Eastern Illinois University The Keep
The Post Amerikan (1972-2004) The Post Amerikan Project
4-1-2001
Volume 30, Number 2
Post Amerikan
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Recommended Citation Post Amerikan, "Volume 30, Number 2" (2001). The Post Amerikan (1972-2004). 252. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/post_amerikan/252
This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the The Post Amerikan Project at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Post Amerikan (1972-2004) by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Lo�al Judge makes racist comments Bicycling News from the Bicycle Bus Live War against Cuba Middle East Peace Process _
BLOOMINGTON/NORMAL VOLUME 30 . NUMBER TWO APRIL/MAY 2001
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Page 2-Page 2 stuff Pages 14-15--Steel Belted House Page 3-CommunityNews Pages 16-18--Earth & Spirit/Parts3 & 4 from Pages4-5--Seeing Red: Live War Against Cuba Jesse Wolf Hardin Page 6--SeeingRed: Middle East Peace Process Page 18--lfs even worse than you think/XFL Page 7--Bicycling News fromthe Bicycle Bus protest Page 8-10--Poetry Pages--NewPoets Page 19--Movie reviews Page 11--Julia Butterfly Hill video tape Pages 20-21--Interview with Jesse Wolf Hardin Page 12-Students protestDisney sweatshops Page 22--Animal abuses Page 13--Localjudge makesracist comments Page 23-- HB 219 Marijuana on theinternet /Clinton legacy In this Issue: Pick up a copy
Copies of the Post Amerikan are now available for free at the following locations: About us Good numbers Bloomington AIDS Task Force, 313 N. Main Advocacy Council for Human Rights.830-2521 About Books, 221 E. Front The Post is an independent Amerikan AIDS Hotlines Barnes Noble, Veterans Rt. 9 community newspaper providing informa & & National ...... 1-800-AID-AIDS Bloomington Public Library, 205 E. Olive tion and analysis that is screened out of or Illinois ...... 1-800-243-2437 Burwell's, 908 N. Main down played by establishment news sources. Local...... "...... 827-AIDS Common Ground, 516 N. Main We are a non-profit, worker-run collective Alcoholics Anonymous ...... 828-7092 Crazy Planet Kitchen, 414 N. Main that exists as an alternative to the corporate Amnesty International-ISU [email protected] Gaston's Upper Cut, 409 N. Main media. Animal Protection League ...... 828-5371 Heartland Community College, Raab Rd. Better Business Bureau...... 1-800-500-3780 Lizard's Lounge, 612 N. 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PAGE2 POST AMERIKAN APRIL/MAY 2001 ··� Community News • There's a Wideness in God's Mercyfreevideo available Need home repairs?
The Advocacy Council for Human Rights If you are living in rural McLean County on a recently acquired a number of video tapes of low-income, you may qualify for a 1% loan or There's a Wideness in God's Mercy, an grant to repair your home through the USDA interview with Dr. Lewis B. Smedes prpduced Rural Developmental Association. by Soulforce. Soulforce is part of the Soulforce Justice Ministry, founded by Rev.Mel White Qualifications: and Gary Nixon. Rev. White states, "For too --income for two persons, not to exceed $21,450; < long, the Bible has been misused to condemn --own own home; God's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered --live in your home. children," The interview provides a whole new look at the Bible and homosexuality. Terms of loan: -borrow maximum of $7, 500unsecured or The author of a number of popular books, Dr. $15,000secured; Smedes is a retired ethics professor, -interest rate of 1% for 20 years; pastor/preacher. He has spent his life -limited hardship grants for individuals 62 or studying, translating, preaching, and teaching older. the Bible. Smedes, an esteemed authority on the Bible and ethics, calls this biblical misuse For application or more information, call: "one of the greatest heresies in the history of 815.844.0127. the church ...it is a living heresy because it's treating God's children as if the y were not --Li e-Lines (newsletter of the Life Center for God's children .. . it is biblically all wrong." f Independent Living). The argument he makes for religious inclusion is quite strong, given with great emotion and is backed with years of both service to the church and contemplation ofthe Bible and the soul. Open Door Youth Center Februaryevents:
. Whatever you feel about the Bible, remember The Open Door Youth Center is a safe meeting that our adversaries misuse it daily to place for GLBT youth under 21. All activities caricature and condemn us. Those who commit take place at the Connections Community hate crimes against us often state that they Center, 313 N. Main St. in downtown "were only doing what the Bible says. " We at Bloomington, and are sponsored in part by the ACHR hope to use this tape as a catalyst to Bloomington/Normal PGLAG and the McLean get religious and community leaders thinking County AIDS Task Force. about what the Bible really says. Many church members, and ministers alike have never heard April 6 the Bible interpreted as it's meant to be. Movie World and Time Enough
The ACHR is now distributing the video tapes April 13 to any community member who would like to Game night give a copy to their clergy (or what other title your church leader may go by), and to other April 20 gay-related organizations. If you are Earth Day activities uncomfortable giving the video to your church leader yourself, let us know and we'll deliver --fromThe Rainbow Connection one for you. In fact, we don't even need to know your name (you can remain completely anonymous), just follow the instructionslater in this article. Russians & Americans: To get a free tape or to have one sent, please Differences and contact the ACHR in writing at: Similarities ACHR P.O. Box 5048 The Vladimir /Canterbury Sister Association of Bloomington,IL 61602-5048 Bloomington-Normal is hosting the 2001 Illinois or phone: 830-2521 State Sister Cities Convention at Jumer's Chateau. The convention runs from Friday,
Any written requests must contain at leastthe · April 20 through Saturday, April 21 from 12 clergy's name, church name andaddress in order noon to 2:00 p.m. Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, son of to be delivered. However, if you wish to Nikita Khrushchev will be the special luncheon speaker. deliver the tape yourself, please give your name,phone number, church,and clergy names. For more information, contact 662-3320. We will return your call.
The ACHR is able to distribute these tapes free due to Dr.Smedes donating the interview and the ltaglio Film crew donating their their time to shoot and edit the film.
--The Rainbow Connection
APRIL/MAY2001 POST AMERIKAN PAGE 3 .·
Seeing Red: Live war .. ·
Here's a grand tale worth a fire, a bottle of And Cuba was filled with oppqnents. Fol one More than.:�% of tb,e ,CIA,.'s .budgetto:: isdevoted c thing, U.S. military occupation an��.ter. , .r" ,., · unseating cognac andmaybe fireworks off thepor h when Cub�� .. uppitynatives. US. embassy: . interventions had never broken the memory of it's done. in every nation in the world is assigned at least · the hard-won independence that was snatched one person whose full-time job was severing any It's a foul tale of war, murder, away at its triumph. It stuck like a bone in betrayal, deceit, contacts there with Cuba •.. and helping· ense and vast conspiracy --,cpnspira<;yiny9lving the throat of Cuba's imin majority. overturn therevolution. very elite of Ametjc� .�. thehigh�t ��v�ls of . .,, the government, leadj.ng uniyersitiE;Sand . , . Theyhad never acquiesced, filling the following Thousands upon thousands of mercenaries are
institutions like theNew York decades withdemonstrations, strikes, general · ·, � . � ' ' .., Times.. " recruited and trained in secret Everglades camps strikes and uprisings. for invasion. U.S. warplanes are repainted with And it's an insp'iring tale of heroism; sacrifice, markings of the Cuban airforce, Cuban airstrips eloquence and implacability--from common And so the land that in the 1950's lay ravaged by are bombed, while other planes set fire to cane people like you and me, no less ... a vast murderous repression, decimating poverty, fields across the island with.incendiary devices. humanity ever faceless in learned texts, and and cruel foreign rulewas a land crying out in A mercenary force is established in the thought not worth entering into the calculatioQS anger. Escambray mountains. of the powerful. Resolved And when the momen� for invasion comes, But that's not the best part. For this story is just a The people had had enough. Out of the blood further moves: the New York Times pulls its chapter in a far grander tale that sweep.s across and ferment strode several score fearless men front-page scoop on impending military action time and continents. More: a tale that is and women, calling the people to arms. They after a call from the White House; those tapped still unfolding ... and that you can help write. began with only 12 rifles ... against 80,000 armed to lead a new Cuban government are locked in a men. room in Florida; tens of thousands of U.S. It could start with the European diScovery of the soldiers mass on the Puerto.Ricanisland of. Americas. Or with the horrific genocide and But they had just ideas. They pledged to tum Vieques, as well as Haiti and Central America; plunder by the Spanish Crown (organized and military barracks into schools for children. They an invasion is feinted at the easternmost shipped through Cuba, by the way). Or with the pledged to return stolen land to the peasants province of Santiago; and --this released just continent-wide revolt led by Simon who worked it. days ago-- CIA operatives take over Associated Bolivar (which won independence but not Latin Press and other news-wires to American unification). Or with the 1896 dictate what the world would read. revolution led by the Cuban Jose Marti which But most of all, they called on the people to free overthrew the only remaining Spanish themselves: "To the people whose desperate "What is most astounding," testified the dominion ... only to be crushed by U.S. military roads through life have been paved with the commander of the main column which attacked occupation under the pretext of the "Spanish bricks of betrayals and false promises, we were the mercenaries landing at the Bay of Pigs in a American" war. npt going to say 'We will eventually 1999 lawsuit for damages, "is the magi::Utude of .,i7 ·�··P.� �..... ,,,_. .,...�.7,.,., •'"'""'ff . . '"gi'lre you what you need,' butratl:\et--'H�feyou the'CJ:A pl�, WithnQnt:,siltgte defait ·' . Slavery, genocide, goId, pestilence and glory ..... have it, fight for it with all your might so that overlooked, whether military, economic, or � all part of the tale;J3Ufbest to starfwithj:ii'e-= . liberty and happiness may be yours!'" (History political." · Revolutionary Cuba, say ten years before the Will Absolve Me, Fidel Castro's famoiis 1953 heart of the story, the conspiracy that ended in testimony while on trial for trying to spark the The Northern Colossus believes its own defeat at the Bay of Pigs. overthrow of Batista; passed hand-to-hand by propaganda (and the tall tales of its fattening nearly everyone in Cuba.) mercenaries) that Cuba is waiting for liberation Open veins from the "communist yoke," that a single spark There lay a land of torture, mass murder, and Only two short years after the 1956 outbreak of will start a prairie fire. utter destitution. And racism so profound that open warfare --though at the cost of 20,000 rebel the country's top social club --white only of lives-- the dictator is driven out by a sea of Human steel course --turned out the lights when the mixed angry humanity, fleeing to Florida with the But the people of Cuba are ready and waiting. A race dictator himself came to call. Meanwhile national Treasury on January 1st, 1959. call to arms immediately follows the 15 April Havana was a sewer of decadence --rich white bombing of the airfields. Cubans intheir tourists filled the gaudy casinos, and satisfied And the people organize themselves into millions report to stations --factories, cane fields, their sexual fantasies with the natives and militias, and block clubs and unions; women's neighborhoods, and strategic locations- .their children in a city openly ruled by the groups, students groups, and organizations of weapons in hand, while others devote Mafia. small farmers. They take back the land, slash all themselves to maintaining production. Che the rents, teach themselves to read with the help Guevara is assigned to head defense in the west, But it was the Big Mafia --the U.S. ruling class- of teenagers, put the utilities under their own Rebel Armed Forces leader Raul Castro in the that reigned over the island, feeding on its open control ... and then the mills, mines and east, and Juan Almieda in Santa Clara to veins, draining Cuba's natural bounty and factories. They build medical schools and head the Central Army. squeezing every cent with usurious loans --all trained themselves as doctors, and make backed by the points of U.S. bayonets. medical care a human right. Fidel Castro flags down the commander of the small tank battalion for a ride to the front and is Sugar and tobacco workers toiled on plantations And they turn the military barracks into told he's too important to get killed, and is left under conditions little changed from slave days playgrounds and schools for their children. by the side of the road. He roars by in another --save there was now no food or housing during vehicle ten minutes later, rifle in hand, straight the eight idle months of the year. Reaction to where the bullets are flying. Unemployment regularly exceeded 80%. But in the Northern Empire, there is bitter fury Education, literacy, health care, electricity and ... and great contempt. The rabble could never And the single spark does light a prairie fire - plumbing were unknown to the vast majority. run the country --imagine! --Negroes and but it's the blazing Cuban people, ready to die peasants and women ... the cows and chickens rather than go back to degradation, murder, and taking over the farm. Monster eyeballs tossed on the floor. Add to this the dictatorship of erstwhile Sgt. Fulgencia Batista, imposed to by the United Yet neither time nor the first countermoves - Miscalculation States in 1952 to crush popular unrest ... in the lies, bribery, division, and economic Washington's plan is to establish a beachhead, name of "fighting communism," of course. strangulation-- end the Imperial nightmare. War declare a provisional "anti-communist" Assassinations, murders and troops on the is launched on every front. government that appeals to the "democratic" streets, mass arrests of workers and peasants, forces for assistance --with all the world's news tortures inthe barracks and police stations But call it Conspiracy, for neither the world nor entirely crafted and spoon-fed by the CIA. A rolled across the land. its own citizens is told. Millions and millions of full-scale military invasion by U.S. forces will dollars --the Yankees' inexhaustible resource- follow ... and the figureheads will finally be A treatment Batista particularly favored was are devoted to counter-revolution, no expenses released from lockup. gouging out the eyes of his opponents. spared. The best and the brightest are gathered from every comer of government and university to plan the operation to returnthings to the way the should be.
