Category Archives: Writing Workshop for Veterans

OPEN HOUSE – This Sunday – NEW Season Starts FEB 22 & 25

Voices From War’s SPRING 2023 SEASON

REGISTRATION OPEN!

OPEN HOUSE this SUNDAY, FEB 12!

Open House: SUNDAY, FEB 12, 4:30 pm

RSVP: info@voicesfromwar.org for ZOOM LINK

VoicesFromWar.org/workshop

WEDNESDAY or SATURDAY

Join us this SPRING to explore diverse forms of storytelling (through fiction, memoir, poetry), discuss, and work on your own writing. Each season, we welcome recent veterans and those who served years prior, active duty and family members. Come work on your writing in a supportive veteran-focused community, explore your experiences and others, and enhance your writing skills, whether a new writer, or one revising previous work. QUESTIONS? Email: info@voicesfromwar.org

Voices From War has been offering writing workshops for veterans (and family members) since 2013, with two workshop options through the Winter-SPRING season (Wednesday or Saturday).

REGISTRATION now OPEN
Details:  https://voicesfromwar.org


Literature and the act of writing, our own stories and others, brought from the shadows, given voice instead of silence, offer opportunities for community, for grace and personal insight, for discussion and shared understanding. The darkest and most difficult realities multiply through silence, whereas giving voice — searching for words, for narrative, for structure from fragments — increases resilience, diminishes shame, and offers opportunities for artistic creation, dialogue, and connection.

You can learn more about our instructors on the Instructors page and check out previous Newsletters HERE.

Missed our RECENT NEWSLETTERS? Catch up HERE!

OPEN HOUSE: Sunday, FEBRUARY 12, 4:30 pm (online)

Ticketing Open! – Voices From War’s WINTER SHOWCASE 2022

Get your Tickets NOW!

Voices From War’s

WINTER SHOWCASE

Sunday, DECEMBER 11, 6:00 pm

online

Free ticketing on Eventbrite

Sunday, DEC 11th, 2022, at 6:00 pm

Veterans and family members read from new writing from our 2022 workshops.

Join us on Sunday, December 11th, 6:00 pm

via Zoom

READING & Virtual RECEPTION

Voices From War invites you to join us for our WINTER SHOWCASE, a Reading and Virtual Reception featuring work from our 2022 workshops.

TICKETS are FREE – RSVP on Eventbrite

Featuring excerpts from new fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry from 2022 . . . journeys through memory, back into war zones and present-day, in uniform and out, across neighborhoods, across the U.S., across countries, from memoir to fiction to poetry.

We hope you will join us for an evening of community and writing, veterans’ stories, family members’ experiences, times of war and conflict, and times looking for peace, making sense through narrative.

FEATURING writers from NYC, and further away, in our Manhattan workshop (Writing & Reading War Stories – A Writing Workshop for Veterans / 14th St Y) and the Bronx (Craft of War Writing / Morris Park Library).

Instructors:

Siobhan Adcock & Duncan Murrell (Manhattan – Fall 2022)

Jeremy Warneke (Bronx)

Spring 2022 Instructors (Manhattan): Nina Semczuk & Timothy Kudo

Director: Kara Krauze

VoicesFromWar.org

THANK YOU to our Voices From War SUPPORTERS

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)

NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council

Poets & Writers, Inc. / NYSCA

The Rona Jaffe Foundation

YOU! ~ Individual Supporter Contributions

We are grateful to our community partners!

  • 14th Street Y (Manhattan)
  • NYPL – Morris Park (Bronx)

VOICES FROM WAR’S Writing & Reading War Stories (14Y) is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Learning, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. LMCC.net

This workshop (14Y) is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

VOICES FROM WAR is grateful for support from The Rona Jaffe Foundation.

Free Tickets available on Eventbrite!

Click HERE

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, DECEMBER 11th!

Voices From War has been offering writing workshop for veterans (and family members) and related public events since 2013.
Thank you for your support!

OPEN HOUSE – This Sunday – NEW Season Starts this month!

Voices From War’s FALL 2022 SEASON

REGISTRATION OPEN!

