A personal war story better told in photos than political words

Technically, we suppose, this isn't an obvious politics item. Although it certainly concerns a subject -- the Iraq war -- that has had a lot of impact on recent American lives and politics.

The Great Change Agent talked about it a lot in recent years and liked the military results over there so much that he's just launched his own U.S. troop surge into Afghanistan.

Our Times colleague Francine Orr has produced another marvelously sensitive story, an audio photo gallery, that we must call to the attention of loyal Ticket readers.

No singing. But it is inspiring. And provocative. The bigger picture that comes from the accumulation of little things. Pointillism, one reader called it long ago. (If you know what pointillism is without looking it up, you win Simon Cowell's first kiss. Or is it Susan Boyle?)

Anyway, take a minute to watch Francine's lovely work here. It's called "Rita's Walk." Then, leave a comment back here if you are so moved. We would, but we just did by writing this.

-- Andrew Malcolm

And before you go, pointillism your cursor here, click and register for automatic Twitter alerts on each new Ticket item or follow   @latimestot.

Photo: Rita Richardson. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times