More Words

Jake is returning as a reader for this second year of Headstrong Project's Words of War Benefit.

The benefit October 1st at Tribeca 360, in support of comprehensive healthcare for military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jake is serving as co-chair of the event along with Dr. Ann Beeder, Adam Driver & Joanne Tucker and Zach Iscol & Meredith Melling. The evening will include a Theater of War performance from Fujito featuring Anthony Edwards, David Strathairn and Lili Taylor and a poetry reading by Jake.

Last year Jake read Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est

Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918

About Headstrong and it's mission:
There are many challenges of returning home from war and there are over 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have reported symptoms of PTSD. The VA estimates we lose 22 veterans a day to suicide, and the Department of Defense reports 30 to 50 active duty troops take their lives every month. As of yet, no comprehensive treatment program has been developed to treat this deserving population. At Headstrong we have launched a long-term partnership with Weill Cornell Medical center to provide cost-free, stigma-free, and bureaucracy-free mental healthcare to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

In Service

 This Veteran's Day weekend we honor those who are serving, have served and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Both Jake and Austin have made a point to give back to those who are serving

 and those organizations helping veterans when they return home.

 Take the time to honor a Veteran and those serving their country now.

Words of War

Jake joined others tonight for the Words of War benefit for Headstrong, a non-profit organization that provides cost-free and bureaucracy-free mental health care treatment to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with PTSD and TBI.

 A good crowd came out for an evening of spoken word for a great cause.

Jake was all smiles with  decorated veteran and  the Executive Director of the Headstrong Project, Zach Iscol.

Jake reading Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est




Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
8 October 1917 - March, 1918

Wilfred Owen is recognized as the greatest English poet of the First World War. The poem was written in 1917 and published posthumously in 1920. The poem is known for its horrific imagery and condemnation of war. It was drafted at Craiglockhart in the first half of October 1917 and later revised, probably at Scarborough but possibly Ripon, between January and March 1918. The earliest surviving manuscript is dated 8 October 1917 and addressed to his mother, Susan Owen, with the message "Here is a gas poem done yesterday, (which is not private, but not final)".