Author: Kent Busse

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Contribute to the work of Project Lakota

This note was sent out to Friends by Project Coordinator Candy Boyd:

Project Lakota is in somewhat desperate need of funds. [In early November], we received 4 calls in 4 days from the reservation for assistance and we are still paying for some supplies from the summer (as the summer building season is so short in the Dakotas, we sometimes upfront a small budgeted amount, and fundraise through the winter). As Project Lakota is becoming better known on the reservation, we are also receiving more requests during the cold season for help with utilities, firewood, indoor repairs, underskirting, transportation emergencies, and assistance for elders – some to avoid foreclosures. The snow has already started to fly on the Lakota nation.

The Dakota summer was productive for Project Lakota. Candy went up early and we were finally able to get the land easements secured for Minerva Blacksmith and her 3 families of grandchildren. This meant that by the end of the building season, we had electricity and heat (hooray!) in to all 3 trailers.

In addition to electricity (yes!) and heat (yes!), we replaced a door which had been blown dysfunctional by the storms, put in a screen door, put vinyl tile flooring on top of the subfloor throughout one trailer, brought in tons of gravel for the long reservation driveway which we raked by hand, and helped to replace the old outhouse which had blown over a few times in the summer storms. We networked with another nonprofit who provided an electrician to hook up the electricity and labor for the outhouse, and we saved thousands of dollars by doing the work on the driveway. The grandchildren, children, and Minerva were working every step of the way. Minerva is currently negotiating with the tribe to do the mapping for her waterline and hookups for which we seriously need to fundraise.

The McGaa family trailer is now fully set up with underskirting, handicap ramps, electricity, indoor plumbing and water, and septic system. Hooray!

If you feel so led, please donate to Project Lakota, 7429 Brunswick Ave., St. Louis, MO 63119.

For more information on housing on the Pine Ridge reservation and the Lakota people, please see the following video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIPnl97Kwx4

Many thanks,
Candy Boyd

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QVS Applications Now Being Accepted for 2013-2014 Year

Join an Experiment in Faithfulness in the Friends’ Tradition

Quaker Voluntary Service is excited to announce that applications are now being accepted for the 2013-2014 program year for sites in Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Portland.

Apply
Young adults are encouraged to apply for this year-long program and will be placed in one of our three cities. Participants will live in a Quaker intentional community, serve full-time with local community organizations, participate in a dynamic program exploring the growing edges of the Quaker Way, and receive support from QVS and local Friends meetings and churches. We are partnering with many dynamic organizations in each city where QVS volunteers will work. To see descriptions of our current placements in Atlanta, click here: Atlanta 2012-2013 Site Placements. We will keep you updated as future sites are confirmed.

For more information and to apply, please see: www.quakervoluntaryservice.org/apply.
Applications are due by March 15, 2013.

Spread the Word
A primary role you can play is to help us spread the word about this opportunity to any young adults you know who may be interested and to any people you know who work with young adults. Forward this email, direct people to our website, or be in touch with us about who we should reach out to.

Give
We’re so grateful for all your gifts of support. As we come to the end of the year, please consider making another gift. Gifts of any size help us tremendously. We also have matching challenges in place for gifts of $250 or more so that your gift can have a greater impact ($50 or more if you are a young adult). Please consider a donation today. You can donate online or by sending a check to Quaker Voluntary Service, PO Box 17628, Atlanta GA 30316.

With much gratitude,
Christina Repoley
QVS Founding Executive Director

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A CALL TO ACTION CONCERNING SHAKIR HAMOODI

Guest Author: David Finke

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Will you please take 5 minutes to help free a peacemaker from unjust imprisonment?

Shakir Hamoodi — a beloved businessman and father of five, well-known to Columbians as a committed bridge-builder between different faiths and cultures — has been locked up in federal prison since August 28th, on a 3-year sentence which we all had expected would be probation according to plea negotiations. He was convicted of violating sanctions during the 1990s by sending money to family members in Iraq when he heard of their dire suffering: we are calling it a “Crime of Compassion.”

