Alice's Grand Adventures

Ecuador story from my newsletter!

2011-09-24T09:08:00.003-04:00

Exploring Ecuador!

This winter and early spring, I spent nine weeks in Ecuador, learning Spanish and doing volunteer work at an organic agriforestry project. Here are some of my impressions of my experience:

Week one: It took me much of the week to adjust to the altitude in Quito (9895 feet above sea level). I also became acquainted with my house parents Alicia and Galo and my teacher Consuelo at the Banana Spanish School (where we did indeed eat a lot of bananas). I got an introduction to Ecuadorian culture when Consuelo took me to a colorful, lively market, filled with all sorts of fruits, vegetables, baked goods, flowers, and other assorted products. There are no English translations for the names of any of the fruits that I purchased. I also got to explore the countryside when Alicia took me out of the city to visit her father, who lives with several of his sons and their families on a small farm, where they grow vegetables and fruits. The fruit trees include lemon, orange, and avocado. I enjoyed climbing a tree to pick some of those delicious avocados. It was truly a culinary adventure.

Week two: After a long week of mind-bending language exercises, I went back with Alicia to visit her father. I drew in my sketchbook and picked avocados and lemons. Alicia made lunch, which consisted of soup and chicken and rice and vegetables. There was popcorn to go into the soup, instead of the crackers that I am accustomed to adding. I truly enjoyed all of my meals but learned, after a bout of indigestion, that I have to be a little more careful when on my culinary adventures.

Week three: Because Consuelo needed to spend more time with her children, I had a change in teachers. I enjoyed getting acquainted with Carlita. We took walks through Quito, and I learned grammar and vocabulary while dodging cars (street crossing in Quito is exciting, to say the least, because there seems to be no concept of pedestrians having the right of way). During the week, I also celebrated Valentine’s Day with my family and with the language school. This holiday is a big deal in Ecuador. It is called "El Dia de la amistad y amor" (day of friendship and love). Quito has the title "la ciudad de los geranios" (city of geraniums). Much of the city was decorated with geraniums on Valentine´s Day. Alicia and her husband Galo went out for a romantic evening. Irene (a doctor who lives with the family) and I took Ody (the family’s French poodle) out for a walk, much to his great glee. Many people and dogs were outside, celebrating the day (it seems that nearly everyone in Ecuador has a dog!). Later, we saw a band marching out of the nearby church, followed by people dancing to the lively rhythms.

Week four: On Tuesday, Carlita and I went to “La Mitad del Mundo” (literally translated, that’s “the middle of the world”). We started with a walk through Quito. I had fun exploring architecture and trees and gardens. After a bus ride, which featured people boarding the bus to sell all sorts of stuff, including chocolates, ice cream, DVDs (all pirated), and loads of other stuff, we arrived at our destination. I was offered a tour with either a Spanish- or an English-speaking guide. I chose the Spanish-speaking guide so that I would get more practice with my listening comprehension. I saw all sorts of interesting things relating to life in the Amazon rain forest, including a giant tarantula, an enormous snake, and a hammock that’s large enough to accommodate an entire family. As an added bonus, I was able to stand directly on the equator, with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern hemisphere!

Week five: This was my first week at Bosque de Paz, an organic agriforestry project in the northern part of Ecuador, about 30 miles from the border with Colombia. The family that owns the land consists of Piet Sabbe, originally from Belgium, his wife Olda Peralta, from Las Esmeraldas, on Ecuador’s Pacific coast, and their two daughters, Naomi and Maikin. There were five volunteers: Kevin and Aurelie from La Reunion (near Madagascar), Rolf and Natascha from Germany, and yours truly from... Gringolandia!!! (That’s the name that Mexican painter Frida Kahlo gave to the United States!) I learned that there are 20 different species of bamboo grown at Bosque de Paz. In addition, there are the banana, coconut, and grapefruit trees and groves of lemon trees and papaya and yucca. If you´re lucky, as I was when I was planting turnips one day, sweet fruit will fall from a tree and split open at your feet and you can have a taste test. If you’re even luckier, you’ll be invited, as I was late one afternoon, to do “social work”: Piet and his children and the volunteers sat at the table on the porch and shelled cocoa beans. That evening, we enjoyed a delectable chocolate spread on our bread! Another day, when I was super lucky, we drank coconut milk. There is no word in any language that can adequately describe how luscious that was!

Weeks six and seven: I interviewed Piet, who told me his story. A mechanical engineer, he came to Ecuador in the early 1990s to work on an engineering project. He got married and never left Ecuador! He also became interested in the concept of habitat restoration. With his savings, he purchased a small parcel of land in northern Ecuador in 1995. That is how Bosque de Paz (“Peace Forest”) got its start. When Piet and Olda took possession of the property, they observed that the lower part of the main valley had been deforested and replaced by pastureland for cattle to graze. Because the trees, which act as sponges for the precipitation during the rainy season, were gone, the water washed the top soil from the valleys and the steep slopes. What was left was arid grassland in the valleys and just the remnants of forest on the slopes. In the past, the entire area was a humid cloud forest, filled with many species of plants, birds, monkeys, and other animals. Piet’s first step to restoring the land was to plant bamboo, which grows rapidly and is a good building material. He also planted vetiver grass, which is stiff and can be used to prevent runoff. After more than 15 years, Piet describes the land as a “young forest.” Piet walks to the forest remnants and collects plants and seedlings in hopes of restoring the forest to its original condition.

Week eight: I spent a few days at Pikyu Pamba, a Quichua community near Ibarra. I was there for a ceremony, which occurred on Monday, March 21st (the vernal equinox). The ceremony was begun with the lighting of the fire, which is considered to be the male spirit.

Next, a deep hole was dug in the earth. Our Quichua hosts described the earth as our mother, the Pacha Mama. Then food, including potatoes, yams, yucca, beans, chicken, pork, corn, plantains, and pineapples, was prepared. All of this was placed in the hole, along with rocks that had been heated in the fire. Once all of the food was in the ground, hot water was poured over the food. Immediately, steam rose from the hole, which was then covered by a thick cloth and by dirt. A group of musicians began playing their instruments. We took off our shoes and socks, and we danced joyfully to the lively, energetic music. We let our feet sink into the soft, gentle earth, and it felt good. Later, volcanic ash was spread over the stomped-on, squashed earth.

Half an hour later, the dirt and ash was lifted and carefully removed. The food, which had been steamed under the ground, was removed and put into baskets, which were carried into a large building.

Before we could begin to eat, a plate of food was prepared and was taken outside for Pacha Mama. She is our mother so she is honored by being fed first. Then we all enjoyed a meal, which was a celebration of love for our beautiful earth.

Week Nine: During my last week in Ecuador, I reflected on my time there. Carlita and I also managed to visit “el centro historico” (the historic center) and the Botanical Gardens (los jardines botánicos).

In the Botanical Gardens, I saw a display of orchids. They are determined plants that will grow just about anywhere. They will grow on rocks and on the tops of tall trees, as well as from the ground. They come in many colors and sizes. I saw examples of plants from a variety of ecosystems in Ecuador, from rain forest to sierra. Unfortunately, as explained in at the Botanical Gardens, the beautiful ecosystems are endangered by poorly planned, out of control development.

And a final thought of my experience: Despite all of the ecological problems that I observed in Ecuador, many of which we have experienced here in the United States (the destruction of much of the great northeastern forests, among others), I truly enjoyed my time in Ecuador. Shortly before I left, I wrote on Facebook and in a group email: “I never imagined that I would become so attached to people here in Ecuador. And I never imagined, when I first arrived, that I would come to love Ecuador as much as I do right now.”

wildflowers of summer

2011-09-17T21:37:00.003-04:00

yes!!! Purple!!!

I drew this while I was watching So You Think You Can Dance. I can feel movement in this flower. Much thanks to the dancers for their beautiful and artistic movement.

I found this at River Lea, the home of the Grand Island Historical Society.

just purple. more purple. so many wildflowers are purple...

I was trying to channel my inner Georgia O'Keefe!!!


This grows everywhere. It's called a weed but it	's so pretty and, of course, purple.

Apparently, purple flowers are very hardy in the wild.

Queen Anne's Lace is another very sturdy plant.

These guys will not wait on line. If you don't draw their portrait immediately, they will protest by wilting to nothing! They have set a speed record for wilting to nothing.

Rose of Sharon.

Weed? Flower? I've learned this year that the difference between the two is as simple as I love it, I love it not...

Purple rules!!

These reminded me of umbrellas!!!

Just when I was ready to give up on finding a flower that I hadn't already drawn, I found this bluish violet flower!

This hydrangea isn't technically a wild flower. But I drew it anyway. Oh! This was work, with all of those little flowerettes! But... it's good for character building... I guess...

This one seems to me to be the epitome of summertime...

Another version of a daisy.

cone flower

Yellow flowers abound, too! And purple and yellow are complementary colors!!! Nature is awesome!

Black eyed Susan, version two

spring unfolding

2011-06-08T22:11:00.003-04:00

Buckhorn Island State Park on May 11th. I was taking a walk through the park and was fascinated by the baby leaves on some of the trees at Buckhorn, which is a nature preserve and an Important Bird Area. It is a restored wetlands.

Pear blossoms, May 13th. One of the fleeting pleasures of spring, these flowers have since fallen from the tree and scattered to the winds.

Lilacs, May 14th. Another fleeting pleasure of spring. These flowers last for a short moment of intense color and aroma and then disappear.

grape hyacinths, May 15th. Another early spring flower, they help to bring beautiful vivid color after the grayness of winter.

leaves from apple tree, May 16th. It's from the tree in front of my house.

maple, May 17th. Young leaves are, for a brief time, flowers. They are delicate, soft, and a light green, with a bit of yellow mixed in. They are the promise of beauty.

apple blossoms, May 18th. The more blossoms, the more apples in the fall! I saw the shadow of pink in these white blossoms.

blue spruce and dandelion, May19th. The blue spruce is an evergreen but I included it in the unfolding spring project because it puts out new growth in the spring. The dandelion is, of course, a sign that spring has come. It's also an indication that it's time to get the lawn mower out and running!!!

rose of sharon, May 20th. This bush matures later than the others so I was able to catch it with its buds barely open.

new leaves on trees at library, May 21st. So soft and delicate, these leaves are another example of how leaves start their lives as flowers.

sorrel in garden, May 22nd. The sorrel grows everywhere. It resembles clover in that it has three sections. But sorrel leaves are heart-shaped while clover leaves are round. Also sorrel can be eaten or put into soup. The leaves have a lemony flavor, which is quite yummy!

My friend Ellen calls this a "helicopter." Some of these little critters grow up to become great big maple trees.

Here are some flowers that I found on one of my walks. One thing that I discovered is that buttercups don't last long after being picked. I had to draw fast before the petals all fell off!

I was working in a garden and I pruned a Japanese maple. I took one of the leaves home to draw, as I really like the color.

Here are some more flowers that I found by the side of the road.

Here is a plant that I found next to the ditch near the library. Fortunately, I didn't have to jump into the ditch to get the plant but I probably would have!!!

This was part of the leftovers from a plant that was pruned outside of Saint Martin in the Fields...

I was thrilled to find some daisies growing alongside a ditch, and I was even more thrilled when I didn't fall into the ditch!

I went to my friend Orphia's house to help her clean up some of her flower beds. They were full of weeds. But I found the forget-me-nots to be very pretty.

I found these lovely flowers growing on a bush when I cleaned up the gardens at my friend Kathy's house.

Here is a leaf from the apple trees.

This is a flower that I picked during a walk.

Here is something else that I found growing by the side of the road.

These are leaves from the pear tree.

I went to Ruth's house to help her clear her gardens. She once decided that she really liked ferns. That was thirty years ago. The ferns have taken over the garden, and I pulled many of them out.

This is a leaf from the rose of sharon bush behind my parents' house.

This is a strong, determined, and resilient plant that grows in the cracks of the driveway.

Ecuador!!!

2011-01-17T23:41:00.000-05:00

A new adventure for a new year!
On January 30th, I will be headed to Quito, Ecuador, for a month at the
Banana Spanish School.
It is a total immersion program. I will take four hours of lessons at the language school daily (Monday through Friday) and will live with an Ecuadorian family. The goal is for me to speak Spanish all of the time so that I can improve my Spanish language skills.
For the second month that I am in Ecuador, I will be participating in a volunteer program at an organic farm on the Pacific coast. I am looking forward to learning about organic farming, to seeing the Pacific Ocean, and to getting practical use of the Spanish language skills that I intend to acquire at the Banana Spanish School.
OK. So I am also looking forward to escaping from this frozen wasteland (aka Western New York in the middle of winter). I cannot deny it.
When I come back, I'll have plenty of stories and pictures to share... with a little bit more color than this one. Yep, that's the blue spruce in front of my house. Last week, it was covered with snow. It was quite a sight. As I had just acquired a camera, I thought that I would take a picture of the snow-laden tree. So... here it is.
And... Ecuador... here I come! My first time in South America!
Bye for now!

Niagara River reflections

2010-10-15T01:07:00.004-04:00

I love to walk by the Niagara River. Yesterday, as I was headed to the Holiday Inn to go swimming, I looked intently at the water, which reflected the vast blueness of the sky. It was a delight to watch the ducks paddling around in the water. It's fun to watch them dive headfirst into the water, with their little backsides wobbling in the air, as if they were straight out of the comics. I saw the geese parading along the shoreline. I saw people, too, riding on their bicycles, walking their dogs, mowing their laws, checking their mail. It's a real gift, these sunny October days. We know that the air is just going to get colder and that only the stubborn walkers, such as I, will be left to walk along the shores of the river and wonder what's beneath all of that ice.

So. The Niagara River. It is beautiful, powerful, and the stuff of legend. When I walk in Buckhorn Island State Park, there is a spot from which I can see the mist that rises from Niagara Falls. It is an amazing thing to see
this gigantic mist rising from across the river. Niagara Falls, of course, is even more awe-inspiring up close. Niagara Falls has its share of stories and legends. There have been many stories of people climbing into barrels and going over the falls. I suppose that would be an exciting way to spend an afternoon although just the thought of it is enough to inspire feelings of motion sickness in me!
One of these legends about Niagara Falls concerns a young maid of the Neuter tribe, Lelawalo. She was the chief's daughter, and she was sacrificed by being placed in a canoe filled with food, which was then sent over the falls.To keep her from smashing into the rocks, one of the sons of a god caught her in his arms. In her new world beneath the falls, the maiden was told by one of the sons of a god that a malevolent snake lived in this watery world and that he was going to poison all of the drinking water. The people would keel over and die! Eventually, men killed the snake with spears. The snake died in the shape of a horseshoe. Apparently, that is the story behind the Horseshoe Falls being in that particular shape.
You're probably wondering why I mentioned this legend.

Well, I'm mentioning it because of the story about a malevolent snake, that became poisonous and threatened to poison all of the drinking water. Many years later, that poisonous snake must have appeared in human form or in the form of industry. Until fairly recently, the river was full of toxic substances, dumped, not by snakes, but by chemical companies and other industries. The dangerous compounds in the river included PCBs, mercury, dioxin, arsenic, lead, and pesticides. It was a pretty toxic soup. The Niagara River connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, so toxins travel through those bodies of water, eventually to the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Erie, for sure, has had its own environmental problems as well. At one point, it is alleged that Lake Erie caught on fire. There is some dispute about that. Some people say that the lake caught on fire, while other people say, no, it was just some junk in the lake that caught on fire. Still. Stuff doesn't usually catch on fire when it's floating in water so there must have been something flammable (or inflammable??? why do they mean the same thing???) in the water that shouldn't have been in there.

I've been reading about efforts to clean up the Niagara River. Back in 1987, the United States and Canada worked together on a cooperative transboundary management plan to reduce the emissions of toxic waste into the Niagara River. And, indeed, the amount of contaminants in the river has been lessening to the point that there is fish in the river once again. These efforts at cleaning the river continue to this day. When I walk through Buckhorn Island State Park, I pass people with fishing rods, hoping to catch something in the river. Sometimes, I walk close enough to the water to see schools of tiny fish swimming in the river. I'm not sure that I would eat the fish that came out of the Niagara River but you never know. Perhaps it is edible. I'd like to think that is so. I'd like to think that we have come a long ways since the days when owners of chemical companies located along Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls felt that it was OK to build pipelines and dump untreated waste directly into the river. I'd like to think that the latter-day malevolent snake of the river has been tamed and that it is no longer poisoning the water because water is supposed to maintain life, not to bring about death.

Soon it will be winter. There will be ice in the river and ice chunks going over the falls. It will be beautiful. And, I hope that it will be, if not this year, then at some point in the future, safe and not contaminated with that malevolent snake's poisons.

Note: This post is part of Church World Service's blog action day. Check it out at: Blog Action Day

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Coming soon: water!!! see my blog post on this topic on October 15th!

2010-10-02T15:46:00.002-04:00

CROP walk

2010-10-02T15:22:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, September 26th, I participated in the annual CROP walk. The length of the walk was just six miles, and the goal of the walk was to raise money to provide help for people who don't have enough to eat. I truly love food and I don't think that it's right that anyone should have to go without. I believe that there is enough for everyone! Anyway, I am pleased to report that, in two weeks, I was able to collect $217 in pledges from 24 wonderful people!
I participate in the CROP walk regularly, and I always enjoy the experience. It's really nice to have companions on a walk. Frequently, I walk by myself. I enjoy the opportunity to get to know other people. During this CROP walk, I had the chance to get to know Cathy Rieley-Goddard. She is the co-pastor of Riverside-Salem United Church of Christ. Her church is very much focused on improving the environment. In fact, her church isn't even called a "church"; it's called an "environmental chapel. The most recent thing that they have done is to build a straw bale structure behind the environmental chapel. I spent much of the summer weeding the labyrinth next to the chapel so I got to watch the construction of that structure. It was very interesting. It is a small structure but well packed with straw so I am guessing that it is well insulated for cold weather, which, alas, is coming. I say "alas" because I really don't like being cold.

The Golden Sneaker was the prize for the church group that brought the most pledge money to the walk. The sneaker formerly was seen on the feet of Father Earle King.

Father Earle King of Saint Martin in the Fields Episcopal Church gets ready to bless the walk. Since he no longer wears The Golden Sneaker, he has obtained another pair of shoes.

Town Board member Dick Crawford reads the town's proclamation honoring this year's CROP walk.

On your mark! Get set! Go! The CROP walk begins!

These two ladies provide smiles, apples, and water halfway through the CROP walk.

But I digress. The CROP walk. I always wondered what CROP stood for. My mother asked me and, for sure, I was clueless. So I thought that I would "google" CROP. This is what I found out: "When CROP began in 1947 (under the wing of Church World Service, which was founded in 1946), CROP was an acronym for the Christian Rural Overseas Program. Its primary mission was to help Midwest farm families to share their grain with hungry neighbors in post-World War II Europe and Asia. Today, rather than thinking of CROP primarily as an acronym, we retain it as the historic name of the program. CROP Hunger Walks are interfaith hunger education and fundraising events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by CWS/CROP regional offices across the United States." (Church World Service website)
Of the funds that were raised in the CROP walk, twenty five percent are being used in the local community, and the rest go to the Church World Service for its programs.
(note: As of this date, I do not know the total amount that was collected for the Grand Island CROP walk. As soon as I learn the total, I will amend this blog.)

