August 13, 2006
Life's Work
New York Times
By LISA BELKIN

From a Dark Past, a Spirit Renewed

THE first time Cholene Espinoza put her work aside was after 9/11. Then, as now, she was flying for United Airlines, a job she’d held since 1995, when she left the Air Force after serving nine years.

As it happened, Ms. Espinoza’s last night as a co-pilot was Friday, Sept. 7. She had flown into Manhattan, right past the twin towers, and she remembers “thinking about how fortunate those people were to be able to see their world as I did — from high in the sky.”

Her first flight as a full captain was supposed to be on Sept. 12. She was scheduled to fly out of San Francisco, which would have meant flying first as a passenger from New York to California on the morning of Sept. 11. But the flight she was to command was canceled over the weekend, which is the only reason she was not on United Flight 93 when it crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

For months afterward Ms. Espinoza was haunted by the close call and by the fact that “those same people I had flown by (or with) that Friday night chose to jump to their death rather than be consumed by fire.” She felt helpless, as a former military officer, watching an attack on American soil. “This was my city, my country, my airline,” she says. “I wanted to do something, but what could I do?”

Eventually she took a three-month leave from the airline — which was more than happy to let her go, reeling as it was from the loss of business after 9/11 — and spent time in Iraq, as a military reporter for Talk Radio News Service, embedded with the Marine Corps.

She was just feeling some small sense of equilibrium, she says, when “Katrina blew in and blew me right off my feet.” Back at work by then, she flew in and out of Louis Armstrong Airport four days before Katrina hit on Aug. 29.

Even though it was not yet clear what path the storm would take, she writes in her book “Through the Eye of the Storm” (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2006), with proceeds going to Katrina’s victims, “I looked down on New Orleans with a strange feeling of nostalgia — as though I was saying goodbye to an old friend that I would never see again.”

Again, she felt a need to do something. This time she took vacation leave and headed down to the gulf to help. Her partner, Ellen Ratner, happened to be sitting next to a family on a flight a few days after the hurricane. The father (who had stayed behind while the mother and two children left on this flight) was a principal of a high school near DeLisle, Miss., and an aunt (who had also stayed) was a minister at the Mount Zion United Methodist Church, which had been all but destroyed.

Within a week, Ms. Espinoza and Ms. Ratner took a U-Haul full of toilet paper, diapers, canned foods, soap, bleach and fresh fruit to DeLisle. It was the first of more than a dozen trips over the last year. They became close friends with the woman from the plane, a lawyer named Shantrell Nicks, and her husband, Myrick, and with the Rev. Rosemary Williams of Mount Zion Church. Together, the African-American family from Mississippi and the Latina-Jewish gay couple from the Upper West Side worked to restore what they could. “They say the first 20 days are the emergency, and 10 times that, the next 200 days, are the relief, and then 10 times that, the next 2,000 days, are the recovery,” Ms. Espinoza says. “We plan to stick around through it all.”

For months she and her new friends in Mississippi have been raising funds for the Pass Christian/DeLisle Community Center. Ms. Espinoza personally donated $130,000, used to purchase 5.2 acres of land, and the group has raised $500,000 toward its $1 million goal. (For more information see www.throughtheeyeofthestorm.com.)

The 6,000-square-foot structure planned for that land will not be a rebuilding of something destroyed, but rather a brand-new entity. It will provide adults with G.E.D. classes and computer training. In the afternoons, it will become an after-school center, the only one in the area. There is a junior Olympic-size swimming pool planned, too, so that more local residents will know how to swim.

Ms. Espinoza says she is determined to replace the helplessness she felt after 9/11 with a sense of purpose. “9/11 was a transformation for me, in a bad way,” she explains. “It was a loss of hope, a loss of spirit. Katrina was also a transformation, but it was a renewal of hope, a renewal of spirit.”

August 8, 2006
Letter printed in USA Today

Spirit of survivors

Hurricane Katrina taught me that America is more than a "red state, blue
state" nation. We're more united than divided, and the American spirit of
generosity, hope and love is alive and well.

Two weeks after Katrina my partner and I, along with a lifelong friend,
drove a truckload of supplies to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Since then,
we have returned numerous times. Each time I go, I receive more than I give.

Katrina's survivors have shown me that the power of community can overcome
any disaster - natural or manmade. Our differences in race, religion,
political affiliation and sexual orientation melted under the glow of mutual
compassion, appreciation and respect.

I have fallen in love with the people of the Gulf Coast. They are
hardworking Americans who owned their homes, raised their children and paid
their taxes. Today they rebuild their modest homes room by room and live in
small campers and tents. They don't complain. Instead, they work together to
find help, materials and volunteers for those who are less capable.

Katrina's survivors and those who have come to their aid, physically as well
as financially, have shown me that the human spirit, powered by the force of
love, soars above bureaucracy, neglect and injustice. Katrina transformed my
view of life, forcing me to see destruction and loss through the lens of
love.

Cholene Espinoza, New York City

August 1, 2006
by ANN Correspondent Rose Dorcey
Aero-News.net

WASP Tribute Dedicated at the High Ground

During World War II, a select group of young daring female pilots became pioneers and heroes. They sacrificed much. They were the Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, the first women trained to fly American military aircraft. They served domestically, ferrying and testing aircraft, towing targets and training men to fly. When the war was over, they were disbanded and sent home. In the late 1970's, the women finally received veteran status for their service.

On Monday, July 31, a WASP tribute was dedicated at The Highground Veterans Memorial Park in Neillsville, Wisconsin. Carol Hamilton, a Coachella Valley (California) Ninety-Nine, led an effort to place the tribute in Wisconsin. She said she wanted people to remember the pioneers who had a dream to fly and despite great odds, learned to fly. She said the dedication is the culmination of a dream.