APRIL/MAY PAGE 4 POST AMERIKAN 2001 against Cuba
But themercenaries meetsteel instead of warm in the world -and the old military barracks still worth of food. A world where the possibility of
belong to the children.• mere recession the Northern Colossus arms. A beach-head is never established, two ! in keyU.S. warships aresunk, thebare dozen threatens economicdevastation for the billions planes of the Cuban air forcecripple U.S. air And where once the world could only read that it dominates. support ... and Washingtonthrows up its hands, news dispatches written by the CIA, today it leaving its hired help alone on the beaches. They votes in the United Nations 167 to 3 to condemn Ecuadorian �nts topple their IMF tell world they had nothing to do with it. Washington's eternal effort to crush Cuba. handmaideri government, 'Argentines·rock their countrywith 'general strikes' againStthe But the war goes on. The Helms-Burton Act imposition of ausl'erity� the East stir$as police Worse which outlawed And so ends the tale of the first military defeat all world trade with Cuba state "Communists" fall, Palestinians disdain (passed under of the Northern Colossus in the Americas. But Democratic president William gunfire and bombing in the fight for justice, the Clinton) the story goeson. 'This is not the last attempt," spells out the conditions for it to end: entire population of Cuba rises to demand the "government says Fidel, warning that a far bigger attack is and property relations must be return of a child, and thousands of young coming. And indeed -forcibly convinced of the returned to their pre-January 1, 1959 people in the U.S. itself protest imperial folly of using mercenaries instead of the U.S. conditions." "globalization." military- Washington initiates plans for flat-out war against Cuba. Ultimately (the "Cuban Irrepressible "A chain of hands stretches out ... across the Missile Crisis") the U.S. takes the world to the What is the moral? TheSecond Declaration of centuries. Over the Andean peaks and slopes, brink of atomic war over Cuba's rightto live and Havana, signed by more than one million along great rivers and in the shadowy forests, defend itself. Cubans and issued 4 February 1962 puts it like this chain of hands stretches to unite their this:"What does the Cuban revolution teach? miseries with those of others who are slowly And it hasn't given up to this day. Yet after four That revolution is possible." perishing ...." said the Cubans in the Second decades of diplomatic, bacteriological, Declaration of Havana. economic, and ideological warfare and blockade These are words more attractive today than . (not to mention over 600 documented attempts ever, in a world of savage inequality that leaves To those today without even a crust of bread, to assassinate Fidel Castro), the Cuban people some 3,000 people dead every hour in the Third without a chance for a future, this tale offers the still rule their own land. Theyhave more World for lack of clean drinking water, ten-cent hope and guarantee of the words of Che doctors and teachers per capita than any country vaccinations, and a quartt:r's Guevara: "Let's be realistic," he said, "and do the impossible."
STERILE FERAL FOUNDATION Promoting the humane management of feral cat populations
Members of the Sterile Feral Foundation care fornumerous feral cat colonies in McLean County. Colony caretakers provide shelter and dai/yfood and water. In addition, they set traps to catch cats that need to be spqyed or neutered This takes a considerable amount of money.
The Sterile Feral Foundation has a program where you can help. Just fillout the form at the bottom of this page and pledge a month/y gift to support a colony.
The Cats Need Your Help! ·------· Feral and the feral cats by making a donation. Please indicate how you are interested in 1I You can help Sterile . . helping the feral cats of the McLean County The Sterile Feral OYES! want to support the work of Sterile Feral : I area. Please include your name, address, and Foundation : with a tax deductible donation of of: phone number. Subscribing Supporting : 0 $15 0 $20 Thanks for your support
_ OOther __ P.O. Box 3413 1 O Sustaining $50 $ OJ am interested in volunteering to help Bloomington, IL Any amount is appreciated! care for feral cat colonies. Send $15 or more and you will receive issues of The Feral Fixation. 61702-3413 Please make checks payable to the Sterile Feral Foundation OJ am interested in the monthly Support-A and mail to the address listed on the right. Colony program. Phone: 309-663-4406 .. OJ am interested in donating wish list items www. ste ri I ef era I. o rg such as dry & canned cat food, litter, humane traps, carriers, & old towels. . Address______Sterile Feral Foundation is a OJ am interested in helping foster feral kit 501 c3 nonprofit organization 1 City ______State___ __Zip __ I tens and friendly strays. : Phone.______e mail,______I �------Seeing Red: No justice, no peace
"The Middle Eastpeace process" - snore. We've And Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied At the same time, Israel and the U.S. tried to been hearing that for over ten years. Is there an territories of the West Bank and Gaza live under corrupt the Palestinian leadership, even to draw emptier phrase? harsh military rule, enduring round-the-clock them into repressingPalestinian nationalists; curfews and prevention of any travel in or out of There hasn't been peace in the Middle East ever villages. Tanks and helicopter gun ships attack So "the Middle East peace process" turned into since the Zionists (backed by Western those who dare protest, while assassination putting Palestinians on reservations -with shiny imperialism and its pal Stalin) ran the native squads target individual leaders. uniforms for 'their own' corrupt police as their population out of Palestine, took their lands and only reward. set up a Chosen-People-only state they called But if things are so bad, how come we've been Israel. A country lovingly portrayed by Western hearing "the Middle Peace process" for so long? 'The Middle East peace process" became the propaganda as a courageous and democratic Because in the late 80's / early 90's thePalestinian name for escalatingthe Palestinians' David making the desertbloom ... while holding people couldn't stand it any more and launched a dispossession. off an Arab Goliath whose forces breed like flies series of mass public protests ... which brought in filthy encampments murderously sharpening out the Israeli gunmen ...which brought out a Of course the phrase disappeared this past their blades and plotting a new Holocaust. whole lot more Palestinians, October when mounting frustration finally exploded again. Blame ultra-right Israeli general As ever, the truth is exactly the opposite -in fact, Meet the first Intifada (uprising). Think the U.S. Ariel Sharon .:..infamous for the extermination of the ones closer to Hitler are the Zionists. Not just South in the 60's, Northern Ireland in the early two Palestinian refugee camps- for marching that brown-shirted followers of Zionist leader 70's, South Africa in the 80's. A vast civil rights into IslamG«+s holiest site in Jerusalem with 2000 Jabotinsky marched in Palestinein the 30's movement up against a deeply-entrenched racist soldiers. chanting "Germany for Jiitler, Palestine for the way of life. The Zionist state was forced to Jews!" Not just that Zionists shared Hitler's retreat. This flagrant attempt.to deliver thefinal vision of a]udenrein (Jew-free) Germany. humiliation --to rub Palestinian faces in what "the Meet the first "Middle East peace process." The Middle East peace process" had actually become-- More that they created a permanently-militarized resulting Oslo Peace Accords were supposed to ignited a ne� Intifada. Palestinians surged into Master Race nation, complete with the world's ease crushing Israeli pressure on Palestiniansand the streets in massive demonstrations ... and fourth-largest army.After all,Israel offers any pave a way for normalized relations and the were quickly met with brutal Israeli military Jew in the world the right to move there, own emergence of an independent Palestinian state. force. But the ensuing repression -and the land, and enjoy all theother benefits of mounting deathtoll- has only hardened o citizenship. Meanwhile it f rces some five million Except when the uprising subsided Israel Palestinian resistanceto the hopeless prospect of nativesto·liw outside Israelas exiles, barring violatedthe accords in every possible way, livingon reservations. themfrom returning to their property. implanting some 200,000new settlerson Palestinianland, cutting it into isolated and Meet the currentIntifada. Palestinians left inside Israel are denied equal unlivable remnants. rights.They have to carry p asses and contend And now meet the current ''MiddleEast peace with frequent stops by Israeliauthorities. process" - the latest attempt to get Palestiniansto give up, announced in Washington this January. Just agree that no Palestinian be allowed to return to Israel (not even to buy land), and get a weaponless statelet controlled by Israel, stripped of most of Jerusalem and riddled with Israeli settlements.
Of course Western propaganda machines quickly trumpeted this U.S./ Israeli offer as "95%" of what Palestinians want, portraying them as hopeless fanatics for not signing on. • We believe in Infinite Intelligence. •We believe in the phenomena of nature, both And so the empty "Middle East peace process" - SUNDAY SERVICES - physical and spiritual, are the expression of LYCEUM SUNDAY AT 1 PM Infinite Intelligence. drones on. CLASSES ON SPIRITUAUTY DEVELOPMENT • We affirm that a correct understanding of ' such expression and living in accordance But don't blame .the phrase for meaning nothing, MEDITATION AND HEALING AT 2 PM therewith, constitute true religion. • We affirm that the existence and personal blame Israel and its sponsor, DEVOTIONAL AT 2:30 PM : • identity of the individual continue after the Washington. They've only to recognize LECTURE THEN MESSAGE SERVICE (CLAIRVOYANCE) change called death. Palestinians as human beings with POTLUCK DINNER AT 3:30 PM • We affirm that communication with the so called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by rights, and a real Middle East peace process can the phenomena of Spiritualism. begin. • We believe that the highest morality is con \•••:ri'faitl... tained in the Golden Rule: "Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye --Steve Eckardt MAY 5 • NOON TO 5 PM also unto them." •We affirm the moral responsibility of individu MEDIUMS WILL11£: Rev. Nadine Culver-Orcutt, she'll have jewelry, meditation packets, Rev. Dolores Ponzetti, Rev. Sandy Kuiper, books and stones. als, and that we make our own happiness or Debra Gerheart, Rev. Ruth Swan, Rev. Barb AL.so:Dawn Marie Buchanan will be taking unhappiness as we obey or disobey Nature's Visit
DIRECTIONS: TRAVELi74 EASTTO LEROY EXIT. TURN LEFT, PROCEED TO STOP SIGN (RT. 150) TURN RIGHT•. TURN LEFT!JNTO PEARL ST.
POST AMERIKAN . APRIL/MAY 2001 . . •......
Bicycle Bus offers Film Fest
2 Seconds Velorution For professional athletes, all aspects of life a�e One city's solution to the automobile is a viewed through the concentrated lens of their dynamic half-hour portrait of Havana, Cuba in sport. Director Manon Briand brilliantly offers a the period just following the collapse of the glance through such lens in "2 Seco�ds" as she Soviet Union when, for lack of oil, the city captures what it means for a champion . adopted the bicycle as one of the dominant mountain-biker racer to embrace hfe after she is forms of transportation. forced to end her career. While the battle against pollution, traffic After discovering a gray hair, Laurence pauses mortality, and urban gridlock falters in most at the start gate before hurtling down a cities, Havana has proved that the bicycle-can mountain in an otherwise flawless run. The move a large number of commuters. Taking the hesitation costs her the championship by two lead from some industrialized, bicycle-friendly seconds, and she is forced into retirement. cities in Europe, Cuba ordered 1.2 million Without a race to train for, she is disoriented bicycles from China, and thus began their trek and confused and moves to the city with her toward a human-powered "Velorution." nerdy brother, Steffan. l!nable t do ything Call for Entries!!! � � The Bicycle Bus but repair and ride her bike, she is thrilled.to is seeking artistic �ntries for Drawing in part from an earlier production, this "The Art of Bicycle" discover the career of courier. However, her to open during National tape was originally intended for urban planners Bicycle Month in fellow messengers provide uneasy c maraderie, May 2001. Pro-Bicycle or Anti _a and bicycle enthusiasts. Now, however, the Car work of and her obsession with speed and distance are any form (painting, drawing, filmmakers have found that others who've never sculpture, not compatible with delivering numerous multi-media, etc ... will be accepted seen nor heard from Cubans outside of the provided it relates to the above themes or • packages in the financial district. By chance, she dominant political debates are interested in this meets Lorenzo, a cantankerous Italian bike communicates some idea about alternative off-the-beaten-path view of Cuba's cityscape. transportation. shopkeeper and retired speed cyclist. They Radical, political art is encouraged. dash at first,but their mutual love and . The Apollo Theater is located at 311 Main Street, appreciation of cycling draw themtogether. Peoria, IL. (309) 673-4343. The Bicycle Bus They share stories and reveal scars,both is also seeking sculptors and . sculptures for physical and emotional. Lorenzo helps ripen Call Tim at The Bicycle Bus for more inclusion in a sculpture garden. . (309) 685·9818 Pro-bike, Laurence's heart for romance. information on the Bicycle Month Film Fest. Doors anti-car and alternative transportation themes will be explored. The use of recycled open at 6:30 p.m. and the shows start at 7:00 p.m. bicycles/parts w ll b h,igh1:Y e�c u a . Briand's delightfu y �te aining sqipt and Suggested donation is $5 per person. \ .� , ? � &,:�: ll ii However, works-Of'anymed1a.t'hat cov,er the. dire�tion.cguple irresish1hlywith Charlott . . � . Her s le �. abov�'themes'.wi'Ilbe consider�.:on�site . ' Lautier's performance as Laurence. 1:!1i; : · , Refreshmentswill be 'lfrver,no f od or ,· 5erved. Ito � constructioh is e'ncooraged'(at'least one torch mindedpursuit of her passion: for cyc�ing · '· ·,. · · drinks are allowed .in the theater. : :i·ri'··' ·n1: 1J . • ' creates ·an innocence in the story that is both will be availabl�)�=·r . , charming and inspira ional.' ,;2 sec nds" is a ,· t � . Contact Tim �ney, cup1Jor,.at , well-crafted film about the redeeming virtue of ;(30.9� 68.5-9,BW; bikebus@bigplai;tet.com (qr more Wor:maJion., tg,:. staying true to wha:tyou love·most. (French . ' submit work or.I ;volunteer. � ' ' • - w /English subtitles) . ' ' --Shari Frilot, Sundance Film Festival review National Bicycle Month Return of the Scorcher Mays . . · "Return of the Scorcher" is a spirited celebration •Opening reception for the Art of Bicycle at The of the bicycle that asks why this cheap, clean, side View Gallery inside The Contemporary Ka:r�n Schl'llftit quiet, and healthy method of transportation isn't Arts Center. Located on Water St. in Peoria.* more widely used in America. In the 1890s, May12 when the speed of a bike was considered Swap Meet and Local Club .Infor1:1ation Day at Alderman. , � ' ·"'·Ward6 amazing, "Scorcher" was a euphemism for . The Bicycle Bus, 2022 N. Wisconsm Ave., bicyclist. Today, most of th world rel es on the � . : Peoria.* bicycle for basic transportatio , while m i:i . May18 America it's now used primarily for recreatron. • Bike to Work Day. Leave your car at home.* "Return of the Scorcher," filmed in Europe, • Fundraiser for Peoria Area Mountainbiking China and the United States, explores some of 409 E. Grove St.,Bloomington Association (P AMBA) at The Rhythm Kitchen. the reasons for this and looks at how the bicycle 6:30 p.m. Take a chance to win a Santa Cruz is used worldwide. This creative film raises home: 829-6318 Super light!!!* fundamental questions about the nature of Mayl9 "progress" and seeks to inspire us to consider . wor�q�l/;244-2070 The the bicycle as a pollution free- and fun - way to •Bike Film Fest at Apollo Theater, 311 Mam e-mail: [email protected] solve some of our transportation problems. St., Peoria. 7:00 p.m.* --Marina McDougal, Exploratorium Film Program. May25 . •Critical Mass Peoria meet at 5:30 p.m. at City Pedalphiles Hall, downtown Peoria. Representing citizens' May26 This documentary follows the adventures of . . S.C.A.B. (Skids Creating Apocalyptic Bicycles), a Memorial Day Vacation by Bike remembormg . ideas, iuterests, issues: & roving gang of bicyclist-artist-philoso�hers hell the Army Bicycle Corps. bent on ridding theworld of automobiles. concerns to Bloomingt® Usingtrash nabbed from theMadison streets, Note: Events marked with an asterick (*), are · ·• ·· . S.C.A.B. recy�les junked ten-speeds and kids' organized events. Call Tim at (3�9) 685-9818 for ...... ·.· : : . .. scooters into nightmarishvehicles of urban more info or to volunteer. E-mail c1ty·,govel'tune•t·•. terrorism. Between infiltrating events [email protected] sponsored by tamer bicycle enthusiastsand wedging ill-fitting Huffies together with / hacksaws and butterknives,S.C.A.B. members find time to muse on anarchy, consumerculture, proper bunny-hopping technique, the failure of the media and the purpose of art. "It's an experiment in phenomenolosr," sa� S.C.A.�. co-founder Michael Spelman, 'but1t s alsoruce to piss off cars." --Reviewfrom http://www.prolefeeds tudws.com.