Labor Day weekend visit to Cleveland

2010-10-01T22:04:00.000-04:00

When I went to language school in Antigua Guatemala for eight weeks back in 1987, I stayed with a Guatemalan family. That was part of the program. You live with a family that does not speak English, which offers you two options: 1) speak Spanish or 2) don't talk. Anyone who knows me knows that 2) don't talk isn't a very realistic option for me. So. I spoke in Spanish. There were times when I felt as if I were talking about as well as a two-year-old child, but it was Spanish.
Three other language school students stayed with the same family. One of them was a Sister of Mercy who was preparing to be a missionary in El Salvador. Her name was Sister Peggy. She was very enthusiastic and very funny. Her favorite word in Spanish was "increible!" She said this with great gusto, virtually all of the time. The other two language school students were a young married couple. They were planning on working with Witness for Peace for a year and, after that, going to Brazil and becoming missionaries there for three years. For that, of course, they had to attend another language school, to learn Portuguese. Their names were Maria and Charlie, although he was always called "Carlos." Maria was an attorney and Carlos was a Presbyterian pastor.
After my eight weeks in language school expired, I returned home. I was able to stay in touch with Sister Peggy for a short time but, eventually, lost touch. Before we lost touch, I did find out that Maria and Carlos had become parents to a son when they were in Brazil.
So... fast forward to 2007. I was in prison for the third time for crossing the fence at Fort Benning to protest the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. One day, as I was perched on my upper bunk, reading letters and plotting mischief (I wasn't very good at following pointless rules that were invented because someone with a little bit too much power for his own good got bored and started inventing pointless rules), I saw a letter from someone in Cleveland named Maria. I opened it and started reading, Dear Alice, Do you remember me? We went to language school together...
Oh yes, I remembered you, Maria! You kept singing, "Quiero pensar en espanol. Quiero pensar en espanol" over and over, like a mantra.
It was great to reconnect with friends. I truly never expected to see them again. Since I was turned loose from the federal prison camp at Danbury, Connecticut, I have visited Maria and Charlie several times. I saw them in 2008, before I started the "Witness Against War" walk and after I finished it. A year later, I saw them before the very soggy "Walk for Peace." That was a three-day walk from Camp Douglas to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. It rained nonstop. We camped out at a state park in monsoon conditions. That adventure ended with the military tossing four of us Fort McCoy protesters in jail in Madison. That was a weird experience.. defense department police drove us something like 75 miles to the Dane County Jail. Bonnie, Joy, Brian, and I were held there overnight on a "federal hold." Fortunately, we were released the next day. We were never charged with anything after that experience. Oh well. At least the jail was dry.
Anyway, I digress.

Charlie Hurst and Maria Smith on the shores of Lake Erie

Maria and Alice on the southern shore of Lake Erie

So I went to Cleveland for the Labor Day weekend. Maria is one of the organizers of the "Peace Show," which is held on Labor Day. She had invited me to come to experience it. It is purposely held at the same time as the "air show," which features all sorts of airplanes flying through the air with the greatest of ease (stolen from the man on the flying trapeze). The Peace Show is a protest against the militarization of the Air Show. The criticism of the Air Show is that those beautiful military planes that are flown in such an exquisite way are used to cause fear and panic and death in far-off countries. OK. I do understand the criticism. Actually, I agree with it. But darn. The Blue Angels are beautiful. They are blue. They fly in formation, like geese, and they make big circles in the sky.
Oh. sigh. I've always loved flight. Airplanes are beautiful. I don't like that they are being used to deliver bombs and death to far-off countries. Still. It's hard for me to stop watching the amazing flying machines.

Kids riding in "the world"

The world in downtown Cleveland

Julia Shearson, executive director of CAIR (Council on Arabic Islamic Relations) shares a fun craft activity with kids and adults alike

The Peace Show, however, was fun. It featured music and face painting and crafty activities and even the flying of paper airplanes.

Singing and playing drums near the air show

more scenes from the Catholic Worker witness

Works of mercy vs. works of war

Peace through song

Another fun activity during the weekend was the Catholic Worker witness outside of the entrance of the Air Show. Maria and I joined that group. We got to sing all sorts of satirical songs about the government and the military. The songs were funny. We had a great time. We used the songbook from the Raging Grannies. And, even better, no one threw tomatoes at us. So I guess we weren't bad singers either!!!

midsummer at Buckhorn Island State Park

2010-08-08T16:33:00.001-04:00

Recently, I've been walking through Buckhorn Island State Park. It is a wildlife preserve and an Important Bird Area. Buckhorn Island State Park is a good example of the wetlands of the northeastern part of the United States. It features many varieties of tall grasses and cattails, as well as numerous species of migratory birds. Walking on the trail in Buckhorn Island State Park is quite delightful for several reasons. The first is that there are no cars! The second is that I can get very close to the Niagara River. I like looking for the fish. Mostly, I find tiny fish, swimming in great schools! The third is that, on occasion, I can get a snack. Earlier this summer, I enjoyed delicious raspberries. In the autumn, I will enjoy wild grapes. OK. So, the grapes have many, many seeds. It makes eating into a bit of work. Still, the tasty grapes are worth the effort. And, throughout the island, I can find crab apples just falling off of the trees, calling to be in my tummy!!! The blackberries are ripening, too.

The main disadvantage of walking on the trail is that leaving the trail to wander through the woods is really not an option. Poison ivy grows just about everywhere! Fortunately, I can now recognize what it looks like.

All of these things are good.

But there is one thing that is not so good.

The emerald ash borer.

This insect, which came from China on wooden pallets which contained imported consumer goods, is dangerous in its larval state to the ash tree, a type of tree that is abundant in New York State parks. In the parks and elsewhere, you can see purple boxes hanging. I think that they are catchers for emerald ash borers. The larval emerald ash borers does exactly what its name suggests. It bores into the inner bark of the tree and eats it. That can cause the tree to die. The emerald ash borers travel on wooden surfaces.

So... please do not transport firewood from place to place. If you are going camping, please purchase your firewood at the place where you are camping. If you don't use all of the firewood, just leave the leftovers for someone else to use. Don't transport that wood and any potential insect life to another place where that insect life could wreak havoc.

Paddles Up!

2010-07-27T16:34:00.000-04:00

The Niagara River Greenway Commission hosted the fifth annual Paddles Up event on July 24th. It was held at Beaver Island State Park, at the southern end of Grand Island. The event featured people in canoes and kayaks, who followed a preset course in the Niagara River. I joined Larry Austin, the editor of the Island Dispatch, on a dock near River Lea. We watched the canoes and kayaks and we took pictures of the boats as they passed us. Most of the canoes and kayaks went around the dock but some of the smaller ones went right underneath. A few pulled up to shore, and the occupants then pronounced themselves to be too tired to continue to the end of the course. Well, of course, that was OK that they were tired, even though they got treated to the sight of a guy wearing a tee-shirt that commanded them to "paddle faster." When asked why he was not in a canoe or a kayak but was merely standing on the dock, Mr. Paddle Faster (I don't know his real name so he gets the honor of being renamed) said that he had participated in the Poker Run at seven o'clock in the morning. That's kind of early. I guess that his paddling time had expired.
After the paddling experience, Paddles Up participants could come to River Lea for a delicious lunch at the low price of eleven dollars per person. The lunch was sponsored by the Grand Island Historical Society. I was happy to help out with the preparation for the lunch and with tours of River Lea. In fact, quite a few people took advantage of the open house.

Paddles Up participants could enjoy their meal outside, in an open tent. A group of young people, very nicely attired in Expensive Restaurant Waiter garb, made sure that there was always plenty of food at the serving line. The food had been provided by McMahon's Family Restaurant on Grand Island Boulevard.

Many of the paddlers said that they had a good time at Paddles Up and at River Lea. For some of them, it was their first visit to the house, which had been built in 1873, at a time when Grand Island was considered to be the playground of Buffalo's wealthier citizens.

Another fine touch to the afternoon's events was Robin Shipman and her daughter walking around the grounds of River Lea in period costume. They also held parasols. They looked very delightful and nineteenth century!
But, alas, the parasols may have been bad luck!
When it was time to clean up, it suddenly started pouring, with thunder and lightning. Well, that was very dramatic and fun to watch. Fortunately, underneath the tent, nobody got soaked!

Alice goes on the road: a reflection

2010-07-16T22:07:00.000-04:00

Walk for a Nuclear Free Future: As a child, I believed that the world would be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust before I could grow up. As a result, the "what do you want to be when you grow up, dear" questions took on an abstract quality for me.

Well, I am happy to report that, all of these years later, I'm still alive and trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up! I am much less happy to report that the world, which was not destroyed when I was a child, is still in peril. As long as nuclear weapons exist, the possibility that they could be used also exists. Despite my lifelong dread of a nuclear holocaust, I have never protested against nuclear weapons. Until I went to the federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut, in April of 2004, for crossing the Fort Benning fence while protesting against the School of the Americas (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation), I had never met anyone who had been involved in protesting against nuclear weapons. There, I had the good fortune to meet Sister Ardeth Platte, who was serving a 41-month sentence for a Plowshares action at a nuclear weapons silo in Colorado. Ardeth quickly became a mentor and an inspiration for me. She explained to me that her action was an expression of love and of faith. That faith is also expressed by the World Council of Churches in its statement: "The production and deployment of nuclear weapons, as well as their use, constitute a crime against humanity."

Since becoming friends with Sister Ardeth, I had wanted to do something to express my hope for a nuclear-free world as a way of honoring her determination and her sacrifice. So, when the opportunity presented itself for me to join a Walk for a Nuclear Free Future this year, I was happy to participate. I couldn't do the entire 700-mile walk, but I was able to join this group for a little more than half of the walk. In March, I walked from Buffalo to Rochester, a distance of 100 miles, in one week. From April 11th until the first of May, I walked from Utica to New York City. This was a distance of approximately 265 miles. It took me through the Mohawk Valley and the Hudson River Valley into New Jersey and, finally, over the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan. Part of the mission of this journey was to visit all six nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy). I visited half of the nations: the Tuscaroras in Lewiston, the Senecas in their Tonawanda territory near Akron, and the Mohawks in their Kanatsiohareke community near Fonda.

Also, many of my fellow walkers were from Japan. I learned from them that people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still suffering the effects of the nuclear attacks. These people, called Hibakusha, survived the initial bomb blast but suffered from illnesses due to radiation exposure. Among them, there is a high rate of leukemia and other cancers, as well as thyroid problems. Their children have suffered, too, with birth defects and other health issues.

Similar health problems also plague people in places where nuclear weapons were developed and tested, both during World War II and later, during the "cold war," which was called "cold" only because it didn't involve direct conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The cold war claimed many victims throughout the world.

I heard terrible stories of birth defects in the Tuscarora territory, where leakage of waste materials from the Manhattan project was found. One of the walkers, Al White, a Cayuga who lives in the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus territory, talked of a baby who was born in the Tuscarora territory with two rectums. He said that people in the Cattaraugus territory are exposed to toxic materials that have leaked from the West Valley plant. "The biological and chemical warfare done to our people continues today and our people are suffering."

When I arrived in New York City on May 1st, I went to the Riverside Church, where a conference was being held on the topic of a nuclear-free world prior to the start of talks on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty at the United Nations. These talks are held once every five years. I heard a presentation called "Global Hibakusha."

Claudia Peterson, a medical social worker, said that people in her community in Utah drank contaminated water and they ate contaminated meat and vegetables. The contamination, which affected parts of Nevada and Utah, was caused by nuclear weapons tests that had been conducted at the Nevada test site, located in the Nevada desert. Between 1951 and 1962, more than 100 nuclear bombs were detonated at this site.

"The U.S. government assured us that everything was safe. People were living downwind from the tests. We watched loved ones suffer and die." Claudia's father-in-law, a uranium miner, died of cancer at age 63. Claudia talked about the many family members who died of cancer. She said that she remembered holding her six-year-old daughter in her arms when the child died of cancer. She said that her sister died of melanoma at age 36.

"I wished that I could die," Claudia said. "You are changed by loss and suffering. The heartache never goes away. The wound never heals. I never dreamed that I would have to do this. My story never changes."

Abbacca Anjain Madison is a former senator of the Marshall Islands from Rongelap Atoll. She talked about the disastrous results of above-ground testing done by the United States in the Marshall Islands. She said that 67 atomic and hydrogen bombs were tested there. One of the most devastating tests was done over the Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954. "At the crack of dawn, we saw a bright light in the west," the former senator related. The light was accompanied by a loud noise. Small children cried. A strong wind blew. A bitter rain fell on everything. People washed in the rain, thinking that it was soap. Their skin became itchy, and they suffered pain in their eyes. The water was poisoned but the people didn't know. No warnings had been given to them. Their bodies were covered in painful wounds. Their hair fell out. People suffered from lung, thyroid, stomach, and brain cancer.

A few days after the nuclear test, a research study, called Project 4.1 (Study of Response of Human Beings exposed to Significant Beta and Gamma Radiation due to Fall-out from High-Yield Weapons), was organized. It was done so without the consent or knowledge of the "human guinea pigs." According to the final report of Project 4.1, people in the Ailinginae, Utirik, and Rongelap atolls experienced "significant" exposure to radiation, from 14 rads in the Utirik atoll to 175 rads in the Rongelap atoll. After the nuclear testing, "women gave birth to 'jellyfish' and to deformed and dead babies," Abbacca siad.

"People are dying of radiation and cancer," Abbacca explained. "The future is so bleak."

She shared the story of the Marshall Islands as a cautionary tale. "Learn from our experience. Let us help each other."

The United States ended its above-ground nuclear tests in 1962 and its above-ground nuclear tests 30 years later. The nuclear threat, however, still exists. An aging stock of nuclear weapons is maintained by several countries throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Depleted uranium, which is made from nuclear waste products, has been implicated in increased numbers of leukemia cases in Iraqi children.

Grand Island walk: It has now been two months since the Walk for a Nuclear Free Future ended. Since then, I have been walking around my own community. On Friday, July 2nd, I walked along the Niagara River. I picked wild raspberries and I watched boats in the river. After several hours, I reached Beaver Island State Park, where I met a group of archaeology students and their professor, Dr. Lisa Marie Anselmi. They were busily digging for artifacts of the early- to mid woodlands period. I got a tour of the site and an explanation of the project by a student named Jess. She showed me the "test pits" that were dug to determine if there was anything there of interest. If there was, then larger holes, called "units," were dug. Jess showed me how the students sifted the dirt for artifacts. It was a lot like panning for gold! After I left the archaeology site, I walked to the beach, where I saw many people having fun in the sand and in the water.

It was a peaceful and educational walk. But I couldn't forget that even this close to home, I was still affected by the dark legacy of the cold war. The fact that nuclear waste, as well as other waste products from the heavy industry on the Niagara Falls side of the river, has been identified in the Niagara River means that any fish caught there probably is not safe to eat. And, yes, people do go fishing in the river.

My experiences this spring and early summer have taught me that it's long past time to get rid of the nuclear weapons.

Bertrand Russell once said: "War doesn't determine who is right -- only who is left." Nuclear war changes that reality, too. In a nuclear war, it doesn't really matter who is right because, when it's over, no one will be left.

Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant

2010-05-08T12:49:00.000-04:00

The Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, located near Buchanan, New York, is a source of much controversy and conflict for people in the Hudson Valley. This power plant is now due to be relicensed for twenty years. Opponents of the plant are hoping that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission will deny the plant relicensing.
There have been a number of issues surrounding the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant for a number of years, and a wide variety of people and governmental agencies.
The Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is owned by Entergy Corp., a large New Orleans-based corporation that specializes in electrical power. It owns more than 40 power plants of all varieties: natural gas, nuclear, oil, and hydroelectric power. According to Marilyn Eile of the Westchester Citizens Awareness Network, Entergy owns four nuclear power plants in New York State, in addition to plants in other states. One of its other plants is Vermont Yankee, a 38-year-old plant that has seen numerous leaks of radioactive tritium and other problems. In 2007 and 2008, a cooling tower collapsed. On February 24th, Vermont's State Senate voted to order the plant to be closed.
People who live near the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant are hoping for the same result.
Recently, Entergy Corp. has suffered some setbacks. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation denied Entergy's application for a water quality permit for Indian Point. The DEC's criticism of Indian Point was that it was destroying too much marine life.
Marilyn explained the process to create nuclear energy. She said that the process, in simple terms, can be described as "splitting atoms to boil water." It is not especially efficient. Only thirty percent of the energy generated can actually be used. The hot water that gets dumped into the river after the process is over causes havoc to fish. "It's a four to five degree difference in temperature but it can kill fish," Marilyn said.
In addition to hot water, tritium has been leaking from spent fuel rods. Marilyn explained that the amount of leakage has been small so that this is not a big issue. "Not for me but for them, it's OK."
The presence of a nuclear power plant near a highly populated area, which includes metropolitan New York, is a concern both for Marilyn and for Lawrence, another activist who focuses on issues related to nuclear power.
Although it is a federal requirement to have an evacuation plan that would encompass a 50-mile radius of the plant, "it's a joke. This is expensive historical and cultural real estate. It's irreplaceable. There is no evacuation. You'd have a parking lot on major roads," Marilyn said.
Lawrence commented that the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant is "a beast at our backs. It discharges its poison into the blood of the region... the river. The river becomes poison. We live in fear. Catastrophe is our metaphor.... but you (the walkers) remind me that this is not a given destiny. We can change it."

Mohawk Territory near Fonda

2010-05-05T17:51:00.003-04:00

The Mohawk Community, located about seven miles west of Fonda, New York, near the beautiful Mohawk River, was a peaceful, glorious place to spend a rest day. In the distance, we could see tree-covered hills. We were surrounded by pastures with horses and cows. Not far away was a spring with refreshing cold and very clear water.
We were made to feel very welcome by Tom and Alice Porter and by all of the other members of the community. I even had the opportunity to experience cleaning my laundry in the same way that people in previous generations cleaned theirs, by using a bucket and a washboard. People in previous generations must have been strong! That's much more work that merely throwing the clothes into a washing machine!
At the Mohawk Community, we enjoyed delicious traditional Mohawk foods, including corn soup, fry bread, and mush. I also went to the gift shop while I was there. I enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful crafts that were sold at this store, especially the clothing and jewelry. It was beautiful but, alas, a wee bit beyond my budget. I ended up by purchasing a newspaper that provided a history of the Iroquois Confederacy and a CD of traditional Mohawk music.
I also spent a good deal of time sitting with Alice Porter and her sister Ida Mae. It was interesting to listen to them converse with each other. On the walk, I had become accustomed to hearing people speak in a variety of foreign languages, especially Japanese. I found out that Alice and Ida Mae spoke to each other in Choctaw, a language spoken by approximately 10,000 persons. Most of them live in Oklahoma. Before the Choctaw were forcibly relocated in the 1830s, they lived in the American southeast.
On the morning that we were to leave the Mohawk Community, Tom Porter told us about himself and Alice.
"I'm working for the enemy," Tom said simply and gently. "I never wanted to. My leaders asked me to do it."
Tom is one of two chaplains for Native American inmates in the New York State prison system. The other chaplain is an Onondaga. In the past, Tom said, Indians in jail went to court to try to force the government to provide them with religous services. They pointed out that services were available in penal institutions for Catholics, Protestants, and Jews, but not for inmates who practiced traditional Native American religions. "They had no religious freedom," Tom said. The court mandated that the prisons provide religious services. Hence, Tom's job, providing Native American inmates with hope, support, and a connection to the Creator.
"No one has helped them. They cry. They are frustrated and angry," Tom said of the inmates. "We try to be their uncle, their grandfather. I don't see jail people. I see grandsons, nephews, and nieces. When they get out, a lot of them try to follow traditions."
In the prisons, Tom cooks traditional foods for ceremonies. He cooks corn into such dishes as bread, soup, and mush. The corn is considered sacred. "It came thousands of years ago," Tom said.
Tom can do this work now, traveling to 72 jails and prisons in New York State to tend to the spiritual needs of Native American inmates, because he is strong and healthy enough to do so. It wasn't always this way. Tom and Alice both live with diabetes. Alice was well on her way to going blind from cataracts. She could not have surgery because her diabetes was not under control.
Tom said that a woman named Amanda came to help Alice by teaching her how to change her diet.
"We ate a typical American diet. It was killing us," Tom said. He added that Amanda cried about Alice's plight. She then went to the cupboard and cleared out all of the food that she deemed unhealthy. Some of the food was brand new. It all ended up in the garbage can. Amanda cooked for Tom and Alice for one month. At the end of that time, their diabetes was well under control and Alice was able to have surgery for her blind eye. Three weeks later, the surgeon fixed Alice's other cataract. She can now see.
Tom told us that he was thankful for the dietary change that Amanda introduced that saved Alice's eyesight. He told us also about being thankful. He said that, when he was a small boy, he lived with his grandmother in a house that had no electricity. His grandmother, who spoke only Mohawk, used to get up early to cook the oatmeal. She asked Tom, when he awakened, if he thanked the creator. She told him that, while he was asleep, the creator came through the window and held him in his arms. The creator also hugged the cows and horses and the trees and everything on mother earth.
"He is our father and we are his children. We have a good father and a good mother earth. They are our parents and we must respect them. Say Nya-weh. Thank you. You are the one who made me. I send to you my thank you, greetings, compassion and love. Say it before you get out of bed," Tom related. He added that the rays of sunlight that come through the window are the fingers, hands, and arms of the creator.
"All that the creator wants is to be told thank you with love. He clears obstacles from the road," Tom said.
Tom added that his people have faced many obstacles. They have been colonized for ten generations. "It is the worst thing. It goes into your mind and your heart. You cannot distinguish real life stuff. We can't even help ourselves to eat healthy."
He said that he and others continue to share the message of the Iroqouis Confederacy to counter the violent message of the government and corporations. He told us to tell all people. Go back to your original teachings to find the truth. Do not kill each other. Share one another.
"We are older and tired," Tom said. "We still try to do what we can do. We go as far as our trail takes us. It's OK. We must leave something for our children and grandchildren. Right now, the children are being held by the big power. They have no time to listen to grandpa and grandma."
"We still have lots of work to do yet. America is changing and starting to act more like Mohawks, Lakotas, and Senecas.But they killed the teachers.
"Until America changes and sets a good example, the world will not change," Tom said.