"We hope this tribute will stand for centuries and be an inspiration to young women to remember the pioneers of women in aviation long ago, young women like themselves who dreamed to fly and despite great odds, earned the well-deserved right to do so," Hamilton said at the ceremony.

WASP Dorothy Swain Lewis created a statue of a woman pilot that represents their service to their country. She is an accomplished author, artist, equestrian and pilot. At the base of the statue reads an inscription, "we live in the wind and the sand and our eyes are on the stars."

Swain Lewis said at the unveiling, "When you see this tribute, think of us, and we will think of you."

Cholene Espinoza was the keynote speaker. Espinoza is a former U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot, an author and United Airlines captain. She spoke from her heart, saying that it's rare to have the opportunity to meet the pioneers who blazed the trail for her and others like her. She sees the tribute as one that will encourage youth to consider aviation as a career choice.

"Out of World War II came an opportunity for these women to serve. That's why we're here today; it's a tribute of your service and what it means," Espinoza said. "I would not have had the opportunity to fly the U-2, to see the curvature of the earth, and to fly hundreds of people across the country if these women had failed. Boys and girls will see this tribute and think of the possibilities."

Of over 1,000 women who served as WASP, approximately 250 are still alive. Many are in their nineties. Most of the nine WASP who attended drove three hours from AirVenture Oshkosh where they held a weeklong reunion. Each had the opportunity to say a few words to the audience.

Margaret Ringenberg said that the WASP unit gave her wonderful memories and the chance to serve her country and fly.

Betty Jo Reed echoed those thoughts. "People are thanking us, but we were thankful to fly and serve the United States."

"There is getting to be more and more female pilots, but there's still not enough," said Betty 'Bee Jay' Brown.

All of the women spoke of the close ties they have formed. "We've really bonded, and it's really good to have these friends," said Carol Bayley Bosca.

In a touching remembrance, the Highground's Liberty Bell rang as the names of the 38 WASP who died in the line of duty were read. Dawn Seymour recalled a Wisconsin WASP, Margaret June 'Peggy' Seip, who was one of 38 WASP killed in service. "Peggy Seip, it's in her memory that I thank you all very much, indeed," said Seymour.

The tribute is one of five to be dedicated throughout the country. Sister tributes are located at Avenger Field, Texas; U.S. Air Force Museum, Ohio; U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado; and at the Confederate Air Force Museum in Texas.

All were delighted by the "beautiful spot" where the WASP tribute sits. Other tributes on the grounds include the World War II Globe, Gold Star Families, Legacy Stones Walkway, The Doughboy, and a Viet Nam tribute, Fragments. The Highground overlooks miles of forested hills and valleys in Central Wisconsin. The 140-acre Highground Veterans Memorial Park relies on volunteers and contributions. It receives no federal or state funding. The park's greatest priority is to honor and serve veterans and their families by providing a place open the healing and education.

Donations to offset the costs of the WASP tribute are still needed, and can be sent to The Highground... earmarked "WASP tribute".

Click here to link to this article.

July 24, 2006
By Larry Buhl
Planet Out Network

SUMMARY: One year after Katrina, humanitarian Cholene Espinoza says there's still work to do. She and her partner raised $600,000 to help a Mississippi county.

Gay Hurricane Katrina hero speaks

Cholene Espinoza admits that she is always on a mission. More than a dozen years ago, she was the second woman to fly the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft in the U.S. Air Force. In 2003, she took a job as a military correspondent for Talk Radio News Service and was embedded with the U.S. Marine Corps First Tank Battalion in Iraq.

Now her mission is rebuilding a church and community center devastated a year ago by Hurricane Katrina. Since September, Espinoza and her partner, Ellen Ratner, have made numerous trips to Harrison County, Miss., and helped raise more than $600,000 for a community education center there.

In her book, "Through the Eye of the Storm" (Chelsea Green Publishing Co.; $14) which chronicles her personal journey, Espinoza says that helping a storm-ravaged community helped restore her faith in the goodness of people after being disillusioned by the carnage she saw in the war and reconstruction of Iraq.

"I've always looked for opportunities to help others and I also believed that we (Americans) were always the good guys," she said. "But after what I saw in Iraq, I started to lose faith in man and God and my country. I kept seeing all this suffering, and thinking, 'for what?' And I couldn't help."

It was a disillusion with roots in her earlier experience in the U.S. Air Force, where she served for 13 years. As she struggled to come to terms with her sexuality in an environment hostile to gay men and lesbians, Espinoza left in 1995 and began looking for other ways to serve, and landed a job as a pilot at United Airlines. She briefly considered rejoining the Air Force after 9/11, but decided that her desire for personal integrity was in conflict with her desire to help her country.

In September, she saw the opportunity for a new mission to help. Using her vacation time from United, Espinoza, with Ratner and a close friend, packed up a U-Haul with supplies and ended up in DeLisle, Miss. There they met Rev. Rosemary Williams, pastor of the Zion Methodist Church, who has been the center of local relief efforts for the community.

The first goal was meeting immediate survival needs, delivering items such as bleach, bug spray and diapers. After the initial crisis, Espinoza and Ratner have returned dozens of times to help with the rebuilding efforts. Espinosa was instrumental in the effort to buy a new piece of land for a new community education center, obtain a grant for $250,000 and raise, so far, another $350,000. All proceeds from her book will go toward the center and to the people of Harrison County, Miss.

Seeing the vastness of the volunteer effort, in which people from around the country still flock to the Gulf Coast in their campers to help out, has shown Espinoza that "Americans are better than our government." That statement on its own isn't saying a lot, given her scathing critique of the federal rebuilding effort, in which only $30 billion of the nearly $121 billion promised for Katrina relief has even been released.

