Back and forth

 Looking back at the last posting and even at several before that, I have no idea why some items appear in all caps. I obviously would never post in all-caps, one of many flukes in the blogosphere. I also realize that sometimes what appears in all-caps for me does not always do so for my readers, so may depend on our own individual computer systems. But if you see all caps, that was not my intent.

Recently, I had once again considered no longer continuning with the blog, since most of what is reported here is available from other sources, though I do put my own spin on it and also add some personal items. However, now several family members and readers have urged me to continue, pointing out that I have led a rather uncoventional life, despite appearing to be a quite ordinary "little old lady," which gives my blog a special quality. And it's also been helpful for me to be able to go back in time when memory fails me. I cannot claim a huge readership, just family and friends around the world, including some former DC neighbors; but since we're all here in this world together, let's just carry on. I am not trying to sell anything or to become famous, merely to communicate with many friends and family members. And anyone who has something to share or a comment to make can always send me an email. Unlike with my books, where I have actual physical copies, I'm not sure how long the blog will remain after my death. Some writings and actual books have survived hundreds or even thousands, of years, but the history of blogs is still being written.

Interim Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department Jeffery W. Carroll has said that Cole Allen, the would-be attacker at the recent Correspondents' dinner, was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. He was able to bring them all from California by traveling by train, where luggage is not screened, as there are too many passengers getting on and off, some even daily commuters. Allen also had checked in as a hotel guest several days before the dinner. Security can only be provided at an actual event, as it would be imposssible to anticipate every possible undesirable scenario beforehand. Those who want to be in public life just need to take risks, though it would be most helpful to be able to jettison the so-call "right to bear arms," which puts all Americans at much greater risk than the residents of other developed nations.   

 

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Going outside now in Berkeley Springs, the air is quite balmy and everything is green: trees, grass, leaves, bushes--all in different green hues, 

Google says: Shades of green range from vibrant yellow-greens to deep blue-greens, offering a massive spectrum influenced by nature, such as lime, emerald, olive, and forest green. Common categories include pale greens (mint, celadon), bright greens (neon, kelly), dark greens (hunter, spruce), and earthy greens (sage, moss).

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My late father, Leonard J. Currie, a well-known architect and planner, avoided having the interiors of homes and buildings he had designed painted in green, as he felt there was already enough green outside in nature. Extensive information about him and his wide-ranging career can be found by Googling his name.

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A reader recently found the following bio of me on Huff-Post. It must have appeared there before I started this current successor blog, as only honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com is mentioned, without the 2. That first blog mysteriously stopped in 2019, so then I launched this one: https://honduraspeacecorps2.blogspot.com/ Here now is what she found.

Barbara E. Joe

author, human rights activist, Spanish interpreter

Barbara E. Joe, MA, (last name thanks to a Korean father-in-law) is a Boston native and an alumna of the University of California, Berkeley. A mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, she works as a freelance writer, Spanish interpreter, and translator out of her century-old house on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. An Amnesty International volunteer since 1981, she was a founding member of local Group 211 and has served in various national leadership positions, including 14 years as volunteer Cuba and Dominican Republic country specialist and the last 12 years as volunteer coordinator for the Caribbean. She is also a member of the National Peace Corps Association and a board member of several non-profit organizations working internationally. After the deaths of her older son and a Cuban foster son, she joined The Compassionate Friends, a bereaved parents’ support group, and began leading a Spanish-language bereavement group. She has joined a small, intentional Catholic community called Communitas. From 2000-20003, she served as a health volunteer with the Peace Corps in Honduras and wrote an award-winning memoir, Triumph & Hope: Golden Years with the Peace Corps in Honduras (Amazon.com, Kindle, & Nook). She has also written articles about Cuba, Haiti, Romania, Sudan, and other countries visited for humanitarian reasons. In April 2011, she was featured in Woman’s Day and in August 2011 and April 2013 appeared on Voice of America News in internationally distributed videos. In 2014, she authored another memoir, Confessions of a Secret Latina: How I Fell Out of Love with Castro & In Love with the Cuban People (Amazon.com, Kindle, & Nook). Her motto throughout her life has been to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Readers are invited to view her blog, http://honduraspeacecorps.blogspot.com, where she posts comments about Washington, D.C., Cuba, and her annual humanitarian visits to Honduras.

