Proud of my mama!

I want to take a moment to proudly announce that "Mothers In Arms" (a book my mom contributed to) has just been published! In her own words, here is a description of the book:

"We, 7 women who visited El Salvador in May of 2006, are very excited that our bi-ligual (Spanish-English) book, which includes beautiful photos by Linda Panetta, has been born -- just in time for this season of new birth."

The book is a compilation of interviews we held with a variety of Salvadoran women who took up arms as young teenages in the civil war in the 1980s and who now have daughters who are the age the mothers were when they "went into the mountains." Those interviewed represent a balance of urban and rural, mestiza and indigenous, high ranking and foot solider, religious and secular ex-combatants. (I interviewed Claudia, a rural indigenous woman who, despite all she's experienced, is amazingly strong, kind and hopeful."

My mom, whose passion for social justice is one of her defining qualities, traveled to El Salvador as an interpreter, allowing us to hear the stories of these women's lives. I'm so proud.

To learn more about the book, go to: www.returntoelsalvador.com

I just ordered our copy. Check it out!!!

Christmas in Michigan

Hello! Christmas was a little while ago, but we here at Rhi & Benner, Inc. haven't had a chance to post about our travels yet. For those who are curious, we went to Michigan to spend the holiday with Audrey Holtz, AKA Rhianwen's Grandma. She's 92 and still lives in the house that she raised her family in, alone! She's an amazing lady, so amazing in fact that pretty much the entire Holtz clan made it to Michigan just to hang out with her. Here's some photos from the splendid time.











It was so nice getting to see everyone: Chuck (Rhi's dad) and Gwenyth (Rhi's mom) came from Philly; Carol (Rhianwen's aunt) and Dana (her husband) came in from New York; Roger (Rhi's uncle) and Kathy (his wife) drove down from Ann Arbor; Sarah (Rhi's sister) and Steve (bro-in-law) came from San Francisco; The trio of cousins, Bridget, Margaret and Christine, made it in from Ann Arbor, Denver and Athens, GA, respectively. It's so great that everyone made an effort to be there and make it a special Christmas. What a nice way to spend the holiday!

On an interesting note, we flew into Detroit on Christmas day, landed about an hour just after the attempted terrorist attack. You'd think there would be some sort of pandemonium, but it was business as usual. We didn't even really realize how big of a deal it was until we saw the newspapers the next day. Crazy, huh? Thank God for keeping us safe.

Here are some more highlights (from Rhianwen) in addition to enjoying the wonderful company of family:
- Multiple games of scrabble at the dining room table
- A peaceful walk in the snow!!!
- Reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by the fire aloud, taking turns
- Discovering the goodness of Bays English Muffins. Oh how I wish I could buy them in LA!
- Grandma's robust return from the "observation unit"
- Benner was excited to eat Chinese food
- Sharing our "Best of 2009" moments including one joyous surprise!!!

Yeah, it was awesome.