"My brother said that 'politics is managing perceptions and governing is managing reality,' " Espinoza said.

"In the gulf I saw a lot of managing perceptions, not reality. The monolith of bureaucracy is so process-oriented, rather than outcome-oriented, that hardly any money has trickled down to the people. I helped families fill out loans in October and they finally received their money in May. How is that possible? If it took Ditech or Bank of America that long to fill out a loan, they wouldn't be in business."

The idea of a progressive lesbian couple from New York City working for a conservative church in the reddest of red states did give Espinoza pause at first. But Espinoza said her sexuality has never been an issue in the Bible Belt.

"If you listen to the news, you would think that the country is deeply divided, but I think the country is a lot more unified than the media want us to believe. I had stereotyped faith-based communities in the past, just as they had their own ideas (of gay people). But all that disappears when you're all standing in the mud."

Click here to link to this article.

July 13, 2006
By Stan Smith
Men on a Mission blog entry

Hurricane Katrina Reading List.

Here are some books and articles to check out if you want to learn more about what happened to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans last August, or about hurricanes in general. (Remember also that additional articles from the New Orleans and Gulport/Biloxi newspapers are available as well in the "Links" section of this blog.)

The Storm, by Ivor van Heerden and Mike Bryan (Viking; May 2006).

The subtitle of this book is "What Went Wrong and Why During Hurricane Katrina - The Inside Story from One Louisiana Scientist." Although this book is focused more on the impact of Katrina on the City of New Orleans -- van Heerden is a professor at Louisiana State University, and director of the LSU Hurricane Center and director of the Center for the Study of Public Health Impacts of Hurricanes, so New Orleans is of particular interest to him and his team of scientists and graduate students -- it is excellent if you are interested in the science behind Katrina: of hurricanes; of the impact of wetlands (and the loss thereof) on increased storm surges; of the impact of man-made facilities like shipping canals and oil and gas pipelines on wetlands and marsh subsidence; and, of post-catastrophe health issues ("toxic sludge") and forensics (what caused the Industrial and 17th Street Canal levee walls to fail?). The downside of the book is that Professor van Heerden can come across as a bit strident and opinionated. Nevertheless, this book makes a compelling case for the argument that the Federal effort to protect New Orleans has not accounted for some of the lastest science and engineering advances (especially those pioneered by the Dutch). Perhaps more disturbing is the notion that, at landfall, Katrina was not "The Big One," at least as far as New Orleans is concerned. Failure to improve the existing system of levees and other protections prior to a direct hit on New Orleans could have even more devastating consequences.

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, by Douglas Brinkley (William Morrow; May 2006).

This is a fairly exhaustive narrative history of the events before, during, and after Katrina, especially in New Orleans (Brinkley is a professor of history at Tulane University), but with coverage also of the storm's impact on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. At over 600 pages, this is not a quick read, but this is a good book especially if you want to get immersed in the details surrounding the Federal and state/local government responses to Katrina. A minor beef is the fact that, unlike van Heerden's The Storm, Brinkley's book has no maps, which would be helpful in keeping straight the location of certains towns along the Gulf Coast and the various neighborhoods within New Orleans.

Issac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and The Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson (Vintage; July 2000).

Larson's book was a bestseller several summers ago. It is a harrowing description of the September 8, 1900 storm (hurricanes were unnamed at that time) that slammed into Galveston, Texas. Between the storm's tidal surge and the Category 5-level winds, thousands of buildings were completely destroyed, entire sections of the coastal city disappeared, and an estimated 8,000-10,000 people were killed. The effects (physical and psychological) were so profound that Texans effectively abandoned Galveston for what was at that time the much smaller (and further inland) city of Houston.

Through The Eye of The Storm, by Cholene Espinoza (Chelsea Green Publishing Company; May 2006).

This is a book specifically dedicated to describing what the rebuilding effort has been like in one Gulf Coast community, De Lisle, which is 5 miles north up W. Wittman Road from Pass Christian. All proceeds from the sale of the book are earmarked for the construction of a Pass Christian/De Lisle Community Center, which will provide educational and recreational opportunities for the children of these communities who are still trying to live a life in the wake of the havoc caused by the storm. (Incidentally, $360,000 toward a $1M goal have been raised thus far from sales of the book and other contributions and sources.)

Ms. Espinoza is an Air Force Academy graduate who flew U2 spy plane missions, has done a stint as an embedded journalist during the most recent Iraq conflict, and is captain of commercial airline flights for American Airlines.

Probably no other book describes in as much detail what is going on now that the adrenaline rush of the catastrophe has subsided. This book clearly documents the fact that individual and faith-based volunteer groups are providing the lion's share of the relief on the Gulf Coast, in the vacuum created by the lack of full engagement of the Federal government and the insurance companies.

It may also be the rare book where an individual living an alternative lifestyle makes liberal and highly effective use of quotations from both the Old and New Testaments, so this could make for an interesting (or confounding, depending on your perspective) read on more than one level.

National Geographic - October 2004: "The Incredible Shrinking Bayou," by Joel K. Bourne, Jr.

From the article's intro: "Louisiana's wetlands are twice the size of Everglades National Park, funnel more oil into the United States than the Alaska pipeline, sustain one of the nation's largest fisheries, and provide vital hurricane protection for New Orleans. And they're disappearing under the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 33 football fields a day." A prophetic article in relation to the warnings of the potential dangers of wetlands loss in relation to reduced hurricane protection for New Orleans, especially given Katrina's arrival less than 12 months after this story was published.

Click here to link to this artcle.

June 20, 2006
By Suzanne Stroh
The Advocate

High Power Couple

Click here to download and view a copy of "High Power Couple" from The Advocate.

June 7, 2006
Memphis Commercial Appeal

Mid-Towner Hosts Author of Katrina-Related Book

Click here to download and view a copy of the article from the Memphis Commerical Appeal.

