i’m a few weeks behind in my podcasts, so i was listening to this american life on my run tonight.

i’m ashamed to admit that i usually try to tune out the news about guantanamo bay, because frankly, it makes me feel simultaneously enraged and full of despair, and i just can’t handle walking around in that frame of mind – it eats me up. and if i, sitting in my safe, comfortable flat, feel enraged and despairing, i can’t even begin to fathom the mental anguish of the innocent people (because there *are* innocent people there) who’ve been held, in what is for all intents and purposes a black hole of deprivation and torture, for the past six years. no rights, no recourse, no end in sight.

but i listened to this american life tonight – they recently rebroadcast a piece they did a year ago on former detainees who’d been released from guantanamo, called “habeas schmabeas”. and if you haven’t already heard it, i strongly encourage you to listen. it’s deeply moving to hear the voices of those who thought they’d lost their lives forever. and it’s a stark and important reminder of just how dangerous my country has become, when it believes it no longer needs to operate in accordance with the principles it was founded on. it’s fundamentally unamerican. it’s a reminder that we *can’t afford* to tune out the news about guantanamo – because the media is now the only voice they have. if we don’t listen, don’t remember, don’t keep hold of the rage, then their situation becomes truly hopeless.

i’m ashamed to admit i needed that reminder, sitting here in my safe, comfortable flat.

you can download, listen, or read the transcripts of the show here.

laura sweden – release me

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guantanamo bay, habeas corpus, this american life