Bleeding Espresso

Today would’ve been Corporal Pat Tillman’s 33rd birthday.

Tillman was an American professional football player who gave up his own freedom (and millions of dollars) to serve with the United States Army Rangers after 9/11 during the so-called “War on Terror.”

Tillman’s journals show that he quickly became disillusioned with the presence of the U.S. military in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but even when offered a discharge before his time was up–after a tour of duty in Iraq–Tillman refused, and was sent to Afghanistan.

He was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in April of 2004, but from the moment of Tillman’s demise, circumstances surrounding his death have been debated, to say the least. The government initially told the world (including Tillman’s family) that Tillman died a hero, protecting his men from enemy fire; it turns out that, actually, everyone on the ground knew the truth immediately: Tillman had been shot by one of his fellow platoon members–and yet General McChrystal pushed through paperwork to get Tillman awarded a Silver Star, which isn’t given in fratricide situations.

Here is the heartwrenching testimony of Cpl. Tillman’s brother Kevin, who served beside him with the Rangers, in front  of the 2007 Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a hearing entitled “Misleading Information from the Battlefield”:

And here’s an interview by Jim Rome with Mary Tillman, Pat and Kevin’s mother, talking more about the cover up after her son’s death:

There is also a fabulous new book about Pat Tillman’s life and death called Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer; I first heard about the book during Krakauer’s interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show–and ordered it from The Book Depository the next day.

It is an amazing, highly emotional, highly recommended book.

Much of the information in the book comes directly from Tillman’s handwritten journals, which show him to be a smart, sensitive, driven man with a great love for his friends, his family, and above all, his beloved wife. It also demonstrates how disgusted Tillman would be with how his death was used by the government to ramp up support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tillman’s family has created the Pat Tillman Foundation “to carry forward Pat’s legacy of leadership and civic action by supporting future generations of leaders who embody the American tradition of citizen service.” The Foundation provides scholarships, programs, and resources for students to develop leadership skills; it also holds an annual Pat’s Run, “a 4.2 mile run/walk around Arizona State with a finish on the 42-yard line of Sun Devil Stadium (#42 was Pat’s number while a Sun Devil).”

Rest in peace, Pat Tillman, and all of our fallen.

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Let’s cut right to the chase here: many of you reading this weren’t even alive on July 20, 1969.

Neither was I.

And for that reason, it’s simply impossible for us, who have always known moon landings to be possible but have never seen one live, to grasp what those days leading up to the Apollo 11 mission felt like and the wave of emotions that swirled through the 500 million people watching Neil Armstrong take his “one small step.”

But that doesn’t stop me, who has always had a fascination with the final frontier, from trying to imagine.

And one summer day in 2006, I got a little help from my old friend William, he of the orgasmic Ionian Sea view.

In one of our many morning conversations over cappuccino the year before, I had told William that one of my earliest career aspirations had been to be an astronaut; I waxed poetic about Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama (surely a uniquely American concept, no?), and how if I had been able to attend (it wasn’t even remotely financially possible), my whole future coulda woulda shoulda blah blah blah.

Well, when William came back down here the following summer, he brought me a copy of Andrew Smith’s Moon Dust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth from England; I had never even heard of it. He insisted that it was all the rage in the UK, and, indeed, it was shortlisted for the British Book Awards Best Read of 2006.

Moon Dust is Andrew Smith’s account of what has become of the remaining Moonwalkers–only nine of the twelve men who have walked on the moon’s surface from 1969-1972 are still alive to tell their stories.

Smith was inspired to pursue this idea because of what happened during a 1999 interview with Charlie Duke, who became the 10th man to walk on the moon with Apollo 16. In the course of the meeting, Duke received a call with news that Pete Conrad, third man on the moon with Apollo 12, had died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident in Ojai, California. “Ojai,” incidentally, is a Native American word for moon.

Duke plainly stated, “Now there’s only nine of us,” words that stuck in Smith’s head for years. Then he finally decided to pursue the answer to the question, “Where do you go after you’ve been to the Moon?” by tracking down all the surviving Moonwalkers to see how their lives were changed by their experiences and what they’ve been doing since their lunar days.

I devoured this book that summer, and I still think about it periodically, but it wasn’t until the coming of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing that I picked it up again.

