Laurel Anne Hill

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Land Mines Share the Spotlight with Angelina Jolie (by Laurel Anne Hill)

 

Photo of Angelina Jolie from AlertNet News

The photo of the rail-thin woman crouching on one knee occupied the center of my computer screen.  Wide eyes.  Serious expression.  Long hair as golden brown as a loaf of my homemade bread.  Angelina Jolie resided in the journalistic limelight again, this time for her first visit to the Halo Trust’s headquarters in Scotland.

The Halo Trust specializes in the removal of hazardous debris of war and has destroyed over 1.3 million land mines and twelve million large caliber ordnance.  Thus, my initial response to the news about Angelina included a mental bravo to her and her partner, Brad Pitt.  Hadn’t the Jolie-Pitt Foundation provided substantial financial support to Halo, funding humanitarian mine clearance teams in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Kosovo and Afghanistan?  Didn’t Angelina keep the global problem of unexploded land mines in the news?

Then I wondered.  Would Angelina’s visit to The Halo Trust bring long-term attention to that organization or mostly publicize herself?  Did fans just follow the news of her activities–or educate themselves about her cause?  Did the spotlight on Angelina–resulting in hundreds of articles and thousands of comments–dilute news of other deserving organizations engaged in land mine clearance and causality reduction?

I performed some generic Google searches on humanitarian demining and had no trouble finding recent news about Mines Advisory Group, a Nobel Peace Prize winning organization that saves lives and builds futures through the destruction of weapons in conflict-affected countries.

For example, on August 18, 2011, AlertNet http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/landmine-and-uxo-risk-education-for-women-in-eastern-sudan  provided a touching story about twenty-eight-year-old Fawzia Mahmoud Saeed, a MAG Community Liaison Officer working in eastern Sudan.  Fawzia’s work included giving safety instructions to those forced to live in communities threatened by the deadly remnants of conflict.

I found entries about APOPO, too, a social enterprise registered in Belgium and headquartered in Tanzania.  APOPO breeds and trains African giant pouched rats, also known as HeroRATs, to detect land mines and tuberculosis.  Check out their August 2011 newsletter at https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:1406080.7183099914/rid:bf434b101a403a3204cd8dec1c60a9e9.

Next I spotted articles and a YouTube video about Roots of Peace, a humanitarian organization based in San Rafael, California.  They work to eradicate land mines and rehabilitate cleared land, transforming the scars of war into roots of peace.  In other words, “Mines to Vines.”  To view the video about work in Vietnam, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcdljiL_tjY&feature=related. 

Angelina Jolie’s visit to The Halo Trust may have populated cyberspace with comment clones, but had not totally obscured other recent humanitarian demining news.

Then I read that the Roots of Peace founder had established the charity following the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997, in honor of Diana’s memory and commitment to global demining.  A testimony that celebrities can inspire others to make a difference.  Of course, Princess Di had been more than just any celebrity.  She was amazing.

Still, Angelina Jolie received the 2005 Global Humanitarian Action Award from the United Nations Association of the USA, for her role as an ongoing activist for refugee rights.  Perhaps some of Angelina’s fans already engaged in humanitarian work because of her example, or planned to do so in the future.

What’s your opinion on the subject?

Warm wishes,

Laurel Anne Hill  (http://www.laurelannehill.com) 
 

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The Day the Nation Grieved: Remembrances of September 11

Where were you on the morning of 9-11?  My daughter was in New York City and that day remains vivid in my mind. And the photo of firefighters raising the Stars and Stripes at Ground Zero stays posted on my wall.  Recently, the Lamorinda Patch interviewed my husband and me regarding our remembrances of September 11.  To read their article, please click on Lamorinda Patch.

May you and your loved ones remain safe.  

Warm wishes,

Laurel Anne Hill
Author of HEROES ARISE
(http://www.laurelannehill.com)

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When a Good Gal Goes Wicked…

Where did I go WICKED?

Okay, I know what my website claims.  Laurel Anne Hill crafts stories with inspirational premises, right?  Worthiness is rewarded, right?  Yet many of my short stories these days lurk in shadows of the horror genre.  In fact, Horror Addicts (http://www.horroraddicts.net) just named me “Most Wicked 2011” for my entry, Flight of Destiny, in their Wicked Women Writers Challenge.  How can a gal who believes in worthiness be most wicked?

Worthiness has its reward.  Unworthiness does, too.

But wait, I’ve been known to inflict horror upon my characters who try to live decent lives, even let some of them lose their battles against evil.  How do I reconcile that disparity with my website statements?

Bad things happen to good people every day.  They misread situations.  They miscalculate their own abilities.  Sometimes, through no fault of their own, they end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Encounters with “the dark” forces characters to find strength within their weaknesses or else succumb.

In other words, the power of love, honor, faith and duty really can surmount daunting obstacles and transform lives.  But sometimes such power fails, leaving characters to fend for themselves whatever way they can.

To listen to Flight of Destiny, go to http://www.mevio.com/episode/287550/horror-addicts-wwwbonus-01-laurel-anne-hill.  Flight of Destiny stirs steampunk, infidelity, jealously, and a radioactive poison into a delicious hot-pot of horror.

