Article published in the St. Augustine Record on June 2, 2008
See link
Showing posts with label Reflections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reflections. Show all posts
Jun 4, 2008
May 5, 2008
Mother's Day
Mothers' Day Proclamation: Julia Ward Howe, Boston, 1870
Mother's Day was originally started after the Civil War, as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons. Here is the original Mother's Day Proclamation from 1870, followed by a bit of history (or should I say "her story"):
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.
Julia Ward Howe
Boston , 1870
*************************************************************
Mother's Day for Peace - by Ruth Rosen.
Honor Mother with Rallies in the Streets. The holiday began in activism; it needs rescuing from commercialism and platitudes.
Every year, people snipe at the shallow commercialism of Mother's Day. But to ignore your mother on this holy holiday is unthinkable. And if you are a mother, you'll be devastated if your ingrates fail to honor you at least one day of the year.
Mother's Day wasn't always like this. The women who conceived Mother's Day would be bewildered by the ubiquitous ads that hound us to find that "perfect gift for Mom." They would expect women to be marching in the streets, not eating with their families in restaurants. This is because Mother's Day began as a holiday that commemorated women's public activism, not as a celebration of a mother's devotion to her family.
The story begins in 1858 when a community activist named Anna Reeves Jarvis organized Mothers' Works Days in West Virginia. Her immediate goal was to improve sanitation in Appalachian communities. During the Civil War, Jarvis pried women from their families to care for the wounded on both sides. Afterward she convened meetings to persuade men to lay aside their hostilities.
In 1872, Julia Ward Howe, author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", proposed an annual Mother's Day for Peace. Committed to abolishing war, Howe wrote: "Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage... Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs".
For the next 30 years, Americans celebrated Mothers' Day for Peace on June 2.
Many middle-class women in the 19th century believed that they bore a special responsibility as actual or potential mothers to care for the casualties of society and to turn America into a more civilized nation. They played a leading role in the abolitionist movement to end slavery. In the following decades, they launched successful campaigns against lynching and consumer fraud and battled for improved working conditions for women and protection for children, public health services and social welfare assistance to the poor. To the activists, the connection between motherhood and the fight for social and economic justice seemed self-evident.
In 1913, Congress declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother's Day. By then, the growing consumer culture had successfully redefined women as consumers for their families. Politicians and businessmen eagerly embraced the idea of celebrating the private sacrifices made by individual mothers. As the Florists' Review, the industry's trade journal, bluntly put it, "This was a holiday that could be exploited."
The new advertising industry quickly taught Americans how to honor their mothers - by buying flowers. Outraged by florists who were selling carnations for the exorbitant price of $1 apiece, Anna Jarvis' daughter undertook a campaign against those who "would undermine Mother's Day with their greed." But she fought a losing battle. Within a few years, the Florists' Review triumphantly announced that it was "Miss Jarvis who was completely squelched."
Since then, Mother's Day has ballooned into a billion-dollar industry.
Americans may revere the idea of motherhood and love their own mothers, but not all mothers. Poor, unemployed mothers may enjoy flowers, but they also need child care, job training, health care, a higher minimum wage and paid parental leave. Working mothers may enjoy breakfast in bed, but they also need the kind of governmental assistance provided by every other industrialized society.
With a little imagination, we could restore Mother's Day as a holiday that celebrates women's political engagement in society. During the 1980's, some peace groups gathered at nuclear test sites on Mother's Day to protest the arms race. Today, our greatest threat is not from missiles but from our indifference toward human welfare and the health of our planet. Imagine, if you can, an annual Million Mother March in the nation's capital. Imagine a Mother's Day filled with voices demanding social and economic justice and a sustainable future, rather than speeches studded with syrupy platitudes.
Some will think it insulting to alter our current way of celebrating Mother's Day. But public activism does not preclude private expressions of love and gratitude. (Nor does it prevent people from expressing their appreciation all year round.)
Nineteenth century women dared to dream of a day that honored women's civil activism. We can do no less. We should honor their vision with civic activism.