OPEN HOUSE this SUNDAY!

Open House: SUNDAY, SEPT 11, 5pm

RSVP: info@voicesfromwar.org for ZOOM LINK

VoicesFromWar.org/workshop

WEDNESDAY or SATURDAY

Join us this FALL to explore diverse forms of storytelling (through fiction, memoir, poetry), discuss, and work on your own writing. Each season, we welcome recent veterans and those who served years prior, active duty and family members. Come work on your writing in a supportive veteran-focused community, explore your experiences and others, and enhance your writing skills, whether a new writer, or one revising previous work. QUESTIONS? Email: info@voicesfromwar.org

Voices From War has been offering writing workshops for veterans (and family members) since 2013, with two workshop options through the FALL season (Wednesday or Saturday).

REGISTRATION now OPEN
Details:  https://voicesfromwar.org

REMEMBERING 9/11

9/11, and all of those so deeply impacted, is on our minds each year at this time. You can read remarks from Voices From War founder Kara Krauze on the 20th anniversary last year…

HERE
2022: 21 years


Literature and the act of writing, our own stories and others, brought from the shadows, given voice instead of silence, offer opportunities for community, for grace and personal insight, for discussion and shared understanding. The darkest and most difficult realities multiply through silence, whereas giving voice — searching for words, for narrative, for structure from fragments — increases resilience, diminishes shame, and offers opportunities for artistic creation, dialogue, and connection.

You can learn more about our instructors on the Instructors page and check out previous Newsletters HERE.

We are thrilled to have SIOBHAN ADCOCK return to the Voices From War 14Y classroom, with JEREMY WARNEKE continuing in the Bronx (remote) classroom, and welcoming  DUNCAN MURRELL as he joins the Voices From War team!  

Learn more on our Instructors page and through our Newsletters .

Missed our RECENT NEWSLETTERS? Catch up HERE!

Plus SAVE the DATE for our 2022 Winter SHOWCASE! … Sunday, DECEMBER 11, 6pm (online)

NEW Season Starts This WEEK!

Voices From War’s Winter-SPRING 2022 SEASON – Starts THIS WEEK!

VoicesFromWar.org/workshop

WEDNESDAY or SATURDAY

Join us this spring to explore diverse forms of storytelling (through fiction, memoir, poetry), discuss, and work on your own writing. Each season, we welcome recent veterans and those who served years prior, active duty and family members. Come work on your writing in a supportive veteran-focused community, explore your experiences and others, and enhance your writing skills, whether a new writer, or one revising previous work. QUESTIONS? Email: info@voicesfromwar.org

Voices From War has been offering writing workshops for veterans (and family members) since 2013, with two workshop options through the SPRING season (Wednesday or Saturday).

REGISTRATION now OPEN
Details:  https://voicesfromwar.org

You can learn more about our instructors on the Instructors page and check out previous Newsletters HERE.

We are thrilled to have Jeremy Warneke continuing in the Bronx (remote) classroom and to have Nina Semczuk return to the Voices From War 14Y classroom and to welcome Timothy Kudo as he joins the Voices From War team!  

Learn more on our Instructors page and through our Newsletters .

Missed our RECENT NEWSLETTERS? Catch up HERE!

TODAY! – Voices From War’s WINTER SHOWCASE – 2021 – Dec 12

Join us for a fabulous collection of writing from veterans and family members…

Still need your ticket? Click HERE for Free TICKETS on Eventbrite

Sunday, DECEMBER 12 at 5:00 pm

Veterans and family members read from new work.

RSVP via Eventbrite  (click HERE)

Event on Zoom

__________________________

Featuring excerpts from new fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry from 2021 . . . traveling through memory, back into war zones and present-day Covid-19, looks back to childhood and passages into parenthood, in uniform and out, across neighborhoods, across the U.S., across countries, experiences of racism, times of loss and grief, into community.

We hope you will join us for an evening of community and writing, veterans’ stories, family members’ experiences, times of war and conflict, and times looking for peace, making sense through narrative.