Back to the walk

2010-04-28T22:03:00.000-04:00

On April 10th, I got on an Amtrak train heading east. I got off at a beautifully restored train station in Utica and rejoined the Walk for a Nuclear Free Future that day.
It has been quite the adventure, rejoining the walk after leaving it in Rochester. The scenery had changed greatly. I was out of Western New York and had entered the Mohawk Valley. Later, we were to walk into the Hudson River valley, which is where we are now. Unlike the Buffalo to Rochester experience, which took me through familiar territory, I had come to a part of the state that I really did not know well.
But there has been one common thread that has linked Western New York with these other parts of the state, which is the rivers. I have always been drawn to water. I remember that,on Saint Patrick's Day, we walked along the shores of the Niagara River to Niagara Falls. We were amazed and intrigued by the enormous volume of water flowing over the falls. Rainbows formed above the falls. It was a stunning sight.
When I rejoined the walk, we were walking along the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal. We crossed and recrossed the river on those bridges that I truly don't like! One of the most wonderful experiences of the walk occurred outside of Fonda, when we stayed at the Mohawk Community with Alice and Tom Porter. We ate traditional corn soup and mush (very yummy) and learned quite a bit about the Mohawk culture.
I was sad to leave the Mohawk Community, where I felt at peace. We were surrounded by the beautiful hills and waters of Central New York. I could see horses and cows and I could walk through the woods to a cold stream. It was good.
I have to admit that one of the reasons that I chose to rejoin the walk after having been away for two and a half weeks was to see the Hudson River. I had seen the Hudson many times through the windows of a train and I very much wanted to see it within touching distance, much as I had the Mississippi River when I participated in the Witness Against War walk in 2008.
The river was beautiful but I have learned that it is full of sorrow, much as the Niagara River is full of sorrow. Radioactive waste has been found in the Niagara River, byproducts of the Manhattan Project of the 1940s. This radioactive waste has been found all over Western New York: in Lewiston, West Valley, Tonawanda. It has resulted in birth defects and all sorts of cancers. In the Hudson River, we were told, there is radioactive waste resulting from the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.
We walked to the western shore of the Hudson River and could see the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant on the far shore. We all dropped to our knees, praying and crying. We cried for the river and for the children who would inherit this wounded earth. We cried for the victims of depleted uranium. Tears kept flowing for the damage that uranium mining does to the earth. Our tears fell for the harm that the heated water does to the fragile ecosystem of the Hudson River.
Water is life. That is probably why I am so attracted to it.
The walk is about to end. I will write more when I come home.
Bye bye for now.

Graycliff Conservancy

2010-04-05T15:26:00.000-04:00

At the April 1st meeting of the Grand Island Historical Society, June Crawford presented slides and told the story of the Graycliff Estate, located on the shores of Lake Erie in Derby, New York.
The Graycliff Estate was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and was built between 1926 and 1929. The house was planned to be a summer home for Darwin and Isabelle Martin, who lived in a house in Buffalo that was also designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. That house, now called the "Darwin Martin House," has recently been restored to its former grandeur. It was built with a "prairie design" but the house wasn't especially comfortable for Isabelle Martin. There was very little direct sunlight coming into the house because of all of the overhangs. As a result, the house had a dark and gloomy feel. Isabelle Martin had a problem with her eyesight and a dark house wasn't a good fit for her.
The Graycliff Estate was designed to be a "natural house." Frank Lloyd Wright made use of locally obtained materials, such as gray shale from the banks of Lake Erie.
Darwin Martin and Frank Lloyd Wright were friends for many years, and Darwin Martin possessed the business skills that, according to June, Frank Lloyd Wright lacked. With Darwin Martin's help, Frank Lloyd Wright became a well-known architect. He designed such structures as Fallingwater in rural Pennsylvania, the Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo, the S.C. Johnson Wax Company Headquarters in Racine (Wisconsin), and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, among many others. For more information on Frank Lloyd Wright, take a look at Wright's Life and Work.
A fair number of the houses and other structures that Frank Lloyd Wright designed have been restored. Unfortunately, the Larkin Administration Building was not saved.
The Larkin Administration Building was Frank Lloyd Wright's first commercial commission. John D. Larkin, who had gone into business of manufacturing soap with his brother-in-law Justus Weller in 1861, was truly a self-made man who created a big business after his partnership with Weller fell apart (which occurred at about the same time that his sister's marriage to Weller ended). By 1904, John Larkin apparently decided that he needed a office building for his large business. So he commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright, who created a very large structure that was designed to be quite efficient. Read this to find out more about John Larkin and the Larkin Soap Company.
The fortunes of Darwin Martin, too, were tied up with the Larkin Soap Company. As a young man, Darwin Martin obtained employment as a delivery boy for the Larkin Soap Company. Eventually, he worked his way through the ranks and became the chief executive officer.
Darwin Martin lost his fortune during the stock market crash of 1929 and the following years of economic depression. He died in 1935. Frank Lloyd Wright died in 1959.
The Larkin Soap Company's administration, too, fell on hard times. It fell into disrepair in the 1940s and it was torn down in 1950. Click here to see a picture of the Larkin Administration Building.
But when the few years before Darwin Martin lost his fortune, he and Isabelle and their children and grandchildren enjoyed summers at Graycliff. The house was built for entertaining and relaxing, June explained. Outside, it boasted the only tennis court that was ever designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The surface of the court was made of concrete that had been tinted red to make it look like clay.
The estate also boasted a sunken garden.
The house was expensive to build. The cedar shingles of the roof were each hand dipped in dye to create a variegated effect. Apparently, Frank Lloyd Wright felt that uniformity was boring and that nature, which he was trying to imitate with his design, was not uniform. Also, Frank Lloyd Wright was not especially amenable to changes to the design of his structure for the purpose of saving money. When Darwin Martin said that he really didn't need a balcony outside of his and his wife's bedroom, Frank Lloyd Wright told him, "You may not need a balcony, but the house does."
All of the upstairs bedroom windows faced the lake. The house was full of light.
Darwin and Isabelle Martin's daughter Dorothy spent much time at Graycliff. Her married name was Foster, and she and her family were housed in an apartment above the garage. By 1943, Isabelle, who could not afford to maintain the large summer house, moved in with her daughter.
The Graycliff Estate fell on hard times and was vacant until the Piarist Priests purchased it in the 1950s. The intention of these priests, who had left Hungary to escape the Communists, was to build a school. They did build a boarding school but they made a number of changes to Frank Lloyd Wright's design. They filled in the sunken garden to make a chapel. They also added space to the garage, which made the drainage problems worse.
In the 1990s, the house and grounds were sold again. By this time, the house was decrepit. June showed pictures of the house in this sad condition.
By chance, a woman named Carol Bronnenkant came to see the house. She had wanted to turn it into a bed and breakfast there and run it with her husband. June explained that Carold Bronnenkant did not want Frank Lloyd Wright's house to go to "wreck and ruin." A whiz at fundraising, she quickly was able to collect $20,000 from 30 people.
Eventually, she and her husband decided that the house needed more work than they had expected when planning to create the bed and breakfast. Instead, they started the Graycliff Conservancy to restore the old summer home of Darwin and Isabelle Martin. Eventually, they were able to get many donations and were also able to get the Oishei Foundation to underwrite the mortgage. The price of the house and grounds was $450,000, "as is."
The first building to be completely restored was the "heat hut." This small building had been designed to store the furnace. Frank Lloyd Wright didn't want the furnace in the house as he had experienced fire in his own house and he was very concerned about the possibility of fire.
The house is still in the process of being restored.
For information about tours, check the Graycliff Conservancy's website

Orleans County

2010-03-29T15:30:00.002-04:00

After breakfast on March 20th at the Seneca Nation's Tonawanda Territory, we all got into cars and rode to Middleport. If we had walked from the Tonawanda Territory to our end point in Albion that day, we would have walked thirty miles. My opinion on walking thirty miles in one day is "let's not and say we did!
Visiting the Seneca Nation's Tonawanda Territory was a good experience for me. I am very grateful for the generous hospitality that I received there. I was reminded that the Senecas (who call themselves Onöndowága,' meaning "People of the Great Hill") have a land claim on Grand Island. Their name for Grand Island is "Go-Weh No-geh. I said, "I'd be happy to give it to you!"
Everyone laughed at my eagerness to give away Grand Island, which I suppose I can't do since I don't own even a small part of it.
One interesting note: the room where I spent the night is used also as a classroom, where children are taught the Seneca language. According to Wikipedia, there are currently only about 200 speakers of the Seneca language. It is an Iroquoian language and is linguistically related to other Iroquois languages. Certainly, the efforts of the Indian boarding schools, which I described in a previous post, has had a terrible effect on indigenous cultures throughout the United States and Canada. According to James Estes of the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, approximately 300 languages were spoken in North America prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus. After that event and the arrival of other Europeans (which is also termed the "European Invasion"), half of those languages are now extinct and many others are described as "moribund," meaning that they have few speakers and all of those speakers are elders.
The most widely spoken indigenous language in North America is Navajo with 148,530 speakers. Navajo was used as a code during World War II. The Germans never broke that code. Other widely spoken languages are Ojibwa, Western, with 35,000 speakers; Dakota with 20,355 speakers; Choctaw with 17,890 speakers; Apache, Western, with 12,693 speakers; Cherokee with 11,905 speakers; Papago-Pima with 11,819 speakers; and Yupik, Central, with 10,000 speakers.
It is my hope that more work can be done to preserve endangered languages, that more schools are opened for people to learn to speak and to communicate in those languages.
As I walked into Orleans County, I thought about the little school where the Seneca language is taught to children in the Tonawanda Territory.

I was also fascinated by my surroundings. We walked past dormant corn fields and horses running in fenced-in fields, and broken down barns. We were never far from the Erie Canal. It didn't take us too long to walk into Medina. An old town with many beautiful structures, Medina, like other towns in this area, were boom towns in the years after the Erie Canal was built and before the Welland Canal was built. We walked through the streets of Medina and were then out of town, back on Route 31, headed east. Three miles west of Albion, we ate our lunch.
We arrived in Albion and found that the church where we were to spend the night was locked. Before long, a locksmith had been called. The locksmith, who was also a photographer, came to open the church for us. The church where we were to stay was called the Pullman Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church. It is an historic church that was built by George Pullman as a memorial to his parents. The church was dedicated on January 31st, 1895. Two of George Pullman's brothers participated in the service. Both the brothers, Dr. Royal Henry Pullman (1826-1900) and Dr. James M. Pullman (1836-1903), were Universalist ministers.

George Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was famous for being an inventor and an industrialist. He invented the Pullman sleeping car, which, according to Wikipedia, were modeled after the sleeping arrangements in the packet boats that traveled the Erie Canal. The first sleeping car was finished in 1864. People paid considerably more money to ride in sleeping cars than in coach. A Pullman sleeping car even carried the body of President Abraham Lincoln to Springfield, Illinois, for burial.
George Pullman hired many people to work in the sleeping car, providing excellent service. Many of the employees were newly freed slaves from the south. Pullman also built a "company town" for his employees to reside. His company owned everything in the town. According to Wikipedia, the town was run almost like a feudal city state.
George Pullman, however, became infamous in the mid-1890s, when the workers went on strike. Their complaint was that, in the wake of a bad economy, their wages had been cut and their working hours had been increased. Also, jobs had been cut. At the same time, there had been no changes in rents and prices in the company town, where you shopped at the only store around (the company store). The strike was violently crushed.
The Pullman strike was a sad event in the history of U.S. labor relations.
But... back to the church...

Inside the church, we held an interfaith afternoon prayer service to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the U.S. launching of the Iraq war. We remembered everyone, both members of the military and civilians, who had lost their lives in the war. We also held the prayer service in solidarity and support of the march that was held in Washington, D.C. Later, I found out that Cindy Sheehan and seven others had been arrested on the sidewalk in front of the White House. Six persons, including Cindy Sheehan, were taken to jail and held until they were arraigned on Monday, March 22nd, because they were from "out of town."

Our hosts in Albion prepared a delicious pot luck dinner.The pastor, whose name is Kelly, offered a beautifully worded prayer about hands. I enjoyed sitting with new friends, including Margaret and Monica, and sharing this wonderful meal. I don't know how it is but, at every place we visited, I was always served my favorite foods!
The next morning, we were served a wonderful breakfast, courtesy of Gerald and others. Feeling well-fed and happy, we continued our trek east and stopped for lunch at the First Presbyterian Church in Holley. My first introduction to Holley came in the form of a Holley police car. It seems that a few walkers fell behind when they stopped to talk to a woman who had come out of her house when she saw us marching down Route 31. As we were walking into Holley, a police car pulled up beside us. Two walkers hopped out of the back seat. The car left. Shortly afterward, the police car pulled up beside us for a second time. Another walker hopped out of the car. The police car left. Those walkers truly traveled in style!

Seneca Nation -- Tonawanda Territory

2010-03-27T22:31:00.000-04:00

Two days after we left the Tuscarora Nation in the Town of Lewiston, we arrived at the Seneca Nation's Tonawanda Territory. This territory straddles two counties -- Erie and Genesee -- and the town closest to it is Akron.

When we left Lewiston, we traveled east through Sanborn until we arrived in the City of Lockport, where we spent a night at the YWCA. Lockport is located right on the Erie Canal and is named for the locks that were built in the 1840s. The next day, we left Lockport and walked to the Seneca Nation's Tonawanda Territory. Mostly, we walked on either Akron Road or Old Akron Road.
At the edge of the Tonawanda Territory, we were welcomed to the Seneca Nation by Chief Hill and by several clan chiefs. Chief Hill offered a prayer for peace in the Seneca language. This prayer was then translated into English. Jun-san then translated the prayer into Japanese for the benefit of the Japanese members of our group. After we had been welcomed, we walked to the Long House, where we had another welcome. I learned that there are two entrances to the Long House. One is for men and the other is for women. We also were told that the building behind the Long House was where we would have our dinner and where the women would sleep for the night. The men were to sleep in the Long House, which is a bigger structure. We have more men than women in our group, I found out.
Dinner proved to be very delicious. We had our choice of bean burger or buffalo burger. I had a buffalo burger, as I had never tasted one of those in the past. I was told that buffalo burger is very low in cholesterol, unlike the more typical hamburger, which can boast a very high cholesterol count. I was happy to put fresh tomato slices and lettuce on my burger. We also had sweet potatoes, salad, and applesauce. For dessert, we ate strawberries.
After dinner, Darwin Hill offered us some interesting information. We were told that this flag is a replica of a 1,000 year old Hiawatha wampum belt. It is now the flag of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. They are also known at the Iroquois Confederacy. The six nations of the Confederacy are the Seneca (Keepers of the Western Door), Tuscarora, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Mohawk (Keepers of the Eastern Door). We also learned that, before the European invasion, the Senecas had been located in the Genesee valley, which is east of their current location. Two hundred years ago, Darwin Hill said, the Senecas were pushed away from their homeland by the settlers.
"Very few people stayed in their original land after the European invasion," Darwin Hill said, adding that the Senecas were fortunate that they did not move too far from their original home, unlike some other nations. The Cherokees and the Creeks, for example, were forced off of their ancestral land in the southeast and made to walk all the way to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears. Take a look at the history of the Trail of Tears. During this forced march of well more than 1,000 miles in the 1830s, many men, women, and children died. It was one of the cruelest and saddest moments in U.S. history.
Darwin Hill also told us that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy has been trying to get a resolution to the issue of stolen land for years. Currently, they are working on resolving that issue in the United Nations, where they are recognized as nations, rather than as "NGOs" (non-governmental organizations). He explained that, since the 1980s, there has been a working group on indigenous populations in the United Nations. The Declaration of the rights of Indigenous Peoples came about in 2007. Take a look at the declaration . Only four nations did not vote for it. Those four nations are the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
The United Nations also has a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
"The United Nations has no police force. It is a very slow acting body but, at least, we have a forum," Darwin Hill said, adding, "We are recognized in the United Nations but not in the United States or in Canada."
Another topic of discussion that evening at the Long House was the whole issue of war versus peace. In the 1960s, many Native American men were drafted into the Army and were sent to fight in Vietnam. Currently, many are serving in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's a conflict that we have to deal with," Darwin Hill said. "It conflicts with our message of peace."
Darwin Hill said that, 1,000 years ago, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy buried their weapons of war.
Yukio, who is one of the walkers, offered a Japanese perspective. He said that, after World War II, Japan adopted a peace constitution, which prohibits Japan from having a military or from fighting wars. Now, he said that the United States wants Japan to have a military. Yukio does not like this so he decided that he would walk for a nuclear-free future and to bring a message of peace to the United Nations.
Another walker, Al, is a Cayuga who lives in the Seneca Nation's Cattaraugus territory. He said that, during the Vietnam War, he made the decision that he would not fight in the war. He took a man named Mad Bear with him and went to the FBI. He told the FBI that they could arrest him but that he would not fight in the war. He was not arrested.
He talked about the Creator as a peacemaker and said, "There will be no more wars from us. We're all the same people on Turtle Island. We need to have peace again. That's why I walk with you."

Niagara Falls pictures and story

2010-03-26T17:07:00.001-04:00

Here is the story from day two of my walk with the Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future (northern route):

We got to explore Niagara Falls on March 17th! It was another beautiful day for a walk. We walked from the corner of 84th Street and Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, to the Tuscarora Nation in Lewiston. It was a very long walk, but the places were very significant. On Buffalo Avenue, we walked through an old industrial section. There had been many chemical plants in that area, which had produced a great deal of toxic waste. Much of that waste ended up in the Niagara River. There is still some functioning industry along Buffalo Avenue but I hope that they clean up the waste in a safer way than was done in the past.
Niagara Falls is well known for toxic waste. One of the neighborhoods in Niagara Falls, Love Canal, was built on land that had been a burial site for some really dangerous toxic waste, including dioxin and benzene. The business that had buried the waste was Hooker Chemical. In the late 1970s, it was discovered that people who lived in Love Canal were suffering from various forms of cancer at an unusually high rate. The toxic waste had leached from the drums that were supposed to contain it into the soil and the ground water. Eventually, due to the efforts and Lois Gibbs and the Love Canal Homeowners Association, the residents were evacuated from that area. It was considered to be a great tragedy. The houses in the Love Canal neighborhood were built to be the dream homes for the young families who moved there. But when the children began suffering from leukemia, the dream turned into a horrifying nightmare for those families.
After we left the industrial area of Niagara Falls, located along the Niagara River, we saw downtown Niagara Falls and we also stopped to look at the Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. And a wonder it is. There are always rainbows directly above the falls. We saw some ice and snow still on the ground and the water, despite the warmth of the air and the brilliance of the sunshine.
We then walked along the general area of the gorge, which is a fault line, although, fortunately, a very stable one so earthquakes in Niagara Falls are very unlikely occurrences. We had our lunch at Whirlpool State Park and we saw the very blue water of the whirlpool that is another part of Niagara Falls.
Before long, we were out of Niagara Falls and in the Town of Lewiston. We walked through Niagara University and started heading east. We walked and walked and walked...