June 4, 2006
By SCOTT NAUGLE
SUN HERALD

Book business booming nationwide
No shortage of buyers for written word

WASHINGTON - The business of books is alive and well in the United States. The 2005 statistics tell the story: total book sales of $25 billion, 25,000 bookstores open for business, 118,000 libraries circulating the written word and more than 2.3 billion books sold.

Publishers, booksellers, writers, distributors, literary agents and anyone else with an interest in a page of the process from first draft to the sale of movie rights converged on the nation's capital from May 19 through 21. A town known for politics became the weekend host to prose.

Row upon row of publishers filled in the Washington National Convention Center, promoting their recent and upcoming releases. Birds, pirates, cartoon characters, costumed hawkers all roamed the aisles of the large pavilion devoted to children's books. Plunked in the same hall beside all of this clamor and animation were sections offering publications of African-American and religious interest. Unflappability is the skill required to discuss a new line of premium, leather wrapped Bibles while a man in a parrot suit flaps and squawks nearby to steal attention to toddler pop-up books.

The C-SPAN II Book TV bus parked itself in the middle of it all, lights bright, chrome polished and cameras rolling as authors were drawn to the red light on the television camera as shamelessly and irresistibly as politicians are pulled to pork.

A literary gathering would not be complete without a snit. In the May 21 issue, The New York Times Book Review deemed Toni Morrison's "Beloved" as the best work of American fiction of the past 25 years. During a panel discussion, author Cynthia Ozick huffed that she was "flabbergasted" at the choice of a book that was "elliptical" and "poeticized." Thomas Mallon suggested Morrison's "Song of Solomon" was a better book.

The panelists and The New York Times Book Review are all misguided. Books are not competitors in a NASCAR race throttling for first place. The only finish line to cross in the literary world is one of enduring relevance and insight. If the writing is intelligent and revelatory, it will be meaningful to different audiences across the span of time. First place trophies rust, wisdom gleams infinitely.

Bringing books, a booth and hope from Jackson, The University Press of Mississippi was present.

"We have had good interest and traffic at our booth," said Assistant Marketing Manager Ginger Campbell.

A presence and visibility at the national event affects sales to booksellers and distributors over the next year. Success is measured in orders.

Favorite authors can be glimpsed and an autograph obtained in the Autograph Area Green Room. Late Saturday I was able for the first time to meet Cholene Espinoza, author of "Through the Eye of the Storm," at Reagan National Airport. Through the magic of dueling BlackBerries we located one another. I instructed, "Look for the abnormally tall man at Northwest gate #4." She responded. "I am in my United Airlines captain's uniform."

Cholene's book is about the aftermath of Katrina on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A portion of the proceeds are committed to funding a community center in DeLisle.

"The fundraising is going well. I am speaking a lot around the country," she updated me. Charismatic, committed and energetic, she will succeed. I have no doubt about that.

The hubris and hubbub of the annual expo event and of the publishing industry itself rests on a single powerful notion, that an idea can change a life. Within the written word is the energy to propel reflection and action. Beneath the intense fluorescent lights of the convention center, under the publisher's starched white shirt and sagaciously silent under the din of commerce, it will not be put down.

Scott Naugle is a freelance writer living in Pass Christian.

Sunday May 7, 2006
by Peter Cassels
EDGE National News Editor

A Woman Warrior’s New Mission

At the age of 41, Cholene Espinoza has already experienced more than an average person does in a lifetime.

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Espinoza became only the second woman to fly the U-2 spy plane and was awarded the Air Medal for combat missions over Iraq and Bosnia in the 1990s. Today, she’s a pilot for United Airlines--she narrowly missed being killed on 9/11 because she was supposed to be aboard Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania--and a journalist for a news service who was embedded with the soldiers in the Iraq war.

A deeply religious woman, Espinoza also is a lesbian who did not come out publicly until after she completed her military service.

Her spirit of service to others that she told EDGE in a recent telephone interview was instilled during her Air Force Academy days led her and life partner Ellen Ratner to travel to the Gulf Coast to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. That experience prompted Espinoza to write Through the Eye of the Storm, a book published in March by Chelsea Green. She’s donating the proceeds from sales of the book to build a community center in a small Mississippi town ravaged by the hurricane.

Her generous decision to turn the profits of the book over to building the 12,000-square-foot Pass Christian/DeLisle Community Center, estimated to cost $1 million, is only part of Espinoza’s financial support. She also bought land the center will be built on and contributed $135,000. Her partner also is a donor. Thus far they’ve raised additional commitments of $150,000.

Espinoza discussed a range of issues with EDGE--the federal government’s response to Katrina, the Iraq war, the conundrum of being a devout Christian while many religions condemn her sexuality, and gays in the military.

In her book, she writes that she knew she was gay at an early age, but tried to ignore it. She talked with EDGE about how she coped at the Air Force Academy. "Like a lot of religious people, I would pray that God would heal me," she said. "It was such a taboo and such a risk that I just didn’t even go there because everything could be taken way from me."

Espinoza had a roommate who was discharged from the academy and a member of her debate team was later discharged as an officer, both for being gay. Throughout her military career she knew people who were gay, "so I would completely avoid even the appearance of being close to anyone."

She doesn’t think hiding one’s sexuality in the military is healthy. "When you’re hiding something and you can’t really be fully authentic, it takes an enormous chunk out of your sense of self and personal integrity," she explained. That’s why she did not return to active duty after 9/11. "I just really did not think I could live that way again."

The decorated former U-2 pilot said she sees no downside on gays openly serving. "The military is all about accomplishing the mission," she pointed out. "A lot of times the argument is made that this is about human rights for gay people and that is clearly the case, but it is all about the quality of the service as well. Diversity is good."