Ruth Rosen is a professor of history at UC Davis.
Reprinted with permission
How I feel about getting old
By Renee Mintz:
The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old. I was taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my reaction, she was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let her know.
Old Age, I decided, is a gift.
I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.
I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?
I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.
I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.
They, too, will get old.
I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.
Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.
I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.
So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it.)
Apr 30, 2008
Dear Little One
Dear little one,
I do not know you. I do not even know your name. But I love you because you are the daughter of a fine man who was a good friend of my daughter. She passed away, childless. He went on to marry your Mom. So, altho you are not legally mine, you hold a very special place in my heart.
I am American, you Italian. I am Jewish, you Catholic. Way back in 1937, my 27 year old brother died in Spain, in a desperate battle against fascism. Mussolini was a friend of Gen. Franco’s. You will have learned this from your history books.
In 1952, when my husband, Gordon McIntire, was offered a job in Rome with the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, my first reaction was negative. I was afraid we would be met with both religious and political prejudice, but it turned out very differently. (We had trouble with our own government but not with yours). We found friendship, beauty, good food, good wine, good skiing -- I have wonderful memories of more than 20 years in your beautiful country. So my advice to you is: Give life a chance!
Take risks. Do your best at all times, seek and give cooperation, think for yourself, study hard, play hard, work hard, and love what you are doing.
There will be peaks, and depths – that’s life – but in the long haul, if you make the right choices and obey your own instincts, I pray you will become an active young woman, doing your bit to make a safer, happier, and healthier world.
Granny Peg (will be 96 years old on October 2nd, 2006)
I do not know you. I do not even know your name. But I love you because you are the daughter of a fine man who was a good friend of my daughter. She passed away, childless. He went on to marry your Mom. So, altho you are not legally mine, you hold a very special place in my heart.
I am American, you Italian. I am Jewish, you Catholic. Way back in 1937, my 27 year old brother died in Spain, in a desperate battle against fascism. Mussolini was a friend of Gen. Franco’s. You will have learned this from your history books.
In 1952, when my husband, Gordon McIntire, was offered a job in Rome with the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, my first reaction was negative. I was afraid we would be met with both religious and political prejudice, but it turned out very differently. (We had trouble with our own government but not with yours). We found friendship, beauty, good food, good wine, good skiing -- I have wonderful memories of more than 20 years in your beautiful country. So my advice to you is: Give life a chance!
Take risks. Do your best at all times, seek and give cooperation, think for yourself, study hard, play hard, work hard, and love what you are doing.
There will be peaks, and depths – that’s life – but in the long haul, if you make the right choices and obey your own instincts, I pray you will become an active young woman, doing your bit to make a safer, happier, and healthier world.
Granny Peg (will be 96 years old on October 2nd, 2006)
Apr 26, 2008
What is a BILLION?
A Billion - the true story about a Billion Dollars. This is too true to be very funny. The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the politicians spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in caves.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans. It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division . .
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number.
A. If you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.
or
B. If you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787 for repairs.
or
C. If you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Apr 21, 2008
Founder of SERVAS passes
FOUNDER OF SERVAS, WORLDWIDE PEACE ORGANIZATION, PASSES
Long before the internet, decades before Hospitality Club, Couchsurfers, and all of the other hospitality organizations, there was SERVAS, the first worldwide peace-through-hospitality network.
Jan 14, 2008
Peg speaking to youth in Jacksonville "truth-in"
97 yr-old Peg McIntire, life time peace activist and founder of St. Augustine Grandparents for Peace, spoke at an anti-recruitment/truth-in-recruitment rally in Jacksonville, FL.
Listen to her speech here.
Listen to her speech here.
Dec 11, 2007
Make some noise - Rattle your chains
MAKE SOME NOISE - RATTLE YOUR CHAINS
While just in Florida we took a one-day side trip to St. Augustine to visit our dear friend Peg McIntire. Peg just turned 97 and remains active in the peace movement. The photo above is her at this year's School of the Americas demonstration at Fort Benning in Georgia.