When we arrived at the edge of the Tuscarora Nation, we were welcomed by Chief Stuart Patterson. We continued walking well into Tuscarora territory and finally arrived at our destination at about six o'clock in the evening. We were welcomed with a traditional ceremony and were treated to a delicious potluck dinner. As we had walked for about twenty miles, we were very hungry and footsore. We were shown a video about boarding schools for Indian children that were run by various entities, such as the federal government, states, and religious missions from about the late nineteenth century to the 1950s.
The first Indian boarding school was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which was founded by Richard Henry Pratt in 1879 at a deserted military base (the Carlisle Barracks) in central Pennsylvania. Pratt's goal was to destroy indigenous culture in North America. He said, "Kill the Indian, save the man." Pratt had a military background; he had served in the Tenth Cavalry from 1867 until 1875 and was stationed in the Indian territories. Thus he created the school according to the model that he knew best, which was the military model.
Other schools were founded in different areas, based on the Carlisle Indian Industrial School model. Children who were sent to these schools were taken away from their families and were forbidden to speak their native languages or to learn about their own cultures. They were forcibly assimilated into American culture. As an example, a barber was brought to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School to cut the children's long hair. This caused much distress among the children. According to an article titled Carlisle Indian Industrial School History, "For the Lakota, the cutting of hair was symbolic of mourning and there was much wailing and lamenting which lasted into the night."
In Western New York, many children were sent to the Thomas Indian School in Irving, New York. The children spent more time working as free labor than they spent studying. Children worked hard. They had to clean the school constantly. Also, many of the schools had adjoining farms. The children worked hard in the fields. They did not enjoy the results of their labor. For example, children at a school with lots of chickens never got to eat any of the eggs that the chickens laid.
At the Mush Hole School in Canada, the children were so hungry that they foraged through garbage dumps for food.
Children at the Indian schools also suffered from all types of abuse, including emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. When they complained of being abused or even of being raped, no one believed them. Many tried to run away, as they were very desperate to return to their homes and their families, to places where they could speak their own languages.
Many of the children did not survive the experience.
It was truly a very sad and shocking story about the effort of many people to destroy indigenous cultures in North America.
Canada issued an apology a few years ago for the cruelty that occurred at the school. At the time, there were pending lawsuits, which Canada settled. Survivors of the schools were able to collect some money as a result of the settlement of the lawsuits.
The United States has never apologized for this very dark period in its history, when it basically declared war on children.
In addition to learning about the Indian boarding schools, which have since been closed, we also learned about the effect of waste from the Manhattan Project on the Tuscarora nation. A great deal of radioactive waste had been buried by the U.S. government in Lewiston during the 1940s. Some radioactive waste has been found in the Niagara River. The result of all of this exposure to radioactive waste is an increase in the rates of various types of cancer.
Japanese people who had survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were called hibakusha. People in Lewiston and other parts of Western New York, who were exposed to the radioactive waste created by the Manhattan Project, can also be called hibakusha. I know of one woman, Rita, who died of lung cancer. My mom knew Rita because the her husband worked with my mother at Niagara University. Rita never smoked. The cancer that killed her was a cancer of the lining of the lungs. It was not the kind of cancer that smokers are prone to develop. It is very possible that prolonged exposure to radioactive waste caused Rita's cancer.
These atomic bombs can be said to have continued to kill years after they were detonated.

Walking through Buffalo with Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future

2010-03-26T17:04:00.004-04:00

On my first day walking with the Walk for a Nuclear Free Future 2010 Northern Route, we walked from the east side of Buffalo to downtown. Afterward, we headed north through the city and into the town of Tonawanda. We spent the night at First United Methodist Church in the city of North Tonawanda, close to the Erie Canal.
Much of the east side of Buffalo looked devastated, with broken down buildings and vacant, waste-strewn lots. That is a common sight, unfortunately, in many American cities. The inner cities were left to their fate when many city dwellers moved to the suburbs.
In downtown Buffalo, we made a few brief stops. One of those stops was at the Erie County Holding Center, described by the Erie County Sheriff's department as a "pre-trial, maximum security detention facility." That's kind of a fancy way of saying that the detainees in that jail have not actually been convicted of any crime. This facility has had some serious problems in the past few years. Recently, it has been on the news on a regular basis because of the shockingly high suicide rate.

I remember when I spent a night inside the Erie County Holding Center in January of 2003 after an anti-war protest at the downtown Air Force recruiter's office. It was a bizarre, almost surreal experience... being in downtown Buffalo, yet being completely separated from the life of the city. I was on a holding room with a group of other women. We had thin mats to place in blue plastic "boats" on the floor. These were our "beds." The lights were never turned off. It seemed like a waste of electricity to me. Despite the bright lights, the Erie County Holding Center was a very dismal place.
I spent only one night there. I cannot imagine the hopelessness that people must feel when they are in there for an extended period of time.
We, who stood outside of the jail, hope that those inside know that they are not alone.
From the Erie County Holding Center, we walked to City Hall, which is a very interesting art deco structure in the middle of downtown Buffalo. We were greeted by Mayor Byron Brown, who expressed his support for our walk and for the message of peace and a nuclear-free future that we are carrying throughout New York State in anticipation of the Nonproliferation Treaty talks to be held at the United Nations early in May.

After we left City Hall, we walked north on Elmwood Avenue though Allentown. This is one of Buffalo's historic and well-maintained neighborhoods. It is full of interesting little shops and older houses. We were enthusiastically greeted outside of an Elmwood Avenue by a teacher and her students. They gave us a peace flag. The teacher said that she was very supportive of what we were doing. "It's for them," she said of the young students, who were happily running and playing during their outside time.
We continued north and stopped for a lunch break at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church. That church maintains a soup kitchen, called "Loaves and Fishes," five days a week. People who need a meal are always welcome to get one there. We set up our meal well after the Loaves and Fishes time. It was a nice space to eat.
Another highlight of our day in Buffalo was our stop at the Japanese garden at Delaware Park. The Japanese Garden was designed in 1970 and completed in 1974 as an expression of the friendship between Buffalo and its sister city, Kanazawa, Japan. It was relandscaped and rededicated in 1996. It's a great place to relax and it's also good for photography and for drawing and painting.
We just stayed there long enough to look at the beautiful garden and to take some pictures.

We continued north, heading out of the city. Eventually, we left Erie County and entered Niagara County. The last highlight of our day was the wonderful potluck meal provided to us by the ladies of First United Methodist Church in North Tonawanda.
It was a wonderful day in many ways. People with whom we came in contact in Buffalo were very warm and friendly and supportive of us and our message. I was thrilled to share both the beautiful and the struggling parts of Buffalo with my new friends. And the weather was glorious. It was a warm, sunny March day. It was a great day to walk and explore and to share a positive message of a nuclear free future.

Afghan

2010-03-12T14:47:00.000-05:00

This is the afghan that I made for my brother-in-law, Michael. The requested colors were pink, green, and white. So Michael got a "yarn garden," with the flowers all in rows. The pillow that I photographed with the afghan is something that I made for my mother. It is a round pillow with a pineapple doily that I crocheted and then sewed onto a pillow (also sewed by moi). Both my mom and Zoe the cat like the pillow. My mom uses it as back support. Zoe, who grabs my mom's seat when it gets vacated, likes to sit on top of the pillow, close her eyes, and take a cat nap.

My dad's big day!

2010-03-12T14:39:00.000-05:00

My dad's Big Day was on March 3rd. That was when he officially became ninety years old. We didn't have his birthday party until March 7th, however. So my dad (aka Roy) had to wait a few days after his Actual Big Day to enjoy food, family, and fun on his Officially Designated Big Day.
My sister, Vivian, decorated the dining room quite nicely and also placed a crown on our dad's head. After all, it's not every day that someone celebrates a 90th birthday. Even if the celebration isn't on the actual day, my dad still got to be the King of the Day.

World Day of Prayer 2010 pictures

2010-03-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

World Day of Prayer is an international event that was held on March 5th. It is an interdenominational service that is written by women in a different country each year. It is celebrated in 170 countries on the first Friday in March.

This year, the prayers were written by the women of Cameroon, and the theme was: "Let Everything that has Breath Praise God." If you'd like to see pictures of women involved in day-to-day life in Cameroon, take a look at World Day of Prayer picture page.

The prayer service offered lively uplifting music. At the Grand Island event, 37 participants enjoyed singing and playing rhythm instruments. The message of the service was simple, yet powerful. Despite the circumstances in which we may find ourselves, as long as we have breath, and, therefore, life, we can praise God and thank him for that gift of life.

After the service, we enjoyed delicious refreshments. This included the yummy fruit salad pictured above, as well as punch and lemon squares and corn muffins and other treats.
Next year's service will be written by the women of Chile. That country was chosen well before the devastating earthquake struck on February 27th.

Songs of New York State!

2010-03-05T17:13:00.001-05:00

Last night, the Grand Island Historical Society met for a special treat at Historic Trinity Church. Dave Ruch, who combines teaching the fun aspects of New York State history with performance, delighted all who were in attendance.

Dave, who lives in Buffalo, came prepared to perform with a plethora of musical instruments, including a mandolin, a jaw harp, a guitar, and a banjo. Before he began playing the jaw's harp, he explained how to play the instrument. It's a very little musical instrument that can be stored in its owner's shirt or pants pocket when not in use. The way to play this little instrument is to press the object against your teeth and pull a little lever that vibrates as you breath out. If you breathe heavily, you can make it sound like a noise from a cartoon!

The only requirement to being a successful jaw harp player is that you have to have teeth!

The jaw harp was one of a number of very portable instruments that people could pull out on a moment's notice and play when in the mood for music.

In the past, Dave explained, if you wanted music, you couldn't just go to the CD player or the computer and turn on instant entertainment. Speaking about instant entertainment, that's what I'm doing right now! I'm listening to a CD of Dave Ruch playing his instruments and singing silly songs, including one that ends up: "the girls are went to heaven and the boys all went to Albany!!!" (um. No wonder that, when people from other states come here and want to run for statewide office, they all want to be senators and not the governor... Anything but Albany!!!)

But I digress.

So. As an example of proper nineteenth century entertainment, Dave Ruch sang a few songs that went on and on and on.

Apparently, people in the nineteenth century had to entertain themselves since they didn't have the aforementioned CD player. They did so by singing really long songs. Fortunately, they didn't have the monotonous quality of One Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall (Has anyone actually finished that song without losing count??)

Dave talked about a Stevens family that was one of many New England families that came to Western New York in the 1830s. This family maintained a journal and wrote down songs that were common at that time. These songs contained as many as forty to fifty verses.

As an example of songs that had been collected by the Stevens family, Dave performed an argument between a husband and wife. The title of the song was "Wisconsin." Dave had to sing both parts, which made the song seem a little confusing. It was hard to tell when he was being the husband and when he was being the wife. On his CD, the song was presented as a duet, with Dave as the husband and Buffalo's very own rock star, Alison Pipitone, as the wife.

The couple was arguing over whether or not to travel to the wild land out west. That wild land was Wisconsin! As I spent seven weeks in the summer of 2008 walking through the state of Wisconsin, I found the song especially amusing. The husband was eager to find an adventurous life in Wisconsin, but his wife was not. She went on and on about everything that could go wrong if the two of them were to make the trip to... um... dare I say it? The W state. It was a wild place, she argued. Horrifying. She scared him sufficiently to make him stay away from that terrifying state.

In addition to the spousal battle song, Dave presented songs about the Erie Canal and the War of 1812. The War of 1812 song was about the battle of Plattsburgh. At one point, during the battle, both the Americans and the British took a break from killing each other to bury their dead.

OK. Speaking about killing (yuck), Dave shared the story of the Thayer brothers. There were three brothers, who were all executed after they had killed a farmer named John Love in Boston, New York. The hanging of the three brothers occurred in 1825. The execution occurred in Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo and, apparently, was a big spectacle. According to Dave, approximately 10,000 people came to watch the event.

Well, the combination of three brothers being hanged and the enormous, apparently bloodthirsty audience, make Buffalo seem a heck of a lot more frightening and wild than nineteenth century Wisconsin.

Dave then played a mournful instrumental piece after telling the sad tale of the Thayer brothers.

Fortunately, Dave also played silly songs and he told stories of mountain men from the Catskills and the Adirondacks.

After the lively performance, which featured a sing-along, the audience and the musician-storyteller were invited for the delicious refreshments that have made the Grand Island Historical Society famous!
The performance was made possible by a grant from the New York State Council for the Humanities.

All had a good time. I even purchased a CD so that I could continue to enjoy Dave's renditions of songs of long ago.

World Day of Prayer 2010

2010-02-20T12:46:00.001-05:00

World Day of Prayer in Grand Island, New York, will be held at 10 a.m., March 5th, at Saint Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, 2587 Baseline Road. After the service, refreshments were be offered. Also, babysitting is available.
Grand Island churches participating in the World Day of Prayer are: Saint Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, Island Presbyterian Church, Saint Timothy Lutheran Church, Saint Stephen Roman Catholic Church, and Trinity United Methodist Church.
All are welcome at this very joyful event which celebrates prayer, music, fellowship, and Africa!
The women of Cameroon wrote the prayers for this year's event:

The below information comes from USA Committee of the World Day of Prayer.

Let Everything That Has Breath Praise God — Written by the WDP Committee of Cameroon

The 2010 service and offering grants will focus on issues affecting women and children and their communities in a globalized world. Let us think of:

Market women, typically referred to as “buyam sellams” (from the verbs to buy and to sell), who play a fundamental role in the Cameroonian economy helping to sustain their communities with their sales. Many are organized such as the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Cameroon.
Cameroon's women and children who through human trafficking, are forced into modern day slavery that consists of servitude and sexual exploitation.
The women of Cameroon facing domestic violence and sexual abuse, in addition to harmful traditional practices like genital mutilation.
Gender issues resulting in the gap in women's rights in theory and in practice, especially regarding women's land rights.
The growing rate of HIV infection among young women and girls.

The Republic of Cameroon (République du Cameroun in French) is located in the center of Africa above the equator at the extreme end of the Gulf of Guinea. It is bordered by Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, in addition to Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea.

Cameroon is comparable in size to Papua New Guinea and slightly larger than California in the U.S. The official languages are French and English with a dominance of the French language. The national currency is the Franc CFA, which is the common currency among 14 countries of Central and West Africa who cooperate financially.

Due to its cultural and geographical diversity, Cameroon is often referred to as "Africa in miniature."

Cameroon is culturally and ecologically rich, having approximately 240 local languages corresponding to the 240 ethnic groups. It also has great biodiversity, especially in regards to its flora. Due to its cultural and geographical diversity, Cameroon is often referred to as "Africa in miniature."

Cameroon is rich in natural resources. The economy is based largely on agriculture and an estimated 70% of the population are farmers. Other sources of revenue come from forestry, minerals, and petroleum. As agriculture is an important part of the economy, land is one of Cameroon's greatest resources.

As we begin our journey with the women of Cameroon, we learn about the social challenges that include the trafficking of children, particularly girls for sexual exploitation and slavery, gender issues that allow the perpetuation of violence against women and women losing their land rights. We will ask and seek answers to questions about possibility and justice in Cameroon. On Friday, March 5, 2010, we welcome the Worshipping Community to join the women of Cameroon.
Let's turn our prayers into action.

signs

2010-02-09T12:55:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the signs that were carried during the Witness Against Torture and the Peaceable Assembly Campaign. One day, quite a few people joined us to stand behind our tall sign. The tall sign conveyed a multitude of messages. The people who joined us included doctors who wanted our resources to go to health care, instead of war. It included community activists, who wanted our resources to go to food and shelter for the homeless instead of bombs and weapons to destroy other people's homes and lives in foreign countries.

Polar Bear Plunge!

2010-02-09T12:38:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, January 23rd, I took a field trip with a group from Washington, D.C.'s Assisi Community. We went to Annapolis, Maryland, for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network's Polar Bear Plunge. The event featured all sorts of bathing suit clad people racing into the cold water of the Chesapeake Bay. The message was "keep winter cold." I was more than happy to be an audience for that event, having never been especially fond of either having a bathing suit as my fashion statement in the winter or of racing into freezing cold water. So, I was to be an audience for this event. Dave was the brave one from the Assisi Community. He put his hair into fashionable braids for the event. Before the event started, it was picture time. Loads of photographs were taken by a professional photographer. Everyone, plungers and audience alike, was asked to use our bodies to form the number 350. That number is significant because it is considered by many scientists to be the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. For more information about 350 and carbon dioxide, take a look at http://www.350.org.

Free coffee and tea and cookies and muffins were served. The cookies and muffins were made with all vegan ingredients. The carrot muffin definitely passed the taste test!!!

All had a good time at the polar bear plunge. The timing was serendipitous. A week later, the temperature had plummeted. It truly would have been a day fit only for polar bears to plunge.

Pretty snow pictures

2010-02-09T00:38:00.000-05:00

I managed to leave Washington, D.C., before the big storm of the century struck. There were a few snowfalls before the Big One. By the time that the Big One hit, I was safely back in relatively nonsnowy Buffalo, New York!
The snow was rather pretty. Here are some pictures.

The Buffalo Group

2010-02-09T00:04:00.001-05:00

Buffalo folks came to Washington, D.C., to be part of the Voices for Creative Nonviolence's Peaceable Assembly Campaign. Photographed from left are Jim Anderson, Vicki Ross, Alice Gerard, and Tom Casey.

drones

2010-02-08T23:59:00.000-05:00

These are some of the drones that are on display at the Air and Space Museum. They are smaller than I anticipated. They are sort of like a cross between a real airplane and a model airplane. They are steered by remote control and the bombs are dropped by that same remote-control technique. You can get a variety of views of the drones as you ascend the stairs. Once you get to the top of the stairs, you get a very close up and personal view of these flying machines.
These flying machines are not especially popular in Pakistan and Afghanistan, probably due to the indiscriminate way in which their bombs seem to land on civilians. Unfortunately, these civilians end up by being described as "collateral damage."

White House pictures

2010-02-08T16:25:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the pictures that I took in front of the White House. With both the Witness Against Torture group and the Peaceable Assembly campaign, I spent quite a bit of time in front of the White House, both in good weather and bad. We mostly held up various signs calling for an end to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Sometimes tourists wanted to be photographed with us. In one photograph, a former member of Pakistan's Parliament stood with five participants in the Peaceable Assembly campaign. In another, Chinese high school students are seen busily taking pictures. One Chinese student is seen posing with Ceylon behind a sign that says, "Stop War Spending." The Chinese students were in the United States to participate in a model United Nations. The White House also attracts characters, such as the man in the hat who is holding the stick. He puts on a regular, though wordless, performance, using that stick as a baton. I don't know much about him. What message is he trying to convey? I have no idea. But he comes regularly to perform.

When I first started participating in the White House vigils, I saw a man dressed in a superhero type cape, who marched up and down the sidewalk. He was holding a sign and yelling about taxes or something to that effect. Unfortunately, I didn't take his picture. He was a bit fashion challenged. I thought that his costume was a tad on the excessive side.

On my last day in front of the White House, the police announced that the sidewalk was "closed." They enforced their "closure" by blowing whistles and yelling at hapless pedestrians who were too unobservant to notice the yellow caution tape strung at either end of the "closed portion" of the sidewalk. The startled pedestrians leaped off of the sidewalk like scared rabbits, causing the police to laugh hysterically. It was apparent that the police were having way too much fun. One of the cops asked a passerby if he had ever been in prison. I thought that was kind of an odd question to ask. The cop then told the man, "We have your picture. And we have the pictures of everyone who is here." Um. Oh my. If that is true, the police have far too much free time on their hands. They need to do something more productive, such as mop and sweep the police station.

But, when we left, we told the police that this was the last day of our vigil. One of the police officers said, "We'll see you later." He was one of the nicer ones. I thanked him and he said, "Thank you."

Scattering to the Winds

2010-02-01T21:43:00.002-05:00

Today, my Buffalo group (Vicki Ross, Jim Anderson, and Tom Casey) left Washington, D.C. It was great to have them with me over the weekend. I look forward to seeing them soon, as I am heading home on Wednesday morning.

The Washington, D.C., portion of the Peaceable Assembly Campaign ends early tomorrow afternoon. After that, as the saying goes, we all scatter to the winds. We've already started scattering. We will have a small group for our last vigil in front of the White House tomorrow. The police (both Park police and Secret Service uniformed police) will have other groups to babysit.

One of the interesting things about vigiling in front of the White House is all of the different people who meet us and want to take pictures with us. Today, a large curious group of tourists descended upon us. They had already taken out their digital cameras and were ready to click away. It wasn't hard to persuade them to get into the picture.

"Where are you from?" we wanted to know.

"Russia!" said one of the women.

The Russians smiled gleefully as they held up signs calling for an end to war, an end to military aid to Israel, and the immediate closure of Guantanamo and Bagram.