The Air Force, she said, gave her a sense of tenacity and toughness. "I just keep pushing through the pain, whether it’s physical, emotional or mental. These are values I learned in the military."

Before her book came out, Espinoza wrote to dozens of close friends she served with whom she hid her sexuality from "because I didn’t want to put them in a position where they were carrying around my secret." All were very supportive. "One said, ’I’m so happy that you are now complete. You were not enjoying the other side of life and now you are.’"

Although she was born into a family of what she describes in the book as "holy rollers," Espinoza, who’s part Jewish, was raised a Roman Catholic, but is not now a member of any organized religion.

"When you’re hiding something and you can’t really be fully authentic, it takes an enormous chunk out of your sense of self and personal integrity."
She compared it to life under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the military. Gays "are welcome in the Catholic Church if they are not really openly gay," she explained, adding that she is most at home in that church because the Mass is "very comforting and inspirational." But she is also troubled by the church’s attempt to vilify gays during its explanations for the many cases of sexual abuse.

Espinoza believes her attitude about not being a member of a religious community may change. She worked with two United Methodist Church ministers in Mississippi and that experience drew her to a UMC minister in New York City, where she and Ratner, also a journalist, live. "He is very welcoming to gay people. The community is not all straight or all gay and is the most integrated racially I’ve experienced in my life."

Flying U-2 missions over Iraq during the Gulf War and being embedded with the military in the current conflict gives Espinoza a unique perspective. She believes the U.S. has caused a problem merely through its presence in Iraq. She recalled her experience living in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. "I’d get spit on. I’d get my ass grabbed. There was a sense of disdain for westerners being in their country."

Asked whether it’s time for the U.S. to pull out of Iraq, she replied that there’s no simple solution: "It merits very thorough and mature discussion for two extremes. One is that I believe if we totally pulled out or withdrew all our forces you would have what I saw when I flew U-2 missions over the former Yugoslavia. You’re going to have a bloodbath."

The key, she added, is training the Iraqi army to assume the brunt of the responsibility. "Essentially you’ll have this quasi-civilian government but power will be with the military," Espinoza observed. "What people don’t realize is our troops are pretty much in garrison mode. It is rare for the military to be engaged in active peacekeeping. Where they’re getting killed is when they are trying to resupply the camps." She thinks that "realistically we’ll always have 35,000-40,000 troops in Iraq."

Her book details some of the horror stories Katrina victims had in getting assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For example, FEMA wouldn’t help people until they received an account number. To get one, they had to phone a toll-free number or go online. Most had no phone service or electricity to power a computer--if they had one at all.

Asked why FEMA failed in its mission, Espinoza blamed a lack of empowering people throughout the organization to make decisions. "That’s the impression I got. It’s also true of the Pentagon. They say the Pentagon is run by Rumsfeld and he makes all the decisions. They say, ’Unless the secretary wants this and requested it, we are not going to jump through hoops for you because it is a waste of time.’"

She also contended that the federal government wanted to control everything after Katrina and would not delegate authority to the local governments, even though it said that was the objective.

The Bush Administration is obsessed with controlling perception, she said. To do that, "you have to be able to control information. They want to be able to own the message, whatever that is. If you start empowering people, you lose control of the message. They don’t want the message to be disbursed to someone else for fear that they will screw it up. It is a total train wreck."

As she travels around the country in her job as a United Airlines captain, Espinoza said she realized that "people are just sick of this government--both sides." She said people believe the federal government is using taxpayer money as "a corporate welfare giveaway and they are just tired of it."

Politicians are like barometers, she added. "They just react to the pressure."

She is optimistic that things may change, though, if local government is empowered. "We as Americans want to fall in love with our leaders and it’s really not about that. That’s what you learn in the military. It’s about the whole, but we’re the ones who execute it. I have a lot of respect for local government. You get immediate feedback."

Click here to link to this article.

April 21, 2006
By Ted S. Stratton, Staff Reporter
Cleveland Jewish News

Flying Into the 'Eye' of Katrina's Aftermath
Former Air Force Pilot on a mission to provide community center for Mississippi cities Cholene Espinoza, 41, has lived many lives: Air Force pilot, reporter, trainer and activist. But her hardest and most rewarding job came within the last year, she says.

Espinoza has been helping rebuild a small community in coastal Mississippi flattened by Hurricane Katrina. Her task is still ongoing; she hopes to raise enough money to construct a community center to educate children and provide a refuge in a devastated town.

"It's been the challenge and privilege of a lifetime,” says the petite United Airlines pilot, who was in Cleveland for the Passover holiday and to promote her book of memoirs, Through the Eye of the Storm (Chelsea Green, 2006, $14).

Espinoza's partner is Ellen Ratner, cousin of Charles Ratner, president and chief executive officer of Forest City Inc.

Espinoza, a devout Christian, discovered her Jewish roots after meeting Ratner, who runs a talk radio news bureau in Washington and is a consultant for Fox News.

After doing research in the Southwest, Espinoza discovered that her father's family in New Mexico was descended from crypto, or hidden Jews. They fled the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 and moved to Mexico, then north to a small town near Santa Fe where succeeding generations lived for over 400 years. Espinoza grew up without knowing her heritage or any Jewish practices.

"Most of the Jewish traditions died with my great-grandfather,” she says. He wore a hat at all times, slaughtered animals in a kosher manner and drank Mogen David wine. The family had a menorah, but Espinoza thought "it was a Christmas decoration, because instead of candles it had electric lights.”

It was partly the Ratner family's dedication to charitable causes that inspired Espinoza to go down to Mississippi shortly after the hurricane hit.

"In my family, the number one value was loyalty, because of their history,” Espinoza says. "Being around Ellen and her family, their driving value is charity.”

