News from the Week of May 13th

Ramadan began this week and 1.8 billion people in the world are observing, fasting from sunup to sundown each day for the next month. Not Muslim but hoping to be considerate of your observant friends, neighbors, or colleagues? Check out this helpful etiquette guide—you might learn something new. And Ramadan Mubarak to all celebrating!

The first time Jim Pawlukiewicz applied to become an American citizen, he was pulling guard duty in Vietnam. Born in a liberated Nazi work camp in Germany in 1946, he came to the United States with his family in 1950. Despite serving in the military, and despitre multiple applications, Pawlukiewicz has consistently run into bureaucratic complications. Now, at the age of 71, he is bedridden, with a one hundred percent disability rating due to exposure  to Agent Orange in Vietnam:.“I just want to ensure that someone receives his application and reviews it according to the laws of the United States,” says his sister, Georgia Ackerman. “He has never had a country he could call his own legally. Even though the U.S. is the only country he has ever known.”

For his podcast project Radio Silence, Michael Rakowitz weaves together narratives about Iraq, both from the perspective of political refugees who sought asylum in the United States, and from US military veterans who were deployed during the Iraq War. The podcast investigates the “varied and complex history of contemporary Iraqi identity,” in the wake of dictatorship, mass emigration, and war. Check it out!

Studies show the direct correlation between visible female leaders and school-age girls aspiring to fill leadership roles. Dr. Marisa Porges, head of an all-girls school in Pennsylvania and a retired Navy pilot, writes about the importance of telling stories that highlight female resilience and determination. One such story is that of Tammie Jo Shults, one of the Navy’s first female fighter pilots and the woman who skillfully landed Southwest Airlines Flight 1380. “Over time,” Porges writes, “stories like those of Capt. Tammie Jo Shults help set the stage for the next generation to close gender gaps.”

When refugees arrive the United States, they are grateful to be safe. Yet many have endured trauma, and may not know where to go for help and healing. Wayne State University in Michigan recently launched an effort to investigate alternative methods to address stress levels of refugees. There's mindful yoga, art and dance therapy, and a variety of workouts; and the results are promising. "We have had a significant decline in the stress and anxiety among children," says Dr. Arash Javanbakht, the project’s director.