Local author Sandra Gurvis will attempt to draw several important ties between the war in Iraq and what she experienced as a college student during Vietnam in a discussion on Feb. 15.

“She will try to bring her discussion up to date by trying to compare America’s involvement in Vietnam with America’s involvement in Iraq,” said Dr. Judson Jeffries, Ohio State professor of African-American and African studies and director of the AAAS Community Extension Center.

The discussion will take place at the AAAS Community Extension Center on 905 Mt. Vernon Ave. at 6 p.m. and will focus on topics from Gurvis’ latest book, “Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?”

“I’m looking to open up a dialogue and get people thinking about can be done and what people can do to change the situation so we can resolve the conflict,” Gurvis said.

Comparing the two conflicts is similar to comparing apples and oranges, said Jeffries, a Vietnam veteran and former Marine Corp captain, who said he will reserve judgment until he hears Gurvis’ argument.

“It promises to be a very interesting comparison. I don’t especially buy it, but I am interested to hear what she has to say,” Jeffries said.

“Where Have All the Flower Children Gone?” focuses on six aspects of the Vietnam protests, including college protests, draft evaders, the conservative angle and comparisons to Iraq.

“The book is about six aspects of the Vietnam protests… it’s a bold spectrum about both sides of the sixties,” Gurvis said.

It took five years for her to compile the research necessary for the book that was published in November. The book involved her traveling to places such as Washington D.C. to speak with conservatives and Canada to interview a group of expatriates.

Gurvis grew up in the Dayton area and attended Miami University during the killings of four students at Kent State University in 1970.

Although many of her friends were arrested for protesting the war, Gurvis said she remained an outside observer.

“I was a young woman when these protests started and I was always torn between the values of my parents of conservatism and to support the war and my peers who were against the war,” she said. “It seemed like everyone had the answer and that I was on the fence.”

Gurvis contends that America is facing a new type of social manipulation, where international violence and important social issues are being glazed over and forgotten.

“We express shock over the death of Anna Nicole Smith, while people and young children are dying in Iraq, not to mention Darfur and other places around Africa,” Gurvis said. “They just don’t show it. It’s almost like they’re trying to keep it away from us and hide it.”

President Bush is finally being questioned for his motivations behind invading Iraq, Gurvis said.

“I don’t know why this wasn’t done in 2003 when they first went into Iraq but he managed to barrel it through somehow,” she said.

The upcoming 2008 presidential election will be significant in helping to open up the lines of communication that are vital for getting anything positive accomplished in Iraq, she said.

“I see similarities in Iraq because nobody really knows what to do, even people who are against the war,” she said.

Both Gurvis and Jeffries had books published by the University Press of Mississippi and Jeffries said that when he saw a Columbus author was available, he thought it could be a good opportunity.

While writers from Los Angeles or New York might have a slight advantage in getting published, Gurvis said good writing and interesting topic can easily make up for location.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from,” she said. “It matters how well you write and how you present yourself to the publisher.”

Andrew Kieta can be reached at [email protected].