Ratner wasn't even sure she wanted to travel to the hurricane zone at all. She had been planning a vacation with Espinoza, until she encountered a family on a plane trip back from Houston.

Ratner admonished a mother for letting her children "crawl all over the place” on the plane. The two women then began to chat, and Ratner found out the woman was Shantrell Nicks, a lawyer from Pass Christian, Mississippi, a town completely leveled by Hurricane Katrina. They exchanged contact information, and Ratner promised to help Nicks's community.

Back home in New York, Espinoza felt a sense of personal responsibility to help the victims. She had seen what happened on TV and heard statistics about wastefulness by FEMA and other relief organizations. "I was bitter and angry about the government response. I asked, ‘What can we do about it?'”

Instead of a vacation, Ratner and Espinoza flew down to Pass Christian to deliver supplies and provide aid. What they saw was shocking. The community didn't need old clothes or linens. They needed homes, electricity, water and money. Apart from one church, Mt. Zion United Methodist in DeLisle, a few miles inland from Pass Christian, there were no community buildings where the whole community could gather.

Espinoza spent weeks in Pass Christian and DeLisle, getting to know the community and helping with construction and relief work. After many return trips - her job as an airline pilot gives her ten days off per month - she hatched the idea for a community/vocational center as an antidote for some of the area's problems.

Together with Rosemary Williams, the pastor of Mt. Zion church, they created a plan for a center that would provide recreational and educational opportunities for the area.

Raising money has been difficult. Forest City helped out, and Ellen's cousins, Ron Ratner and Joan Shafran, visited the site. KA architects in Cleveland donated the plans for the 12,000-square-foot center, which includes classrooms, meeting rooms, and a gymnasium. Espinoza will also donate all proceeds from the sale of her book to fund the center. The cost of the center is $1 million, and they have raised about $300,000 so far.

Espinoza feels amazingly welcomed by the community that she admits she was wary about at first. "We're from New York, and we're about as different from the community as you can get,” she explains. But "we shared common interests and common goals,” she says.

Ratner, who spent her childhood in Memphis, Tenn., and Cleveland, is impressed by the resiliency of the Pass Christian community. "It reminds me of growing up in Shaker Heights and the larger Jewish community. Here it was temple-centered. There, everything is church-centered.” As a result of the hurricane, she says, there is also a lot more mixing among the ethnic groups: black, white and Hispanic.

They haven't broken ground yet on the Pass Christian DeLisle Community Center, and contributions and physical help are needed. Proceeds from the book will help, but it won't be enough. However, the former military flying ace isn't giving up her dream anytime soon. Quoting the Book of Proverbs she says, "people without vision are dead.

Ted S. Stratton is a staff reporter for the Cleveland Jewish News.

April 13, 2006
By James Pinkerton
TCSdaily.com

Storm Trooper
What words does one use to describe the story of a Christian, lesbian, Air Force pilot-turned-journalist-turned-Katrina-relief-activist -- a story with a distinctly faith-based, voluntaristic "thousand points of light" orientation? Two words leap to mind: "Cholene Espinoza." I can say that after reading her fascinating and thought-provoking memoir, Through the Eye of the Storm: A Book Dedicated to Rebuilding What Katrina Washed Away.

Espinoza grew up in New Mexico and graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1987. Becoming only the second woman to fly the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, she was awarded the Air Medal for combat missions over war-torn Iraq and the former Yugoslavia in the 90s. Since retiring from the Air Force, she has been a pilot for United Airlines, braving hardships ranging from the firm's corporate bankruptcy to her near-miss brush with 9-11 -- she was originally scheduled to be aboard United Flight 93.

Such a life would be interesting enough, but there's more. She's an actively believing Christian and, at the same time, an "out" lesbian, in a life-partnership with the prominent liberal radio-talk-show host Ellen Ratner (who, full disclosure, is my sparring partner on a regularly scheduled Saturday-morning segment on the Fox News Channel, "The Long and Short of It"). To add a bit more spice to the mix, while Espinoza and Ratner are very much in love, and share a commitment to directly making a difference, their politics diverge somewhat; Espinoza is more conservative and more skeptical of government's ability to translate good intentions into good outcomes. Indeed, Espinoza's book raises important issues about government, and how it works -- or not -- in our time.

Espinoza wrestles with three big questions: The answers she offers take this work well beyond simple autobiography:

First, how does one serve one's country in a time of war and hardship? (Serving in the military is one option -- unless, of course, one is an "out" homosexual. In which case, what other ways are available?)

Second, what's the role of faith as a guide to action in the public square?

Third, does the government exist to help people -- or is it spinning, merely to help itself?

Let's take them in reverse order, the last question first.

On the issue of who the government helps -- itself or the rest of us -- I've been thinking about that, too. How do we remind our "public servants" that they are actually supposed to serve the public? How do we ensure that the system provides more than just a costly spin cycle? In one piece here at TCS I took note of a "crisis of process" in the federal government and cited Katrina as one obvious critical failure. In a second piece I quoted E.J. Dionne, quipping that President George W. Bush was behaving more like a "right-wing talk show host" than commander-in-chief, as he, Bush, criticized the federal government's Katrina response. Dionne is a Bush-bashing liberal, of course, but he had a point about the spin-doctoring efforts of the Administration in the wake of the storm.

Of course, there's nothing new in presidents of both parties seeking to spin their way out of problems; we all remember Democrat Jimmy Carter, who was so eager to communicate his "down-home" image that he wore a cardigan sweater and carried his own bag -- as if such symbolisms have anything to do with being a good president. And Bill Clinton -- 'nuff said. So the real point to be made is that all presidents are inclined to emphasize style over substance in the performance of their official duties. No doubt it's always been like this, although it seems that the slick art of presidential image-making is continuously improving, while the dull practice of good government is continuing to degrade.

