Articles and Interviews
BERSHIRE BULLETIN FALL 2009
Don Goodrich contributed an article, "The Taliban, then and now" for the Bershire Bulletin, an annual publication of the Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA from which Don and Peter graduated. The school has supported three Afghan exchange students recommended by the Foundation. To access the Bulletin use the link below and click on "A Munchkin, David Bowie, and the Taliban"
A Munchkin, David Bowie, and the Taliban.
HOLINESS AND THE FEMININE SPIRIT
The Art of Jane McKenzie
Susan Perry, editor
Orbis Books, Fall 2009
Twenty eight paintings by artist Janet McKenzie with reflections by leading women writers
This book explores how holiness can empower women and how empowered women work to bring about the reign of God. The contributors include writers such as Joyce Rupp, Joan Chittister, Diane Butler Bass, Elizabeth A. Johnson, Sr. Wendy Beckett, Ann Patchett, Helen Prejean, Chung Hyun Kyung, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, and many others. Sally Goodrich reflected on the meaning of Homage to 9/11. Artist Janet McKenzie has committed her life’s work to creating inclusive art celebrating women.
The Family Plan Boston Globe September 19, 2009
NORTH ANDOVER - The two teenagers perched side by side on a sofa at the Brooks School are dressed nearly identically, in skinny jeans and embroidered blouses. Their bare feet are tucked underneath them and dark scarves cover their hair. Sixteen-year-old Marjeela Basij-Rasikh and her 19-year-old sister, Shabana, don’t much look like political powerhouses, but to hear them quietly lay out their long-range plans for Afghanistan is to reconsider the nature of change.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2009
9/11 Interviews and Articles
NORTH ADAMS, MA (WAMC) - Eight years ago, the Goodrich family lost their son Peter on Flight 175, which hit the second tower. The Berkshire family has since taken to advocating for victims' rights and working to help the citizens of Afghanistan. Their journey has even led them to build a school for girls in one of Afghanistan's most dangerous provinces. Our Berkshire Bureau Chief Charlie Deitz reports on the Goodrich's, eight years later . © Copyright 2009,
WAMC, Northeast Public Radio by Charles Deitz
WCAX TV
TEN AGAINST TORTURE
President Obama reads 10 hand-picked letters every day to get a glimpse of what's on people's minds and in their hearts.
Amnesty International has compiled powerful letters written by 10 influential thinkers – from an exiled poet to a former military interrogator to an esteemed actor and activist – that boldly make the case against torture.
Read the Ten Against Torture letters and send the one you find most moving to President Obama. One was written by Don Goodrich
Amnesty International USA Ten Against Torture
A Rare Look Inside Taliban Operations in Afghanistan
PBS News Hour
Jeffrey Brown Interviews Charles Sennott
August 14, 2009
Jeffrey Brown speaks with GlobalPost's Charles Sennott about his interviews with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan. Link to The On Line News Hour site for an audio and print version of this interview which includes an account of the Foundation's Logar school and the recent bombing that occurred nearby killing twentyfive people, thirteen of whom were children on their way to school.
PBS The News Hour Charles Sennott Interview August 14, 2009
Life, death and the Taliban: War of ideas
A woman, a school and a tragically complex relationship.
By C.M. Sennott - GlobalPost
Published: August 7, 2009 10:24 ET-A
KABUL — On the morning of July 9, boys and girls were walking down a narrow road in the Logar Province on their way to school just as they did every day at that time.
That’s when the large bomb packed in a timber truck pulled up at a checkpoint and detonated, killing 25 people, including 13 school children, in the worst bombing in Afghanistan in several years.
It is believed the Taliban carried out the attack in retaliation for the girls’ school that had been built in the village in the Mohammed Agha district.
War of Ideas
Who, in God's name, could kill kids walking to school?
GlobalPost.com
C.M. Sennott's Notebook:
July 11, 2009 01:49 ET | Updated: July 11, 2009 09:31 ET
I know that road just outside of Kabul in the Logar Province. I know the kids who walk to school on it every morning. I know their faces were full of hope and glee when I saw them two years ago at their beautiful new school and I can only imagine the fear that must be etched on their faces now.
On Thursday morning, Taliban terrorists packed a timber truck full of explosives and detonated it at a checkpoint between two schools in the Logar Province, they killed 25 people, including 13 elementary school students.
I was just in Afghanistan reporting on the girls’ school that is right where this bombing went off. On Wednesday I met with Sally and Don Goodrich. They are an amazing couple from Vermont who lost their son, Peter, in the September 11 attacks. They raised the money to build the girls’ school in his honor through the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation. Two years ago, I went on a trip with Sally to document the opening of the school. It was a joyous occasion. And we stayed in touch and have become friends.