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Just now, after looking for my name on LinkedIn, I've found another Barbara Joe there, someone apparently of Asian descent. Joe as a last name is probably used mostly by people of Asian ancestry like my late former husband, Tom Joe, whose father came from Korea.

I forget whether I've already shared the message below received from Sirley Avila the Cuban woman whose right hand was cut off by a regime supporter. I had helped bring her to this country. In any case, here is her most recent message, so get out your Goggle translator.
Gracias, Barbara, tus recuerdos me hacen honor, eres una mujer valiente y tienes un hermoso corazón.

She also asked for my photo, so I sent her one taken with my granddaughter Natasha. I plan to see Natasha very soon in Florida at her son's high school graduation. but won't be going as far as Miami, where Sirley lives. 

Here is Sirley's own photo.

Sirley says her son and his family would like to join her in the US, but she doesn't have a job here and, under the Trump administration,she would need to have a place for them to live and other costs covered. Surely there is an organization that could help her and her family, though bringing in anyone from abroad is tough now with Trump saying that the border is closed. 
Ellos quieren estar conmigo, pero no he tenido ayuda para traerlos, como no he trabajado aquí en USA, se me complica traerlos porque necesito demostrar que tendrían vivienda, seguro médico y otros gastos cubiertos hasta que obtenga permiso de trabajo y trabajaran.

I recommend the following article, written by someone I once met years ago, Carlos Eire.

https://time.com/article/2026/04/23/waiting-for-spring-in-havana/

Here's something else to ponder: “Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe.” So wrote Alfonso X King of Castile (1252-1284).

Probably all of us, if actually present at that early time, could offer our own recommenations. 

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Can we now avoid talking about our erstwhile and current president, Donald J. Trump? No, probably not, since he is always making news. And no one can predict what he might say or do next. Almost nothing he does should surprise us, as he seems to like being unpredictable, keeping everyone in suspense. Or maybe he really has no partictular plan at all and doesn't even know himself what he might be doing next.  

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In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut -- all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- argue that the Pentagon did not take "basic precautions" ahead of expected Iranian retaliation after the U.S. and Israel launched a war against the regime in late February.

Yes,Trump had simply ordered the strike without consulting anyone, just after Netanyahu had suggested it to delay his pending corruption trial, urging Trump to keep it top secret, as Bibi knew Congress would never approve it.  

Poor Donald Trump--and poor USA with him now as our president--as he isn't thinking ahead, and often doesn't even seem to be thinking at all. 

Germany's Merz says Iran is humiliating US as talks stall

 Chancellor Friedrich 

Merz 

says the US has no strategy in the Iran war

. He is quite right, as Trump started the war on impulse with no plan in mind, just at Netanyahu's urging to delay Bibi's corruption trial to get him off the hook. As a result, Germany and other US allies are confronting economic and political fallout from a war that Trump had launched without any warning or ever consulting them. Now Trump has no idea on how to exit a war that he had started simply on a whim.

If Donald Trump doesn't know what to do next, he might consider retiring and letting Vance clean up the mess, as at least JD Vance doesn't suffer from senile dementia and senile attention deficit disorder. But even then, at every turn, Trump would try to undermine Vance. If Kamala Harris had been our president, the US would never have started this war, as Kamala is so much smarter than Trump has ever been.

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I've just found out that Sister Alice Zachmann, met years ago in Washington, DC, at masses celebrated by Communitas, a progressive religious gathering within the Catholic fold, has now died in Minnesota, 2 weeks after celebratig her 100th birthday. 

Valiant Sister Alice was a woman ahead of her time. She quietly triggered reforms in the US Catholic Church from within before anyone realized what she was actually doing.