The day we visited Peg she had spent the morning surveying the public in front of the public library on homeless issues. She told us that a few days before she had gone north to Jacksonville to speak at a rally and in October she had travelled to Orlando to address a big anti-war event.
I've known Peg for at least 20 years and she has become like a second mother to me. For many years she served as the Treasurer of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice which I coordinated for many years. She has been a loyal member and supporter of the Global Network since its creation and has been arrested doing civil disobedience at the space center in Florida numerous times.
Peg, in addition to all her other activities, still ably coordinates her chapter of Grandparents for Peace.
As I write this the Congress is working on a new funding bill for the Iraq occupation and the war in Afghanistan. Once again it is likely that the Democrats will talk big about ending the occupation and then in the end roll over and give Bush the money he wants.
The money that is being wasted on war making is just mind blowing. Just days ago we heard that the Pentagon has lost $1 billion in Iraq. How could that happen except for outright stealing or handing the money over to the "enemy" so they can buy more weapons on the black market thus giving the U.S. a "good excuse" to stay in Iraq because it is such a mess.
Now a new story has come out saying that the Army is undertaking a $200 billion modernization program (called Future Combat Systems) to make all their forces "net-centric". According to an article in the Washington Post, "The project involves creating a family of 14 weapons, drones, robots, sensors and hybrid-electric combat vehicles connected by a wireless network. It has turned into the most ambitious modernization of the Army since World War II and the most expensive Army weapons program ever, military officials say."
In real terms double or triple that cost estimate and you get an idea how much of your money will be thrown down the rat hole on this one. What happened to all the fiscal conservatives? Hell, they are getting rich off this stuff.
Today, the Army program involves more than 550 contractors and subcontractors in 41 states and 220 congressional districts, a wide dispersal of Department of War funds that generates political subservience.
Ok, so what does Peg have to do with the Army's Future Combat Systems program? What is the connection?
First, I'd say that Peg's life indicates that we have to be committed to our resistance work as a lifetime goal. We can't just dabble in it as a sideline. Age is not a ticket out of the struggle. Peg is in this for the revolutionary change that is needed.
Secondly, we have to understand that just writing letters or showing up a demonstrations is not enough. Sometimes we have to step across the line at our non-violent actions and go to jail if need be. You can imagine the attention she gets when she takes such a step and gets arrested. In Florida she is a legend.
Lastly, I'd say we can learn from Peg that a sense of joy, hopeful expectation, and wonder is important to maintain as we do our work. She is never naive but is always ready to embrace the unexpected. She reaches deep into people just by her own unwavering steadiness. Peg, unlike me, does not preach. She just sets an example by her actions and her life.
Zillions of people have told Peg "I want to be just like you when I grow up."
I am one of those people.
Bruce K. Gagnon
CoordinatorGlobal Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
Email: globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
While just in Florida we took a one-day side trip to St. Augustine to visit our dear friend Peg McIntire. Peg just turned 97 and remains active in the peace movement. The photo above is her at this year's School of the Americas demonstration at Fort Benning in Georgia.
The day we visited Peg she had spent the morning surveying the public in front of the public library on homeless issues. She told us that a few days before she had gone north to Jacksonville to speak at a rally and in October she had travelled to Orlando to address a big anti-war event.
I've known Peg for at least 20 years and she has become like a second mother to me. For many years she served as the Treasurer of the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice which I coordinated for many years. She has been a loyal member and supporter of the Global Network since its creation and has been arrested doing civil disobedience at the space center in Florida numerous times.
Peg, in addition to all her other activities, still ably coordinates her chapter of Grandparents for Peace.
As I write this the Congress is working on a new funding bill for the Iraq occupation and the war in Afghanistan. Once again it is likely that the Democrats will talk big about ending the occupation and then in the end roll over and give Bush the money he wants.