Here in Columbia we have seen an outpouring of letters, favorable editorials, public meetings, celebratory dinners, all in tribute to Shakir’s leadership among us, in baffled outrage at the draconian sentence, and with compassion for his stellar family. I am part of a group working with a pro bono attorney who filed a 5-inch-thick set of documents officially petitioning President Obama for executive clemency to commute Dr. Hamoodi’s sentence. I have studied and summarized 60 letters attesting to Shakir’s character and contributions (and could copy you on request). There were even more letters from Iraqis whose family members’ lives were saved due to his selfless act, on which he kept meticulous records. Click here to read David’s August 2012 post on this blog regarding Dr. Hamoodi’s case.

Now, in the next two weeks, we have a window of opportunity to try to get the President’s attention to act on humanitarian grounds to mitigate this injustice which we feel has been done. I’ve been in personal communication with a staff member of now-reelected Missouri senator, Claire McCaskill, to set up a meeting with her to urge her to personally intercede with the President.

Here’s where you can help:

First, read a quick summary of the case and circumstances at the website established by Shakir’s eldest son: www.helphamoodi.org. There is a link there to add your name to the nearly 7,000 others asking the President for clemency.

But we know that this alone — and even the excellent set of documents which we’ve conveyed to “The Pardon Attorney” at the White House, plus two Senators’ staffers — will not suffice to get positive action. NOW: We need a flood of phone calls, faxes, messages on Senatorial websites, and office visits to show our senators that this is worthy of their attention, and invite (urge, demand, plead) that they bring this to Obama’s awareness. Senators listen to constituents: YOU.

If you have only 5 minutes or fewer, I urge you to pick up the phone and call McCaskill if you’re in Missouri, Durbin if you’re in Illinois, and Gillibrand if you’re in New York or anywhere else in the country*. Tell them that you’ve become aware of a situation crying out for Executive Clemency, and urge the Senator to intervene on behalf of justice and human decency. You can offer weblink resources if you wish (“helphamoodi” is an easy one to remember); you can ask for a report back as to what the staffer finds. Phone numbers are at the end of this memo.

Another means of contact is the official website for each Senator. I have found that constituents’ comments there get more response than e-mails, and are far more effective than just adding yet another name to a petition (though that’s important too, to keep building the numbers); I urge you to send letters by FAX as well. If you are able, I recommend a visit to your local Senatorial office, possibly with a delegation of 2 or 3 others with this concern.

I mentioned “the next two weeks” because the Christmas-New Year period is one in which pardons and commutations are traditionally given (though possible at any time). This may be our best opportunity until next year at this time, and we are determined to not let Shakir suffer more time locked away from family, if humanly possible.

I also welcome you sharing this information with a personal note on any of your social media, and announcing in your Friends Meeting or elsewhere. Thank you for reading and considering this. I commend it to your heart.

In peace and love,
-DHF

*We mention Senator Gillibrand because we learned that a staffer in her NYC office saw Glen Greenwald’s article about Shakir in The Guardian, and has possibly brought it to her attention. We now have a direct contact with Gillibrand’s office, and are urging her to work with Claire to present this concern to the President. You could show concern beyond her direct constituency by urging her favorable action.

RESOURCES:
There was also excellent coverage in Newsweek’s online journal.
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I. Senatorial office telephones

Sen. Claire McCaskill:
Washington, DC Telephone 202-224-6154
Columbia, MO 573-442-7130
St. Louis, MO 314-367-1364

Sen. Dick Durbin:
Washington, DC Telephone 202-224-2152
Chicago, IL 312-353-4952
Carbondale, IL 618-351-1122

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand:
Washington, DC Telephone 202-224-4451

II. Senatorial fax numbers

McCaskill: Washington, DC 202-228-6326
Columbia, MO 573-442-7140
St. Louis, MO 314-361-8649

Durbin: Washington, DC 202-228-0400
Chicago, IL 312-353-0150
Carbondale, IL 618-351-1124

Gillibrand: Washington, DC 202-228-0282

III. Senatorial websites for comments:

McCaskill: www.mccaskill.senate.gov/contact/
Durbin: www.durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
Gillibrand: www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/

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Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community

The North Shore Coalition for Peace, Justice, and the Environment Cordially invites all to celebrate a book launch and signing of Rosalie Riegle’s new oral history…

Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community

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WHEN:
Saturday, December 1, 2012 from 3:00 to 5:00
Refreshments served.