Now Espinoza has raised the exact same point in her book. Reacting to Katrina, she writes:

I often wonder if the whole enterprise of government has warped into one giant public relations machine. Our government feels more like a dramatization of government where creative geniuses spin the special effects of language and message to create a perception that they are governing. Meanwhile, the reality is that our government is spending and spinning.

And as for poor governmental performance, Espinoza has seen that first hand. In the wake of Katrina, she felt a stirring of compassionate activism, although it was Ratner who provided the trigger. Espinoza writes, "I was skeptical when Ellen first suggested that we -- two gay women -- should drive down to the heart of the Bible Belt, to one of the reddest of the red states and camp out with two churches." Yes, it might be a little difficult, Ratner conceded: "We're the gay version of the movie, 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.'" But off they went, just days after the storm, driving a U-Haul trailer full of supplies from Washington DC down to the stricken Gulf Coast. Their exact destination was the little town of DeLisle, Mississippi.

That's where Espinoza saw Uncle Sam in action -- and all too often, inaction. Having served in the Air Force for most of two decades, Espinoza was no stranger to bureaucracy, but even she was confounded by the bureaucratic hurdles that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration had set up between the needy and the aid they needed. She details how citizens couldn't get relief until they had a specially designated FEMA number, but they couldn't get a FEMA number without a bank account number. And if such paperwork had been washed away? Well, get in line. And if FEMA lost your file in the middle of the process? Well, get in another line.

The takeaway point here is not that FEMA should simply shovel money at people, no matter what. Instead, the lesson is that sometimes disaster strikes so thoroughly that people have nothing. And so as a solution, perhaps Social Security numbers might be the basis for emergency assistance. Does that smack of a national ID card, which many dread? Maybe. But maybe the danger of another Katrina -- or a natural or unnatural disaster ten or a hundred times worse -- should force us to revisit that question. Having seen plenty of devastation in Mississippi, Espinoza traveled to harder-hit New Orleans: "I could not believe that a city in my own country had so thoroughly collapsed under the weight of chaos." Surely no American -- including no American president -- wants to see another such chaotic situation.

But in the meantime, if the government is slow and halting, Espinoza and Ratner were immediate and giving. And so to the second issue raised by Through the Eye of the Storm: the role of faith.

By her own admission, Espinoza was searching, spiritually, before Katrina. Then came the storm. Suddenly, what seemed to be dry rituals of Christian observance became, in her mind, the vivid opportunity to make a huge difference in real people's lives. Arriving in Mississippi, the couple concentrated their attention on the parishioners of two churches, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in DeLisle and St. Paul's United Methodist Church in nearby Pass Christian. It was this experience, Espinoza writes, that "replenished" her. "Through the expression of love, the act of giving, I regained my soul." (The author, by the way, is donating all book proceeds to Mississippi's "children of the storm.")

Soon enough, the can-do spirit of the Air Force took charge -- Espinoza proved handy with a hammer and nails. And she approvingly cites the self-help of George Washington Carver: "Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses."

Espinoza's first-hand experience is, in effect, an update on other books that have emphasized the importance of faith in social problem-solving. Marvin Olasky's 1992 work, The Tragedy of American Compassion, offered a marvelously revisionist history of 19th-century uplift; Olasky encouraged readers to look past the statist propaganda, to the true history of enormously effective faith-based charity. Another important book, published earlier this year, is Douglas Brinkley and Julie Fenster's Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism, which provides an additional snapshot into private-sector problem-solving -- in this case, the founding of the Knights of Columbus, which provided social-welfare benefits to many, a half-century before the New Deal.

Finally, to the third issue, the question of how gays and lesbians can serve American society, especially in times of crisis. Espinoza writes, "I knew that I was gay since I was a small child." But she hid it until she was 38, after she left the Air Force. And while she sometimes wished she could have rejoined the military after 9-11, it wasn't an option for her as an overt lesbian.

Which is a shame, because the military needs our best. As she writes, "Airplanes don't care about your race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. Either you have the skills to fly or you do not." But as they say, when one door closes, another opens: "Katrina was colorblind," she writes -- and oblivious, too, about gender issues.

Fortified by her re-reading of the New Testament -- "Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another" (Romans 14:13) -- she set off on her new mission. And so she and Ratner proved a point: helping others is not about race, or gender, or red state or blue state.

Still, she faced some painful moments. During her time in Mississippi, the United Methodist Church defrocked a Methodist minister in Pennsylvania for lesbianism, even as it reinstated a Virginia pastor who had been suspended from his church for denying a gay man membership in his congregation. "It was painful," she writes, "to see the United Methodist Church doors slammed shut to an entire community -- my community."

And what of the two churches she was helping? She never asked anyone at St. Paul's or Mt. Zion what they thought of gays and lesbians. The only thing that mattered, she believed, was her "commitment to serve them." And she quotes her own brother, Chip, who happens to be an evangelical minister: "If you have to believe like me in order for me to serve you, then I am not a servant." Inspiring stuff, intensely Christian.

Cholene Espinoza: High-tech warrior turned hands-on servant. Closeted homosexual turned out-and-proud lesbian. And, not least, veteran of government processes turned sharp-eyed critic of SNAFU-ridden systems.

And out of it all, out of all these paradoxes, out of the storm of Katrina, came a deeper and firmer commitment to her faith. A faith that is her true foundation, as she relates when she quotes Matthew 7:24 about the wise man building his house on solid rock: "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock."

Espinoza has her foundation now. And in sharing her life with us, she offers us all a foundation of understanding, love, and, not least, effective compassion. Through the Eye of the Storm is not only an inspiring memoir about transcending categories and prejudices; it is also a valuable guide for those eager to establish a newer and better paradigm for disaster assistance.

