Have you ever wondered why anniversaries that are multiples of 5 or 10 are more significant milestones than those that are multiples of other numbers? I wonder if we had six fingers, instead of five, whether a 24th wedding anniversary might be a bigger deal than the 20th, and if we had seven fingers a 49th might be much more important than a 50th.

“Were any of your supporters invested with Madoff?”

I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been asked that question in the last few months.

At first, I could answer: “not that I know of.” Then I received the following letter from a supporter:

“Some time ago …. I had put my pension from thirty years work into an investment that was indirectly hooked into the Madoff fraud. [A]ll of [my] savings were stolen in this scheme. We’re struggling now to re-build some reserve and retain our sense of equanimity.”

Earlier this week, I asked RFC supporters for their help naming this blog. I was thrilled to get so many enthusiastic responses and thoughtful suggestions! You can read some of the comments right on the “Name That Blog” post. Many other replies came to me by email. Your ideas for a title included “The Silver Lining,” “From the Belly of the Beast,” “Out On a Limb for Justice,” and “Children of Change,” among others.

My book, An Execution in the Family, was released in Germany in 2008. The publisher, Zambon Verlag, brought me for a promotional tour in March of this year. I did a reading in Weimar, in the center of the country, and while I was there I toured the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Welcome to the inaugural post of the RFC's new blog!

When I was a sophomore at Earlham College, I wrote a weekly column in the Earlham Post entitled “Out on a Limb.” I used this platform to sound off about any campus-related activity that caught my attention. Mostly, it was a “student power” rant that really put me out on a limb given the conservatism of much of the student body and administration.