After the photo session, the Russians walked away, chattering with great animation.

Another interesting thing about vigiling in front of the White House is watching all of the various characters who seem to come there on a regular basis. There is a man who dresses in a black suit and a top hat. He actually looks as if he belongs in the nineteenth century. He has a stick and uses it for some sort of elaborate display that looks as if he is saluting a king, instead of a president. He never speaks. There is another man who goes to the other extreme. He dresses us as some sort of superhero (but none that I would recognize) and he carries a big sign critical of President Barack Obama. Then he shouts about the government wasting money and collecting taxes. The man in the black suit came to the White House. The superhero has been missing for a few days. Either he ate some kryptonite or he's off fighting the good fight against all comic book villains.

Well, those are just two of the characters who frequent the street and sidewalk in front of the sidewalk.

I'll add some more stories and photographs after I return home.

Bye for now.

Sunday in the City

2010-01-31T22:39:00.000-05:00

The daily vigiling in front of the White House continued today. Fortunately, the air wasn't as biting cold and the wind wasn't as sharp as it had been on Friday. Since Friday, we've had a contingent from Buffalo, consisting of Vicki Ross, Jim Anderson, Tom Casey, and me. On Friday, the four of us, along with Cynthia Banas from Vernon (near Utica) went to Senator Kirstin Gillibrand's office. At first, we were told that the foreign policy aides were unavailable and that we could write down our concerns. We really didn't want to do that. Fortunately, one of the staff members (the aide who focuses mainly on financial issues) was able to get two foreign policy aides to see us. We expressed our concerns about these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that seem to have no end. We also shared our concern about the damage to civilian populations that is caused by drone attacks. It was good to see that the staff members were both listening and taking notes.
Apparently, to get a full meeting with a staff member in Senator Kirstin Gillibrand's office, there is a protocol. One calls the "scheduling aide," and this person gets out the calender and sets up the appointment on behalf of the staff member. I suppose that staff members are given their schedules somewhat in advance of their appointments so that they can be prepared. This is good to know for the future, when delegations go to Washington, D.C., so that they can get the most out of their visit to this senator's office.
Anyway, back to the vigils. We have found that people from foreign countries love to pose with us and have their pictures taken. Earlier last week, I had posed with a number of people from the Hunan region of China. It is good that people from other countries can see that there are voices for peace in the United States.
After today's vigil, the group, consisting of the New York folks as well as people from the Voices for Creative Nonviolence's Peaceable Assembly Campaign, went to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. We wanted to check out reports that drones were on display at that museum.
The Air and Space Museum is a huge museum that depicts the history of air transportation, from the earliest pre-flight days (Leonardo da Vinci's designs for flying machines) to the present. I found the earliest attempts at flying to be funny (people strapping wings onto themselves and jumping off of high places) and fantastic (the earliest biplanes that traveled distances). Unfortunately, it seemed to me that aeronatics was taken over by the military and used for violence, rather than to keep satisfying our human need to be as free as the birds. The museum was filled with all sorts of military planes and pieces of military planes.
And, yes, the drones were prominently on display at the museum. I took photographs of them. They were much smaller than I anticipated. Nevertheless, they are deadly things and civilians in both Afghanistan and Pakistan have been killed by drone attacks.
So, what do we do to stop the drone attacks?
I'm sure that there will be more discussions about this later.
The last stop for our Sunday adventures was the Council for a Liveable World, where we heard a talk from Josh Stieber, who became a conscientious objector after experiencing war in Iraq in 2007 and 2008. He talked about his personal journey, from a middle school student on 9/11 to enlisting in the Army after graduating from high school to his deployment in Iraq to his return home. After Josh was granted conscientious objector status and he lef t the army, he continued his personal journey, which had become a journey of peace, by walking and biking across the country. Halfway through his journey, Josh met another veteran, and the two completed their journey. Josh said that he talked to many groups about his transformation from warrior to peace advocate.
Josh related this story: he and some other soldiers went to search a house. They kicked in the door and starting ripping apart the possessions in the house. Josh went outside to the garden, which was beautiful and well tended. He began to dig it up, in search of explosives. As he was in the middle of the process, the owner of the house came outside with a tray. On the tray was tea. Even though the soldiers were trashing the man's house and destroying his precious garden, he still served tea as an act of hospitality.
Apparently, that unexpected act of kindness was the start of Josh's transformation from warrior to advocate for peace.
Please call or write to your Congressional representatives and ask them to say yes to peace and to human rights and no to war and violence.
Oh, and take a look at Josh's blog: Contagious Love Experiment

Out and about in Washington, D.C.

2010-01-28T22:08:00.000-05:00

This will just be a short update. I'll write much more about my Washington, D.C., adventure when I return home.
OK, I think that I mentioned the close call that I had with the cops in front of the White House on Tuesday. After that fun experience, I went to the Luce Foundation Center (upstairs from the National Portrait Gallery) and took a free art class. The topic of the class was how to draw faces. I had a great deal of fun drawing. When time was up, I was surprised because it didn't seem as if an hour and a half had elapsed. I used a painting from the mid-19th century as my model and I drew a young lady in my small sketchbook and then again on larger paper.
When we presented out pictures to the group, the teacher, Mary, said that my picture was "fantastic." She then asked, "Are you happy?"
"Yes, I am very happy."
I need color and form and beauty in my world.
The next day, I went to the Hirschhorn museum. I thought that I might experiment with modern art. I drew a Willem de Kooning painting. It was fun. Not really my style but fun. It's good practice for me to practice with a variety of styles.
Today, I went with a group to the White House. We tried to deliver a letter at the guard station, where the media enter. We had no luck whatsoever. The secret service cop would not accept our letter. He told us to go visit our Congressional offices. So that's what we did. We went to visit a representative from Wisconsin and a senator from Maryland. Well, we didn't speak to the representative or the senator. We talked to their staff people. These were good conversations. When we were in the Rayburn House Office Building, we visited Rep. Dennis Kucinich's office. We signed his guest book and we chatted with some of his staff in the reception area. All of a sudden, out came Dennis Kucinich. We had a nice talk with him. It was a delight to meet him. He gave us his business card.
Meeting Dennis Kucinich was definitely the high point of my day. He is one of the few persons in Congress who has consistently opposed all of these wars. I am grateful that he speaks out and that he doesn't compromise on issues of war and torture.
More later.

The Not-So Secret Service and Other Musings

2010-01-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

Today, I was in front of the White House with the Voices for Creative Nonviolence folks. A group had come from Minnesota to join us and to engage in a civil resistance action in front of the White House. The group had come well-prepared for the action. They brought decorated shoes and t-shirts. I was given one of the shirts. On the back, it said "Minnesotans for Peace." On the front were red handprints. They looked like bloody handprints. They could have been Lady MacBeth's handprints. She had lots of blood on her hands.
We also have lots of blood on our hands as a result of the actions of the U.S. government.
I can no longer keep track of all of the wars that the United States has fought since the end of World War II. I've never understood the point of all of those wars, probably because no one has given me an explanation that I can accept. I've heard:

We have to protect our way of life.
We are protecting our freedom.
They have weapons of mass destruction and will attack us.
They want to kill us so we'd better kill them first.

The first one doesn't make any sense whatsoever because I don't know what this way of life is supposed to be. We have homeless people but I don't think that we're fighting to protect the right of homeless people to live on the street. We have millions of people who don't have health insurance but I don't think that we're fighting to protect the right of people to go to emergency rooms because they can't find a doctor who will provide them with preventive health care. We have inadequate mass transit in much of the country but I don't think that we're fighting to protect the right of people to sit in traffic jams and not go anywhere because there are too many cars with one person in them. We have people who graduate from high school unable to read but I don't think that we're fighting to preserve illiteracy.
I could go on and on but I think that you get the idea.
All right, I'll go on to the second one. This one really annoys the heck out of me. We are fighting in (enemy country du jour) to protect our freedom. I am not sure of which freedom needs to be protected with remote control bombing (drone attack), depleted uranium, and other weapons. Oh, wait. Isn't depleted uranium a weapon of mass destruction (see excuse number three for attacking the enemy du jour)? Never mind. I'll get to that later. At any rate, this is the one that seems to be the juiciest propaganda of all of the excuses. I actually hear this nonsense in the mainstream media. This is what passes for news reporting: (Someone far too young) made the ultimate sacrifice in (name the foreign country) to protect our freedom. All too often, that can be translated to (Someone far too young) was killed when the truck that he was riding in came into contact with an roadside bomb. That someone far too young probably joined the military because he was promised money to attend college after he left the service. Or perhaps he was an illegal immigrant and he was promised citizenship, instead of deportation.
That has nothing to do with my freedom. My freedom is not protected by guns and bombs; it is protected by the U.S. Constitution. And it is not threatened by some foreign power. It is threatened by my own government. I am told where I can stand or sit when I want to criticize the government's policies. Most of those places ("free speech zones") are places where the governmental officials who need to change policies never frequent. How can I petition governmental officials for a redress of grievances if the governmental officials can't see me? So I break a few rules. I have no desire to protest just for the satisfaction of having protested. If I wanted to protest for my benefit alone, I could make a picket sign and march around my house, all by myself. But that's not what I want. I want governmental officials to know that I am waiting for the change I can believe in. I am waiting for an end to war and to torture and to secret CIA prisons.
I speak out and I write my viewpoints, as I am doing now, and I don't give the military permission to kill in the name of my "freedom." I'll protect my own freedom, thank you.
How about the third excuse: They have weapons of mass destruction and will attack us. Has anyone noticed that we have more weapons of mass destruction than any of our "enemies"? We have nuclear weapons and depleted uranium and who knows what other types of weapons of mass destruction. We could kill every man, woman, and child on the earth several times over. We have so much weaponry that I can remember thinking, as a little girl, I will not live to be an adult. We will have a nuclear war and everything will be taken away by a huge mushroom cloud of death.
Of course, Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were fictitious so we don't hear that one any more about Iraq.
Ahh, but Iran has a nuclear program.
Darn! We can't put out the fires fast enough. Of course, when you're trying to put out fire with fire, you might get a few flames.
So. The last excuse that I can think of. We've got to kill them before they kill us. That seems to be applied to "terrorists." Terrorists are people who target civilian populations. I could mention the drone attacks that killed civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan, except that it was "us" that did that act of terrorism. Ooops. Did I just call the U.S. government a terrorist?
Never mind.
So, back to the original topic. The protest against the war that's supposed to protect our freedom to do something or not do something but I don't know what. Yes, we wore shirts with bloody handprints. We symbolically threw shoes at the occupation. Then we sang and marched around in circles on the sidewalk in front of the White House. People started lying down for the die in. They lay on the cold hard cement to represent the war dead, both military and civilian. But that was a problem for the police. They have deemed that an illegal protest. We can protest in that "picture postcard zone" all we want, as long as we keep moving. We just can't have any stationary protests. The government is probably trying to ensure that we get our exercise when we protest. Um. Maybe. If we stand still or lie down, we get arrested for having a stationary protest. I guess that it's not freedom of speech or assembly that we're fighting these wars to protect because I've been arrested twelve times for trying to exercise these rights where someone can see me, not in a "free speech zone" for the benefit of other protesters or for no one at all.
As I was marching, I noticed that the cops had started putting crime scene tape up. Uh oh. Was I going to be arrested by accident. The cops then gave a warning and I skedaddled. Fast. Apparently, that was the cops' second warning. They give three warnings before they start telling us that we're in violation of some ordinance prohibiting free speech and that we are about to be arrested for unlawfully exercising our first amendment rights, which apparently are only symbolic and not real but seem to be worthy of sending our young men and women to be killed.
Once I got to the non-arrest side of the yellow crime scene tape, I resumed singing but not marching in circles. I waved to the White House but doubt that President Obama was looking out the window. He's too busy increasing the defense budget and sending more troops to Afghanistan. I wish that he wouldn't do that. Would he listen to me? I'd like to think that he would. He used to be a community organizer. Well, now he is the community organizer in chief and I am part of his community so I'd appreciate having a minute with him to express my concerns.
But, instead of talking to the president, I talked to police. I noticed this one cop was a member of the uniformed secret service. He had the word secret printed really big on his shoulder patch. The word secret was also printed really big on the police car. I had to ask so I did. If I can't ask the president about the war, at least, I could get some of my questions answered. And one of them was if the word secret is printed all over the place and the secret service police officer is in uniform, how is it a secret? The officer just started giggling. Another police officer laughed when I told him that I had been arrested three times in front of the White House.
These exchanges make me happy and give me home. The experience is never a protester vs. police sort of thing. I have never once protested against police. They don't set policy. They are put there to keep me separated from the people who do set policy.
It's the government that creates the us vs. them policy, who tells us that we have to kill the "enemy" so that "the enemy" doesn't kill us.
I was thinking about all of this outside on Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of the White House. I was thinking about the oil that we lust after and all of the other natural resources that we lust after. Of course, we don't fight wars for oil. Do we?
We sang "courage brother, you do not walk alone, we will walk with you and sing your spirit home..." and then we sang "courage sister, you do not walk alone, we will walk with you and sing your spirit home" to the thirteen folks participating in the die in as they were tied up with plastic handcuffs and taken to be patted down before being put in the police wagon.
At this moment, the group of them is in Washington, D.C.'s Central Cell Block. It is a holding facility... two to a little cage... um, cell... the walls are metal, the bed is metal, the toilet and sink are metal... the only food and beverages that are offered are one bologna sandwich and one plastic cheese sandwich (both with mayonnaise) and bug juice. No water. Just bug juice. It's very hot. You feel like a rotisserie chicken when you're in there. Yes, I was in there last week for a different protest. I'll write about that protest later. Central Cell Block is an experience that's not exactly on the official Washington, D.C., tour. It's not so terrible. We survive.
But those wars are a different story. Many people don't survive.
Maybe, if we protest enough, we'll get the attention of someone in government and we can tell that someone that too many people are being killed for... um... I don't know. People I know keep telling me to stop protesting, that no one will listen to my criticisms.
I don't think that I can do that. I can't stop protesting because no one is listening but I could stop protesting because someone is listening and is implementing changes. That's all I want: to be heard, to feel as if I really do live in the democracy that the media keeps claiming I live in.
I've learned a lot lately. I've learned about the mystery of the secret service not being very secret and I've learned about pretending to be on a great adventure in a submarine when you're spending the night in Central Cell Block because it really does look like a submarine but I still can't figure out why we are having these wars and letting our talented young people and the talented people of Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan get killed for nothing at all. I don't understand that and I don't accept that.
So that's it for today. My musings about the not-so-secret service and war and lies and free speech that isn't all that free after all...

My second day in the nation's capital

2010-01-20T22:47:00.000-05:00

When I was in college, I was a political science major. I truly felt that I could work within the system and help to effect long-lasting change. I spent a semester here in a Washington semester program. I was a part-time intern in the office of Rep. Dan Marriott of Utah. He was a conservative Republican. I was not. I had to write letters to constituents on his behalf. I simply wrote the opposite of my own position. I startled myself by how persuasive I could be at disagreeing with myself.
Unfortunately, after I graduated, I could not find a job on Capitol Hill.
Despite being shut out of the system, I still believed that the system could work.
Over the years, however, I have learned otherwise.
I met torture survivors and found out that my government had been responsible for training the military personnel who carried out the torture. I learned that my government had given these military personnel training on the most advanced weaponry that they then used on their own people.
I started becoming very disillusioned with my government.
How could this happen?
We have a constitution. We have laws. Americans helped to write all sorts of human rights legislation.
How could our government get so much out of control?
In 2002, the government that I had once believed in opened a prison for "enemy combatants" in Guantanamo. Everything about it was secret. I wondered what was going on.
In 2003, President George W. Bush got us into a war after telling us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And, for the most part, Americans believed him. Even members of Congress believed him.
I was absolutely sure that President Bush was lying.
I wanted to emigrate.
I didn't want to live in a country with a president who lied. I didn't want to live under a government that was accused of torturing "enemy combatants" who didn't even get the same privileges as "prisoners of war."
I didn't understand how our country, supposedly the best and most civilized in the world, could stoop to torture. After all, we have computers. We are technologically advanced. Therefore, we must be civilized.
Well, no.
Today, when I was standing in an orange jumpsuit and a black hood in front of the Hart Senate Office Building, I thought about these things. We have technology but it does not make us civilized. In fact, it makes us even less civilized. As an example, we can bomb people by remote control (drone bombing). Is that the action of a civilized people?
Today, I learned that three detainees at Guantanamo, who were said to have committed suicide while in detention, were placed in a secret CIA prison within Guantanamo and were allegedly tortured to death. They died, said Joe Hickman, who had been a sergeant of the guard at Guantanamo in 2006 because they were tortured to death. Rags were stuffed down their throat and they died.
I would like to think that the system would work and that these horrendous deaths will be investigated and the culprits punished appropriately.
But I am not sure that I have enough faith left in the system to believe that it will do the right thing.
So, tomorrow, I will be outside with people from Witness Against Torture and Voices for Creative Nonviolence's Peaceable Assembly Campaign to dramatize to the government that it is time for it and for all of us to be accountable for our actions.
I hope that someone will listen and that the names of those three men -- Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani -- are not forgotten.
That is why I will be outside tomorrow, to remind those in government who still believe that the system can work to please, please... make that system work.

Day One in Washington, D.C.

2010-01-19T22:24:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Washington, D.C., today after traveling by plane, bus, and train. I settled in at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house, which will be my home for the next two weeks. At about 4:30 p.m., I hopped on the Metro and headed to the White House. As I walked to the White House from the Metro station, the sun started to set. At the White House, I joined the Witness Against Torture group, who were holding vigil. Most of them were dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods. Some of them held up signs demanding that Guantanamo and Bagram be closed immediately. Others carried a huge banner that called for the closing of Guantanamo. Unfortunately, Guantanamo is still open, despite President Barack Obama's promise to close it within a year. That promise was made last year.

I stood with Sister Ichikawa, a Buddhist nun, who comes to many of these events. She has a drum, which she beats rhythmically. I joined in the chanting of "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo" with her and with the others standing in front of the White House. I also stood with Buddy Bell, who was part of the Walk for Peace last summer in Wisconsin. That was the 22-mile walk from Camp Douglas to Fort McCoy from August 7th through the 9th. It was a wet walk. That was the one where nine of us were arrested for "crossing the line" at Fort McCoy. Four of us "repeat crossers" were taken ninety miles away to the Dane County Jail in Madison. Strangely enough, Fort McCoy issued a federal hold, despite the fact that all four of us were civilians. I was told that the military cannot issue a hold against civilians. We were held overnight and released the next day, without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. To this day, there are no pending charges against any of the nine of us who "crossed the line."

But that was five months ago.

So today, I am in Washington, D.C., with the orange jumpsuit crew.

News media people came to photograph and interview people in orange jumpsuits.

At about 6:15 p.m., Sister Ichikawa and I followed the group in jumpsuits as they marched down the street in single file. It was a silent procession. The only person who spoke was Carmen Trotta, a Catholic Worker from New York City, who played the role of the guard. He issued the command to the "detainees" to march or to stop and stand still. He also handed out the signs for them to hold up.

The orange jumpsuit vigil and parade was a very striking display under the street lights. The plethora of lights that make the White House glow in the dark also added to the dramatic effect of the group in orange jumpsuits.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Alice's beautiful white world

2010-01-06T15:05:00.002-05:00

For about a week, the weather was atrocious. It snowed nonstop and the temperature barely made it out of the single digits. Add to that a wind and walking becomes a hazardous activity, especially to fingers and noses and other extremities. As my fondness for my fingers, toes, and nose is well known, I had to make the sad decision to stay indoors and not go out for walks. Thus, I was stuck inside, venturing out only when I got rides to church and to the Golden Age Center to sing with the Grand Island Community Chorus for the inauguration of four elected town officials and to Heritage Manor in Niagara Falls to sing in a concert for the residents with the Rainbow Singers. Fortunately, the temperature didn't exactly skyrocket, but it did get a bit warmer and the wind died down, so I was able to venture out yesterday with my camera in hand. I went out today, but without the camera. The walking experience was good. There was a lot of light, fluffy snow everywhere but no ice, so walking was perfectly safe.
Yesterday, I walked along the Niagara River and truly had a good time with photography. Some of the pictures are posted below. The photograph above is of a lady named Ruth. She has a big old house near the river. She was a good sport about me being a shutterbug and putting her in these poses with her Christmas decorations. The decorations will come down very soon. They are cheerful and colorful in a season that lacks much color and light. Ruth too is a delight.
I hope that you enjoy my white world... cold... but so pretty!