James Pinkerton is a TCS columnist and Fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Sunday, April 9, 2006
By Scott Naugle
BILOXI SUN HERALD

A Witness to Resiliency
Few people ever imagine they will read a book so close and so recent to their own lives. Embryonic memories have yet to mature. New experiences still intrude.

The line "As bad as Delisle was, Pass Christian was much worse," written by Cholene Espinoza, hits too close to home in her book, "Through the Eye of the Storm," about her visits to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina.

"The air was so humid you could practically drink it," she recalls.

I remember.

The author continues, "There were a few women picking through the piles of discarded clothing in the peak heat of the day. Their tired faces bore the look of sleepless nights and worry. I doubt they ever dreamed life would require them to shop in a 110-degree parking lot to clothe their children with old shirts and pants."

I have not been able to forget this.

Espinoza later elaborates, "The whole enterprise of government has warped into one giant public relations machine. Meanwhile, the reality is that our government is spending and spinning."

How I wish this were in the past.

Without the travails of Katrina, Espinoza has a unique life story to tell:
an Air Force cadet, the second woman selected to pilot the U-2 spy plane, a United Airlines captain and a war reporter in Iraq.

Espinoza was scheduled to be on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, that was seized by terrorists and crashed in rural Southwest Pennsylvania near my hometown. She does not flinch from recounting her inner struggles with anger, religion and sexuality.

Espinoza writes of comparisons between Iraq and Katrina. Compelled to come to our region to help, she was unprepared for what she found: "Even my encounters with war and terror left me unprepared for the totality of destruction that I witnessed two weeks after Katrina struck the people of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi."

Finding her way to Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Delisle with her first truckload of supplies, the author began her journey from years of "anxiety, uncertainty, anger and frustration."

The resiliency and perseverence of Reverend Rosemary Williams and her Katrina-ravaged parishioners rekindled her hope.

Espinoza writes, "Mt. Zion was the community's Mt. Sinai. It was a place where great men and women interceded in the aftermath of a storm that would have destroyed the spirit, hope and love of their community, had they not acted with love, compassion and mercy."

Espinoza stuck with Delisle and continued to return with supplies, helped parishioners with SBA paperwork, and carried our problems to the halls of Congress. Far from finished, she has established a nonprofit organization to help Williams build a community center in Delisle, "a refuge where children can play and dream, for young adults to receive high school diplomas, and provide working mothers with a safe and wonderful place for their children."

"Through the Eye of the Storm" is a moving, firsthand report of life on the Katrina battlefield and an intelligent, accomplished woman's journey to a higher purpose. Invited to tell the congregation of Mt. Zion what she was doing for them, "I ended up telling them what they had done for me."

Concerning Iraq and Delisle, I asked Espinoza which situation was worse and where she would rather be. "Delisle, Mississippi" was her quick reply. "In Delisle, the destruction is worse, the devastation to the human condition is worse, and there has been little progress. But there is hope in Delisle."
Absent in Iraq, there is hope in Delisle."

Finally, I inquired of Espinoza as to what Katrina and her journeys to the Gulf Coast had shown her.

"When all else is lost, in the direst of circumstances, and society is completely broken down, I found a sense of self," she quietly responded, "a sense of hope." This I want to remember every day.

Scott Naugle is a freelance writer living in Pass Christian. He is also owner of Pass Christian Books.

For Immediate Release
March 6, 2006

Media Contact: Allison Lennox, 802-295-6300 x106, alennox@chelseagreen.com

A Fundraiser to Benefit Katrina Survivors
Cholene Espinoza is a twenty-first-century hero. Air Force cadet, U-2 spy plane pilot, commercial airline captain, and embedded war reporter, she has lived many lives. Upon her return to the States from covering the war in Iraq, Espinoza felt lost. A devout Christian from childhood, her once high spirits and rock solid faith faltered.

Then came Hurricane Katrina. The nonstop images of destruction—along with the realization that FEMA was doing nothing—pushed Espinoza’s faith to the limit. A chance encounter leads to a journey into the dark heart of the storm’s aftermath in DeLisle, Mississippi. The people there are stronger than all the obstacles they face, and this indomitable human spirit turns her life around. Through the Eye of the Storm (Chelsea Green Publishing, April 2006) is Espinoza’s riveting story from the battlefields of Iraq to Hurricane Katrina’s devastated Gulf Coast.

Filled with a steely resolve to make a difference, Espinoza and her life partner Ellen Ratner drove a U-Haul loaded with relief supplies to Katrina-ravaged Mississippi. There they set about rebuilding the shattered lives they found, but a strange thing happened: in helping these “victims” , Cholene discovers that their grit and resilience have much to teach her about how to live. The love her new friends display in the face of disaster feeds her spirit. Espinoza is transformed, her faith renewed, her capacity to give and receive reborn in this moving story of loss, recovery, and the healing power of community.

Proceeds from Through the Eye of the Storm will fund the construction of the Pass Christian DeLisle Community Center in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

Promotion surrounding Through the Eye of the Storm includes:

Major National Television and Radio Coverage
Fundraising for Katrina Relief
Top-tier National Print Coverage
Internet Campaign via Blogs and Chat Rooms
Interfaith Grassroots Outreach
Cholene Espinoza, currently a United Airlines pilot, graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1987. In 1992 she became the second woman selected to fly the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, logging over 200 hours of combat time. She is also a military correspondent for Talk Radio News Service and was embedded with the U.S. Marine Corps 1st Tank Battalion during the Iraq War. She also reported from Syria, Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, Jordan, and Kuwait. Espinoza is from Espanola, New Mexico, and now and lives in New York City.

Available April 2006 | Paperback | $14 | 1-933392-00-2 | 5 3/8 x 8 3/8 | 224 pages