APRIL/MAY2001 POST AMERIKAN The Poetr
Bluelto the lloon
I seethe moonrise in themidnight blu e andI could touchit if I tried :In1111 end: Thelight strikes me so cooland sweet Themoon beammy is guide How can twoperfect desires and If love be meantfor each otherwhenfate I singmy bluesto the moonwhen irs full andbright has different plans for bothof them? If - Nothin' else like it in the dark of night Easy ...Passions drive the heart Thecurrent world (seeming to reek) I singmy bluesto the moonwhen irs fulland bright to love ... Desire guides ourspirit to . Continueson to theeffect straightening of itself out irs still far away but thars alright search. Faith opensthe doorto satisfac Or if tion... then fatebrings us together in Thoughts that I supposed unique I've seenthe moonblood red angry at thesun the end. Really wereand I contained notone reasonable doubt I've.watched it dissappearfor days If I've felt it fightits way through the gloomy clouds -Israel Jimenez I deemed theseideas true, worthy of rally Come glowing throughthe haze Foreven justa momentor asrule a Then I singmy bluesto the moonwhen irs hard to see Would I be claimed to have unconditionally behind theclouds Iknonw ifs gotbe The silly mind of an optimistic fool? I singmy bluesto the moonwhen ifs hard to se I can feel it moving closerto me If Untitled All the world in tomorrow it dies And a great relief befall the human reality The black and silver moontravels all alone . and I can feel it change my tides longing to be hidden away Or if awash within the sofe pale rays deep lush forests The pain received from thought without lies it touchesme deep inside long ridden with nature Came to an end and ignorance became a quality to keep my sanity If I sing my bluesto themoon, to the moon up above and pour out thoughts I deemed these ideas true, worthy of rally I do what I can but ifs never enough composewordstowisdom Thrive on them, and devour them as a feast I sing my blues to the moon to the moonup above changing interpretations Then I sing it my song of sadness and love to common knowledge Would I be claimed to have unconditionally a heart that can sing The cruel mind of a pessimistic beast? I'd take the moon into my loving embrace produces music even beasts can't hear and I would crush it to my.Jips clearing out insecurities and fears --Leslie Jean I haven't felt this crazy way crystal clear melody of the soul since the last lunar eclipse -Stacza Andruczyk I sing my blues to the moon when there's nothin' to do am I gettin' through well I wish I knew I sing my blues to the moon when there's nothin' to do I sing of my loneliness and I sing of you EIGHTY DAYS TO STARVATION --Peter Elvidge [eighty days is the sum of world-wide stored food]
I've turned into someone like the Unibomber as I hermit in my shack in the wilderness (my shack with books about farming and survival), STEP AFTER STEP where flowers glow in the dark, Desperate Desire I live on the trail, trees throw down prickly pears, I got hound dogs at sneakers fill up with sticks and gnats, my feet, and it's getting The burning fire mighty steep, can't a shack covered with barbed wire, Of desperate desire tumaroun' now, brambles, box knives and blackberries. Longs for thesight of her. cause Om too high,. ., . . ' A goat eats my mail. This lake of desperation drowning me an though my heanlfr,,: 'J , ;:, .. _,1 '..(11m L • Has begun a new life to see. '.>1' is low, Om shakitt'lrJ �·J· n:\ b•Jdmw • . I've tried consulting candles and gods, And I am blinded by beauty. on the ground, I got worshiping rifles and woodchucks, Decrepit self-destruction distances the blues of the tip- as incense sends up prayers and patchouli. Itself with repeated instances toe heartbreak, you Of what I believe to be love. try ta ease out, It's impossible, the things that need to be done. Ah! At one time I longed for but whenyou I take medication for my sins but not lightly. The love I knew before. whisper it sounds I make a monk's practice of it. The love of a muse.
like uh shout, · Passionately I searched for the compassion you say hello Like a mountain woman, over-exposed to the sun, . Of an inspiration that had gone. an ymwnean my face has shriveled up, my mouth is pursed. Faded in glory good-bye, My brows curl over my eyes like a visor, my brows Is the desperate story an you wish Of a poisonous love. she was the one, are caterpillars crawling off my face into my ears. Life the same an time is uh I can't admit the "I'm sorry" part. Now rene�ed by flame weight on your back, I might not be getting away with anything. All for her side by mine. that you carry with evree Nigllt begins the feelings again breath, an you find out --Eileen Murphy And eveinuJ.e&perateJalllf?ll for her. bein'uh manis jus' Brought to life, the blood of a stain, step after step, it's Ineach embodimentlife will occur. like drowning with Death isn o longer death, dreamsof mermaid. Nor is it anymoreconsidered a gift.
-John Firefly Rick Reliford
PAGES POST AMERIKAN APRIL/MAY 2001 FALL
A trio of visually impairedrodents Untitled fall A trio of visually impaired rodents in There's something about fog A trio of visually impaired rodents . . . trusting that sets it apart from Observe the manner in which they travel in considerable haste nature's other infractions Observe the manner in which they travel in considerable haste perception it rolls in like an old ache They all pursued the spouse of the individual that grows the vegetables will slowing the pace to She surgically removed portions of their spines with kitchen cutlery create a deafening silence Have you ever witnessed such an occurrence in your existence reality ... and then as quietly as a trio of visually impaired rodents as it crept in A trio of visually impaired rodents your it disappears creation ... leaving behind it the --Peter Elvidge soulstouc.hei;l ; · creating and.hearts love reminded need .. . --:Stacza Andruczyk For President a Piece of the Night reality If I was queer of I mean queen With my right hand I reached into the sky denial. . . i want . . . love For a day and grabbed myself a piece of the night ineed .. . Probably nothing gripping it tightly I held it beside me you Would go my way and together we went for a ride i deny myself - yet i taste There isn't much buried in your I could do Things are gonna be a bit different now smile I could say it's an atmospheric condition Except that maybe broken - love lost There's lots of stuff wrong a handful of blackness my travelling companion hunger With the world today with a couple of stars in there, too unsatisfied And why can't we all long conversations, cosmic radiations hurdling through moonlight Just get along take in the invisible view your breath the breeze that £;flames my desire i fall --Megan Volpert things are gonna be a bit different now I'm thinking of changing religions --Jeff Warren
With a piece of the night in my pocket I search now for some peace of mind Untitled if I don't find what I'm seeking it won't be from a lack of trying Pale afternoon watching silently things are gonna be a bit different now .. • as the snow I see something in the distance · falling around us drifted into nothingness --Peter Elvidge and finally the darkened moon The Post Amerikan is seeking poetry showed us the wisdom submissions for the Poetry Page. of antiquity at its best If interested, please mail your poem to: -Stacza Andruczyk Post Amerikan, P.O. Box 3452, Bloomington, IL 61702 or e-mail to: Mexican Cigarette pamerikanusa@ netscape.net We have the right to reject any poem. south of the border on a dusty street some angel will wake up ------one day discover herself a girl see the whales in the lagoon of the sea of cortez, gentle warm sea for baby gray whales birthed out in a ring ofnurse whales, nudging to the surface the 1st breath of sweet air DancingFairies slow fishermen pad by paddling surely to the reef to cast nets " Thismom the bleakness of my gray 4u.ngeon for pescado tacos con salsa verde cilantro el tomato----she might stroll streets was transformed into a festive ballJtOOm; singing to birds disguised by leaves filled with petite winged fairies of 15ilver shimmering light. for her eardrum, there is the translation are birdsonginto words, "we are angels, good morning, we angels, good morning, we Around and around they went, are angels, goodmorning" jumping with graceful bounce, there in clean sky with clean clouds joyous and gleeful each movement seemed. of clean water falling to clean land running into clean rivers emptying themselves into clean ocean Though they were merely reflections of the sun jumping gray whales upon the points of razorwire outside my dungeon window, songsof humpbacks all over the amazing they brought with them life and hope, echolocation of the porpoise if only for just a brief moment. riding the crest of a wooden sailboat the front of the bow sprite spitting masthead God bless the dancing fairies in life; throwing mad vapor rainbows across those we lose sight of when times are full of plenty the course of wind driven laughter and we grow up. somehow wisekind humans full oflove wishing like lighthouses---emanating prayers in wild balloons --Nikolai A. Zarick gentle breeze glitter frolics the spastic expression light bouncing off reflective surface catching the light of your love, wishing for love catching the light your love wishing for love catching the life of love, wishing for love cont'd -Stephen Christian Zimmerly
APRIL/MAY 2001 POST AMERIKAN PAGE 9 Werewolves on Wheels
Werewolves on wheels Snapping at your heels Yes, I Say To You Snarling on their Harleys Howling down the highway Oh! Blood red days and scarlet skies, I live in a daze under naked eyes. The American Dream Monsters roaming the night I try. Oh! How I try Gnashing their gleaming teeth To live my life, Give me a windmill of steel and white A sight beyond belief To live under a trepid sky, Slicing the air with its sharpened knives. Werewolves on wheels To live with such strife. Give me a building of brick and concrete · Be no the sky of the final days! Meeting corners of freshly paved streets. Werewolves on wheels Be not the smell of blood-shade haze! If there must be a tree, plant it in grates Lycanthropic chopper riders Every man stakes to claim Underneath neon window plates. Reflections of Hades His life was lived not in vain. If there must be a bird, nest it in vents In their mirrored shades Every head hangs in shame Above a shop just cleaned for rent. Knowing his life was of brother Cain. Construct a bridge and contract me a sale, Greasy fur and weathered leather These peering, vile naked eyes. Over the city's river, so pale. Riding in a pack together That glaring, vile scarlet sky. Tractors plows growing small amidst the grass You'll never know how good it feels Man is not man in the blood-red haze. And amber waves of grain, my ass! Werewolves on Wheels Man is animal, animal brought to craze. The forgiveness deserved, inexistent. --Megan Volpert Werewolves on wheels The forgiveness pleading, still persistent. --Peter Elvidge The animal hath Brought the wrath. Fear becomes hate. Untitled Fate becomes fate. Life becomes awaited death. During winter months That which is stolen, breadth. when ice and snow cover over everything --Rick Reliford DANCER (hands behind her back) live or dead (for Nicolas Africano) held motionless by the deep biting She was glass, of weather and wind but she was not even the trees see through, she feel its heavy weight was the casting no longer heading of uh moment, towards the heat with uh bit of the sun of luck unbroken, warming their core her hair an dress instead they grab downward painted, she was gnarled by nature uhmomentjust evil at will so · after uh sigh, beware their shadows her eyes are shut, in early morning light hands behind her back, the image will creep the submission into your dreams of a dream, yet, until the heart can she is fluid still, handle no more of evree dance she gray in the landscape was dancing, uh --Peter Elvidge and begins to bleed sleeping twinkle the lush green of spring like uh dim star, hands behind her back. --Stacza Andruczyk --John Firefly Evil G's 8-Day Poem 1999 Human out on the edge of the horizon weird clouds shift up Our light st drifting up like hammerhead sharks rising on their padd'les Conception ca·. . . against schooling mackerel smashing cutting apart with their hammers It is an origintiti'% bludgeoning them stunned consuming them like teeth mouthfuls -~-~::~.~ .. ~'.'~ ·;~ ,:~-... ~:~ :. ~- ·. the knives grow long on the blood, cut thru upper lower laws Yet not until fi~·st' ~o~tac·t, :. giving the sharks explosion head, a lobotomy with life the lobotomy of electricity, gone parts dead floating away connection will it change like the moon cut in half by a comet when the comets in the sky, what catches your eye The spark grows in a strictly formatted way. angels? or some alien guy? The spark adapts to heredity and environmental influences. do ya think the killers ought to fry? We must relate to these adaptations digesting more atomic quick electricity flipping thru the night They are the reaction near thunder laugh, delite crowes invisible dark, yet the spread of spark to situation. the wings out, you hear tiny rustles as fleas, bits of sand strum the quill like a comb falling to the ground, hear the short All actions are not, therefore acceptable, click of the beak, turn, pecks once more---all turn completely Only that they deserve a manner of understanding with eruption of sound, the air moving away from the triggering understand the dark electric blue wings, We are lit twisting the moments of candle flame are but breathing We are changed, transcendental;:souls burning pure flame, fire beings all spread Yet form always the similar spark. out towards you kaleidoscopes translating the sweetness and light We are derived. existing love, fire licking Our ligh(fades ih the fl'ow ~{th~ riv~r. ~: . . . ' ,j --Stephen Chr~stian Zimmerly
PAGETtr~·-. .. ! } ' POST AMERIKAN APRIL/MAY 2001 ·.�
Video tape of Julia Butterfly Hill speech available at E_cology Action Center & from Radio Free Maine
Julia "Butterfly" Hill is the young woman who If you would like to borrow the videotape of lived 180 feet up in a tree for over two years to Julia "Butterfly" Hill's talk or her book, The protest the destruction of old growth forests-in Legacy of Luna, stop by the Ecology Action California and to save a specific tree- Luna. Last Center next to the Normal Public Library or call year I read the story of her experiences in her 454-3169. We are open 1-6 pm Monday book The Legacy of Luna and I was thrilled at the Thursday and 1-5 pm Friday and Saturday. We chance of seeing a video of her speech recorded have information about environmental issues, by Radio Free Maine last October. local environmental groups and how you can get involved making a positive difference to Not only is Julia Butterfly Hill a dedicated help our planet. environmental activist, she is an entertaining and engaging speaker. She is an excellent Michelle Covi storyteller, but beyond sharing her story she Director motivates her audience to take action. She describes how her upbringing did not directly lead her to political action and that she spent several years of her young adulthood in pursuit of money. After a near fatal car accident, during a long recovery, she reflected on her life. She found that she felt empty and decided to search for something she could believe in. She found it in.the ancient redwood forests of California. Julia found a spiritual connection with the trees and the people who had lived in houses buried in mudslides due to clear cutting. Even though she didn't initially feel welcome with the other activists because she didn'rhave experience, she (((((Radio Free Maine))))) presents persevered and joined their efforts. Author of "Legacy of Luna" Julia Butterfly Hill
Julia's personal experiences are fascinating, but Environmental activist who spent two years living in an her message is even more moving. Before she started her tree-sit in Luna, she struggled with ancient California redwood tree to protect it fr om loggers. her decision to get involved. She thought, "Julia, your inactions are just as much a part of Av ailable on audiotape (speech only) for $11.00 and VHS video (speech plus Q&A) for $20 shaping the world as the actions of others." Please make check payable to Roger Leisner and mail to Radio Free Maine, P. O. Box 2705 Even though she had no experience and was Augusta, Maine 04338 (209)622-6629. www.radiofreemaine.com new to theissues, she knew she had to act. Luna helped her to find her voice to speak out and to change the world. Julia credits the alternative press for her first opportunities to speak about the destruction of ancient forests. Her mpst practical message is that each of us makes a difference- by action or inaction. She reads urges us to vote, educate ourselves and get Post Amerikan involved in environmental issues. Her message also has a strong spiritual component. She believes that the power of love has the ability to transform the world. When she was frustrated or angry during her experience she drew on the power of love.
