Karen Spears Zacharias

Sexual Assaults: Not just a military problem

Karen Spears Zacharias — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:30:44 +0000

Almost 90 percent of victims sexually assaulted in the military do not report the crime, so says The Pentagon. That’s a disturbing number. New York Senator Gillibrand blames the system. Letting commanders decide which sexual assaults to bring to trial is foolish. She warns: “If the convening authority is the only decision-maker of whether a [...]

Selling Blow Jobs for a Happy Meal

Karen Spears Zacharias — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:29:23 +0000

One million. If we were talking dollars here a lot of you would be whistling at the thought of winning that lotto ticket. But I’m not talking dollars. One million children. Kids. Homeless. Right here in America. In the Land of the IRS fraud and corporate corruption. Couch surfing. Living in cars. Sleeping under the bridges. [...]

Momma of God

Karen Spears Zacharias — Fri, 10 May 2013 01:13:59 +0000

I was talking with a friend from New Orleans the other day. Before she became a widow she was a pastor’s wife. We were chatting about the things women our age talk about – men and babies (and no that’s not always a redundant pairing), and about the gifts we ought to (read: deserve to) [...]

Not a story of miracles

Karen Spears Zacharias — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:39:57 +0000

By now you’ve heard the news that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive, apparently kidnapped and held for years as prisoners inside a house on Cleveland’s West Side. Understandably the reaction from the public-at-large has been one of rejoicing. These women were believed to be dead. Abducted. Likely murdered. [...]

God’s Giant Orb

Karen Spears Zacharias — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:37:58 +0000

We sat on the weathered deck, my friend and me. Her in the north corner, munching on a granola bar, drinking coffee. Me in the south corner, eating the other half of a muffin leftover from breakfast, and drinking hot tea. This was our evening meal. Over on the dunes, a lab chased after [...]

The Gurgle Pot King

Karen Spears Zacharias — Sat, 04 May 2013 23:20:45 +0000

Because everywhere I go I meet the most interesting characters. And you? What character did you meet recently?

The Case of the Taken Baby

Karen Spears Zacharias — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:55:02 +0000

A few weeks ago, Anna and Alex Nikolayev took their 5-month old son Sammy, who has a heart murmur, to Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. But the couple has since claimed to any news agency willing to broadcast it, that they were unhappy with the care that their son received so they left Sutter [...]

The Adventure You Never Saw Coming

Karen Spears Zacharias — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:47:32 +0000

The year after my father died my mother remarried. When I went to write After the Flag has been Folded, I couldn’t even remember my step-father’s name. One of my uncles had introduced Mama to him because everyone knows the answer to being a young widow is to remarry, right? My mother began singing “I [...]

Delta Gamma’s Real Life Mean Girl

Karen Spears Zacharias — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:06:51 +0000

Social Media has been lit on fire this week by the ranting letter of University of Maryland’s Rebecca Martinson. Perhaps you heard about Martinson admist the continued news of the Boston bombers and the lame news of Congress making sure their flights home were not interrupted by their own stupidity? Martinson wrote a [...]

John Paulk’s Apology.. and mine

Karen Spears Zacharias — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:22:36 +0000

I interviewed John Paulk years ago for a feature in a Conservative Christian magazine. The focus on that article was John’s healing from a homosexual lifestyle. I was working as a freelance journalist and had contracted with the editor for the story. I had a childhood friend who had just been diagnosed with AIDS at [...]