touch base about our lives, Yafit hung around. Her spirit stays with us. She is one of us. Yafit came to meditate when time allowed. She brought excitement, energy and the type of turmoil that can only embody an active, loving mother trying to build her own career. 

I knew Yafit for only about 18 months and I never saw her outside of our weekly gatherings, but she is still a powerful force in my life.  I sometimes feel her in the room while we sit quietly.  At other times, I feel a rush of sadness and loss over her death - not just for me but for all of us.  But more often than not, I am comforted by the fact that I knew Yafit, that she gave me a glimpse into her crazy, chaotic life so filled with love and promise.  

I am better for having known her.  

Robin, Phoenix 


Here's a news report about Yafit's death. Look at it or not. It's really nothing to do with her now.  

Dan's coffee run. Starbucks' 'Celebrate everylove'

This is one of Starbucks' Everylove stories.
Dan Dewey sharing love in Bloomfield, Michigan.

I really can't say anything to top this. Watch the video.

Robin, Tempe

They say it's your birthday, John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon, 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980

I know today is John Lennon's birthday. But a celebration of his birth and life makes it hard not to focus on his death.

I lived in England when Lennon was shot in New York City. I'm American. I was in the middle of a seven-year stay in northern England, mostly in Sheffield. And although my mother back in the states thought my accent had changed and I'd "become very English," I was very American.

On the day Lennon died, I was on holiday in Newcastle, a city on the northeast coast of England. You can imagine the shock, the grief that the English felt. Implicit in their sadness was the idea that America had killed John Lennon, perhaps the most beloved of the Beatles.

Remember, this was 1980. Not so long ago in some ways, but a very different time. English police did not even carry guns. America was seen as the lawless Wild West. Lennon's murder confirmed for many what they already believed. Madmen ran wild in the streets in a land that had no respect for a dreamer. | BBC On this day: 1980: John Lennon shot dead

Of course, I had nothing to do with John Lennon's shooting. But I was an American deep within the borders. And I was a child of the 60s. On the playgrounds of my youth, we had argued over the supremacy of the Beatles or the Beach Boys.

We believed. All you need is love.

I remember that day as a very sad one. And a very quiet one. I did not want to speak. I preferred to keep my American accent to myself that day.

Happy birthday, John Lennon.

All we can do is imagine what you'd be like at 70 years old.

Robin, Tempe