Julia "Butterfly" Hill believes in many of the same ideals that we try to implement at the Ecology Action Center. We believe that everyone can make a difference. Many small actions that each of us take every day such as reducing waste by taking a cloth bag to the grocery store, using a coffee mug instead of styrofoam, or recycling everything we can helps in little ways to make a difference. We can use fewer trees by using 100% recycled paper, processed chlorine free- if you can't find it ask us.
Subscribe to the Post Amerikan 6 issues / $6 _bucks . Send check .payable to Post Amerikan P.O. Box 3452 · Bloomington, IL 61702
. · APRIL/ MAY 2001 POST AMERIKAN PAGE 11 Students protest Disney sweatshops
Recently United Students Against Sweatshops received in the Now that USAS has been sufficiently following days from students, held a protest at a Disney recruitment program faculty, staff introduced, we will now get into the specifics of and administration was . at Illinois State University. Before we get into overwhelming the recent Disney protest. To begin, the reasons . We deeply appreciate their the specifics of the protest, we would like to work and words for such a protest must be stated. It has been of encouragement. take a moment to explain what the United well documented by respectable human rights Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) We would also like to transform the perception groups that Disney has used sweatshop labor to organization is and the objectives we hope to that many community members may have of produce their products. In 1999, two human obtain. USAS is a· student movement that has protestors and the ISU student population. We rights organizations based in Hong Kong over 250 chapters throughout college campuses hope that our actions have diminished the (Christian Industrial Committee and Asia across the United States. One of the main view that college students today are apathetic. Monitor Resource Center) cited labor abuses in a objectives of the movement is to hold While we understand that past relations Chinese factory. These include: 16 hour corporations accountable for the treatment of between ISU students and the greater workdays, forced overtime, 7 day workweeks, workers who produce their goods. A specific Bloomington/Normal community have been wages of 13 cents an hour (not a living wage in objective of the ISU chapter of USAS is to strained, we aspire to work together inorder to China), no benefits, over-crowded dorms, ensure that our university does not lend its improve and promote social justice and human complete denial of the right to organize unions, support to corporations and orgaruzations that rights both locally and globally. We hope we and physical and mental abuse of workers. Due are documented human rights violators. have encouraged sustainable human rights to their current lack of cooperation with human Realizing this may not be completely feasible, dialogue on our campus and in the community at rights groups, we have no reason to believe that USAS would like at the very least to have large. Disney has ceased exploiting sweatshop labor. equal access and support in presenting our This non-cooperation includes not allowing alternative viewpoints to ISU students, United Students Against Sweatshops meets independent monitors to inspect factories and faculty, and staff. Lastly and most everyMonday evening at 9pm in Stevenson 211. not disclosing factory locations. importantly, USAS would like the Community members and friends are always administration to commit to an official policy welcome to attend. If you have any further After the ISU campus was inundated with of ensuring that all ISU products will be questions, please contact the advisor, Dale Disney promotional fliers concerning their manufactured with the greatest respect for Fitzgibbons at 438-5093. recruitments efforts, USAS decided to hold a human rights. protest in order to provide an alternative view --USAS to the Wonderful World of Disney. At the Disney recruiting meeting, over thirty protestors handed out fliers to students The Students of Human Rights at Illinois State attending the meeting. Guerilla theater was University will be hosting a Human Rights also employed, as one protestor dressed as Day on the ISU quad. The intention is to Sweaty Mouse, who bore an uncanny promote human rights and human rights resemblance to Mickey Mouse. The climax of violations at the local, national and global the protest occurred before the Disney meeting levels. This event also looks to uniting with began. As Sweaty Mouse entered the building, Bloomington/Normal and the community after initial confusion, one Disney groups that work towards promotinghuman . representative called the police. At this point, rights and preventing abuses. The date of this Nino Selvaggio, a founding USAS member, event will be May 2, 2001. If your local stepped in front of the audience dressed in a organization is interested in having a table at dapper suit with a Mickey Mouse tie. Nino the event, please contact Carlos Parodi or Nino proceeded to gain the students attention by Selvaggio at 438-5467 or at beginning the meeting with a mental exercise. [email protected]. Students, unaware that Nino was not a Disney representative, intently listened as he proceeded with the mental exercise. Not Salvadoran earthquake relief wanting to draw any attention to the situation I The and in effect ignoring Nino and his message, El Salvador, home to many sweatshops, was Disney did not act in any way to interrupt recei:itly devastated by three earthquakes. Nino's presentation and simply awaited the Bearing the catastrophe' _ s burden were poor and police to arrive and remove Nino from a public working families, many employed in the building at a public university. While sweatshops. a'Yaiting the arrival of the police, Nino detailed to the students the working conditions The National Labor Committee has an under which Disney goods are produced. earthquake relief effort going, specifically to Despite being heckled by a few audience . aid workers in the Salvadoran sweatshops. members, Nino persisted in his portrayal of Disney sweatshops. When the police arrived, The NLC has found that many maquiladora Disney simply wanted the police to remove factories are docking workers wages and are ... Monday $ I Jagermeister Nino without arrest. Nino refused to leave the threatening to fire them for missing work building without being arrested, forfeiting his because of the earthquake. · Tuesday... s ps Domestic Beer rights. Nino's arrest was followed by cheers and applause, not because of what he had said, For a direct, worker-to-worker way to aid the Wednesday... $2 Long IslandIce Tea but because this intrusion on their happy little earthquake victims in El Salvador, a donation world was over. can be sent to the National Labor Committee Earthquake Hours:Monday - Thursday 4 pm • I am I Emergency Fund. cf o NLC, 275 While the received media coverage was Seventh Ave., 15th Floor, New Friday 4 pm - 2 am • Saturday 8 pm- 2 am York, NY 10001. plentiful, we felt that the fu ll context of the Sunday 6 pm - I am protest and our group objectives were not wholly �or mor� �rmation on this or on sweatshop represented. We thank the Post Amerikan fpr issues, v1s1t the NLC' s website at 316 N. Main Street• Bloomington • 309.829.2278 providing this forum, which enables us to www.nlcnet.org. present our side of the recent events. Although the immediate reaction from students at the -- Livingston & McLean Counties Union News lecture hall was not favorable, the support we
12 PAGE POST AMERIKAN APRIL/MAY 2001 Judge claims biracial child has a "tremendous disadvantage in life"
Inresponse to "Racismfuels most hate crime," So let's put them in context and reexamine Census results for Bloomington-Normal reflect an article that appeared February 16, 2001 in them. D.L. Baker-Doyle gave me a complete this national trend with minority populations the Pantagraph.: When I first moved back to copy of the court transcripts. Wills felt that increasing and more than 2,000 people Bloomington-NormalI was pleased that race Judge Witte was responding to a specific report identifying themselves as multiracial (see relationswere very much on the public agenda submitted to the court by Dennis Patterson, chart). with the signs, Racism--not in our town. What LCSW. Patterson's report noted that the I experienced--well I'll let the readers be the teenager "is a biracial child and is continuing While the Pantagraph would not print Baker . judge. to struggle with his racial identity." Does this Doyle' s letter, the Afr ican American Voice then justify Witte's admonition to the parents? did. The local NAACP also sent a letter to Recently, when my son appeared in court, I was No, I don't believe so. As John Elliot from the Judge Witte registering their disapproval of made to listen to what I now label racist, NAACP noted in his letter to Witte "Parents do his comments. John H. Elliott, legal redress biased, and negative language from the not cause a burden to children, but environment, chairman, called Witte's remarks Eleventh Judicial Court of McLeanCounty. The friends, peers etc." It is comments like the one "irresponsible." He went on to say that "the comments that follow were made by the by Judge Witte that reinforce the racism in our NAACP was shocked and appalled at [Witte's] Honorable W. Charles Witte: (and are society which is what places a burden on behavior" and concluded the letter by saying contained in the transcript) "I frankly believe multiracial children. "in this day and time, such behavior is not thisyoung man wouldn't be here if Mom and acceptable from the bench. We encourage you to Dad had done their job. You gave him a What do researchers find when looking at refrain from any other derogatory and tremendous disadvantage in life that he is multiracial children? Do they have "a unfounded statements which would divideour multiracial and that in the history of this tremendous disadvantage in life," as Witte community." stage of our life in this countrywas a terrible asserts? Not according to Clayton Majete, a burden to put on him." teacher in the Department of Sociology and Baker-Doyle filed a complaint- with the Anthropology at Baruch College of CUNY, Judicial Inquiry Board, however we do not know Untilrecently, I was uncertainof speaking out who says: "Biracial children have historically the results of the complaint because according in such a public arena, thinkingI was been perceived as having significant problems, to a letter from the Board "the Board is overreactingto what I heard in the courtroom such as ambiguous racial identity, rejection of prohibited from disclosing specifics regarding that awful day. I have come to feel that his one race, social marginality, and managing its decision, findings, or information about its statementwas not onlycruel and disconcerting sexual impulses. There is no empirical deliberation of any matter." but also, in my opinion, very racist and evidence, however, to support these
inappropriateto be coming fromthe courts. For assumptions. No significant differences in In our increasingly multiracial society it is the good of my family, and the community in adjustment have been found between children imperative that we challenge inappropriate which I choose to live, I can't afford to remain raised by same-race parents and those raised by racial comments when we encounter them. It is • silent and encouragesuch thinking. mixed parents." only by speaking out that we can fight racism and begin to celebrate our diversity. If Bloomington-Normalis to keep hate crimes Majete reinforces the theory that it is not the as stated in the article "rare," we surely cannot parents who have placed this burden on --Sherrin Fitzer remain silent. Racialprejud ice or multiracial children, but society: "Indeed, the discriminationin the United States is a real hardship appears to be the labels imposed bewildering problem with little hope of ever from outside the family and not from parents or eradicatingit completely. People need to extended family. The need to label these speak out and renew Bloomington-Normal's children was viewed [by parents] as an Mclean County Census 2000 commitment toRacis m--not in our town. How impo'sition by society that had to be dealt many interracial families in this community with." wouldagree with the honorable judge that in Population of 1 race ...... 148,380
this country multiracial children have a Baker-Doyle ends her letter with a question- Population of 2 races ...... 1,926 "tremendous disadvantage and terrible burden" asking if "inter-racial families in this Population of 3 races ...... 119 placed on them? community would agree with " Witte's
comment. A mother of two biracial daughters I Population of 4 races ...... 7 D.L. Baker-Doyle spoke with called Witte's comments "crap." She felt that it is not his place as a judge to
make this type of comment--he is there to do White ...... 134,170 the sentencing or whatever the business is Black/ African-American ...... 9,305 When I received the above letter in the mail I before him. She also noted that it is not fair to couldn't believe what I was reading. Did a blame someone for falling in love with a person Hispanic or Latino ...... 3,833 judge in Bloomington-Normal really make this of another race. Comments like Witte's place Asian ...... 3,087 comment in an official proceeding? In his more emphasis on the race issue and there official capacity? In his robes, in front of god would be fewer problems for children if this American Indian/ Alaska Native ....245 and everyone? To be written down in the wasn't dwelt on. Multiracial persons being Native Hawaiian/ transcripts? Was it really as appalling a accepted is what needs to happen for racism to comment as it appeared at first reading? To be cease. Other Pacific Islander ...... 49 fair racism is still far too prevalent in our Other race ...... 1,5 24 society and don't multiracial children perhaps And according to the 2000 Census results( the suffer because of it ? I thought I better have first time people were allowed to choose from some other people read the letter to get a more than one category of ethnic group) the variety of opinions. I could tell whenever a number of multiracial families in the United reader got to the part of the letter containing States is growing--yes even here in White & Black or African-American 7.38 Judge Witte's comment because without fail Bloomington-Normal. The Census Bureau ...... there would be a gasp or a dropped jaw. OK , I estimates that there are more than 1.3 million White & some other race 368 guess it is as appalling as I first thought. interracial marriages and in nearly 2 million White & Asian ...... 327 families, the race of the children is different I decided to meet with the author of the letter from that of at least one parent. Between 1970 White & American Indian & to get some more information. What I found out and 1995, the number of black-white couples Alaska Native ...... 308 was that this letter was also sent to the quintupled, from 65,000 to 328, 000. Pantagraph but was not published because Bill Wills, managing editor, felt that Witte's comments were taken outof context.