Join us for our WINTER SHOWCASE featuring Voices From War participants’ new writing!

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12 at 5pm (on Zoom).

==================================

THANK YOU to the New-York Historical Society for our Veterans Day 2021 event!

Writing Veteran Experiences: Women’s Voices After Military Service
Featuring Elana Duffy, Nicole Goodwin, W.S. Klein, Bathsheba Monk, & Nina Semczuk, with Moderator, Kara Krauze

_________________________________________________________

Want to see our 12/10/21 Mailchimp Newsletter ? Catch up HERE

NEW Season Starts This WEEK!

Voices From War’s FALL 2021 SEASON – Starts THIS WEEK!

VoicesFromWar.org/workshop

WEDNESDAY or SATURDAY

Join us this fall to explore diverse forms of storytelling (through fiction, memoir, poetry), discuss, and work on your own writing. Each season, we welcome recent veterans and those who served years prior, active duty and family members. Come work on your writing in a supportive veteran-focused community, explore your experiences and others, and enhance your writing skills, whether a new writer, or one revising previous work. QUESTIONS? Email: info@voicesfromwar.org

Voices From War has been offering writing workshops for veterans (and family members) since 2013, with two workshop options through the FALL season (Wednesday or Saturday).

REGISTRATION now OPEN
Details:  https://voicesfromwar.org

Save the Date! For our WINTER SHOWCASE Sunday, DECEMBER 12, 2021

You can learn more about our instructors on the Instructors page and check out previous Newsletters HERE.

Missed our RECENT NEWSLETTERS? Catch up HERE!

Join us for our OPEN HOUSE Today!

Winter OPEN HOUSE & Social
This SUNDAY
FEBRUARY 7, 5:00-6:00 pm


RSVP for Zoom Link
info@voicesfromwar.org

Come meet our Instructors!
Join us for our semi-annual (Virtual) OPEN HOUSE this Sunday. A chance to meet all Instructors (Dewaine Farria, Jessica DuLong, Jeremy Warneke), along with Director, Kara Krauze, hear more about the program, chat and catch up with past participants and welcome interested new participants.

Voices From War has been offering writing workshops for veterans (and family members) since 2013, with two workshop options through the Winter-Spring season (Wednesday or Saturday).

REGISTRATION now OPEN
Details:  https://voicesfromwar.org

We are thrilled to welcome two new Instructors DEWAINE FARRIA and JESSICA DULONG!

Dewaine Farria is the author of the novel Revolutions of All Colors (winner of the 2019 Veterans Writing Award from Syracuse University Press). His short stories and essays have appeared in Literary Hub, The New York Times, Rumpus, the anthology, Our Best War Stories, and elsewhere.

Jessica DuLong is the author of Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift (May 2021) and My River Chronicles: Rediscovering the Work that Built America; A Personal and Historical Journey, exploring the value of hands-on work through memoir, history, and reportage.

You can learn more about Jessica DuLong, Dewaine Farria, and Craft of War Writing Instructor Jeremy Warneke on our Instructors page and previous Newsletters.

Missed our RECENT NEWSLETTERS? Catch up HERE!

Welcome to our Fall SHOWCASE – About our READERS

Full READER Details available below for download or by scrolling.

Still trying to RSVP before the SHOWCASE? Free Tickets on EVENTBRITE Here

Sunday, DECEMBER 6, 2020, 5:00 pm

Fall SHOWCASE

READERS

We are pleased to present our READERS from Voices From War’s

two NYC-based writing workshops for veterans,

Writing and Reading War Stories, hosted by the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, and

The Craft of War Writing, hosted by the Morris Park (NYPL) Library in the Bronx.

Each reader (veterans and a few family members) will share

a brief excerpt from a recent piece of writing

workshopped in our 2020 (remote) classrooms.

Sunday, DECEMBER 6, 2020, 5:00 pm

VOICES FROM WAR Fall SHOWCASE

READERS

We are pleased to present our READERS from Voices From War’s

two NYC-based writing workshops for veterans,

Writing and Reading War Stories, hosted by the 14th Street Y in Manhattan, and

The Craft of War Writing, hosted by the Morris Park (NYPL) Library in the Bronx.