WHERE:
Curt’s Café, 2922 Central Street in Evanston. (Near Lincolnwood.) Take Bus 201 from the Purple Line Davis Street stop. Curt’s Café provides training to Evanston’s at-risk youth in both food service and life.

WHAT:
In this compelling collection of oral histories, more than seventy-five peacemakers describe how they say no to war-making in the strongest way possible—by engaging in civil disobedience and paying the consequences in jail or prison or by “doing their time” at home while their loved ones are incarcerated.

Included in the book are interviews by Kathy Kelly, Mike and Nettie Cullen of the Milwaukee 14, John Dear, SJ, the Berrigan children, Brad Lyttle, Mike Giocondo of the Camden 28, and many more. A short program will introduce the book.

MORE ABOUT ROSIE:
Born to a political family from Flint, Michigan, Rosalie Riegle has been drifting to the left ever since she met Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day in 1968. Prior to that, she was a typical Catholic woman, graduating from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, marrying after a short career in retail, and birthing four daughters. She says Dorothy Day changed her life. “I became active in nonviolent resistance to the Vietnam War and helped to found the Saginaw Valley Peace Watch in Saginaw, Michigan, where I lived for forty years. Oh, those were the days! We were certain our vigils and rallies and visits to the draft board would make a difference, and eventually they did, as the mighty chorus of the antiwar movement helped to end a needless and devastating war. I wish I could regain the hope of those heady years.” Click here to read more…

TO PURCHASE THE BOOK:
You can order “Doing Time for Peace: Resistance, Family, and Community” on Amazon.

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Inside Solitary Confinement of America’s Prisons

Today in Chicago an exhibit opens at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago showcasing the work of volunteer photographers who, hoping to provide some solace, are filling requests from inmates in Illinois solitary confinement. You can read more about what photos were requested, the inmates behind them, and the participating photographer’s experiences by reading this WBEZ article describing the project, which is run by Tamms Year 10, an advocacy group that’s working to close that prison. The future of Tamms is stuck in a legal battle between Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s office and AFSCME, the union that represents the prison employees. Quinn wants it closed, but a judge recently ruled in the union’s favor. The governor’s office has said they’d appeal to the state supreme court.

The November/December 2012 issue of Mother Jones also took on this issue with their article, “Solitary in Iran Nearly Broke Me. Then I Went Inside America’s Prisons.” by Stephen Bauer. He writes:

“There was a window,” I say. I don’t quite know how to tell him what I mean by that answer. “Just having that light come in, seeing the light move across the cell, seeing what time of day it was—” Without those windows, I wouldn’t have had the sound of ravens, the rare breezes, or the drops of rain that I let wash over my face some nights. My world would have been utterly restricted to my concrete box, to watching the miniature ocean waves I made by sloshing water back and forth in a bottle; to marveling at ants; to calculating the mean, median, and mode of the tick marks on the wall; to talking to myself without realizing it. For hours, days, I fixated on the patch of sunlight cast against my wall through those barred and grated windows.

When, after five weeks, my knees buckled and I fell to the ground utterly broken, sobbing and rocking to the beat of my heart, it was the patch of sunlight that brought me back. Its slow creeping against the wall reminded me that the world did in fact turn and that time was something other than the stagnant pool my life was draining into.

Here, there are no windows.

Stephen Bauer is touring the Pelican Bay SHU in California, where 94 percent of prisoners are celled alone. It’s been seven months since he’s been back in a prison cell. After being apprehended on the Iran-Iraq border, he, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal, were held in Evin Prison’s isolation ward for political prisoners. Sarah remained there for 13 months, Stephen and Josh for 26 months.

You can read more about Stephen’s experience and reflections on America’s prison system as he shares about corresponding with inmates in SHUs around California as part of an investigation into why and how people end up in these conditions. More than 80,000 people were in solitary confinement in the United States in 2005, the last time the federal government released such data.

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Sharing apple recipes and step-by-step directions for applesauce

As promised, here are a few resources that were shared during the weeks Friends worked together planning the Preserving Apples workshop, including recipes, storybooks, and step-by-step directions.