PAGE 13 APRIL/ MAY 2001 POST AMERIKAN Another major reason is building with metatecture methods. Whilst usually much contributes passive solar energy. When a less expensive and mentally easier, it is quite trombe wall (a water filled wall, or masonry labor intensive and slower than the quick wall) is installed, the day's solar energy is slapped-up architecture that we're used to absorbed in the trombe wall and is slowly these days. Tire houses are amongst the most released through the night, somewhat like a labor intensive, but if you invest the time battery. The earthship designs, which kinda (about one or two months with two people for a sorta look like something out of a "Mad Max" small house) what you'll end up with is a house movie, do not require a septic system, nor a made of 300 to 2,700 tires, with an average of utility water source because they catch about 1,660 tires. The tires are packed tight rainwater and snowmelt, and they recycle with earth (that's the hard part) with each graywater (the waste that comes from all tire weighing approximately three hundred pound. Essentially they are meter wide, steel sources except the toilet). Blackwater (the belted bricks. In fact, they are laid in the wall effluent from the toilet) is handled in a system just like bricks in the way they overlap in a that composts everything, and as a result the staggered manner. earthships have whole gardens in them. The earthship systems are quite remarkable and The two gurus of tire building are Ed Paschich, nearly reach an autonomous status. who invented the T.R.E.E. (Timber Reduced Energy Efficient) building method and Michael When tire houses emulate southwestern adobe Tires, tires, tires, the world is filled with Reynolds, who invented the earthship and the houses, the construction can be close to that of a billions of tires. the United States of America solar survival methods. (All three methods conventional house. But the tire house still has has three billion already and adds another 250 fall within the term "metatecture" and use many advantages over the standard house. The million each year. Where do they go? Mostly tires extensively.) Both of these men have main advantage is that most of the construction in dumps and brobdingnagian tirepiles where wonderful "must have" how-to books involving can be done by an inexperienced owner:� Also, .,. t ; the ultra violet from the sun slowly breaks not just tire construction, but also how to build not a lot of tools are needed. The various tire them down. Mostly these exposed mountains of simply and pragmatically. builders have created a whole myriad of tires just stink like Pepe LePew on a hot date. homemade tools and adapted others to speed It doesn'ttake a rocket scientist to build one of the laborious process along. One ingenious tool A few honorable projects throughout the world these homes that will last a millennium. First, spreads the tires so that the soil compaction is have been converting a fraction of the tires into you have to learn how to proficiently scrounge. easier to accomplish. One homemade tool, a paving substance and various useful products, 9f course the mainthing on your scavenger-hunt which looks like an upside-down conifer, or a but this is quite expensive, and the majority just list is obviously tires. You want freshly child's top with an exaggerated handle, is used gets thrown away. There are also bunches of disposed of tires, not ones that have been to pound the earth into the tires, as a sledge people who make playground "stuff," planters, sitting outside breeding mosquitoes and hammer is used for the same purpose. One of walls, erosion control retainers, mini islands in deteriorating, to build your wall, although old, the mo8t time consuming stages is getting the waterways for aquatic fowl and much more. decrepit tires can be used for infill material. earth up under the upper side wall. A lot of Yet again, this only accounts for a fraction of Oft times tire dealerships and assorted sources success has been found by cutting off the upper the overwhelming total amount. But there is a will be tickled pink to give you all the tires side wall, which is laid inside the bottom of viable solution that has the potential to that you want. There have even been cases the tire. This speeds up the soil compaction consume the majority of the world's tires and where the tire builders were paid to haul them process and does not alter the wall's strength that serves everybody's interests from the away. Some places will charge a minor fee, too much. Some people use mechanical tamping and some junk yards will deliver them for a manufacturers to the tire dealerships, the junk devices, much like jackhammers, to comp�ct yards, my fellow environmentalists, and the modest fee. Next, you'll need scraps of wood. If the soil. Ed Paschich, however, says that home owner, yes, the home owner. you have a wood mill, cabinet shop, pre-fab hand compaction is 50% faster and there is less house factory, lumberyard or construction chance of over-compacting the soil past the When tires, in particular tires that cannot be company nearby, you may be able to get these 100% mark, which could result in a breakdown scraps for free as well. Next up, you'll need recapped or retreaded, are used to build houses, of the soils molecular structure. rebar (the reinforcing bars used in concrete we get structures that will virtually last works). A metal salvage yard is a good place to forever (when the rubber is protected from the Basically, what is achieved is "rammed get old ones that will just need a little wire sun). The cost for an owner-builder can be as earth." The same method that was used to brushing and painting. The only things most little as ten dollars (U.S.) per square foot, if build the Great Wall of China. The rammed the owner builds their own home. Yet even le end up buying new are chicken fence wire earth method compacts earth within whatever other materials you will need for with an experienced paid tire-builder the costs foundation-like forms to such a degree that the tectural options (windows, doors, plasters, are still well below those of a conventional soil becomes like sedimentary rock. The forms etc.): But who knows? You may get lucky there, house. So what's the catch? Why don't we see are removed revealing a beautiful wall which too! tire houses everywhere? is reminiscent of a Tibetan sand painting. In tire house construction the tires remain, of The more conventional you want your structure Well, who knew? Most people just don't equate course, but the same techniques are applied, to look, the more it will cost. The least tires with a house because we're accustomed to and the same results are enjoyed. expensive designs are earthber med structures think "wood equals house, house equals wood." that look somewhat like a hill with a little That's one big reason. For many humyns just the Most tirehoused designs do not require a hunk of building sticking out of it. The northern mention of a house built with metatecture foundation,· although the ground below the and part of the eastern and western walls are (alternative architecture), especially a intended wallis cleared, screened, and back filled. The advantages to this method are metatecture design that primarily uses "reuse" compacted. Sometimes recycled asphalt, a that thetires are prot� form.the sun, and or as a (post-consumer materials th t are . concrete, furnace slag, etc. can beused materials thestrµ.c:Nn? degree . reused'for construdion, suchas .. i.naintmsa:S5: t9� base Someareas-w illiequire a ol4telephoae is basically· fovnd�'tion. · . Fahrenheit pQI� railroad ties, parts of a stnacture that • teinpetanttt!;·jG'·cooling fouiidation.ayWay. The meinrule of th umb.is free, and is of'the . . has been demolished, or inthis · 'Jieating dteap� Many to place the largest·tires on thebottom, which ca8etires) :W:ill incorp0rate · . makethem if not shriek. �arthbermeddesigi\S a sunspace(a creates self-buttressing wall. Rebar c flincl\ which a is la e9 solarium,greenhouse or sUI\room), through the wallto interconnect and to
PAGE 14 POST AMERIKAN APRIL/MAY 2001 ouse
estimates that tire houses have the potential .rengthen it. Once the wall has been or a window seat. Needless to say, with 30 to last three to four millennia. The beauty of constructed, the gaps between the tires and the inch-plus walls few sounds will penetrate the these houses is that they take an corners are filled in with chunks of tires,m thick mass. Compare this to a conventional environmental menace (tires) and use it in a scrapwood, old bricks, and / or adobes or house that has an average 4 inch wall, which way that will reduce the need to use virgin whatever you have on hand that will last a is relatively flimsy, once you've been inside natural resources (i.e. trees), and nearly lo g span o time. When the wall is fairly metatecture walls. One minor drawback is that � � eliminate the need for the use of cement and uruform, chicken fence wire is hailed, screwed, the walls should be no taller than 20 feet high, other materials that embody a lot of energy. or stapled to it. The stucco, cob (earth and which is plenty for two stories, or a single level and a loft system. Chances are you're never straw, also known as course adobe), or another · The tire house is just another way of turning the finishing substance is applied until the wall's going to see a tire skyscraper. lemons we are given in life into lemonade. surface is smooth, at which point it can be · Some people have raised questions about the Metatecture is finding ways to convert out plastered or painted. tires offgassing. The University of Wisconsin output into homes. Hopefully one day we'll Madison stated that the tires do not pose an over a hundred million tire homes built Doors, w dows, and other structural options annually. or communities each built with a few . � internal environmental problem due to are a bit tn ky, but nothing a carpenter can't � offgassing. Tires do not generally leach out, so million tires. Potentially we could solve the elp you with. Structural options usually � the aquifer is also safe. The big enemy to tires homelessnessconundrum and provide low cost incorporate a strong "litel" which distributes is the sun, but when a tire house is built housing for millions of people. We just need to the a ove weight and keeps the wall stable. A � properly, the tires are encapsulated in either go from "Who knew?" to "We know!" runrung bond goes on top of the tirewall to stucco, plaster, or earth. Thusly, with no connect what ever type of roof that you choose. ultraviolet rays to break them down, the tires --Nikolai Alexanderovich Zarick, The walls are generally over 30 inches thick so will theoretically last forever: Ed Paschich Architectonic Conceptualist each window can become a gardenbay wind�w,
· APRih/ MAY- 2001 POST AMERIKAN .. PAGE 15 ··�
• • 1r1
again. One example of this is the tamarask Over and over again I left my home, the place clogging the lower Rio Grande. Also called where I am most myself, and crossed the river European salt cedar, it poses no great threat to seven times to the place where I parked my car. their home turf in Spain and elsewhere, but once Leaving the valley of Elfego Baca's shootout, released into North America they develop a then the town famous for the demonstrations by biological hegemony in the canyons, until in out-of-work loggers and disgruntled ranchers, time it becomes one of the only trees on the the mountains with more elk than people, the rivers of the Southwest. Fast growing and Gila, the bioregion, the state ... On to ''Deep herbicide resistant, they produce a shower of Ecology Medicine Shows" in Burlington and Takilma, Oregon where we'd forget it's a concert and all dance and cry together until the janitor mineral salts that make the soil inhospitable to begged for the building back. To songwriting any competing shoots. Unchecked they soon sessions with ecotroubador Dana Lyons and smother the willows and immature front-line actions to save the threatened wolves, cottonwoods, filling the ravines and river rivers, old-growth forests and vanishing dreams. bottoms with their billowing pink blossoms. Tours to raise awareness, instill responsibility, Beautiful blossoms, we've got to admit. organize resistance, and open the hearts of our kind to the plight of our kindred spirits. Good There were none at all in this rivershed when I work. Work to make one worthy. first moved there, but now they're beginning to crop up among the beeweed. Gorgeous The only problem was that I found myself blossoms, in fact. But we're easily jerked back to saying the word "wilderness" more and more, reality when we recall the Rio Grande River while experiencing this essential grounding, this system clogged by a single-species forest, a vast reservoir of information and inspiration less and monoculture, a jungle of nothing but tamarask. less as the seasons folded one into the other. Too many ofthe same kind of flower, too much Many were the times that I carried the of the same uniform color-- a veritable holocaust of beauty. microphone cords out to the van with tears in my eyes. The underlying emotion that made my Just as bad is the incursion of horehound, its presentations so palpable was the pain of my seeds hitchhiking up onto the mesas stuck to our Jesse Wolf Hardin joined us in our separation from the land I need, and the land socks, moving through the rest of the county in February /March issue as a regular contributor. that needs me. I'd pace beneath the stars of the tails of horses and the alfalfa hay they eat. It Parts one and two of Earth & Spirit can be found Boulder or New York, long after the last of the looks so lovely at first, in patches of short in that issue. What follows are parts three and lingering hopeful activists filed out into the ground-cover that smell sweetly when walked four of the series. For more information about night, feeling like a motivational speaker on the _,.. upon, pungent leaves perfect for brewing up a Hardin see the interview by Scott Deily on issues of fidelity and devotion might, spending batch of old-fashioned horehound cough drops. pages 20-21 in this issue. most of his time hundreds of miles away from It isn't long however, before they form a solid his understandably anxious spouse. Like art, crusty plane of yard-high vegetation too thick to like career, activism is an important exercise that walk through. Where the ground around our can nonetheless contribute to our failing to fully cabin and below the cliffs were once graced by inhabit our bodies, our souls, the fleeting mortal desert mariposa and soaptree yucca, soon there moment, and our actual, physical place. was only horehound. Prickle-poppy and evening primrose, nettle and mallow, fish-hook The land. And like our mates, the land needs . cactus and fleabane were being pushed out of hands-on tending, needs intimate their own neighborhoods, denied access to soil demonstrations of love, care and prayer. and sun in a hostiletakeover bid. We felt we Needs, if I may say so, our intimate and had no choice but to strikeback in defense of ·part 3: Caretakers steadfast presence. biological diversity, accepting the hands-on responsibility of removing them one plant at a "Caretakers Wanted." Residency a requirement. time, sharing their pain at being ripped up by "showing concern and affection for life around Caretaking: taking care, taking ever so carefully, the roots. us, proof we exist not because we know, as the and never taking for granted. After twenty decaying world view has it, but because we years of "owning" this special inholding, the idea I arrived here thinking this dry, usually hard care." still seems ludicrous. Howcan we own ground was particularly durable, and never -David Watson something which precedes, contains, and considered limiting our pedestrian traffic to ultimately outlasts us? As a result of trails. Only in time, as paths to certain places debilitating arthritis I still host a series of took shape on their own, did I come to realize I used to leave the source of my inspiration, and caretakers, but now I seldom leave. N�t a single how much greener, how much more alive it was the land I felt called to protect for much of every new bird arrives without me here to greet it, and wherever we didn't walk. For many ofus, year: leave the colorful lands that stretch as far no threat goes unanswered. writers, painters, architects and it's hard to as I can see from the center where I write, from such, accept that Nature, unlike a canvasor sheet of the sacred crimson cliffs in the West to the high Wanted: assistants as caretakers. Owners as writing paper, might be better off, retain moreof pines of the East where the Rio Frisco first caretakers. To this work, this purpose, I've come its intrinsic beauty and integrity if left just snakes into view like a mirror. Or like a miracle. home. exactly the way it is. Hard to accept that no