Each reader (veterans and a few family members) will share

a brief excerpt from a recent piece of writing

workshopped in our 2020 (remote) classrooms.

EMMANUEL DUVIVIER                  “Blocked”                                                                         Memoir

Emmanuel Duvivier served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2011-2016. He has been a participant in Voices From War workshops since 2017 and is working on poetry and memoir. He lives in Brooklyn.

RICHARD ENOCH                             “Document, Bronx”                                                      Prose-Poem

Richard Enoch is a Cold War veteran, who served honorably on active duty in the Navy. He was awarded a Sea Service Ribbon, graduated from Radioman “A” School, and participated in the Shellback Initiation. Richard earned a Master of Science degree from Long Island University. He lives in the Bronx.

LEO FARLEY                                        “The Raid”                                                                        Fiction

Leo Farley is a United States Army Veteran. He served as a Communications Specialist with the 52nd Signal Battalion in Can Tho, Vietnam, from June 1970 to June 1971. After almost twenty years on Wall Street as a stock and commodities futures trader, he gave up his financial security blanket to devote more time to his artistic endeavors in the theater as both an actor and director. He is a Founding Member of the 29th Street Rep Theater in NYC. He is currently the Artistic Director of LSMFT Theatre Group LLC, where he teaches and coaches acting. He is very happy to be writing, and a proud participant in Voices from War’s NYPL Bronx collaboration, The Craft of War Writing, hosted by the Morris Park Library.

PABLO FOSTER                      “An Incident on the Train”                                                    Poem

Pablo (“Paul”) Foster grew up in the Bronx after emigrating from Cuba in 1962. He received his BS from CCNY and MPA from Baruch College. He is a practicing Physician Assistant in Adolescent Medicine and Women’s Health at Morris Heights Health Center. He taught within the Physician Assistant Program at CCNY before retiring in August 2016. A Bronx workshop participant, Pablo is a former chairman of Community Board 7, and he was the caretaker for his brother, a disabled Vietnam Veteran.

TED HAYES                                          “Serving in the Pentagon”                                        Memoir

Ted Hayes served in the USMC RESERVES from 1961-1965. He is currently a retired College Administrator, having worked for over forty years at Queens College (CUNY). Ted is working on a series of recollections from his youth growing up in Harlem and Washington Heights.

W.S. KLEIN *                                      “Outsiders”                                                                     Creative Nonfiction

W.S. Klein is a combat veteran. She joined Voices From War’s workshops as a way of capturing her elusive personal narratives from deployments to combat zones. W.S. Klein served in the Army and supported Operation Iraqi Freedom.                                                                  *W.S. Klein is a pseudonym.

JOHN LOSASSO                                 “Covid Dialogues, #3”                                                 Fiction

John LoSasso is a semi-retired, NYC high school teacher who spends his free time reading, writing, and running. He is employed as an academic coach at Pace University. John began pursuing a “dream deferred” when he started writing in earnest upon joining The Craft of War Writing in 2016. His short fiction piece, “Buffalo Soldiers,” which emanated from the workshop, is published in Proud To Be: Writing by American Warriors, Vol. 5. He has also published poetry in Intersections International, and he currently writes regular profiles for Edible Bronx. Originally from Brooklyn, John resides in the Bronx with his wife and son and their cat.

NAIOMY MENDEZ                           “The Sunshine Massacre”                                         Fiction

Naiomy Mendez served in the Army from 2005-2009. She is now completing her Master’s in Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University. She joined the Voices From War workshop a few years ago while she lived in New York. She now lives in Florida, and given the circumstances, she was able to participate in the workshop once again.

PHIL NERGES                                     “Disorder in the Age of Corona”                             Creative Nonfiction

Phil Nerges worked as a contractor in Iraq between 2004 and 2007. His short stories have appeared in Amoskeag, The Journal of Southern New Hampshire University and Foliate Oak Literary Magazine. His play, Don’t Feed the Cats, a collaboration with musician/songwriter Vic Ruggiero and the Letter of Marque Theater Company, was performed at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Phil is a lifelong New Jersey resident, where he lives with his wife Donna.