More winter wonderland photos

2010-01-06T15:03:00.002-05:00

Winter wonderland photos

2010-01-06T14:50:00.002-05:00

Mmm, grapefruit

2010-01-06T14:38:00.004-05:00

Would you believe that I cut open a grapefruit and found this lovely pattern? No? I didn't think so. Can you tell that my journalism career has bitten the dust and that I am entertaining myself by doing this to grapefruits and then by photographing them before they're polished off?
Hee hee. At least, I'm not creating mischief.
Not yet...
There's plenty of time for that...

2009-12-26T13:22:00.002-05:00

The winter solstice is almost here. After next week, the days will start getting longer again.
But, for now, it is dark for many hours a day. In other words, it’s good story telling weather. So… here are some stories from my 2009 experience that I’d like to share:
Yet Another Anniversary of the Afghanistan War: Early October marked the eighth anniversary of the (seemingly endless) Afghanistan war. Along with many others, I went to Washington, D.C., to mark the sad occasion. On October 5th, a collection of anti-war groups got together to dramatize the point that it’s past time for the war to end. We started at the Supreme Court building, which was already abuzz with excitement over the debut of the newest Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor. We had people, dressed up in striped jailbird costumes and big heads, giving out “Team Torture” cards. The big heads sported the faces of Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, and other infamous folks. I was among the group that was fashionably attired in orange jumpsuits and black hoods (well, fashionable for Guantanamo, anyway). Eventually, we marched in an orange jumpsuit parade to Pennsylvania Avenue, where, to the chagrin of the U.S. Parks Police, some people managed to chain themselves to the White House fence. Since we refused to vacate the sidewalk when invited to do so, approximately 60 of us were arrested and charged with violating a lawful police order. A few weeks later, a judge in the Washington, D.C., Superior Court dismissed all charges. Unfortunately, the war didn’t come to as swift a conclusion as the legal charges.
Ghost Hunters on Grand Island: On October 24th, I observed the Western New York Ghost Hunters do a paranormal investigation at River Lea, the headquarters of the Grand Island Historical Society. This house was built in the nineteenth century, either by Lewis F. Allen or his son, W. Cleveland Allen (I’ve heard both names mentioned as the house’s builder). Lewis F. Allen, for whom Allen Street and the Allentown neighborhood in Buffalo were named, bought a good chunk of the southern end of Grand Island, and he established a 600-acre experimental farm there called Allenton Farms. His experiments mainly involved dairy cows, pigs, and orchards. Allen also found time to encourage the growth of elm trees in Buffalo, own a cemetery at Delaware and North streets in Buffalo, help establish a county fair in Erie County, and serve on the state legislature. His son, W. Cleveland Allen, served as Grand Island’s first postmaster general. Another well-known member of the family was Grover Cleveland, the only person in U.S. history to serve two non-consecutive terms as president. Lewis F. Allen was his uncle. Cleveland apparently spent summers at the house and he also helped his uncle on the farm.
Many years later, in the early 1960s, the state, which had purchased much of the southern tip of Grand Island to become Beaver Island State Park, was getting ready to tear down the then-decrepit River Lea. But, because of the house’s connection to a U.S. president and because of the efforts of the newly formed Grand Island Historical Society, the house was saved.
So, the house has quite a history. But… does it also host ghosts? The Ghost Hunters used all sorts of technology in their effort to locate the ghosts. They also used their intuition and sensitivity to spirits. Some of the furnishings seem to emit bad energies, said Spiritualist Minister Tim Shaw, who led the Ghost Hunter team. He called out to the servants who had lived in the room that is now the kitchen and to a little girl named May outside on a path and in the living room. I don’t know if any ghost answered…
Tree Planting: On November 7th, I went to Veterans Park to help with the tree planting. This time, we planted twenty trees. It was a beautiful and sunshiny day for tree planting. As you can see from the condition of my boot (pictured above), it was also a very muddy day. Having to move all of that heavy, sticky mud with a shovel made tree planting into quite the aerobic exercise! Grand Island is well known for its clay soil. As I was shoveling mud on top of the tree root, I was thinking about all of the nice pottery I could design from that clay! Not being a potter seemed like only a minor impediment to this plot that I was hatching.
Nevertheless, the trees got planted quickly. A good number of the volunteers who came to Veterans Park were well experienced in the art of tree planting. We have been well trained in our new skill by Rochelle Smith, who is a certified arborist and a horticulture instructor at Genesee Community College. Each time we plant, we learn something new about both planting and caring for trees.
The new thing that we learned this time is that the trunks of new trees have to be wrapped. We wrapped our new trees in cardboard. The reason for this is that, when the deer come out in the spring, they have the urge to get rid of all of that velvety stuff that grows on their antlers during the winter. The way that they do that is by rubbing their antlers on trees. Unfortunately, some of the trees that they choose are delicate baby trees. This action causes the trees to be stripped of their bark. As a result, the baby trees die. Rochelle said that we learned about this problem through experience. Some of our trees died for that reason. So we have learned to wrap the trees to protect the bark.
Music and Art: I’ve enjoyed watercolor painting this year so much that I wanted to share my paintings with you! The picture on the card that accompanies this newsletter is one of the paintings that I made this year. This is my gift to you! As for music, I am now singing in three choral groups: one church choir, the Grand Island Community Chorus, and the Rainbow Singers in Niagara Falls.
And, last but not least, you: Thank you for being part of my world. I hope that your 2010 is a beautiful and joyous one. I am still the eternal optimist, believing that, if we work hard and make enough sacrifices for peace, we can achieve it.
Please have a happy and blessed Christmas, Hanukkah (which has already started), Kwanzaa, and New Year.
love and hugs from Alice

Trees and flowers

2009-12-02T18:58:00.002-05:00

It has been a glorious autumn. I've been out walking and taking pictures of flowers that have hung on to their beauty well into October and even November. It is such a treat to have color and light at a time of year when nighttime is getting longer and longer and daytime seems as if it is retreating.
On the seventh of November, I went to Veterans Park to help with the tree planting. This time, we planted twenty trees. It was a beautiful and sunshiny day for tree planting. As you can see from the condition of my boot (pictured above), it was also a very muddy day. Having to move all of that mud with a shovel made tree planting into quite the aerobic exercise! The mud was heavy and sticky! Grand Island is well known for its clay soil. As I was shoveling mud on top of the tree root, I was thinking about all of the nice pottery I could design from that clay! Not being a potter seemed like only a minor impediment to this plot that I was hatching.
Nevertheless, the trees got planted quickly. A good number of the volunteers who came to Veterans Park were well experienced in the art of tree planting. We have been well trained in our new skill by Rochelle Smith, who is a certified arborist and a horticulture instructor at Genesee Community College. Each time we plant, we learn something new about both planting and caring for trees.
The new thing that we learned this time is that the trunks of new trees have to be wrapped. We wrapped our new trees in cardboard. The reason for this is that, when the deer come out in the spring, they have the urge to get rid of all of that velvety stuff that grows on their antlers during the winter. The way that they do that is by rubbing their antlers on trees. Unfortunately, some of the trees that they choose are delicate baby trees. This action causes the trees to be stripped of their bark. As a result, the baby trees die. Rochelle said that we learned about this problem through experience. Some of our trees died for that reason. So we have learned to wrap the trees to protect the bark.
Rochelle also told me that we planted both flowering trees and shade trees. The plan is for Veterans Park to have shady areas for people who sit down and watch the Little League baseball games. Also, having a whole bunch of trees planted closely together will mean less lawn mowing for the people who work at the park.
More trees will make the park prettier and they are good for the environment, too!
The next tree planting will be in early May and I'll have more tree stories and pictures then.

Celebrating the Library

2009-10-27T12:39:00.004-04:00

The Grand Island Memorial Library celebrated twenty years at its location on Bedell Road with a week-long series of programs that included a Big Read book discussion of The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a horticultural presentation by the Cinderella Isle Garden Club, and an open house with guest performer Nan Hoffman.
Before the library was located on Bedell Road, it was housed in a single room in Town Hall.
Although the current library is not among the larger libraries in the Buffalo & Erie County library system, it is a good facility, with a large room housing the stacks and a separate meeting room. In the meeting room, there is a rotating art display. Library staff have established a collaboration with the schools on Grand Island. Art teachers from the all of the schools on Grand Island send their students' work to be displayed in the meeting room. These exhibits are changed regularly to give more young artists the chance to have their work displayed in a public venue.
I went to two of the events that were held at the library: the book discussion and the open house. The book discussion was led by Liz Engl. She is the moderator of a book club that meets monthly. She gave some background information about the book and about F. Scott Fitzgerald. The author, like the narrator of The Great Gatsby, came from Minnesota and moved to New York. He fell in love with a charming young woman, Zelda Sayre, who would not marry him until he had some financial success. He did have success and he did marry her. Liz noted that there were elements of several characters of the book that seemed to resemble the author. It could be said that Fitzgerald projected parts of himself and his life into a variety of characters.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's life, unfortunately, was full of tragedy. His wife developed a severe mental illness and he became an alcoholic. He died of a heart attack at the age of 44. When he died, he left behind an incomplete manuscript. The book in progress was titled The Last Tycoon.
Discussion during the hour-long session centered on the shallowness of the characters and of the fruitless attempts of the title character, Jay Gatsby, to reclaim lost love. Before he had gone to war, he had been in love with a young lady named Daisy. She told him that she would not marry him until he had made some money and could support him in the style to which she'd like to become accustomed. She sort-of promised to wait for him to come home from the war. When Gatsby returned, he found her married. He never stopped pining for her and he threw all sorts of parties. He vainly hoped that he could win her back but it was not meant to be.
The book read like a stage play, with lots of dialogue and very visual descriptions of the scenery.
It was an interesting story and well written but I can't honestly say that it was one of my favorite pieces of writing. I wouldn't say it was as bad as a friend described it, however. He described the book as a yawner that you have to read in high school.
OK. Onto the open house. That was well attended. State Assemblymember Sam Hoyt offered the library a proclamation. Board of Trustees president Agnes Becker spoke, as did Friends of the Library president Mary Cooke, who described the annual book sales and book cart as "Grand Island's greatest recycling program." Also, people won door prizes, which included gift cards to Barnes & Noble and floral arrangements from the Cinderella Isle Garden Club. Island resident Nan Hoffman, who described herself as a "story singer," rather than a "story teller," sang a bunch of folk songs and she encouraged the audience to sing along with her. She also had a bunch of dancing wooden marionettes. With some deft hand movements, she got the marionettes to dance on a wooden board. Thus the marionettes had become a rhythm instrument.
All in all, the open house was great fun and, of course, cake and cider were served.
Photographs: some of the floral arrangements, the cake, and the reading of the proclamation (from left: Barbara Birt (member of the library's board of trustees), Agnes Becker, Sam Hoyt, and Library Director Lynn Konovitz.

The Sun Came Out!

2009-10-26T22:30:00.004-04:00

Today was too beautiful a day to spend in the house so off I went for my walk. I made a beeline for Buckhorn Island State Park, which is a restored wetland and a bird sanctuary and a very important bird area. It's no ordinary bird area. It is Very Important. There are no modern amenities at this park, unlike at Beaver Island State Park, where there is a casino (not the gambling kind, but it's still called a "casino"), a golf course, a boardwalk, a beach, restroom facilities, and a 19th century house. At Buckhorn Island State Park, there are cute little snakes, a canoe launch, a place for people to fish, and good spots for birdwatching. Also, there's a bike path that goes partway through the park and a hiking trail that leads you over the bridge from which people like to fish under the bridge that will take you to Niagara Falls to a narrow peninsula that will take you partway across the Niagara River. At the end of the peninsula, at some times of the year (mostly in early to mid spring), you can find hordes of birds congregating. They also flock to a small island nearby. The birds mate there, lay their eggs there, and raise their babies there. And then they fly away, once the babies are old enough to fly.
Today, there were no birds. They must have already flown away. While I was in the park, though, I met and walked with a couple named Terry and Tammy. I had met them a few years ago, on a summer day, when I was walking to Beaver Island State Park. They have a beautiful garden that I wanted to photograph. Today, like me, Terry and Tammy were out, enjoying the beautiful weather.
When we left the park, Terry and Tammy got into their bright yellow car and drove away! Their car looked as sunny as the sky.
I took pictures of the bridge as seen from the peninsula, Terry and Tammy standing close to their yellow car, and some Halloween displays.

Alice the Cowgirl

2009-10-26T22:11:00.003-04:00

It's always fun to pretend to be something or somewhat that you're not. On September 25th, I got to pretend to be a cowgirl. I dressed up in as much of a cowgirl getup as I could put together for the "Hoe Down" at the Whitehaven Road Baptist Church. My friend Rhonda lent me the hat and the bandanna for the occasion. Everyone at the event got to eat a Wild West meal, which, fortunately for me, wasn't especially hot and spicy. The highlight of the evening was the line dancing instruction. It was loads of fun and good exercise.

National Portrait Gallery

2009-10-13T21:03:00.002-04:00

The National Portrait Gallery is a fantastic museum! I had to wait for a long time to visit it, however. I walked past the building in 2005 and 2006, feeling a bit sad that it was closed. When I came to Washington, D.C., in May of 2008, I was thrilled to discover that the National Portrait Gallery was open for visitors. I spent a few hours wandering around the museum and then discovered that I could go to a free drawing class!
I returned to the National Portrait Gallery on October 3rd. While I was there, I wandered over to the folk art exhibit. A wide variety of subjects in a myriad of mediums was on display. The subjects included Navajo people, fish, animals, Coca Cola, and religion, among other subjects. There were paintings done in a primitive style (the perspective was off, which made pathways in the woods appear as if they were headed up to the sky), quilts, dolls, articles of clothing, and wood carvings. One of the more interesting displays was objects that Greg Warmach (known as Mr. Imagination) made from such cast-off items as bottle caps, mirrors, and wood.
My next stop was the 1933-1934 Public Works of Art Project display. I learned that, during these two years, 3,749 artists created 15,663 paintings, murals, sculptures, prints, drawings, and craft works. The suggested subject matter was the vague "American scene." This project was immediately followed by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project.
The paintings that I saw in this exhibit were beautiful views of people, places, and things in many parts of the United States, from New York City to New Mexico. The things being portrayed included street scenes, portraits, animals, farms, workplaces, and sports. Certainly, the poverty of the time was presented in a realistic style. There were pictures of abandoned farms and people in tenements. There were paintings of the beautiful (animals, skylines, etc.) and the ugly (coal mines don't look so beautiful to me). The saddest story for me was Earle Richardson's. He was one of just a few African-American painters who participated in the project. He painted a scene of African-Americans harvesting cotton, titled "Employment of Negroes in Agriculture." When he made the painting in 1934, he was just 22 years old. One year later and far too young, he died.
After going through the 1933-34 exhibit, I then joined a docent tour and viewed the presidential portraits. I saw various portraits of George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln. I learned from the guide, Randall, that the third floor of the National Portrait Gallery had been the site of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural ball. Today, there is only one piece of the original neo-renaissance tile left. All of the rest are reproductions. I also learned that, by the 1950s, the building was decayed and was almost torn down and replaced by a parking garage! Horrors! President Eisenhower, however, intervened when he saw the magnificent stairway, and the building was saved. In 2000, the building was once again closed for restoration and was reopened in 2006.
Randall said, "You can explore American history through portraits."
We saw portraits of such famous people as Pocahontas, Marilyn Monroe, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Sequoya, Isaac Singer, John Brown, and Barack Obama. One of the more interesting paintings was a self portrait by Alice Neel, done in 1980. She painted herself as a nude, and she didn't hide the fact that she was old and heavy!
I am already looking forward to my next visit to the National Portrait Gallery!

summer flowers

2009-08-21T12:20:00.002-04:00

I have truly enjoyed this summer. Although, at times, the rain seemed a bit excessive and the temperatures a bit on the low side, there have been many good things. As of late August this year, the lawns are still a beautiful shade of green. My little garden is growing and glowing beautiful colors. Here are just a few of the flowers that I have seen on my walks that have delighted me with their shapes and colors.

crochet projects

2009-08-21T12:04:00.003-04:00

Here are pictures of some of the crochet projects that I have worked on this summer... the bag to hold gym clothes, the pillow, and a small afghan. The gym bag and the pillow were gifts to family members, and the afghan was donated to the church that I've been attending, where it was sold at the church's annual fundraiser, a chicken barbecue and silent auction.

Returning to Wisconsin

2009-08-19T21:03:00.005-04:00

(note: the photograph with the Smokey's birthday cake is of, from left to right, Joy, Jennifer, and Buddy.)

On August 5th, I arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, to join a peace walk from Camp Douglas to Fort McCoy, about 22 miles. The plan was to walk for three days, from August 7th until August 9th. The walk, titled simply "Walk for Peace," was organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a Chicago-based group that had organized last year's "Witness Against War" walk from Chicago to Saint Paul.
Although this year's 22-mile walk didn't quite as big an adventure as last year's seven-week-long, 500-mile trek, I was looking forward to participating in it. I especially looked forward to another visit to Tomah, Wisconsin, the boyhood hometown of Frank King, the artist who created the comic strip "Gasoline Alley." I also looked forward to a reunion with friends that I had made on last year's walk. I was excited about walking with a group again. Although I walk nearly every day here at home, I generally tend to walk on my own. It can be hard to find walking companions for long adventures. And, of course, I was looking forward to another visit to Fort McCoy.
My first trip to Fort McCoy resulted in my failure to achieve my goal. I had gone there, hoping to meet with members of the Wisconsin National Guard. I wanted to give them copies of the letter that I was carrying. One of the main points of the letter was that the federal authorization to deploy the National Guard overseas had expired. The authorization was given by Congress to the president in the War Powers Act of 2002. The legislation was subject to the sunset provision, and it was not renewed. Hence, there was no legal authorization for deployment.
Despite that, the 32nd Red Arrow Brigade Combat Team of the Wisconsin National Guard was deployed to Iraq this year. It was the largest call-up of Wisconsin National Guard since World War II.
So, last year, before the big deployment, thirteen of us tried to walk onto the grounds of Fort McCoy, to talk to the soldiers and to let them know that they had options. This is something that their commanding officers should have told them but probably didn't. We also had an important phone number for them: 877.447.4487. This is the number of the GI hotline. People are there who can talk to members of the military about options that they might have to deployment. One of those options is to apply for conscientious objector status. There are many other options to deployment that members of the military can pursue.
Many members of the National Guard have been sent on repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. This is very difficult for their families. I met one woman during the Witness Against War walk who said to me that her son was on his fifth deployment.
"I just want him to come home," she said.
And, once the soldiers are demobilized and return home, they still have a lot to deal with. Many suffer with post traumatic stress disorder. Some are left with physical disabilities or with traumatic brain injuries.
For some information on a creative way of telling the stories of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, take a look at the Winter Soldier presentations at the Iraq Veterans Against the War website (http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier.)
Unfortunately, our group of thirteen was arrested before we could meet any soldiers. The police confiscated my stack of letters, and I never saw them again!
On the last day of the walk, a group of about 50 arrived once again at the gates of Fort McCoy. This time, I had no expectation of meeting with soldiers. But I still brought with me cards that gave information about the GI hotline (it's always best to be prepared for the unexpected). Nine of us crossed the street and walked to the Fort McCoy gate with the same result. We were met by cops, not soldiers. We were arrested and processed and four of us, who were called "repeat offenders," were delivered to the Dane County Jail in Madison, where we spent a night. We were released the next day. The other five members of our group were issued citations and were immediately released.
So... before I got tossed into the clink, I did have fun in Wisconsin. I saw the Tomah Historical Society Museum and received a personal tour from the lady at the desk. She showed me the exhibits of Frank King's cartoons and charcoal drawings. They were really quite impressive. Frank King was very skilled in his use of pen and ink and charcoal. His pictures were very detailed. "Gasoline Alley" was a very famous comic strip because it was the first (or at least one of the first) in which the characters grew older, just like real people.
I also had fun at the Mill Bluff state park, where we camped for three days. I learned how to tend the campfire, adding logs or paper or sticks to make the fire bigger and to give it more air. And I was lucky enough to be at the Mill Bluff State Park on Smokey Bear's 65th birthday. I had always thought that his name was Smokey The Bear. But I found out that wasn't quite accurate. The word "the" was added in 1952 by songwriters Steve Nelson and Jack Rollin. The purpose of adding the extra word was to fit in with the rhythm of the song. Of course, everyone was confused and thought that Smokey The Bear was the bear's name. The National Park Service has been engaged in a (losing) campaign to educate the public about Smokey's real name for more than 50 years. Anyway, the birthday party was fun. It was attended mostly by a Boy Scout troop that was camping out at the park. There were a few grownups there, as well. We got to eat birthday cake and to have our pictures taken with Smokey Bear. He didn't stay very long and he didn't eat any cake. Everyone got party favors. I got a ruler with the words: "A rule to prevent forest fires... 'Smokey's friends don't play with matches.'"
On a more somber note, we also had a vigil during the evening of August 6th to remember the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. The vigil was held at the park, in a large shelter. It was organized by a group from LaCrosse. The stories were very horrifying and sad. The fires that these bombs created were massive, and many people died.
Oh boy.
We can't use that sort of weapon, ever again.
We need to pressure our government to dismantle all of them. We need to pressure all governments to dismantle all of their nuclear weapons.
Remember.
Smokey's friends don't play with matches.
And they don't kill people with atomic bombs.