These are the canyonlands of the northern Gila, The responsibilities of a care-taker are many, the southernmost high mountain wilderness in including deciding what non-native species are this blessed and blighted country. New Mexico, destroying the ecosystem, and which native "land of enchantment." Land of the "old ones," varieties need our help and reintroduction. misnamed the Anasazi, trivialized as the 'basket Once mankind has altered a region, it requires makers," once calling themselves the people of difficult decisions and additional human the Sweet Medicine. interference to bring things back into balance
PAGE16 Pb'St AMERIKAN APRIL/2001 MAY stood. same way we "civilized"peopl e are otherlines are neededto completethe drawing, In the often outof absent, u hableby a If it's disrespectful to tum down a gift- to tum that one note would clutter the touch, nreac more worldof unfolding p e. bodieslinger one'sback on speakera or preacher in the midst composition, that adding anything would resenc Our more in placemuch like that impressionin thedust, of makingtheir point,then surely it isall the . somehow makeit less. A goodcaretaker must while ourminds orbitbackwards andforwards resisturge the to embellishin ways that through the years andthe centuries, inhabiting moreso to ignorethe miracle of themomen t, to alterthe face and character of the permanently every place buthere .... and every oftime tumaway from p the resent experienceand face land,protecting from it even thebest of our period but . inward towards somemind-bound movie. To intentions. now ignorethe c ommunicationsof the world around All the while, therest of contiguous creationare us andfocus in onour own internaldialogue. Asa kid J wasknown toduck under therailings . reachingout to us, seeking to regain contactand Orto passby the awakening dandelion, at parksand exhibitionsin ofmy own search redeveloprelationship, offering to inspire, absorbedby amental pictureof awrapped rose direction, and for ofmy life I've balkedat most nourish and infonn their estranged hominid at somedistant florist's. We getliterally "caught guidedtours andmarked trails, soit waswith brethren. exchanges are at onceenergetic, up" withabstract thought, caught and held fast sometrepidation that I arrangedthe firstof These physical and spiritual, and only as deepas our like fishin a trawler'snet, surrounded onall hundreds surfaceof rocks bordersinto p ce. Whether revering, consuming or sidesby wide-eyedimages and flailing channeling footfall. I took them a wide resen our from celebrating anotherall exchanges, all priorities. Caught up in our heads, whil� the areaso asnot to disruptthe appearance bfthe relationships benefitto the degreethat we are vitalworld our minds hopeto describep asses land. Carryingthem they becamemore personal wholly in body, in place, in momentous present below us aswe walk, and sits up and watchesus for me, eachwith a uniquely differentshape, time. while we dream at night. Allthe while reality color, and combination of distinct minerals. wavesits arms and wings and cloud like Somewere relatively light and porous, while forms is just astrue whether we live in suburban, flagstrying to win back our attention. otherswere dense and eavy. Crystalglinted in This h rural or urban environments, and no matter some ofthe chunksof lava like star nursery. a where on this Earth we call home. Indeed, the Every moment is a decisivemoment, a choice Round blackrock was foundnestling insidea lossof between fixating on our mental storehouse of matrixof white sandstone, and ruddyaggregate presence results not only in a decrease in the intensity of our lived experience, but in the images, or looking out the window at the birds hosted the greatest colonies of lichen. loss of clean air and open space. What appears looping through the sky. A choice repeatedover to be good natured toleration of bright lights and over again every minute of .the day, with Actually miniatureforests made up ofmillions and loud sirens, social inequality and a both attendant benefits and a high price to pay of microscopic individuals, it takes them either way. With increased awareness, one may centuries to reduce a rock to soil, gumming the degrading environment is often a lack of no longer be able to tum away from the fateful minerals, surviving only on those surfaces that presence on our part instead. Itfosters neglect play of the moment, no matter how agonizing get direct light. Lime green lichen, burntorang e of our crucial connection to self, Earth and Spirit, the scene might be. If we are to truly inhabit lichen, rock eatin' lichen. And here was yet bolsters the preoccupation and intellection that present time, we11 hear the cries of the helpless another lesson in sensitivity: take care to set the makes both mass extinctions and disappearing as we walk the streets, unable to drown them stones down lichen-side up. Now we see the forests possible. Social, psychological and out with thoughts about the job we're walking results of arranging the rocks i just so," and ecological imbalance grow out of our imagined home from, a litany of schedule and finance,· a while there is little growth inside their separation from the natural world. And such repeat of the last song we heard on the meandering forms, in between them and to imaginings can only occur in the abstract, workplace radio. The sounds of the traffic may either side there's a constant progression of wild beyond the influence of place, outside of present not be pleasant, but we will acknowledge each blossoms, one native species after the next, each time. whir and grind that go to make it up, like any taking it's seasonal tum at the light. With their awakened animal would. We'll find no way to success comes a lesson applying to the whole of Nuclear war, acid rain, the abuse of children, ignore the odors from thealleyway, nor block our kind : in voluntarily setting aside some occur in part because of our tendency to "dwell out the cold feel of a winter wind on our cheeks places from development, we guarantee the on" our hopes and worries, rather than dwelling with pictures of the warm room awaiting us. context for a wilder humanity. in the moment, in place. It is in the present, that injustice is most intolerable, and beauty most No perfume is lost to the unguarded nose, and As individuals, families and neighborhoods, we sweet. that which bravely acknowledged the smells of can take an active interest in the health of the the gutter surely feasts on a walk through the area where we live, becoming partially culpable When folks makethe long tripto our enchanted garden, truly delights in the olfactory for its problems and taking credit for its wildlands sanctuary, one of the first things we playground of a lover's heated neck. Before the improvement by virtue of an unblinking do is have them take off their watches. word "dwell" came to mean "to inhabit," it meant awareness. Everything in nature is rhythmic and timely, "to linger." Thus when eating we may find our and yet nothing is "on time." No hawk consciousness dwells within a world of taste, as We begin to take care of the land we live on sightings, epiphanies or orgasms happen exactly our being lingers inside the flavor of each special whether we own it or not, whether its an acre of on the hour, and the most significant and moment. For a circle of drummers the reward breathing soil or the patches of green meaningful events are never marked on the for being on time" is an experiential rhythmic surrounding apartments. We learn to co day-planner they surprise us, arriving just in bonding, an entraining that ushersin a caretake any forested areas nearby, and the time but never on schedule. Onmore than one heightened condition of awakeness. The same regional watercourse, no matter how far away. occasion, in fact, visitors watches have simply The community park becomes just that, and its and inexplicable stopped. It's a mystery that we for us. Sensing and reacting to the unfolding well-being falls into our hands, the subjective, attribute to thepower of this ancient ceremonial world "on time," in present time, we're rewarded feeling public. site .... and to the absolute necessity of escaping with the passion and awe common to our fellow from theparadigm of months and seconds, back creatures, engorged in a state of arousal and Caretaking, after all, is about taking things into real time, real world, before any hopeful response. personally .... as it is about caring. Caring for changeCilll. faire place. that which holds us. Loves us. Toooften though, we find ourselves reading or And owns us. The now can never fit onto a schedule, for it is listening to the news while we eat, the rich both too big and toofleeting for that. Mark the combinations of food stimulating the receptors now on your mental list, and it is already gone. in are mouth experienced only peripherally Part 4: Reclaiming the The calendar we focus on describes a world that while the hungry body goes on "automatic isn't here, which as any child would tell us, pales pilot." Our conscious mind travelsinto other Sacred Now in comparison to that which is! times, missing those flavors that entertain the present. Except for the firstbite, we may In H.G. Wells' classic, 'The Time Machine," an The experiencing of present timeis, indeed, a consume an entire meal barely paying attention adventurous researcher departs from his present 6 a -gift fromlife, fromSpirit, to us. A to its banquet of sensation, the fine distinctions basement workshop in a futuristic vehicle of his gift we pay a high price for ignoring. Both between spoonfuls of the same entree, the slow own making, leaving nothing behind but a usages of theword originate in the Latin sensuous melt of butter fats, the interplay of circularimpr ession in the dust where it once adjective "praesns": -at hand, now, here ." The heady spices. What could bemore ofa loss, gift at hand,close enough to touch. Cont'd
APRIL/MAY2001 POST AMERIKAN PAGE 17 Cont'd from p. 17 It's even worse than you thought
"American news organizations are retreating As John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney more disrespectful of the giver, then failing to from coverage of foreign news, retreating from noted in their book, It's the Media, Stupid, fully taste what's in our mouths, to give less than the kinds of stories my colleagues and I risk our "Reporters and editors connected to the media our complete attention to the fingers of the lives for ...when we don't even know whether giants are almost never the ones who show up masseuse kneadingour backs, or to picture past the stories we tell will ever make it onto your as the arrested and murdered reporters on the affairs whilebeing tended by our lover today? television screens or into your newspapers." annual list published by The Committee to To pine away at the loss of the sunset, while --Christiane Amanpour Protect Journalists." even now the glory of a new dawn stretches out before us? ''This past year (1999) has been, I think, the When Carl Jensen wrote his 2000 book, Stories worst year for American journalismsince I That Changed America: Muckrakers of the Ofcourse, even if we fight to avoid the vivid entered the profession forty-four years ago." Twentieth Century, he found no example worth awareness and troubling responsibilities of the --David Halberstam mentioning since Watergate. present, we're likely thrust back into the moment with the first clap of thunder, the "One of the networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) news Finding their investigative efforts restricted, nearby strike of lightning, a violent threat, or divisions will likely go away. Of the other the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning team of screeching tires approaching in the direction of two, one will take the high road, one will take Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, of the the sidewalk we're moving along! And for those the low road."--Ted Koppel, lamenting the Philadelphia Inquirer, , jumped to Time us of willing to make this reclamation conscious "tabloidization" of TV news Magazine after 26 years in newspapers. and purposeful, there are aids as well. I left the news media in 1980, having worked The media won't even cover journalists Recessmay be the key . We need to recess class, for the Amarillo Globe-News. Since then, the murdered in the continental U.S. while recess logos, recess our obsession with what has once great_Philadelphia Inquirer fired the covering investigative stories-believe it or not. yet to come as well as what happened before. editor who won them more than a dozen There have been 10 murdered in this country No matter what its title, the last course one Pulitzer Prizes in one decade. David the past 20 years, mostly foreign language attended is always "history." The historical Halberstam, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his journalists. The murders occurred in such cities epoch that stretches all the way back through Vietnam coverage with the New York Times, as Houston, San Francisco, New York, and time, begins in that very microsecond that just andRichard Ben Cramer, who won a Pulitzer Miami, but did you read·ar hear anything about past! In recess the present takesover, the child for his coverage of the war in Afghanistan for them? · . - ·· . in us pulled out of intellection by the challenge the Philadelphia Inquirer, have both given up and physicality of the monkey bars, the teasing and turned to writing baseball nostalgia books The retreat .from gustyreporting got so bad that climbable branches of trees in the yard, the Halber:s�am about baseball pennant races and even Sydney Schanberg, who won a Pulitzer for· random stimulation of so many other glad Cramer aboutJoe Dimaggio. · his Vietnam reporting, �d CharlesE. spinning youths. Screams and laughter Shepard, who won a PulitzerJor blowing -0pen . vanquish the ghost-like echoes of contemplation People died after taking the drug Rezulin the PTL-Jim Baker S(lCllldal,gav .e.up·nn ; .• .