MARIA PASERMAN                         “How My Father Lost the War”                               Memoir

Maria Paserman is a retired federal worker who lives in the Bronx. She is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and enjoys writing on a diverse range of subjects. Maria has been a participant in The Craft of War Writing for several seasons.

BARBARA SNOWARSKA                “War à la Carte”                                                             Biographical Fiction

Barbara Snowarska is a Polish national living in Northern Ireland with her husband who is from Iraq. Barbara is working on stories about her husband’s youth and military service in Iraq in the 1980s-90s.

MARIA SOTO                                     “With Love”                                                                    Creative Nonfiction

Maria Soto is a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran. This is her first workshop with Voices From War, which she joined to improve her writing and to meet like-minded people (military or civilian). She hopes one day to be able to share her stories with the world.

J.P. SWARTELÉ-WOOD                  “Dust”                                                                                Fiction

A native of small-town Ohio, J.P. Swartelé-Wood has lived in five countries and now abides in NYC. Family veterans include those serving in WWI (Belgium) and WWII (Air Force and Navy in US; Pacific Theater; and Army Medical Corps, Normandy, France).

DANIEL WARD                                   “Had I Not Known I Was Dead Already…”          Fiction

Daniel Ward served as a Marine rifleman and deployed to Iraq in 2007 and again in 2008. He is currently working on a memoir about his combat experiences.

MIKO YOSHIDA                                “Moving to NYC”                                                           Memoir

Miko Yoshida is a Japanese-American Los Angeles native and the oldest of six siblings. He deployed three times to Afghanistan as a Marine and has worked in consulting and financial services in New York City. He enjoys reading, writing, and crossword puzzles.          

DONNA ZEPHRINE                           “Incarceration”                                                              Creative Nonfiction

Donna Zephrine was born in Harlem, New York, and grew up in Bay Shore, Long island.  She graduated from Columbia University School of Social Work in May 2017 and currently works for the NYS Office of Mental Health at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center Outpatient SOCR.  She is a combat veteran who completed two tours in Iraq. Since returning home, Donna enjoys sharing her experiences and storytelling through writing. Donna’s stories have been published in The New York Times, Writers Guild Iniative, The Seasons, Lockdown, Qutub Minar Review, The Bards Initiative, The Radvocate, Oberon, Long Island Poetry Association, and The Mighty.

WORKSHOP LEADERS

KARA KRAUZE  –  Founder & Director, Voices From War

Kara Krauze is a writer, editor, and educator. Kara has worked in publishing, financial services, the mental health field, and community organizing. Her writing has been published in Quarterly West, Center: A Journal of the Literary Arts, Highbrow Magazine, The Daily Beast, Hypothetical Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Poets & Writers, and elsewhere. She has a BA from Vassar College in International Studies and a MA in Literary Cultures from New York University, where she also recently completed a Master’s in Social Work. She is a licensed social worker (LMSW). Her writing engages with the subjects of war, loss, and memory. She founded Voices From War in 2013.

SIOBHAN ADCOCK  –  Instructor:  NYC – 14th Street Y – Writing & Reading War Stories

Siobhan Adcock is the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and a current Voices From War instructor. She is the author of two novels, The Completionist (Simon & Schuster, 2018) and The Barter (Dutton, 2014), and her short fiction, essays, and humor writing appear in Salon, Slate, Ms. Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Millions, Triquarterly, and others. She has led writing classes and workshops at the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, the Columbia Publishing Course, the Gotham Writers Workshop, Cornell University, and the Auburn Federal Correctional Facility. 

