By chance, I came across the news that Joan Bridge Baez - mother of the famed folksinger Joan Baez - passed away just days after turning 100 years old (on April 20th, 2013). It would be difficult to describe the wistful, nostalgic feelings this news brought with it to me: when I was only 12, Joan Baez' mother took the time out to write a real, hand-written, letter to my sister and me who had written to Joan to express our thanks and love for what she did and all that she stood for. Joan Baez was the beginning of my own journey to pacifism and to anti-war activism. Back then it was Vietnam; after it came the terror of US supported troops in Central and South America; and on to Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and my own ceaseless efforts to bring some kind of justice and understanding to the Palestinians by standing alongside those who refuse to accept occupation and dehumanization; those who understood and continue to understand that we are all citizens of the world first and foremost - and only long after that, Jews or Arabs, or Muslims, or Christians, or any other label given to us that works so well at dividing us. Thank you Joan Senior for your lovely, thought-filled, encouraging letters. Thank you, Joan Junior, for the voice that expresses the beauty and anguish in your eyes and heart; that reflect the bitter ironies of our times; and that bind our souls together in a common humanity.

The message of "Big Joan" to her family and friends as she joined the "heavenly band". What eloquence and wonder as she moved to her "new adventure".