Just like the first time, I became fully engrossed in the stories of these extraordinary men who accomplished things I can’t begin to wrap my head around. Smith does a fantastic job of transporting the reader right there before, during, and after the moon landings, putting human faces, dreams, and feelings to names I’d only heard of.

Yes, Smith’s narrative could have been a little less about him and apparently there are some rather glaring factual errors (not that I could have picked them out), but none of that mattered to me. All I wanted to do was sit down with the Moonwalkers and just listen, and Smith’s Moon Dust gave me the chance to do just that — in many instances leaving me with even more questions about the men who walked on the moon, the space program’s past, present, and future, conspiracy theorists’ beliefs that the moon landings were a hoax and never actually happened, and so many other things I hadn’t even considered before I read the book.

Just like an excellent nonfiction book should.

Whether you were alive or not on July 20, 1969, I highly recommend this book for an amazing look into the minds, hearts, and souls of nine of the 12 most interesting men to have ever walked the earth — and the moon.

What do you associate with the July 20, 1969 moon landing?

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By now you’ve surely heard of the devastating earthquake in the city of L’Aquila,  Abruzzo, Italy.

As I type, the death toll is nearing 200 and some estimates put the number of newly homeless at 50,000. Others are still missing, people are sleeping in their cars (if they have them), and food and fresh water is scarce.

I thank all of you who have contacted me to make sure we’re OK; we are just fine as we’re quite far from L’Aquila, but I do ask you to please consider helping those who have been affected by the Abruzzo earthquake by donating to the:

NIAF/Abruzzo Relief Fund

For US taxpayers, donations are tax deductible, and rest assured the National Italian American Foundation is an extremely reputable organization.

On the Italian end, you can also donate to the Italian Red Cross:

Croce Rossa Italiana

Thank you for your kindness.

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I’m neither a Crocs lover nor hater, but when I saw this headline on MSNBC.com and literally LOL’ed (because of the title, not the subject matter), I just had to share it:

Is the ugly shoe craze about to end?
Crocs auditor questions whether plastic shoe maker can survive

The article discusses how Crocs Inc. lost $185.1 million last year with revenues down almost 15 percent. Two years ago, Crocs had 5,300 employees but at the end of last year, that number was down to 3,700; in particular, manufacturing facilities in Canada and Brazil were closed.

Sounds like Crocs may become another victim in this down economy where people simply have less disposable income to dispose on, say, plastic shoes.

Disclaimer: I actually do own two pairs of fake Crocs bought for 5 euros each at a Chinese store here in Calabria, and I must say they are super comfortable and were a great transition shoe from summer flip-flops to winter boots.

Now I want to know what you think:

Are you going to help keep Crocs in business or what?

Buon weekend!

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Yeah yeah yeah, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. As if you could escape *that* tidbit, thankyouverymuch Hallmark et al.

Am I bah humbugging the day of San Valentino?

Well, maybe just a bit.

You *know* I’m all about the love (and, by the way, if you want to know why the heart symbolizes love, go here), but the commercialization of the holiday really irks me. I’m part of a couple now, but except for the past three Valentine’s Days, I wasn’t, and I remember those other 20-some February 14ths very well.

Sure, I always made it a point to celebrate and appreciate *all* kinds of love in my life on Valentine’s Day (and I hope you do too!), but every now and again, some of the commercialism of the holiday would seep into my subconscious, and I’d just want someone to buy me chocolates dammit.

Ahem.

So I’m here to tell you what you singles can do this Valentine’s Day:

First of all, go buy your own chocolates. They really do taste just as good.

Then save up your partying for February 15th–the feast day of San Faustino.

Several years ago, a group of Italian singles decided it was time to celebrate singles–and also to address issues that adversely affect singles from paying higher taxes to difficulties adopting children.

So they chose the day after Saint Valentine’s Day, the feast day of San Faustino, to celebrate single life.

Indeed, if you happen to be in Italy, be sure to check out VitadaSingle.net for what’s happening on February 15th near you; and if you can read Italian, at SanFaustino.info, you can find books, movies, music, recipes, and more–all for singles!

As for P and me this Valentine’s Day?

We’ll be having a quiet evening at home making homemade pizza. Plenty romantic for me even though I know some onions are going to be on those pizzas….

What are your Valentine’s Day plans?

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