Following publication of my April 24, 2015 Open Letter to RPI regarding the mistreatment of Socks for Japan by Professor Jose Holguin-Veras, I sent the following letter to Chris Letchford, professor and head of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in which Prof. Holguin-Veras works: Dear Prof. Letchford, It came […]
Category Archives: Socks for Japan
Open Letter to RPI
It came to my attention that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) created a mailing list from the volunteer and donor information sheets provided to it by Socks for Japan (SFJ), and used the list on Tuesday to ask people to participate in a follow-up survey regarding participation in SFJ. I did not authorize this. Regarding the […]
How Citizens Can Help Survivors
On March 11, 2011, one of the largest earthquakes ever to hit Japan sent a tsunami deep into cities and towns along the coast of Tohoku, the northeastern region of Honshu, the country’s largest island. The wave killed 16,000 people and destroyed or damaged more than a million buildings. I’m an American living an hour […]
One Year Later
It’s March 11, one year after the earthquake and tsunami that killed 16,000 people and forever changed the lives of many more. As time spans are wont to do, this one appears short and long. I remember clearly that day a year ago when I worked as usual in my office and then heard the […]
October In The Disaster Zone
Socks for Japan embarked on two distributions to the disaster zone in October, one to Ishinomaki on Saturday, October 8 and the other to Onagawa and Ishinomaki on Monday, October 17. While work crews have cleaned up the area dramatically, it is still a disaster zone. Living among the rubble is hard for people. They […]