Imagine you wake up in the middle of the night. There is a loud crash in the living room downstairs. You turn on the light and grab for your phone. You hear movement down below and know that there is an intruder in your house. Some people might reach for their guns, while others will […]
What Happens When a Dream Dies? Read More »
Chapter 2 – Greener Pastures My quest for greener pastures began in 2011 when I was compelled to leave Chinatown, the only home I knew in Washington D.C. I was forced to move due to rapidly increasing rent prices, $400 per month in just 2 1/2 years. In 2011, I was spending about 40%
Many of us have heard the saying “bad things come in threes” or its preferred counterpart about good things. For some reason, we like to think in threes. There are countless three-worded phrases like mind, body and soul and slogans like Snap, Crackle, Pop. Stoplights have three colors-red, yellow and green. The Declaration of Independence declares
Once in a while, I will use this blog to take on an issue of great importance and use my voice for those who have none. That time has come…this story is not really about me, though it is written through my own lens. I am writing on behalf of my good neighbors in Lamond
My Journey to Chinatown Read More »
By Natasha E. Bajema, Ph.D. Imagine you are spending an evening at your favorite steakhouse in the year 2035. When you place an order for a steak, the waiter asks politely: “And how would you like your steak printed?” You might think you’ve found yourself in an episode of the 1960s space-age animated sitcom The
3D Printing: Enabler of Mass Destruction? Read More »
When I was working at the Pentagon several years ago, I found out that a number of people were referring to me as Dr. Evil and not in jest. At the time, I was working for the Assistant Secretary of Defense who oversees the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), a behemoth defense agency with over 2,000
Everyone Loves a Good Villain Read More »
In the 1997 action-comedy film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Dr. Evil is trying to come up with an evil plan to blackmail the world. In his second attempt at a viable plan, he explains to his minions that he had developed a weather-changing machine in the 1960s, which was in essence a sophisticated heat beam
It’s Called a “Laser” Read More »
No, I’m not referring to the new movie starring Tina Fey. But sometimes, it does feel like I’m living in a movie. I’m from a small town in the Midwest. For most of my life as young girl, the world inside the Beltway was more of a movie than real. And now it is my life. At
It’s been said many times (I’m not sure by whom), writers write what they know. I am a national security expert writing a fiction political thriller about national security issues and of course, weapons of mass destruction (WMD)–cue scary music. My novel takes place primarily in the Pentagon and at Fort Lesley J. McNair, and my protagonist
Once upon a time, a national security expert decided to become a writer… For years, I’ve been telling people that I want to become a writer when I grow up–or rather when I grow up for the second time around. In my first adult life, I am an expert on weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
