Lost in Iraq

Jill Carroll is still among the missing, kidnapped by Islamic militants. Abby Frucht, one of my MFA advisors and a stunning literary talent, suggests that writers send blank books to Aljazeera in an effort to have Jill released.

A quote from Abby at Readerville:

Okay. Here's what we'll do. We'll each send, to al-Jazeera, instead of our books - an empty journal, an empty notebook, or even a small sheaf of paper if you don't have a book. On the first page, write a letter like this one: To Al-Jazeera News. I am one of a group of readers and writers sending you this blank book in the hope that Jill Carroll might soon be able to fill it. Please do your best to convey this message to her captors: Let Jill Carroll go, so that she might continue to write about the things that have made you so eager to claim our attention. Through Jill's work, and through the gesture that you will make by setting her free, we other readers, writers, and thinkers will better understand the differences, and the vast similarities, between our corners of the world. Please set this cycle of understanding in motion by letting this brave young writer take her place in it again.

Send the blank books asap to: Al-Jazeera International, P.O. Box 23127, Doha, Qatar

and forward this to any writers and readers you know, as well as to any organizations of writers and readers to which you have connections. I wish I knew how to post it all over readerville; if someone else knows, please do so. thanks. ab

Yeah, you'll probably end up on one of George Bush's secret lists for this, but I think the effort is worth it.