Use above link for the remainder of Charles M. Sennott's notebook on Logar bombing.
Inside the Taliban by Charles Sennott for PRI's The World
July 14, 2009
Link to the Series Inside the Taliban by Charles Sennott
The Taliban have risen, fallen, and then risen again in the past 15 years. The Islamist movement rose to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s, ruled the country in the late 90s, and fell to the US-led invasion in 2001. Nowadays, the Taliban seem to be regaining strength, not only in Afghanistan but in neighboring Pakistan. Reporter Charles Sennott covered the Taliban from their rise in Afghanistan, to their ouster in 2001. Sennott recently returned to Afghanistan and Pakistan to do a series of reports on the history and fluctuating fortunes of the Taliban.
PART III
Peter Goodrich was a victim of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was a passenger on the second plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. Goodrich was 33 years old; his parents were devastated. But Peter’s mother, Sally Goodrich, found a way to honor his life. She raised money to build a school for girls in Afghanistan’s Logar Province. In 2007, Sally Goodrich journeyed from her Vermont home to Afghanistan, to visit the school she helped build. Charles Sennott traveled with her, and filed this report for The World. You can find more pictures, and a transcript of that original story here.
Now, fast forward to 2009. In today’s Afghanistan, schools for girls lie directly on the front line in the war against the Taliban. Almost daily, girls’ schools are bombed and burned. The Afghan Ministry of Education now estimates that at least 20 percent of its 11-thousand schools across the country are in districts under control of the Taliban.
For our Inside the Taliban series, Charles Sennott and Sally Goodrich return to the school she helped build, only to find that it now appears to be under control of the Taliban.
MCLA Confers Degrees, Cetificates on 357
By Tammy Daniels - May 16, 2009
iBerkshires Staff
Film Festival to Screen Documentary on Goodriches
iBerkshires.com
- April 30, 2009
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — A documentary about the Goodrich family's efforts in building peaceful pursuits in Afghanistan after the loss of their son in the 2001 terrorist attacks will be shown as a work-in-progress at this year's Berkshire International Film Festival.
A 45-minute section of "Axis of Good: A Story From 9/11" by producer and director Rick Derby will be screened on Sunday, May 17, at 4 p.m. at the Triplex Cinema. This the first time the film festival has screened a work in progress.
Documentary about Foundation at Berkshire International Film Festival
Schooled by the Taliban
By C.M. Sennott - GlobalPost
Published: April 17, 2009 07:06 ET
"Ever since that crystal clear fall morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Sally Goodrich has been on a journey.
It led her to Afghanistan, where she has spent the last several years reaching out to the very country where the hijackers who took the life of her son, Peter, were trained, funded and inspired. Hers was a long journey toward healing and then hope."
To Continue Reading Charles M. Sennott Article
‘Sugar' is a verb and so is 'hope': making maple syrup in Vermont from Ali's Cleaner Plate Club blog
The author of this blog accompanied a class of Pine Cobble School preschool and first grade students, Williamstown, MA to observe the Goodrich/Donavan sugaring operation. To read Ali's piece link to: 'Sugar' is a verb and so is 'hope'...on Ali's Cleaner Plate Club blog.
BITTER ROOTS, TENDER SHOOTS by SALLY ARMSTRONG
Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots is a moving portrayal of the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan in 2008. respected journalist Sally Armstrong revisits Afghanistan to compare women’s lives pre- and post-Taliban, interviewing Afghan and Western women who are dedicated to improving health, education, culture, religion, and human rights. She is a member of the Order of Canada and has received numerous journalism and humanitarian awards including honorary doctorates from Royal Roads University and McGill University.
Follow-up Media Appearance: RJ McKay Radio Show
RJ McKay interviewed Don and Sally Goodrich on the RJ McKay Show in Philadelphia, WPHT (1210 AM talk radio) on Saturday, Feb 7, 2009.
Web Talk Radio Vibrant Living with Diane Brandon
To hear the interview use the link below
Diane Brandon Interview
Sally was interviewed by Diane about her life since the September 11 attacks and the work of the Foundation on December 8, 2008
The Leonard Lopate Show, WNYC Public Radio
On September 11, 2008 Sally and Don appeared with Steve and Liz Alderman, who founded the Peter Alderman Foundation, to discuss their work following the death of their sons on 9/11.