Virginia adventure

2009-08-17T15:43:00.003-04:00

On July 30th, my sisters Vivian and Diane and my nephew Jamie and I got into Vivian's car and headed southeast, toward Suffolk, Virginia. Suffolk is not far from Norfolk and from Virginia Beach. I enjoyed my trip. Just watching the road signs was fascinating. It is like seeing little pieces of history! We passed many sites of civil war battles, such as Manassas and Yorktown. We passed Colonial Williamsburg. Unfortunately, we had little time for tourist fun so we didn't get to visit Colonial Williamsburg or Jamestown or any of the many historic sites in the area.
One place that I did get to visit was Virginia Beach. I went there with my nephew's dad, Dan, my nephew's paternal grandmother, Barb, my other nephew, Jamie, and his mom, (my sister) Diane. It was a hot, windy day, and the sand was blowing in our faces. Having sand in my eyes isn't really my most favorite thing but, still, it was fun to be on a beach and looking at the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean. The area was quite touristy, with big hotels and other such gimmicks but there was plenty to see, such as the statue of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.
I walked along the boardwalk, which really wasn't made of boards but of cement, and I cooled off by standing underneath outdoor showers. I got me and my clothes nice and wet but, within minutes, I was dry again.
All in all, it was a fun time in the sun.

wedding!

2009-08-17T14:43:00.002-04:00

My nephew Devin and his girlfriend Chrisha were married on July 31st in Suffolk, Virginia. A beautiful wedding ceremony was held at Beech Grove United Methodist Church. The bridesmaids were all dressed in Chrisha's favorite colors, blue and green.
After Devin and Chrisha were pronounced husband and wife, the entire bridal party danced out of the church, just like in that famous U tube video that made the national news on what must have been an incredibly slow news day!
Oh, to be lucky enough to time your antics to occur on an incredibly slow news day!
The happy couple are now sailing in the Caribbean (away from the highly unromantic hurricanes)...

Relay for Life

2009-06-01T16:24:00.003-04:00

The annual Relay for Life event will be held here on Grand Island on June 5th. Relay for Life is a big fund raiser for the American Cancer Society... with BIG being the operative word. The event lasts all night, on the track behind the high school! Wow. This is my first time to attend Relay for Life. It just happens that, this year, people will be enrolled for the Cancer Prevention Survey - 3. It is a longitudinal survey, and the American Cancer Society is looking for people between the ages of 30 and 65 who have never been diagnosed with cancer to participate in this survey. When you are enrolled to participate in the survey, you have to provide a blood sample (a phlebotomist will be available to relieve you of some of your blood) and a waist measurement. You'll do some paperwork there and then, later, you'll receive a longer survey to answer at home and mail in. I believe that there will be surveys to fill in on a regular basis. The goal, according the American Cancer Society website, is to "help researchers better identify the lifestyle, environmental, and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer." The American Cancer Society also makes this request: "Please spread the word and visit the Cancer Prevention Study-3 website for more information about how to participate in research today for a cancer free tomorrow!"
The pictures here were taken at a fund raiser held prior to Relay for Life at the Knights of Columbus on Whitehaven Road in Grand Island. At the event, people enjoyed food and they could buy crafts, stuffed animals, and used books. Face painting was also available. People who came even got to listen to oldies, both recorded and presented by an emcee/singer, and they could dance! It was a fun way to raise money for cancer research!

the history of aprons

2009-04-22T12:41:00.002-04:00

Every year, a different clothing item is displayed at the Grand Island Historical Society's Victorian Tea Party. Last year, the item selected were hats. and everyone attending the tea party was asked to complete their fashion statement with a hat. This year, people were invited to lend aprons to the show. A number of these aprons were put outside on a laundry line, where they fluttered in the wind. I'm not sure how the items in the laundry basket stayed together and didn't fly away.
After the tea party inside River Lea, Maggie Gushue narrated the fashion show. It featured all sorts of aprons, from the simplest to the fanciest. The simplest aprons were feed bags with a string attached so that they could be tied around someone's waist. That was probably a good thing to have for an apron, especially for people who lived on farms, where they were cooking large quantities of food, washing clothes by hand, and doing other things that had great mess potential. It was important for them to keep their clothes clean. First of all, they didn't have very many articles of clothing. Second of all, since doing laundry was such difficult work, they didn't do it very often. So they had simple aprons to protect their clothing.
Another very simple apron design would not have done much of anything, not even protected clothing. It was nothing but a piece of gauze!
Other aprons were more intricate. Some of them were embroidered or crocheted. Some of the aprons had holiday themes. These were very fashionable aprons but they were too lovely to risk getting covered with grease or bits of food. They were truly photo op aprons.
Apparently, at some point in the mid to late 20th century, aprons sort of went out of favor. Of course, you don't really need to wear an apron to warm stuff up in a microwave oven!
I'm sure, though, that plenty of people still wear aprons when they are cooking or washing the dishes. I know that, if I don't wear an apron when I wash dishes, that I risk taking a bath!!!
Maggie also displayed some of her mother's aprons and some aprons made for small children who liked "helping" their moms in the kitchen.

2009-04-22T12:05:00.003-04:00

On April 19th, I got to have the fun of dressing up and going to the Grand Island Historical Society's annual Victorian Tea, held in River Lea. My companion for the fun event was Julie. We belong to the same book club, and we had gone to a tea party for two book clubs at Serenitea, a cute little tea shop located on Grand Island Boulevard.
As you can see from the pictures, we ate "finger sandwiches," drank tea, and ate yummy desserts. Since I have been fairly good about consuming cholesterol-laden goodies, these desserts were a special treat for me, not an every day event. For that reason, I consumed them very slowly (to make them last much longer!!!)
We were served our tea in bone china tea cups by volunteer servers dressed like Victorian servants. One of the "Victorian servants" was Mary Cooke, a member of the historical society and of the Grand Island Town Board.
All provided delicious tea, a special blend called "Maisie's tea," and smiles.

water, water everywhere...

2008-12-30T21:47:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago, it start snowing, and the snow just kept on falling. Of course, it happened on a weekend, and I had to go to choir practice on Sunday morning. So I walked the approximately two miles to get to church. It was a real adventure in walking. I walked on the very snowing shoulder of the road because the town that I live in is not especially blessed with sidewalks. The few sidewalks that exist were pretty snow covered, anyway. I never go anywhere without a camera so I got some interesting (and not very colorful) views of my world, buried in snow.
Anyway, walking through the snow felt sort of like walking through sand (cold sand!) on a beach. It was an aerobic workout, to be sure. After church was over, my friend said that she and her husband were going to drive me home and not drop me off at the bike path, which is where I usually go. I said that the bike path was buried under snow.
A few days later, it started to rain... and on one wild and windy day, the temperature hit 60 degrees! That was rather bizarre after the deluge of snow.
The snow is gone and has been replaced by... water! Lots and lots of water! I've been walking outside every day (except on the wild and windy day, when I went to the gym and went on the treadmill) and, of course, I had to take pictures. I was interested in the new lakefront property.
It's gotten a lot colder today, so some of that water has turned to ice... and now it might be just about ice skating time...
Speaking about new lakes, I have a friend named Cassandra, whom I met when I was walking through Wisconsin last summer with the Witness Against War walk. She said that, when Wisconsin experienced its terrible flooding last June, new lakes formed where lakes had never existed. She said that they were beautiful. Some of them lasted through the summer.

Fun with felines

2008-12-30T16:22:00.003-05:00

This morning, I was sitting on the couch, crocheting a lapghan (that's a lap-sized afghan). Big Smokey (the gray cat pictured here) was happily seated on my lap, making crocheting a big adventure. I had to crochet around the cat! Zoe sat near my head, on the upper part of the couch. Before long, Zoe decided that she wanted to get closer to me and my yarn (mostly the yarn... Zoe is a notorious thief!). She walked onto the arm of the couch, right next to me and Smokey. Smokey is a bit territorial, and I am his human property. He took one look at Zoe (normally his girlfriend). He grabbed hold her her leg and bit it!
Chomp!
She jumped off of the couch.
He jumped off of my lap.
The two cats went in separate directions.
I continued to crochet.

2008-12-21T16:25:00.003-05:00

Everything about this tea house, called SereniTea, was very colorful, cheerful, and relaxing. Doesn't that food look very yummy?
It's just a memory now. I consumed all of it. The tea was great. I added honey and lemon, which brought out the flavor of the passion fruit tea.

tea and books

2008-12-21T15:34:00.002-05:00

Earlier this month, I went to a tea house for a joint meeting of two book clubs. These two book clubs get together for a joint meeting once a year. As I had joined my book club in February, this was my first experience with the other book club.
To prepare for the meeting, I had to obtain and read Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, in thirteen days. Of course, one of those days was Thanksgiving! Fortunately, I was able to get a copy of the book at the library. The library lends out new books such as this one for just seven days so I had to return the book a few days before the book club meeting. Fortunately, the book was just 288 pages so it didn't take long to read.
The book is actually structured as a series of thirteen short stories that are tied together by the presence (either as a major character or in the background) of Olive Kitteridge, a retired math teacher, whose relationships with other people tended to be uncomfortable. Because Olive keeps her pain inside of her and because she is not exactly the warm and fuzzy type, people tend to view her in a negative light.
Olive's life comes across as incredibly painful. She endures one trauma after the next. The other characters don't fare much better. A girl suffers with anorexia, a man finds that his marriage has gone cold and his wife is no more than an acquaintance...
The book was well written and I liked the short story format. I found Olive's story to be difficult to read at time, however, because it was so unbelievably harsh. In fact, the mood is constantly dark. I see that as a weakness in the story. It's sort of like music. If there are no dynamics in the music... if, for example, the musical piece is played at the same volume all of the time... the music becomes less interesting. I wanted to experience the characters' joys, as well as their sorrows.
We discussed all of this at the book club meeting. Some liked the story, some did not.
It was a good conversation... and we had tea and scones and pastries in a charming tea house. We drank our tea out of bone china tea cups. We were presented with wooden boxes, in which there was a great selection of tea bags. I especially enjoyed the passion fruit tea. I also enjoyed the scone with whipped butter.
It was all great fun and the only thing that I didn't care for was that the fun had to end.
Alas.
I am always ready for a tea party!

One-year anniversary

2008-09-19T17:46:00.002-04:00

Last year, on September 19, 2007, I was released from the federal prison camp in Danbury, Connecticut, after completing my six-month sentence. As happy as I was to get turned loose onto an unsuspecting world, it was a sad experience, too. I had to leave behind friends, who had far longer sentences than I had.
Spending time in prison, especially when that time is measured in years, not in months that can be counted on one or two hands, is very hard on women. Many of them are mothers, and they must endure long separations from their children. The children grow up without their mothers, which is hard on them, too.
I believe that too many people are in prison. Keeping people in prison is expensive and nonproductive. I would very much like to see more people sentenced to probation and community service and restitution (if necessary) than to prison sentences. I would also like to see more use of restorative justice. It is important for people to take responsibility for their actions, to apologize, and make right what they have made wrong. Occupying space in prison does not accomplish any of that. So these are a few things that I have learned from my time in prison.
I have also learned that being in prison is challenging but it is an experience that the overwhelming majority survives. They then go on to other things and other adventures. I have also learned that going to prison for something that you believe in is somewhat difficult but far from impossible. I believe that change can occur when ordinary people, such as me, are willing to make sacrifices for the things that they believe in.
In two months, there will be another vigil at Fort Benning. Undoubtedly, some people will choose to cross the Fort Benning fence. Might you be one of them? Would you be one of those who chooses to take that step (literally) to say yes to life and human rights and no to torture and assassination? Or, if you prefer to travel to Arizona, rather than Georgia, might you take that step, instead, at Fort Huachuca?
And, speaking about steps, I have finished my 500-mile walk from Chicago to Saint Paul, Minnesota, with Witness Against War (see http://www.vcnv.org). It was a good experience, and I will write more extensively about it in later posts. Above is a photograph of me on the top of Brady's Bluff at Perrot State Park, in Trempealeau, Wisconsin. The upper Mississippi River is in the background.

Witness Against War

2008-08-15T17:16:00.001-04:00

Hi all!
I am part of the Witness Against War walk from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota. We started the walk on July 12 and will finish on August 30.
For more information and to see the blogs that I have posted, take a look at the Voices for Creative Nonviolence website at http://www.vcnv.org
Bye bye for now, and I will post on this blog when I return home!

Sister Agnes Marie of the Eternal High Priest

2008-06-06T14:39:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, May 31, Sister Agnes Marie of the Eternal High Priest took her final vows as a Carmelite nun at the Discalced Carmelite Monastery of Buffalo, New York. She is an "extern sister," which means that she deals with the public. I asked Sister Agnes how she knew that God had called her to the religious life, and she said that she felt a "certitude" about her calling.
Most of the sisters who live in the monastery are cloistered. They spend much of their time in prayer. During morning mass, they can be heard singing a variety of chants. When they are not praying, they are busy working at such tasks as cooking, cleaning, and tending the garden. They are vegetarians who eat what they grow in their garden.
Buffalo's Carmelite monastery was founded by Mother Mary Elias of the Blessed Sacrament in 1920. It was the fulfillment of a promise to St. Therese of Lisieux, a French Carmelite who died at the age of 24, that Mother Mary Elias made after she and another nun had been sentenced to death and placed before a Mexican firing squad. The firing squad discharged their weapons but missed. Either they were bad shots or there was divine intervention.
So Mother Mary Elias went far away from Mexico and ended up in Buffalo, New York, where she fulfilled her promise by founding the monastery. Before she passed away, she wrote a book about her life and her dedication to "the little way." She had been quoted as saying, "I am a very little soul, who can offer only very little things to the Lord... I will spend my Heaven doing good on earth... After my death I will let fall a shower of roses."
Buffalo's Carmelite monastery was officially dedicated on the same day that St. Therese was canonized, May 1, 1925.
The Carmelite monastery is one of two cloistered orders in Buffalo.

May tree planting

2008-05-18T13:59:00.007-04:00

When I interviewed arborist Rochelle Smith for an article in the Island Dispatch about the November 10 tree planting, she told me that each person should plant fifteen trees in a lifetime, just to replace the oxygen used by breathing.
A tree that is planted is also a visible reminder of something that a person has done to help make the world a better place. Trees offer shade on a hot, sunny day. In the spring, a flowering tree provides beautiful blossoms. In the fall, a fruit tree provides something delicious and nutritious for humans, birds, and animals.
People write poems about trees.
And, yes, I'll even hug a tree!!
On May 10th, I got the chance to enjoy my second tree-planting experience. This time, we planted 17 trees on the Grand Island right-of-way. Once again, the tree planting experience was part of Re-tree WNY, the organization formed in November 2006 to replace the trees that were lost during the "October Surprise" snowstorm.
I had three partners for my tree-planting experience: Nicole Gerber, her niece Caitlin Conlon, and Town Supervisor Peter McMahon. We planted two trees: a crab apple tree and a pear tree. In addition to planting the trees, we also attached special plastic bags to the sites of all new trees planting since November. These bags get filled with water, which seeps into the ground through small holes at the bottom. That ensures that, through the summer, all of the young trees get a good drink and are able to grow strong, healthy roots. It is this extra attention that will ensure that the trees will survive to grow into tall, strong shade trees.
In the picture above, you'll see one picture with Rochelle Smith instructing the group in how to plant a tree via the "bare root" method. Another picture is of Caitlin and the supervisor planting a tree. A third is of Nicole and Caitlin working on the same tree. The fourth is of Caitlin and me placing the watering bag around the new tree. The last picture is of Caitlin and a flowering crab apple tree, which she, Nicole, and I planted in November.
Three of these pictures were also published in the May 16 issue of the Island Dispatch.

Catholic Workers

2008-05-17T13:36:00.004-04:00

When I was in Washington, D.C., I stayed at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker house. The folks who live in this house do a lot of stuff together, such as hold weekly vigils at the Pentagon and at the White House. Their regular presence at these places, regardless of weather conditions, is a reminder to anyone who sees them that the government must change its policies, from war and power to human rights and life.
The Catholic Workers also live out their commitment to human rights and to life by providing assistance to the community. Every Wednesday, they give away donated clothing and food that they collect from a variety of locations. Some of the food is rescued from an imminent trip to the garbage, where it had been designated by businesses because it is not quite perfect. As an example, the tomatoes might have small spots. The food is still perfectly good to eat and nutritious. Other food that is collected comes from caterers, who made too much for their parties. They have to either throw out or give away the food. I think that give away is a much better option. Since I got to eat some of this food at lunchtime, when we were finished with the giveaway, I can say that the food is very delicious! I enjoyed eating salmon and a salad!
The pictures above feature Kathy Boylan and Art Laffin with a group of visitors to the house; writer Colman McCarthy; and Eda and Daniel.
All visitors to the house enjoyed bringing home fresh vegetables and other foods!

Chinatown

2008-05-17T13:26:00.003-04:00

On the day that I went to visit the National Building Museum, I also had a few other adventures. One of them was a walk through Chinatown. I went to Chinatown to look for (what else?) lunch! I found that, at a restaurant called "Chinatown Express." This restaurant is very interesting to look at from the street because a man stands right next to the window, making dumplings. People enjoy watching the man prepare the dumplings. He must have been doing that for some time because he never appears to make a mistake and all of his dumplings pretty much look alike.
I had a big bowl of soup, filled with noodles and seafood and scallions. That was absolutely delicious. And it was economical, too. My very filling and very tasty lunch cost me approximately six dollars. That is very cheap, compared to a hot dog stand near the Smithsonian, where a hot dog, potato chip, and soft drink combo costs approximately eight dollars (ouch!).
After my lunch, I went to the National Portrait Gallery, where I viewed the paintings. Then I went to the Luce Foundations Center for American Art, where I went to a sketching class. The focus of the sketching class was heads and bodies. The group got to see examples of famous artists' sketchbooks. Then we had an hour to make our own pictures. Afterwards, we had some opportunity to discuss our pictures. It was fun. I found out that these sketching classes are held once a week, on Tuesday afternoons. The instructor told me that, anytime I am in Washington, D.C., to be sure to come to the class!

Francisan Monastery Gardens

2008-05-17T13:15:00.005-04:00

The Franciscan Monastery Gardens provide a peaceful setting for quiet contemplation or for drawing and painting. Many reminders of spirituality can be found within this area. Inside the semi-enclosed corridors, plaques hang, with the Ave Maria written in numerous languages, some of which are not spoken anymore, such as Old English. On the grounds of the gardens are statues and small chapels, as well as the Stations of the Cross.
The grounds of the Franciscan Monastery Gardens are beautifully maintained. The atmosphere is contemplative, as well as scenic.

Smithsonian gardens

2008-05-17T13:06:00.004-04:00

During my "tourist time" in Washington, D.C., I visited two gardens in the Smithsonian Institution. One was a butterfly garden and the other was a botanical garden. Both were full of vibrant flowers that were either at full bloom or almost there. The day that I chose for my "garden time" was very warm, about 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31.1 degrees celsius) and very sunny. Other tourists walked through the gardens and took pictures of one another.
These gardens are good places for relaxation, reading, drawing, painting, and reflection. They are peaceful refuges in a busy city!