Warm wishes,

Laurel Anne Hill
(Author of HEROES ARISE)
http://www.laurelannehill.com

 

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Are you as smart as a rat? (A panel at the 69th World Science Fiction Con)

Close to fifty science fiction/fantasy fans attended a lively and informative panel about land mine clearance (Are you as smart as a rat?) on August 17 at the 69th World Science Fiction Convention in Reno, Nevada.  I moderated. My co-panelists included Todd Brun, Howard Davidson and Dave O’Neill.

Wars end but buried land mines become the surprise gifts that keep on giving.  Angola alone has six million hidden, unexploded ordnance. Furthermore, it costs around $3 to plant a land mine and $300-$1,000 to get rid of it.  Rats have been trained to sniff out land mines but additional low-tech detection solutions are needed.

A number of audience members at this WorldCon panel expressed surprise regarding the immense scope of the land mine problem worldwide, which involves approximately 70 countries and possibly as many as 110 million unexploded land mines.  I hope other science fiction/fantasy cons will hold similar panels and encourage people to put on their current and futuristic thinking caps.  One small idea could potentially prompt one large step for mankind.

Share your ideas about land mine clearance via the Land Clearing Landmines WordPress blog (http://mindsclearinglandmines.wordpress.com) or Facebook page.

Warm wishes,

Laurel Anne Hill (Author of “Heroes Arise”)

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Earth’s Cosmic “Groupies” (by Laurel Anne Hill)

EMZ and Laurel (Not in the Van Allen Belt!)

The magnetic nature of the earth, like the personality of some cosmic rock star, attracts followers: radioactive groupies in the form of energetic particles, mainly protons and electrons.  Around 4,000 miles above its surface, the earth traps an inner belt of particles (mostly high-energy protons), discovered in 1958 by James Van Allen of the University of Iowa.  Additionally, electrons and protons with moderate energies orbit in an outer radiation belt.  Some of these electrons hit the upper atmosphere and produce the “Polar lights.”

As with any collection of followers, expect some disruptive forces.  Anti-matter, in the form of anti-protons, join the party, too.

The BBC News contained an interesting article on August 7 about anti-matter in orbit.  The piece is available at
http://www.bbc. co.uk/news/ mobile/science- environment- 14405122? SThisEM.   Earlier this year, the BBC News also published an article about anti-matter streaming from thunderstorms on earth.  Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/science-environment-12158718.

Have an energetic day, or maybe just a peaceful one.

Laurel Anne Hill  (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com

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Renovation (69th World Con) Schedule for Laurel Anne Hill

Thinking about the Landmine Panel at Renovation

Hello all of you headed for Renovation.  Please note my schedule:

Wed 17:00 – 18:00, Are You as Smart as a Rat? (Panel), A09 (RSCC)
One small idea could potentially prompt one large step for mankind.   For example, wars end but buried land mines become the surprise gifts that keep on giving. Angola alone has six million hidden, unexploded ordnance. It costs $3 to plant a land mine and $300-$1,000 to get rid of it. Rats have been trained to sniff out land mines but additional  low-tech detection solutions are needed. Put on your current and futuristic thinking caps please.  Laurel Anne Hill  (M), Howard Davidson, Dave O’Neill

 Thu 11:00 – 12:00, When Faith and Science Meet (Panel), A09 (RSCC)
 Many SF tales, from Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star” to Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz to Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow, deal with the intersection of unexpected discoveries on the faith of the characters.  Cultural discourse often presents religious faith and science as polar opposites, and certainly there’s a long history of conflict between them.    But many people of many faiths have happily and successfully reconciled their beliefs with a scientific worldview, and SF/F is no stranger to spirituality, either.  Both Joanna Russ and David Hartwell have described SF/F as essentially religious.  This panel will present a civil conversation — between people who respect both faith and science — about how the two inform each other, both in SF/F and in the rest of the world.  Susan Palwick (M), Eric James Stone, Laurel Anne Hill, Moshe Feder, Norman Cates

    Thu 14:30 – 15:00, Reading: Laurel Anne Hill (Reading), A15 (RSCC) Laurel Anne Hill

   Thu 18:00 – 19:00, Who Was the Most Influential Doctor? A05 (RSCC) Laurel Anne Hill and others

   Fri 13:00 – 15:00, Writers Workshop, Section N
       All workshop sessions required advanced sign-up and are filled.  Laurel Anne Hill, Susan Forest

Sat 12:00 – 13:00, Appreciating Nature in Fiction and Non-fiction (Panel), D04 (RSCC)
       Science fiction can often treat nature, even an intriguing alien environment, in a very sterile manner.  By contrast,
       both fantasy and nature writing often celebrate nature and make the reader want to run outside and explore.  How can
       writers use the language of nature writing to help bring alien countrysides to life? What are some of the good and
       bad examples of writing about the great outdoors in science  fiction, fantasy and nature narratives?
           Kim Stanley Robinson (M), Laurel Anne Hill, Scott Slovic, Takayuki Tatsumi, Ty Franck   

 Sat 14:00 – 15:00, Autographing, Hall 2 (RSCC)

Hope to see some of you.

Warm wishes,

Laurel Anne Hill  (Author of “Heroes Arise”)
http://www.laurelannehill.com