Applesauce 101
Download the step-by-step directions that walk through our workshop, complete with photos to show what things look like along the way.  Enjoy!

Danish Apple Cake
shared by Cathy Garra
This is a no-bake desert which depends on having good apple sauce. Best made the night before or on the morning of the day you plan to serve it.

Apple Cake
shared by Grayce Mesner
Remembered from a past Among Friends, this recipe is being shared by special request (and thanks to the recipe-keeping of Cathy Garra).

Rain Makes Applesauce
shared by Maurine Pile
Generations of Maurine’s family have read this children’s book, written in 1964 by Julian Scheer. She wrote PRC: ” I would like to recommend this book ; a favorite in my family.”

If you have any apple themed contributions, please consider adding them in the Comments section below. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, how might we prepare apples in celebration of our community? What apple stories might be shared?

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Quaker Peacemakers Project: Dick Ashdown

Richard “Dick” Ashdown is a member of the Clear Creek Monthly Meeting and currently resides in the same house where he was born, just down the road from the ILYM Meetinghouse in McNabb, Illinois. Dick has been a trustee of the yearly meeting since 1966. He spent six years overseas teaching as a civilian employee of the US government of a total 16 years teaching, then went on to sell insurance for almost 30 years. Today he is retired, working with timber and machinery most mornings. He has recently returned to flying his plane, often taking aerial photographs to assess crop damage for area farmers.

Click here to hear Dick’s reflections on peacemaking.

The Peace Resources Committee interviewed Dick in front of a live participatory audience at the 2012 Annual Sessions of Illinois Yearly Meeting. Listen in to hear his reflections on going to war, protecting freedom, being raised during WWII, the role of the military, teaching overseas in service, being raised in McNabb, farm life, the definition of community, how Quaker process is present throughout his life, and his love of nature. In 2011 Dick presented the annual Jonathan W. Plummer Lecture, which can be read here.

Click here to learn more about the Quaker Peacemakers Archive Project where you can nominate Friends in Illinois Yearly Meeting you think should be included in this effort. The project aims to compile and preserve an oral history of Friends whose contributions to peace building offer wonderful opportunities for reflection. As Friends tell their stories in their own words, these recordings will capture and preserve unique and inspired personal acts and thoughts which enrich our Yearly Meeting.

Music: “The Sun is Rising” by Longital (Gloria, 2008)

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Building Community: Making Applesauce

Author: Breeze Richardson, with assistance from participants

The day met all my expectations. “Seeking Peace: Preserving Apples” was a day filled with stories, observations of life, teaching, learning, sharing, creating, and accomplishment. We were 13 Friends gathered from a diversity of Meetings, staring down 3.5 bushels of apples, with boxes of jars heaped on the counter. Three of us were visiting McNabb for the first time (all three said they’d see us again soon, recipes were exchanged, and we have Mariellen Gilpin to thank for inviting them to join us for this extraordinary event). Some of us had plans to use this new knowledge towards canning projects in the future. Others remembered walking through these steps when they were small children and enjoyed reminiscing about those days. The tools needed to get the job done have changed very little in the time span between those decades.

The day was documented in photographs & wonderful reflections of the day. You can click through images (including descriptions) at our Flickr page, and here are a few favorites:

Sharing stories while chopping apples

Urbana foodies team upWe made remarkable applesauce

Thank you to Tanners Orchard for donating the beautiful apples, to Kay Drake for the loan of equipment and the donation of jars, special thanks to Grayce Mesner for all her wonderful support making this workshop happen, and of course my deepest thanks to Beth Schobernd for facilitating the day. All the steps to making amazing applesauce can be found in our photos.

Lastly, the words of those who participated in the day really moved me. I’ve asked all of them to comment here with their reflections, but also wanted to share just a bit of what I am so grateful to have received from them in the days that have followed since our time together.

From PRC member Mark McGinnis of Upper Fox Valley:
I had a great time. I intend to make two applesauce cakes with the bounty, one for the Lake Forest/Upper Fox Thanksgiving Dinner and one for the Blue Island/Upper Fox Thanksgiving Dinner.

