BERKELEY, Calif. - Jane Stillwater is an unlikely war correspondent. She's 64, a self-described Berkeley "flower child, 40 years later" and broke.
So how did this mother of four grown children end up in Baghdad, churning out commentary ranging from shock at Thursday's bombing of the Iraqi parliament cafeteria, to the weirdness of touring Saddam Hussein's bathroom?
Inspired by a sense of outrage and determined to blog from inside the war zone, Stillwater ate peanut butter sandwiches for months to save up for a ticket to Kuwait. She got a small Texas newspaper to help her secure press accreditation, and eventually boarded a troop transport to Baghdad.
Stillwater said Baghdad "is insane. The Green Zone, it's like East Berlin in 1955. And outside, it's like 'Blade Runner.' People are trying to lead normal lives, and there's so much going on and there's firefights."
When she went to Iraq, Stillwater was for immediate troop pullout. Now, she's not so sure what's the best way forward.
"What I realized is it's just very, very complex," she said.
She said the troops are "really nice, they're really doing a good job. It's just that they've been assigned a job that's screwed."
Reaction to the blog tends to be love it or hate it. "People will say, 'Hey, you're an idiot,' or, 'Hey this is wonderful and we're so proud of you'," she said.
She's obviously not an idiot, but I think her sanity, or at least her common sense and self-preservation instinct could rightly be called into question. That's OK, though. I give her an 'A+' for guts 'n nuts!
I don't know how 'wonderful' it is, but I for one am very proud of her. At an age when many folks think members of my generation should STFU and tend to their knittin', she's still politically active and out doing ballsy stuff.
The 'small Texas newspaper' is The Lone Star Iconoclast of Crawford, Texas, site of Brainless Leader's estate/compound/brushy fiefdom.
You can read Ms. Stillwater's reports here.
Go, Granny, go Granny, go Granny, go!
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