Bring Your Own Flak Jacket is the title of a new book written by Jane Stillwater. It’s subtitled “Helpful Tips for Touring Today’s Middle East” and is written by an independent writer embedded with the US military in Iraq in the spring of this year, 2007. This book is written with humor and insight and, most importantly, considering today’s atmosphere of general journalistic incompetence, real first-hand experience.
The talk is on Tuesday, December 18 at Que?Pasa, Aquiles Serdan 625 in Old Town Vallarta at 4pm. (MAP) Admission is by donation. She won’t have any books to sell because she blew into town with just a duffel bag a couple of days ago (from reading her book, this is her style of travel) but you can order her books at Amazon.com or at Barnes and Noble.
Jane is here in Puerto Vallarta for a few weeks and will be giving a talk about her experiences writing this book. As soon as you meet her, you want to start asking questions, not only about the book, but about her and her life, which, without being too presumptuous, I would hint is just as fascinating, if not more, than the subjects of her new book.
If you’re interested in Iraq from the viewpoint of an “average” citizen, you will love this book. Calling Jane “average” is probably a misnomer and a great understatement, but she is, in many ways, although her life is far from average. I would go to her talk to learn about her, not about traveling to Iraq or Egypt or Turkey or Palestine, but that’s just me.
LINKS:
Jane Stillwater’s Blog