To hear interview click on the following link:
Interview on September 11th on the Lopate Show
Vermont Edition, Vermont Public Radio
Vermont Public Radio aired an analysis by Dr. Jennifer Fleuri, Profesor at Dartmouth, Julie Petersen from Afghan Women Judges Training, Jonathon Hoffman of Direct Aid International and Shabana Basij Rasikch, Middlebury College student, on the impact of large and small humanitarian efforts by Vermonters in Afghanistan. Don Goodrich introduced the September 10, 2008 segment.
The Book of Calamities
Don and Sally Goodrich are interviewed in THE BOOK OF CALAMITIES: Five Questions About Suffering and Its Meaning (Little Brown, August 2008), "a book that combines reportage, memoir, and moral philosophy to explore suffering and its narratives" by Peter Trachtenberg For more on Peter Trachtenberg, please visit his blog: A Nest of Thorns: Politics, Cultures, Spirituality
University of Maine at Farmington Commencement Address
Sally Goodrich gave the commencement address on May 17, 2007 at the graducation ceremony at the University of Maine at Farmington, Farmington, Maine. The following links are news reports of the event:
Sally Goodrich Commencement Speaker at University of Maine Farmington
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5071014.html
Below is a copy of Sally's address.
http://www.familiesofseptember11.org/docs/Farmington%20Commencement.doc
Media Appearance: RJ McKay Radio Show
RJ McKay interviewed Sally Goodrich on the RJ McKay Show in Philadelphia, WPHT (1210 AM talk radio) on May 3, 2008.
Readers' Digest April 2008
Giving Girls Wings
Devastated by the loss of her son on 9/11, Sally Goodrich found new life helping the children of Afghanistan.
By Charles M. Sennott
A Public Space
Issue O5 2008
Essay: The Grief Work by Peter Trachtenberg
On narratives of suffering
Issue 5 Is...Roland Kelts on the streets of Japan; Samantha Hunt on Parris Island; Lucy Begg in Richard Linklater’s treehouse; Jervey Tervalon in Baltimore & Hollywood; Steve Featherstone in latrines; James Lasdun in a greenhouse; Jesmyn Ward on the road; Ernst Weiss on a ship full of rats; Leslie Jamison in Nicaragua; Peter Trachtenberg in sixth-century Rome; Wells Tower in a new house; Mario Bellatin in Times Square; Craig Morgan Teicher in the woods; Robyn Schiff in an inventor’s workshop; Zoe Strauss in El Paso; and more.
A Public Space is a new independent magazine of literature and culture...We believe that stories are how we make sense of our lives and how we learn about other lives. We believe that stories matter.
A PUBLIC SPACE
Practicing Conscious Living and Dying Stories of the Eternal Continuum of Consciousness by Annamaria Hemingway
An uplifting collection of spiritually illuminating texts and powerfully thought- provoking real life stories, showing death as an integral part of life. O Books
'Afterlife' by Peter Trachtenberg
Link to O, The Oprah Magazine Article
September 2007
Peter Trachtenberg won a 2007 Whiting Award for his work on The Book of Calamities, an exploration of suffering and its narratives, which will be published by Little, Brown in Spring 2008. For this book, he observed genocide tribunals in Rwanda; took part in post-tsunami relief efforts in Sri Lanka; and interviewed an elderly survivor of the Siege of Leningrad. "Afterlife", his article for O Magazine is an excerpt from The Book of Calamities.
The Story with Dick Gordon
Sept. 11, 2007
After Don and Sally lost their son, Peter, in the World Trade Center attacks, they started a program to help educate young Afghans. Dick Gordon talked with Sally and one of her Afghan exchange students.
A Mother's Grief by Charles Sennott
Public Radio International
May 11, 2007
Some 3,000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11th. One of them was Peter Goodrich. He was on the second plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. Peter was 33 years old. His parents were devastated. But they found a way to honor their son's life. Peter's mother, Sally Goodrich, raised money to build a school for girls in Afghanistan's Logar Province. She's also taken three exchange students from Afghanistan into her home. Last month, Sally Goodrich journeyed from Bennington, Vermont to the school she helped create. The Boston Globe's Charles Sennott went with her.
Photo courtesy of Amin
A Mother's Mission by Charles Sennott
May 13, 2007
The Boston Globe Magazine
Her son's death on 9/11 spurred Sally Goodrich to do the one thing she knows best: educate. The beneficiaries of her grief became young girls in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Don Goodrich's Testimony about Security and Civil Liberties
Don Goodrich's Testimony before the House Subcommittee on National Security courtesy of You Tube.
ABC Person of the Week: Sally Goodrich
Aug. 26, 2005
Mother of 9/11 Victim Turns Personal Loss Into Hope for Hundreds