From Mariellen Gilpin of Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting:
I usually go to worship via taxi, and as it happened, one of my favorite drivers took me to the meetinghouse this morning. His name is Glenn. He is an enormously kind-hearted soul, and I presented him with a pint of Quaker Applesauce and told him the story of how it came to be. We were twelve ladies [and our dear Friend Mark], and almost-four bushels of apples, and we’d cut ’em up and taken out the bad spots in an hour and a quarter, and had a good time doing it. Three Friends, foodies all of them, came from Urbana and brought me along, and we had a wonderful 5 hours total in the car, plus the seven hours of apple-ing, and we heartily agreed we’d had a wonderful day. We are eagerly looking forward to Food Preservation 102 — just say the word!! The other 3 Friends had never been to a yearly meeting event before, and are very enthusiastic about how much fun we had.

From Yelena Forrester of Pittsburgh Friends Meeting, but a recent transplant to Urbana-Champaign Friends Meeting:
I had a wonderful time at the event; thank you so much for making it possible. It was the first time I’d ever taken part in (or even seen) the canning process.

From Pam Timme of Oak Park Friends Meeting:
One of the quarts is destined to go to Oak Park Meeting next week for our potluck/Direction of the Meeting gathering. It was a wonderful and very educational day. Christina and I both enjoyed it very much, and also enjoyed getting back to peace of the countryside. It was a fun and hardworking, yet relaxed group.

From Elizabeth Mertic of Evanston Friends Meeting:
glad that I came the nite before and was able to relax in the quiet of the farm and share the easygoing company of Debie Smith; excited to be able to stand on my feet in front of the hot stove while stirring and monitoring when the water in the canners reached the boil; very pleased that three new Friends participated; grateful to have the chance to be with Beth, Grayce, Mariellen since we all are old timers at ILYM activities.

And from Debie Smith of Evanston Friends Meeting:
I sampled the applesauce three different ways; adding cinnamon and heating up; adding cinnamon and eating cold; and eating the unsweetened applesauce right out of the refrigerator. All three ways were delicious. AND each time I ate my applesauce I remembered our time together making it, as well as where the apples came from. I am really looking forward to more canning in my future with other friends/Friends.

Elizabeth and I made the most of the experience. We drove to McNabb together Friday afternoon, enjoying both conversation and the gorgeous trees and country scenes along the way. We arrived in time to take a long walk together, before settling into the Clear Creek Meetinghouse for the evening. What a welcoming and beautiful home.

I enjoyed every part of our applesauce and canning experience: meeting, cooking with and eating with new Friends; eating Beth’s delicious cookies; learning my way around the kitchen and the canning process; preparing the jars for canning; scrubbing pans; stirring apples on the stove (and slowly becoming more adept at doing so without burning myself so often); milling the apples; filling jars with applesauce; heating lids; putting the lids on the jars; putting the jars in the canner and timing the process; removing the jars to cool and listening for the “pop” to know they sealed. AND eating our collectively made treasured applesauce the next day. All of this – and we had the joy of learning and cooking and eating and cleaning together.

Being in the kitchen with friends and family is one of my greatest joys. Our time together in McNabb added to my collection of joyful kitchen experiences.

Oh, yes, as Elizabeth and I walked out the front door of the meetinghouse to head back to Chicago, we both paused as we were struck by the silence. You could feel and “hear” the silence.

Coming next: Some wonderful apple recipes were shared during the planning of this Peace House on the Prairie workshop – we’ll get them posted here soon.

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A peaceful approach to the upcoming election (book review)

John Gilpin has shared his thoughts about the new book Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps.

Mariellen writes: “In his usual concise way, John summarizes many of the points of the book. I found especially helpful his summation of what people of good will can do to peacefully help us through this upcoming election.”

From the review –

“The machinery by which American democracy operates is being hijacked by a tiny group of wealthy men. The process is far along, and American news reporting has almost entirely failed to raise the alarm.

Enter Greg Palast, investigative reporter extraordinaire, with Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps. In B&BB, Palast demonstrates he has the goods on the operation.”

About the book –
A close presidential election in November could well come down to contested states or even districts–an election decided by vote theft? It could happen this year. Based on Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s investigative reporting for Rolling Stone and BBC television, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps might be the most important book published this year–one that could save the election.

Click here to read John’s review and learn more about the book.