- , "' ·. ,_ and the furies of future and worry. Here are because the Los Angeles Times kept David newspapers andjoined on-line news services. · ·. grass smells and primal needs that reclaim them, Willman, its reporter, from working on his --Steve an orgy of truly living color that grabs their expose of the drug. The paper yanked 'him off LaPrade attention back from the black and white movies the story to cover the Monica Lewinsky scandaI projected in the theaters of their minds. for six months. As one woman's husband told Abstraction is defeated by children, by activists Willman, "I wish you had written your article and dreamers .... in the experiential, sensual swirl sooner. My wife would not have taken this of recess! drug." He told Willman this at a rosary for the dead wife. Recess is a return, not to our nostalgic past, but to the swinging, playing, hurting, loving now. We're returned with the first tart bite of an orange, a morning's splash of cold water on our Stigma busters: Send a protest to XFL Maniax face, a sudden starting or stopping of the evening wind, the first glimpse of a falcon dropping through the air in pursuit of The name, the logo image with the twisted millions of men, women and children struggling downtown pigeons. We're returned by the whiff face and the Asylum cheerleaders promoting with mental illness. of home-made bread fresh out of the oven, the the new XFL Memphis football team are most --We hope the co-owners of the XFL, NBC and demanding ministrations of massage, and the offensive. NAMI Tennessee has sent letters to World Wrestling Federation will recognize magic of a sparrow feeding its babies in a hollow the General Manager of the Memphis Maniax, their responsibility and change the Maniax street sign. In reentering the present, in the Memphis Newspaper and the Mayor of name and logo to one that will not offend any reentering the flesh of the realized moment, we Memphis but has not received a response. The race, ethnic background, or person with mental are then ourselves penetrated: by every real Chair of the Tennessee Mental Health or physical disability, thing around us, by the weather and the ground, Planning Council received a negative response --To continue use ofthe name and logo of by the people that are with us, by the totality of from the Team VP and Manager. Since the Maniax will perpetuate the pervasive stigma life. Memphis Maniax are one of the new XFL teams that is a barrier to recovery for our one in five which will be playing in other cities, perhaps persons struggling with severe mental illness. Only in the now can we hope to be sufficiently yours, NAMI is circulating this national alert. Mental illness is neither fun nor entertaining. conscious of place to sense our belonging to it, or to heed its will. In reinhabiting the present, Message points: Send messages to: all time becomes "home-time," and we're -We understand your new football league is Bob Wright, President & CEO NBC, 30 welcomed back no matter how often we try to attempting to be funand entertaining, Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112 email: leave it.. however, the logo face with the spiked hair nbci-nbctv.custhelp.com and swirls for eyes represents a stereotype that Basil V. DeVito, Jr. President, XFL Welcomed here, in place. Welcomed in the mental health advocates work hard to www.wwfecorpbiz.com now .... andin thisway, welcomed home. overcome. Mental illness is neither fun nor Steve. Erhart, VP & General Manager; entertaining, Memphis Maniax : email: -Jesse Wolf Hardin is an acclaimed presenter, -Mentally ill people are not wild maniacs as www.xflmemphismaniax.com counsel, and author of .Kindred Spirits: Saaed implied by the Maniax name, logo and Earth Wisdom (SwanRaven language. -fromNAMI of Livingston/McLeanCounties Press, 2000). For information on wilderness retreats and resident internshipsat theirGila Cheerleaders "Asylum"c ommunity wildlife sanctuary,contact The -This use of antiquated language like Maniax Earthen Spirituality Project, Box 516, Reserve, and asylum and the ugly logo is most offensive, NM87830
PAGE 18 POST·· AMERIKAN · · APRIL/MAY 2001. Off-the beaten path: Movie reviews
Hello Film Fans! My name is David McBride and I operate the local video store called the Movie Fan. I'm lucky enough to view hundreds of movies a year. If you enjoy filmswith cleverly fleshed out characters, interesting ideas, beautiful cinematography, crisp writing, or an involving plot, you might want to take a chance on some of the movies that I'd like to recommend. Keeping in mind that my taste runs a tad offbeat, please take a chance on some of the following films.
Urbania Powerfully moving drama follows a young man (Dan Futterman of Shooting Fish) who has Lovers of the Arctic Circle recently lost control over his life. He moves in This thoroughlyunforgettable Spanish language and out of reality and through a series of drama involves timing and fate and how they e1:1counters with strangers. Having recently lost both play a part in a person's perception of hIS lover to thugs who bashed him to death, he reality. The movie opens with a chance meeting searches New York City for a mysterious between a pair of eight-year-olds. Time passes stranger who hold the key to his recovery. and the two are drawn to each other, but destiny Urbania succeeds on several levels, and it keeps steps up and their paths part. A string of you guessing along the way. Check it out. coincidences place the pair on a crash course to ***1/2 be reunited. Highly recommended watching this hauntingly seductive filmwith an ending Other movies that are of high priority: that will stick with you. **** Before Night Falls Best in Show Shower Flushed Butterfly Very funnymockumentary set in the restrooms Clair Dolan of a downtown New York City bar. We follow The Lifestyle 100 ontheir " patronsand, eav.esdrop That's the Wa Like It conversations. We watch as theyfall in love, y I discuss intimate situations and fi nd relief in the most private of public places. Flushed runs a little on the raunchy side, so be warned. The characters represented are universal and oddly appealing. ***1/2
... okay, now that we'ue got your attention...
The Movie Fan can deliver... No, we do not carry sex films BUT we DO carry movies that ARE sexy Last Night and interesting or if you prefer just plain Interesting and highly original this Canadian strange in an off-the-beat film is a must-see for those who love soulful, en-path offbeat comedies. When midnight strikes the kind of way. Hmmm? world will come to an end. Time is running out and a group of big-city dwellers is determined to go out with a bang. It makes you think about Th ink Movie Fa n what you would do if the world were ending. think. .. DVDs / fo reign titles Would you be with your family, be alone, go movie sales I knowledgable staff party? Who knows? Don McKeller (Existenz) easily the best mix of titles in the Twin Ci ties and Sandra Oh (Double Happiness) are superb close to both campuses leads in a talented cast that makes Last Night movie is free! (with punchcard) Musthave Driver's License & Major Credit card both enjoyable and disturbing. ***1/2
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APRIL/MAY 2001 POST AMERIKAN PAGE 19 ·. �. �
Kindred Spirits: An Interview with
communal or environmental "cure" must begin with the healing reclamation of thenatural self. Kindred inspires a sensibility in us distracted adults that was our birthright- a natural way of being that our ancestors all knew and enjoyed, no matter what our racial or cultural roots. ,A way that we once knew too, in our giggling
barefoot youth. We had to learn to look away, and to forget, in order to fit into society once we became adults. Kindred Spirits helps illuminate the tree-lined path back. Back to goofy laughter and unguarded tears, to porch swings and secret swim holes, to really tasting our food and fully celebrating our existence! Back to feeling the pain of the natural world, and being moved to ease it, heal it, and bless it with our love! Back
into the enlivened presence of vanquished · childhood, theunbridled sensations of an uncompromised here and now.
SD): The chapters in your bookseem to alternate between plant and animal stories, and practices for personal reconne tion �d � . rewilding. You describe exercises hke mindful "walking quests," how to employ a personal medicine wheel, the symbiology of the "burden basket," and life as a proactive "dance."
JWH): These are all important tools, perspectives, skills- on our individual quest for meaning and a mission. And most respectfully, not according to the traditions of Celt, or Sioux or Wiccan .... but as revealed by the spirit of the land itself. In this crucial time. In this hallowed place.
SD): It's these things, and more, that you offer at your sanctuary, in the context of wilderness retreats, solo quests, and resident internships. While in between, you're writing on your solar powered Apple laptop, above one of he seven Jesse Wolf Hardin is a presenter, wordsmith, mountains, the canyons, the rivers and seas. � . bends in the river guests cross on their way m. artist and backwoodsman .... teaching Stories meant to remind us of the ways in which mindfulness, ecological awareness, and all aspects of the natural world speak to us, and JWH): My assignment is to listen, intently, with Earth-centered spirituality. A quarter century of through us. an open mind and heart, and then to pass on activism and wilderness restoration have helped . those insights in every way I'm able. But even if hone his message of personal and The "call" you asked about is closely related to I gave no worthwhile counsel, and never wrot environmental healing. His most recent book is recall. The process of healing ourselves and this � any of this down, guests and seekers would still entitled Kindred Spirits: Sacred Earth Wisdom planet is largely one of remembering be affected by this place-of-power. All natural (SwanRaven Press, 2000). I interviewed him at becoming plain, responsive members of the places are points of contact between us and the the wildlife sanctuary we share, seven river Earthen whole once again. Reinhabiting, our inspirited universe, but some function as special crossings from the nearest road. bodies, our place, and precious present time. portals where the truths are the most clear .... Rewilding, meaning to reclaim our native and inescapable. emotions and desires, our sensitivity and SD): To what call does your book Kindred passion, awareness and responsibilities. Spirits respond? My primary role here is protect, restore and resacrament this enchanted canyon I've been Reenchanting, the ascension of wonder and JWH): Kindred Spirits helps answer a deep called to. And secondarily, tomake this shrine delight. And resolving, which is the act of need of our contemporary kind. Whether we and these lessons available to those with solving the problems and imbalances through are young or old, male or female, rural or urban heartful intent and a readiness to engage. decisive action and lasting personal dwellers, we long to reclaim a sense of authentic commitments. It is in this place of decisive being, mindful presence, and right relationship SD): You put a lot of emphasis on the presence, that the lush forests of personal with the living Earth we're a part of. No matter wilderness experience. Why wilderness? Aren't wildness and wild Nature overlap .... that the how successful or busy we are, we increasingly there other places, other practices that offer the inspirited wilderness and the wilderness of our desire a more honest embrace of our fears and same benefits and results? Just what is subconscious are one. hopes, a deepening of emotional and spiritual "nature?" engagement, a heightening of sentience and SD): You first came to the public attention awareness, a rekindling of native sense-of-place, JWH): We need the empowerment, instruction giving hundreds of talks across the count , a return to meaning and purpose .... _ � and mirroring- of a world not of our own helping regional activists organize campaigns to making. You can find that in the song of the save old growth forests, protect endangered Secondly, Kindred tells the stories of the sparrow nesting in a hollow street sign, under a watersheds and so forth. But even then you instructive plant and animal guides that can tent of untrimmed vines in your own backyard, were called "the spiritual heart of the assist us on our spiritual and practical and in the proliferation of outlaw dandelions on environmental movement," with presentations journey. Stories of personal reawake g and those strips of grass between the sidewalk and n_ID that brought together information and ritual, · re-becoming, informed by the expressive the street. But we also need true wildness, apart hardcore ecology and personal transformation. wisdom of our endangered creature brethren, from zoos and parks and wildlife shows. the oft ignored pleas and poems of the Wildernesscombines an unequaled opportunity JWH): In the end any effective spiritual, for both soulful solitude and communion with
PAGE 20 APRIL/MAY 2001 POST AMERIKAN .. �.· ·•-ie Jesse Wolf Hardin
the All. Wildem:ess is the optimum classroom mythology, but it was your experience of JWH): This is a pivotal and trying age, and the for reconnection with natural self, natural Earth. holding one of the little birds as it awoke from odds are everywhere against the paramours of By conserving endangered species, habitats and torpor, that impressed you with the idea of . Earth and truth. We're surrounded by illusion ecosystems, we simultaneously protect the raw restoration and rebirth. and distraction; and the last wild places are material of continuing evolution, the role under increasing siege. But · I say: all the more models for a mt>renoble and enlivened JWH): I feel it's important to.combine good reason for our efforts, our commitments, existence, and thecontext and opportunities for science with good instinct, msight and. sacrifices, services and love! spiritual fulfillment. communion. Kindred is a book about rewilding both self and Earth, and such things as history We're living in a time when simply to embody As for defiriingnature .... for environmentalists and conservation biology are essential to our our real sentient selves, to really inhabit the it's a cause. For artists, subject matter for their preservation of threatened species and their present moment, to feel and deal.... paintings and music. For "outdoor people," the habitat. distinguishes us. When deliberately cutting opportunity for recreation. For sentimentalists, back on our material lifestyle, protesting the a source of beauty, nostalgia and hope. We may At the same time, labeling candefinitely logging of the last redwoods, or hand-restoring see nature as something dirty and hostile, ready compartmentalize, confine and reduce the being a small section of neighborhood stream makes to itch and bite and threaten our life-.... or as an_d wonder of that which we 're studying, ,,I. us·heroes .. . We each have a chance to rebecome � � some bloodless, clawless ideal. We're want to know which native plants we can eat mtimate ith �pirited elf and inspirited place, destroying and demeaning a large part of the here in the canyon, but I don't want to.limit , and ah opportunity to do ttte right things. In natural world, at the same time that we adore t�em to the description found in our field · : that moment..;_. regardless of results, and no the Panda bears on the World Wildlife Fund guides. In Kindred I tell the story of the first matter what the consequences- we're resonant decals, the idyllic scenery and dimpled dolphins time I ever went back east, away from my with the rest of the purposeful living world. We of calendar art, our domestic pets and potted beloved Southwestern mountains. I arrived at are successful, and complete. We belong. And flowers. night at the Vermont rendezvous site, and set up because we belong, nothing is denied us. my tent at the edge of a young forest. Everything is possible. If Kindred teaches In truth, nature is so much more than a scenic anything, it is the necessity and responsibilities backdrop for the stage of human activity. It's Come first light I was astounded by the glint of of membership, the importance of gifting and our biological context, the primary defining the sun on the nearly metallic sheaths of the gratitude, the certainty of miracles and influence throughout our long evolution as two trees around me. I had a virtual epiphany and the necessity of hope. leggeds. It's an extension of our beings, a which is to say, one those wonderful moments concert of beautiful, vital Gaian organs. For all when the rational mind gives up on applying --Scot Deily our distraction and denial, nature remains our logic or language to a marvelous event. Later on