National Building Museum

2008-05-09T16:17:00.004-04:00

On Tuesday, May 6th, I had an interesting adventure at the National Building Museum. The main focus of this museum is architecture, although there are also fascinating displays of how Washington's infrastructure was designed. I had the chance to take a guided tour of the building. The guide, Lloyd, talked about the man who designed the building, Montgomery Meigs. He was an engineer who had designed the city's aquaduct system. He was also a soldier who served as Quartermaster General during the Civil War, and he attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Union Army. Meigs designed the building to be a tribute to the Union soldiers who fought in the war. There are many images of union troops, especially in the belt section of the exterior of the building. The troops represented include quartermasters, hospital corps, infantry, and sailors. No confederate troops are depicted. The structure originally served as an office for the national pension program, that provided aid for returning veterans and for widows and orphans. There were many widows and orphans, due to the high casualty rate of the Civil War.
The basis for Meigs was Italian Renaissance architecture. Very notable in this building are the tall columns. There are three types of columns in the building... Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.
All in all, it was a fascinating tour. I also had the chance to draw in my sketchbook prior to the start of the tour!

Alice meets the Pope!

2008-05-09T16:08:00.003-04:00

Here I am with Pope Benedict XVI outside of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. The picture was taken on Sunday, May 4 when this absolutely realistic, yet wax, pope was visiting the church.
I enjoyed attending St. Patrick's. I had the opportunity to sing with the choir, directed by Ronald Stolk. That was very enjoyable. It was a special treat to listen to him improvise on the organ.

Victorian Tea at River Lea

2008-04-29T21:59:00.006-04:00

The Grand Island Historical Society presented a Victorian Tea at River Lea on April 20, followed by a program and a tour of the house. The tea was quite delightful, featuring traditional afternoon foods and a cup of delicious tea. The tea was called "Maisie's Tea," and it was a blend of tea created by one of the members of the Historical Society. I enjoyed it so much that I consumed three cups of it within a short period of time. All of that wonderful food was followed by a delicious dessert. As you can see from the pictures here, the main course and dessert were attractive enough to photograph. Ladies dressed in crisp white aprons served our food and our tea. We were all seated at round tables and had a chance to chat before the program, "A History of Hats," presented by Maggie Gushue, began. My friend Jinni Kelley and I came together to the tea party. Jinni was quite delighted to have another water color painter sitting next to her. After the entire event was over, Jinni went outside and painted a scene in Beaver Island State Park, which is where River Lea is located. It is a beautiful spot, right on the Niagara River. Jinni and I agreed that we would come back to Beaver Island State Park to do some painting, as there is much to paint at the park, from River Lea to the boardwalk at the beach.

a few hats

2008-04-29T21:46:00.011-04:00

Maggie Gushue presented "The History of Hats," which was illustrated by a fashion show, in which models demonstrated changing hat styles from the 1700s until the present. Maggie talked about hats being functional, decorative, or flirtatious. While the earlier hats were big to shield women who worked outside for many hours from the detrimental effects of the sun, later hats became smaller and smaller until, at one point, they did not even cover the head. Hats were decorated with all sorts of additions, including ribbons, flowers, fruit, veils, feathers, and whole birds. The more elaborate of these hats weighed quite a bit. Other hats, which were too small to stay on the head, were held on with large hatpins, which were also excellent self-defense devices.
Hat fashions constantly changed over the years. Sometimes, the construction and wearing of hats resulted in strange side effects. The makers of felt hats used a great deal of arsenic when constructing the hats. The result of consuming that poison caused the hat makers to develop mental illness. Hence the phrase "mad as a hatter." The hats that were decorated with whole birds became so popular that the breed of bird used became endangered.
In recent years, however, hats have declined in popularity. Many people prefer to go hatless or to wear baseball caps. Since fashion tends to go in cycles, hats should eventually become popular again...

New Voice Club of the Niagara Frontier

2008-04-18T09:25:00.004-04:00

Last night, I went to a meeting of the New Voice Club of the Niagara Frontier. I had been invited to come as a guest speaker by second vice president Sue Bognar, a speech-language therapist, whom I had met in the Grand Island Community Chorus. She also serves as the club's speech advisor. The topic of my talk was dealing with disabilities by journaling.
Sue read a story that I had written about my sensory processing and auditory processing disorders. In a nutshell, my sensory processing disorder causes me to be hypersensitive to certain stimuli, such as light touch, scratchy clothes, smells, and competing noises. My auditory processing disorder means that I have difficulty understanding what I hear, especially when there are competing sounds. I have learned some compensation strategies with the help of speech-language therapists at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
I shared with the group different methods of keeping a journal. These include a traditional diary, a blog, and a visual journal/sketchbook. I brought samples of each type of journal. I talked about the reasons for keeping journals. They vary, depending on the type of journal one keeps. With a traditional diary, I can write down private thoughts, knowing that no one will see them but me. With a blog, I can share ideas and pictures with the world. With my visual journal, I can draw pictures of things that might be important to me that day. For example, when Benazir Bhutto was killed, I drew her picture in my sketchbook as a tribute to her. Other reasons for keeping a journal include brainstorming ideas or working through fears and developing one's creativity. In addition, for people who have difficulty communicating and difficulty being understood, maintaining a journal is an excellent outlet.
The New Voice Club was a wonderful group to speak to. They asked great questions when I was done speaking and they were very kind and welcoming to me.
The New Voice Club does some interesting projects. One of the most interesting is that the group's members, many of whom are cancer survivors, go to schools to try to discourage kids from starting to smoke and try to encourage kids who are already smoking to quit. This is a great public service that they perform. The club, by the way, is sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
I felt very inspired by members of the New Voice Club. The laryngectomees have been through so many difficult times... cancer, surgery, learning to speak again, learning to adjust to the world with a disability... Their new voices may sound expressionless, but the words that they say are far from expressionless. They have stories of difficulty and of strength to tell, for everyone to hear.
I truly enjoyed my experience with the New Voice Club and am so happy to have made some new friends!
Pictured above is Charlie Roszak, the club president.

Tara Jane

2008-04-18T09:21:00.003-04:00

This is Tara Jane, the therapy dog, who came to visit the New Voice Club meeting. Tara Jane is a sweet dog who goes to visit special education classes in schools and who goes to other places where people with special needs can enjoy the companionship of a dog. She has a gentle temperament, which makes for an excellent therapy dog.

Purple and yellow flowers

2008-04-18T09:17:00.004-04:00

Inside the Church of the Nativity in Tonawanda, I saw this beautiful display of flowers on this old chair.

Tom Lewis

2008-04-11T11:55:00.004-04:00

In late 2005 and early in 2006, I spent some time living at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in Washington, D.C. I enjoyed the city and its museums and I especially enjoyed the ease in which I could get around without an automobile. There were plenty of places for this walking tourist to explore.
I also met some very interesting people, who told me their stories or who taught me something valuable. One of those individuals was Tom Lewis. He was both an activist and an artist and, among the things that I learned from him, was that art and activism are not mutually exclusive. A person can do both... seek truth and beauty as an artist and say yes to human rights and to life and no to torture, assassination, and war as an activist... because artists are part of this world and have a responsibility to make the world a better pace with the gift that they possess.
That is what Tom did. From 1968 until 2007, Tom worked tirelessly as an activist, seeking to end war and to call attention to the violent threat of nuclear weapons against all life on earth. He committed many acts of civil disobedience/resistance in his pursuit of a world free of war and of weapons of mass destruction. He accepted the consequences for his actions, serving approximately four years in prison at various points of his life.
Tom also worked as an artist and as an art teacher. Many people have experienced the joy of visual art, thanks to Tom's patient and affirming instruction. He taught regularly in Massachusetts. He also taught in other places, single lessons for students who might never have had the experience, had Tom not been an activist, traveling to protest war and nuclear weapons.
I was one of those art students. On a dreary late December day, Tom offered a few children and me a watercolor painting class at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House. Tom handed out a few paint sets and we got some photocopy paper from a computer. Tom then set up a still life. One of the boys wanted to paint something else, but Tom asked him to paint the still life, saying, "You can always paint the other subject, but you won't always have me to teach you."
The boy ended up by making a beautiful painting.
After the lesson, Tom told me that I had made a gorgeous painting and that I had talent. He wanted me to keep the paint set.
It was a very special gift.
When I returned to Western New York, I started going to a painting class at Stella Niagara in Lewiston. My friend and art teacher Jinni Kelley teaches several Franciscan sisters there, and she invited me to come to the class, as well. She gave me some paints, which I had been using, in addition to Tom's paint set.
A few weeks ago, Jinni taught a lesson, in which the idea was to paint the entire color wheel in the background. For that lesson, the paints that I used were predominantly Tom's paint set. The colors were vibrant and living. It was a great joy. I had discovered the vibrancy of the colors in the previous lesson, in which we were to draw a picture in ink and then add paint. I painted a "fantasy background" to my picture of a cardinal on a stump. The colors were very dramatic, I realized (see the paintings, above).
I thought about Tom when I made the colorful paintings. I would have liked to have shared the paintings with him.
But, it was not meant to be.
On April 4th, Tom passed away at home. I will miss Tom, even though my time with him was brief. Tom had given me a rainbow. I just wish that I could have shared that with him.
For more about Tom, including a photo album, take a look at http://www.jonahhouse.org/

First flowers

2008-04-08T14:47:00.004-04:00

Just a few weeks ago, I was posting pictures of snow, gray scenery, and a seemingly endless winter. So, it is with great joy that I post this picture of the first flowers of the season. As can be seen by the purple/yellow combination that these plants offer, nature apparently likes color theory as much as I do. The complementary color schemes add brightness and vitality to the plants. After a long, dreary winter without color, the first colors of springtime appear especially dazzling.
There's nothing like new plant life and bright colors. Go out and enjoy springtime!!

Rediscovering my strength

2008-04-04T14:52:00.005-04:00

It has been two months since I was diagnosed with pneumonia. I am, for the most part, recovered from my illness. I am back to singing and to walking and to doing my freelance journalism job. Every day, I grow stronger. Yesterday, I went out for a walk after I finished writing my articles for this week's Island Dispatch. It was a beautiful, warm day. The water, as you can see above, was a beautiful shade of blue. I was happy to see the water, happy to hear the birds in the trees chirping, happy to hear the geese honking their journey north, happy to be alive.
Speaking about happiness at being alive, one of the articles that I wrote was about a lady named Angeline Scalia (pictured above). On Saturday, March 29, she had her 100th birthday! She is very happy to be alive. She is recovering from a bout of pneumonia with her usual grace and cheerful spirit. I asked her what her secret for long life was, and she told me to always be upbeat. "Don't be a downer," she said. "There are always people who are worse off than you." She also said, "Don't be a lazy bum. Keep moving." She has done both for a century. Her birthday, she said, was a grand occasion for her. Twenty people surprised her with a party. She was given flowers and plants and balloons and the love of her family and friends. She even gave pieces of cake to the staff at the nursing home that she is staying at while she recuperates.
Angeline also told me about some of the stories that she shared with her family and friends at her party. She talked about some of the trips and she and her late husband Leonard took after he retired. One of their trips took them to the town outside of Rome, where Angeline's parents came from. Angeline related that she saw the house that her parents lived in. One of her cousins, named Josephina, still lives in that house, and Angeline had the chance to meet her. Angeline said that Josephina came to visit Angeline and Leonard in Western New York and that she was "surprised by everything."
Wow.
As Auntie Mame (in the play of the same name by Patrick Dennis) would say, "Life is a banquet, and most poor fools are starving to death."
For sure, Angeline is not starving at life's banquet.

Most happy fella

2008-04-04T14:41:00.003-04:00

Look at the smile on this guy's face! There must be some awfully cute birds seeking out snacks in that birdhouse.

It's spring!

2008-04-04T14:30:00.003-04:00

I was thrilled to spot these little guys peeking out from beneath the ground. Winter has seemed almost endless. But now, with these little ones peeking out, it won't be long before color comes back into my world!

never ending snow, part two

2008-03-28T15:47:00.002-04:00

The old cliche that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb is certainly proving to be true. Here it is, the 28th of the month, and I woke up to snow covering the ground and the mailboxes and the trees... looking very wooly, white, and lamblike. When I pointed this out to my mom, she said that the cliche wasn't actually referring to white, wooly snow!
I knew that. I was just being silly...
But spring is coming, even if the thermometer says 34 degrees F (1.11 degrees C). Yesterday, I saw a robin hopping on the porch, and I heard a bunch of birds chirping from the blue spruce tree. The early plants are peeking through the earth... and soon, there will be color to replace all of the grays of winter.
It will be good. I love color. I have been taking a watercolor painting class, and I have learned to paint with all of the colors of the rainbow. I have learned that a painting does not have to look exactly like real life. Colors can be enhanced or altered to make the painting look more vibrant. In art, the search is for truth and beauty... the truth that goes beyond the facts and the beauty of color that lies under the blandness of gray...
I'll post some of those paintings next time...

Comfort food for cold weather

2008-03-28T15:23:00.002-04:00

There's nothing like something hot and yummy and comforting to eat on a cold day, especially after the day that the calendar announced that spring had sprung! My mom's lasagna is certainly that, with all of that ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese!

Tour of River Lea

2008-03-15T20:36:00.004-04:00

When I walked through Beaver Island State park on November 7, I took pictures of the exterior of River Lea, which was President Grover Cleveland summer home. The building was closed so I did not get a chance to go inside.
On March 9, I got my opportunity. I went with members of the Friends of Allegany State Park on a tour of the house. Curt Nestark, president of the Grand Island Historical Society, gave the group a synopsis of the house’s history.
The history of the house actually started well before the house was built. In 1825, Mordechai Noah, who was a politician, diplomat, writer, editor, and playwright (he was a very busy guy), got the idea that he would buy Grand Island to be a homeland for the world's Jewish population. He bought a small portion of the island (he didn't have enough money to buy the whole thing), and he named it "Ararat." He then had a ceremony at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Buffalo. He had wanted to have a flag raising ceremony in Grand Island. Unfortunately, there was no way to transport all of the people who were attend to Grand Island. So... the ceremony was in Buffalo. It was followed by a giant parade, featuring the Buffalo Civic Band and the Masonic Band.
After the big event, Mordechai Noah left Buffalo, never to return.
Mordechai Noah had big dreams but realizing the dreams turned out to be too difficult.
After it became clear that Mordechai Noah’s dream of a Jewish homeland on Grand Island was not going to be fulfilled, Lewis Allen, who was elected to the New York State Legislature in 1838, purchased a large percentage of Grand Island’s southern tip. In 1873, he built River Lea as a summer home for his son, W. Cleveland Allen, who was noted for being Grand Island’s first postmaster. River Lea also became famous for being the summer home of President Grover Cleveland. He was the first president to be married while serving as president and the first president whose wife, Frances Folsom Cleveland, gave birth to a child, their daughter Esther, in the White House. Cleveland was the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms, serving as president from 1885 to 1889 and as the 24^th president from 1893 to 1987.
The picture above is a typical desk in a schoolhouse at that time. It was donated as a display in River Lea.

Grand Island painter

2008-03-15T20:32:00.003-04:00

Curt Nestark, president of the Grand Island Historical Society, displays a painting by James Montanari, who was an artist in residence when Zora and Edward Hussey owned River Lea. The couple acquired the house in 1908, and they provided a home for two artists, Montanari and Eugene M. Dyczkowski, to give them the opportunity to pursue their artistic careers. During the time that the Husseys owned the house, however, there was a fire. As a result, the house's porches had to be removed, but the house survived. Other houses in Grand Island were not as fortunate, and a number of them did burn down.

mirror world

2008-03-15T20:28:00.003-04:00

This picture was taken in the bathroom at River Lea.

the bathroom

2008-03-15T20:26:00.003-04:00

Folks in the 19th century had to go to the bathroom, just like us! This is what their bathroom might have looked like. It must have involved a good deal of work to lug all of that water upstairs to fill up the bathtub!!!

W. Cleveland Allen's post office

2008-03-15T20:24:00.003-04:00

This is a replica of the earliest post office in Grand Island. W. Cleveland Allen, son of Lewis Allen, was Grand Island's first postmaster.

Upstairs

2008-03-15T20:21:00.003-04:00

This is what you see as you're heading up the stairs at River Lea.

Silver service

2008-03-15T19:59:00.003-04:00

This is one of two silver services that were donated to River Lea. The wheeled cart on which the silver service is displayed is the type of cart that would be used for tea parties and similar functions.

River Lea parlor

2008-03-10T13:37:00.004-04:00

If you were to take a tour of River Lea, this is the first room that you would see. It is full of interesting memorabilia of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The mannequin is especially interesting, mainly because of her size. She is unusually skinny! The fashion statement that she is sporting would be unwearable by, well, most women. Of course, at that time, corsets were frequently a part of the fashion statement. Some women went a little overboard with these corsets, trying to get their waists to be wasp-like. I can't imagine that could be very comfortable.

Warm!

2008-03-03T21:32:00.004-05:00

It has certainly been one wild winter, with ice, snow, rain, and, most of all, wind. Actually, the amount of snowfall here in Western New York hasn't been that outrageous. It just looked like a lot of snow because of all of the wind that's been blowing around.
But, today, we got a little break from the nonstop onslaught of bad weather. The temperature warmed up to the 60s and the sun even made a guest appearance. That was an amazing sight. In the winter, the sun shows up so rarely that some people don't recognize it anymore and think that some bright, shiny UFO is up in the sky. Well, that may be exaggerating, at least a tiny bit.
This morning, I was prepared for the good weather. I put on a yellow turtleneck and a light yellow sweater to get in the mood of pre-spring joy. I also had a bouquet of yellow flowers, which just exude joy. I have them in a vase in front of a mirror. It gives the illusion that I have twice as many yellow flowers as I really have.
What could be better?
So, today, I decided to take a walk to celebrate this taste of spring. At about 1:30 p.m., I put on a light jacket and went out. Of course, I had my camera in my pocket. I never go anywhere without the camera. Photo ops about everywhere.
And, as I am now Alice of the 21st century, I had my cell phone in the other pocket. I didn't use it, but I had it just in case someone got the urge to call me or I had the urge to yap on the phone... or ask for a ride, in case I should wander off too far, which I have been known to do... and will probably do again, once the weather becomes consistently warm.
My dad had given me a pedometer, so I was wearing that, too.
The first thing that I noticed as I headed out was the profusion of water. Most of the snow had melted, and fast! And, here in Grand Island, once the snow melts, the water simply sits on the surface because the thick clay soil doesn't absorb water very well. So, of course, I had to take a few pictures of the rapid melting. One of those is above.
On my walk, I met a woman named Joyce, who was walking Hunter, a friendly beagle. Hunter and I were happy to be introduced to one another. Of course, Hunter jumped on my legs, prompting Joyce to apologize for her dog's enthusiasm and for the mess on my jeans. I said, "That is OK. That's what laundry is for." Joyce told me a bit about herself and her family. She said that she has been living in Grand Island since she was eight years old. When she moved to Grand Island, there was no town high school so she had to leave the island to go to school once she finished elementary school. When she was 12 years old, she went to live with an elderly lady to help her out when she was not in school. Joyce has eight sisters and no brothers. Her family is now scattered all over the country, in such places as North Dakota and Wisconsin. The family is planning on coming back together this coming summer for a big reunion.
Joyce was an interesting person to talk to, and I suspect that she is full of great stories.
While Joyce and I were talking, the kids started emerging from the nearby elementary school. This got Hunter very excited, and she could hardly wait to greet every child with a jump, a bark, and a wag of the tail. She started straining on the leash with nervous anticipation. That was when Joyce decided that it was time for Hunter to head on home.
So, I, too went home. I hope that I see Joyce and Hunter again because I would be more than happy to hear more of Joyce's stories.
It will be a while, though, because winter is due to return after midnight, which is sort of like saying that the golden carriage is going to turn into a pumpkin once again.
Oh yeah... the pedometer... four and a half miles... a nice, relaxing walk for me...

Never ending snow

2008-02-27T14:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning, I suddenly got the urge to take a picture of myself coming and going, so to speak... well, at least, the impressions of my feet coming and going.
At this point, winter is showing no sign of ending... and the snow keeps on coming... and, sometimes, it glitters beneath the sunlight or the moonlight in colors bright and wonderful...