DREW PHAM  –  Instructor:  NYC – 14th Street Y – Writing & Reading War Stories

Drew Pham is a queer, transgender writer of Vietnamese heritage, a child of war refugees, and an adjunct English lecturer at CUNY Brooklyn College. Previously, she served in the US Army and deployed to Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division. She has published in Blunderbuss Magazine, McSweeney’s, Slice Magazine, Foreign Policy, Time Magazine, The Daily Beast, and Columbia Journal, among others. She serves as an editor at The Wrath-Bearing Tree, an online literary journal focused on themes of societal violence. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

JEREMY WARNEKE  –  Instructor:  BRONX – NYPL Morris Park – The Craft of War Writing

Jeremy Hussein Warneke is a United States Army veteran, who served in Iraq. Following discharge, he completed his undergraduate degree at Sarah Lawrence College. His publication credits include Itscomplicated.vet, NYC Veterans Alliance, Homefront Progressives, Task & Purpose, Scintilla, the anthology Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War, and elsewhere. In 2017, he was a War Horse Writing Seminar Fellow and a second place poetry finalist for Line of Advance‘s COL Darron L. Wright Award. In 2015, he received an honorable mention for photography in Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Vol. 4. A former Voices From War participant, Jeremy launched The Craft of War Writing with support from Voices From War, the Bronx Council on the Arts, and The New York Public Library in early 2016.

THANK YOU to Voices From War SUPPORTERS
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)                                                          
NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
Poets & Writers, Inc. / NYSCA
The Rona Jaffe Foundation
YOU! – Individual Supporter Contributions

THANK YOU to our Community Partners

NYC – 14th Street Y – Writing & Reading War Stories

BRONX – NYPL Morris Park – The Craft of War Writing 

Please consider Voices From War during our End-of-Year Appeal. Your donation of any size helps support our ongoing programming.

VOICES FROM WAR:  Offering writing workshops for veterans (and family members) since 2013.

VoicesFromWar.org

This workshop (14Y) is funded in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

          VOICES FROM WAR’S Writing & Reading War Stories (14Y) is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Learning, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. LMCC.net

VOICES FROM WAR is grateful for support from The Rona Jaffe Foundation.

QUESTIONS?  Email info@voicesfromwar.org

Thank you for joining us for our 2020 Fall SHOWCASE! And THANK YOU for your support for our readers and programming!

It’s #GivingTuesday – Thank you for supporting Voices From War

Please consider

supporting Voices From War

on #GivingTuesday.

PLUS: Don’t miss our Fall SHOWCASE!

Sunday, DEC 6th, 5:00 pm

We appreciate your support!
Please consider Voices From War on #GivingTuesday and during our End-of-Year Appeal.

Your donation of any size helps support our ongoing programming.
Secure Online Donations: Voices From War
Donate now!

Reserve your Free TICKETS now for our FALL SHOWCASE
Sunday, DECEMBER 6 at 5:00 pm
RSVP via Eventbrite (click HERE)
Event on Zoom

Missed our Mailchimp Newsletter? (12/1/20) – Catch it HERE.

Click HERE to support Voices From War’s workshops and public programming!

Voices From War’s FALL SHOWCASE – DEC 6

Join us on…

Sunday, DECEMBER 6 at 5:00 pm

for our FALL SHOWCASE.

Veterans and family members read from new work.

RSVP via Eventbrite  (click HERE)

Event on Zoom

__________________________

Featuring excerpts from new fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, and poetry from 2020 . . . glimpses into war zones and present-day Covid-19, looks back to childhood and history, experiences of racism, times of loss and grief, acceptance of periods of solitude and loneliness, transitions, and alighting on moments of communion. Community.

We hope you will join us for an evening of community and writing, veterans’ stories, family members’ experiences, and considerations of a complicated year.

Click HERE to RSVP

Join us for our FALL SHOWCASE featuring Voices From War participants’ new writing! Coming up on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6 at 5pm (on Zoom).

==================================

THANK YOU to Elizabeth Lewes for her wonderful reading and discussion of her debut novel Little Falls last month!
Missed the October event? You can still read the book!

Don’t miss our FALL SHOWCASE featuring Voices From War participants’ new writing!

Sunday, DEC 6th at 5:00 pm – RSVP Here

_________________________________________________________

Want to see our 11/25/20 Mailchimp Newsletter ? Catch up HERE

A Happy Thanksgiving to all. We are grateful for our Voices From War community.