spiritual and corporeal ·source, as well as our in the day I asked one of the other conference · ultimate destination. Nature is who we really participants exactly what kinds of trees those are. Nature is home. were. "Oh, those are just silver birch." By using the adjective "just" he meant only that there SD): Even those who profess to love Nature were a lot of them, that they're not endangered Kindred Spirits is the haunting cry of a wild usually consider it their charge, claiming we species, and that he gets to see them all the time. voiced wilderness seer and the ecstatic song of an have an obligation as stewards, as the highest He then relayed to me how many gallons of Earth lover, a person intoxicated with the beauty and evolved conscious forms on the planet to water they require in a day, their various diversity of life. -From the Foreword shepherd, to direct the Earth's "resources" for environmental requirements, their geographical their betterment as well as our own. spread, and how tall they'll grow. I quickly realized the degree to which my original Kira.d,-ed JWH): We clearly have a responsibility to impression had suffered as well as benefited change our lives and our societies in ways that from the increase in knowledge. Prior to talking Sp;,..;fs ease our burden on the rest of the planet. We've to him these trees were a mysterious part of the so drastically altered the landscape, that the miracle of my life. In this nameless state they Sacred Earth Wisdom land can use our help to restore it back to its required no set amount of water, and could be Jesse Wolf Hardin original state of vitality and balance. But we are found on no actuary table. For all I knew these not the directors of this living Earth. We're the were arboreal gods that never die, magical Foreword by Ralph Metzner "feelers:" receptors funneling back sensation beings that might any minute sprout wings and and insight to the the Gaian whole. fly! A profound book forthose Communicants, respondents, and celebrants! At who long to strengthen our worst we civilized humans are distracted, SD): Our emphasis here is on your writing, yet deluded purveyors of a global calamity more their deep kinship to you're a talented artist as well. You had a destructive in power than the combined Ice Earth and her creatures. mythical wilderness gallery in Taos as a young Ages. But at our best, we are equal, feeling, Wolfs rich and sensuous man, and contributed art to various magazines participants. We join our fellow kindred writing st11le will stir and over the years. There are twenty-something species, the uti.dulating lizard and shimmying awaken ancient memories frameable drawings and collages in Kindred river, with our own dance of integrity and in our soul. Spirits, evoking a certain magic .... y gratitude. At our best we are not so much engineers and overlords as flute players and JWH): They're essentially medicine wheels or soothsayers .... the attentive bards, the dancers, ...fr esh, fu ture, wild, re�ned, all at once, which should be no sur mandalas, representing creatures and seekers, the counsels, the priestesses .... the gardeners and prise--that's how the real world is-my respects to Jesse Wo lf being and environment, and life and death- in Hardin. -Gary Snyder, Pulitzer Prize-winning author guardians, the makers of oaths and odes. perfect reciprocal balance. Art is wordless, and thus the viewer is brought one step closer to an Wo lf powerfully brings us into the presence of our animal elders, SD): I'm impressed with the personal anecdotes actual experience .... in submission, before the reawakening us to the lessons they have to teach us in the recov in the various animal tales. You didn't just ery of our own instincts and aliveness. This is a �ery, passionate altar of beauty. The drawings in Kindred research historical and tribal lore, you entered and important book. -Paul Winter. Paul Winer Consort remind us of the nonverbal, nonlinear world into deep relationship with these instructive life waiting just outside the walls of our minds, For information Wolf's forms. To explain about what wolves have to on $20.00 plus $6.00 S & H calling on us each, to come out and play! public presentations, counsel ISBN 1-893183-06-8 teach us, you tell the story of taking on the name or wilderness retreats, contact: 8.5 x 11 • and totem when you were very young, and the SD): Do you see modernist society making a 248 pp. To order call 1.800.366.0264 drama surrounding the reintroduction of The Earthen Spirituality Project turn around, valuing life over making a living, Box 516. Mexican gray wolves a few miles from the free time over spending money? With our ever · Reserve, NM 87830 www.concentric.net/-earthway S1Nan•Raven wildlife refuge where you live. You might have expanding human population, we couldn't go A Co. � read a lot about hummingbird biology and back to being hunter gatherers even if we ill wanted to.
APRIL/ MAY 2001 POST AMER/KAN PAGE 21 Various atrocities against animals
Ask Le petit Bistro to take cruelty off of their menu Tobacco Torture: Animals don't smoke. Or do they ?
The new restaurant Le petit Bistro at 1704 Executive Stress Eastland Drive, BL is serving Foie Gras simmered in Madaira Wine. James D. Valentine, an experimenter at the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation Foie gras is produced by forcing food into the subjected rats to "unavoidable stress" --often a gullets of geese. After the animals' livers have euphemism for pain. The purpose? To see if expanded to counteract the effects of the force they would take more nicotine. feeding, the geese are killed, and their livers are removed to make the pate. Other experimenters have designed miniature injection pumps that are then implanted into Please ask Le petit Bistro to remove this animals to supply a steady stream of nicotine. especially cruel cuisine from their menu. Smoking experiments on rabbits, lambs, dogs Everyoneold enough to strike a match knows Phone: 663-0784. and other animals waste millions of dollars that cigarettes cause respiratory problems, that could be used for a good purpose-to emphysema, heart disease and cancer. Even encourage young people to stay away from cigarette manufacturers have been forced to cigarettes and to help smokers who are already admit they are selling tiny addictive packets addicted of death. PET A is asking the governmentto keep grant Humane Charity So why would anyone still use animals in money from lining these experimenters' pockets, smoking experiments? J!:2�eal 0rApproval and we are demanding that Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds stop sponsoring animal studies .. As you read these words, pregnant monkeys at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center Please join us in protesting these painful and (ORPRC) are being caged, and their fetuses are unnecessary experiments. You don't have to be cruel to be kind being exposed to nicotine. Funded by the U.S. government, ORPRC experimenter Eliot Spindel --Ask your legislators to stop funding How are yourcharitable donations spent? The acknowledges that "the deletorious effects of Councilon Humane Giving wants you to know. maternal smoking during pregnancy are all too smoking experiments on animals. For With the Council's recent launch of the well established." Yet his five-year study, contact info: www.senate.com and Humane Ch arity Seal of Approval, you'll during which he will kill and examine the www.house.gov or call 202.224.3121 easily spot which charities are committed to lungs of the baby monkeys, is funded (with tax using state-of-the-art, nonanimal research money) through 2004. --Write to Andrew J. Schindler, Chair methods. These organizations focus on clinical and President, R.J. Reynolds, 401 N. This is just one of dozens of example of cruel and research, human population studies, and an Main St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101 ever-expanding array of high-tech strategies: unnecessary research. Experimenters have in short, techniques that bring real results, So taken large grants from cigarette manufacturer and to have a heart, Give your next generous donation Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, from to a charity that honors life in allshapes and government agencies, including the the Geoffrey C. Bible, Chair, Philip Morris, sizes. For more information or to add your National Institutes of Health, and even from 120 Park Ave., New York, NY 10017 organization to the list, contact the Council on the March of Dimes to inject animals with Humane Giving at the Physicians Committee nicotine, force them to inhale smoke and addict --PETA's Animal Times for Responsible Medicine, 202-686-2210, ext. them to tobacco-a substance that they would 329, or [email protected]. never normally c encounter.
--from TheCouncil on HumaneGiving
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PAGE 22 POST AMERIKAN APRIL/MAY 2001 HB 219: Criminalization The Clinton legacy The hidden election
of marijuana related info Records set --GOP seats gained in House since Clinton became president: 48. --GOP seats gained in Senate since Clinton on Internet --The only president ever impeached on grounds became president: 8 of personal malfeasance. --GOP governorships gained since Clinton Over 250 letters have been sent to state --Most number of convictions and guilty pleas became president: 11 legislators opposing HB 219, the bill to by friends and associates. --State legislatures gained by GOP since criminalize the transmission or marijuana -Most number of cabinet officials to come under Clinton became president: 9 related information over the Internet. criminal investigation. --GOP state legislative seats gained since -Most number of witnessesto flee country or Ointon became president: 1,254. Despite this tremendous amount of public refuse to testify. --State legislatures taken over by GOP since pressure, 219 has gathered 15 co-sponsors in --Most number of witnesses to die suddenly. HB Clinton became president: 9. the House and received amaj ority of votes in -First president sued for sexual harassment. --Democrat officeholders who have become the House Rules Committee. --First president accused of rape. Republicans since Clinton became president: -Only first lady to come under criminal 469. Please do not be discouraged by this tum of investigation. --Republican officeholders who have become events, but instead use the opportunity to --Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal Democrat since Clinton became president: 3. increase lobbying efforts. If you have not campaign contribution case. already sent a letter to your state legislators, --First president to establish a legal defense Crime stats please do so at http://www.mpp.org/IL today. fund. If you have already done this, please consider --Greatest amount of illegal campaign --Number of individuals and businesses calling your state representative as well. contributions. --Greatest number of illegal campaign associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47. You may want to mention that increased contributions from abroad. --Number of these convictions during Clinton's penalties for marijuana offenses do not reduce --First president to pardon a fugitive on the presidency: 33. marijuanausage, but instead bogdown the most wanted list. --Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: judicial system with nonviolent offenders. Further, incarcerating nonviolent individuals 61. -Number of congressional witnesses who have for a year simply for transmitting marijuana - pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country related information over the Internet is to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign inefficient, expensive and wrong. witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122.
While it would have been ideal to kill HB 219 in committee, it still has a long way to go before --The Progressive Review it becomes a law. HB 219 must now win a majority of votes in the House of Representatives, pass a committee in the Senate, win a majority of votes in the senate, and then be signed by the governor. Please continue to be active all along the way.
How to support The Marijuana Policy Project
MPP's state legislative monitoring system is funded entirely by the donations of MPP allies and members nationwide. In order to continue with this service in your state in 2002, MPP needs to raise $1,000 of more from your state this year.
If you find MPP' s legislative monitoring service helpful, please consider making a donation at: http://www.mpp.org/MoneyFor States
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--Normal Students for a Sane Drug Policy
APRIL/ MAY 2001 POST AMERIKAN PAGE 23 the Post Amerikan Bookstore Featuring titles from Soft Skull Press
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No More Prisons Saving Private Power William Upski Wimsatt Michael Zezima I !! : !! A hitchhikers guide to communi Ill The Hidden History of the "Good War." ty organizing, urban life, home Saving Private Power is the most schooling, hip-hop leadership, provocative history of the "Good Wa r" the cool rich kids movement ever published. It questions the ultra and why philanthropy is the patriotic assumptions we have been greatest art form of the 20th taught since birth. century. Our price: $13.00 Our price: $8.00
Fortunate Son J.H. Hatfield Republican Like Me e,,�,!!'· � t.i.%•' Burning Down the Prior to recall by St. Martins Press, QIJ!';�f.;'l� 1.A;1w ·Tt;.;"'f'. "'· n;;uy ,.�!!.( Fortunate Son was #30 on the New Yo rk House -...... Spanow .
.·.·.· · · Sparrow lost the GOP presidential Times Best-Seller's list. What caused . · · : ·:· : · ·· :· :· ·: . · .. Various -..4ii1 ...: . :·.·.·-: ::. ·-�:·.· :-. nomination to Bob Dole. "How?, this book to be censured? ....· : . :·;.:.:-:-.::: ; • Selected Poems from the ';"'� Why?, Uh ...What?" asks a tearful, ·· Nuyorican National Poetry Slam angry America. Finally, an answer J.H. Hatfield's Fortunate Son presents Champions. These five poets in this poetic record of Sparrow's George W. Bush haunted by the stand at the vanguard of the campaign trail. specters from his past. It researches the slam movement, with verse that Our price: $5.00 allegations of GW's abuse of extreme is passionate, tight, political and privilege, draft-dodging Vietnam and a lucid. past cocaine habit, and comes up with Our price: $9.00 almost 400 pages of more startling infor mation. And there's more. The Bushs' anti-Semitism, their connection to the BCCI Scandal, GW's SEC investigation . burbs . ,., , .. Yo u Don't for insider-trading, and the cronyism yt U PtMT HAW.:Tf !::�.::: .:'� Cfj. ··Ji w �t{··· , · t=UCJ..( l'f!tl*LE' tVE"lt � . practiced with business associates while . Have to
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ligence gathering for the ani Make checks Order Form nomian community. From paya ble to inside of the international Price Amerikan Quantity Item Post workingclass and its bastard and send o: t children subcultures punk, P.O. Box 3452 I Bloomi to r on ng n, I ::-:;:� : g s man IL 61702-3452 :: :: :;�� Ni/' '------� I history. We publish the his- '11!! ------ Ship to: tri tory, pop culture studies, filt ------::7 Subtotal_$ ki Name._���-- 11 graphic design, art, poetic (add 50¢ for :::i::::; fi fi, Shipping $3.50 Fortunate Son) Address.______records and fiction that fuel llKp; the vanguard . We are the
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PAGE 24 POST AMERIKAN APRIL/MAY 2001