The money that is being wasted on war making is just mind blowing. Just days ago we heard that the Pentagon has lost $1 billion in Iraq. How could that happen except for outright stealing or handing the money over to the "enemy" so they can buy more weapons on the black market thus giving the U.S. a "good excuse" to stay in Iraq because it is such a mess.
Now a new story has come out saying that the Army is undertaking a $200 billion modernization program (called Future Combat Systems) to make all their forces "net-centric". According to an article in the Washington Post, "The project involves creating a family of 14 weapons, drones, robots, sensors and hybrid-electric combat vehicles connected by a wireless network. It has turned into the most ambitious modernization of the Army since World War II and the most expensive Army weapons program ever, military officials say."
In real terms double or triple that cost estimate and you get an idea how much of your money will be thrown down the rat hole on this one. What happened to all the fiscal conservatives? Hell, they are getting rich off this stuff.
Today, the Army program involves more than 550 contractors and subcontractors in 41 states and 220 congressional districts, a wide dispersal of Department of War funds that generates political subservience.
Ok, so what does Peg have to do with the Army's Future Combat Systems program? What is the connection?
First, I'd say that Peg's life indicates that we have to be committed to our resistance work as a lifetime goal. We can't just dabble in it as a sideline. Age is not a ticket out of the struggle. Peg is in this for the revolutionary change that is needed.
Secondly, we have to understand that just writing letters or showing up a demonstrations is not enough. Sometimes we have to step across the line at our non-violent actions and go to jail if need be. You can imagine the attention she gets when she takes such a step and gets arrested. In Florida she is a legend.
Lastly, I'd say we can learn from Peg that a sense of joy, hopeful expectation, and wonder is important to maintain as we do our work. She is never naive but is always ready to embrace the unexpected. She reaches deep into people just by her own unwavering steadiness. Peg, unlike me, does not preach. She just sets an example by her actions and her life.
Zillions of people have told Peg "I want to be just like you when I grow up."
I am one of those people.
Bruce K. Gagnon
CoordinatorGlobal Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
Email: globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/ (Blog)
Dec 5, 2007
Dear Poems People,
Today's offering I dedicate to Poems Person Peg McIntire and all Grandmothers for Peace (of which I'm an honorary member).
Actually, Peg's chapter is Grandparents for Peace, since Peg likes men. Peg's our beloved 97 year old indefatigable European American Peace activist and union organizer dwelling in St. Augustine, FL, just south of Jacksonville. Peg's brother, Jo, fought and died in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain. In the 1980's, Peg was driving us back from a Southern Life Community gathering (folks in the Southeast US who say no! to nuclear weapons and, especially, the nearby Trident submarines and missiles at Kings Bay, St. Marys, GA), and I sang to her: "I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you or me...." A special time. If you participate in the annual School of the Americas Watch demonstrations, you've heard Peg speak.
In the Struggle,
Wendiferous
"Weary of Weeping"
by Pearl Tilton
I am weary of weeping.
I am tired of weeping for young men and women
Cut down before they have fulfilled their life's promise.
In World War II, I wept for brothers and classmates and neighbors.
In Korea, I wept for nephews and the husbands and sweethearts of younger women.
In Vietnam, I wept for contemporaries of my son.
Between wars I have wept for civil rights workers who laid their lives on the line
For their ideals and were trampled and reviled by the ignorant dupes of the demagogues.
I have wept for the Kennedys and for the Kings and for the fear and hate and ignorance that brought them down.
Today, I weep for the world's leaders and followers who will not acknowledge that peace and good-will are superior to war and violence.
I am growing old and weary of weeping.
Today's offering I dedicate to Poems Person Peg McIntire and all Grandmothers for Peace (of which I'm an honorary member).
Actually, Peg's chapter is Grandparents for Peace, since Peg likes men. Peg's our beloved 97 year old indefatigable European American Peace activist and union organizer dwelling in St. Augustine, FL, just south of Jacksonville. Peg's brother, Jo, fought and died in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain. In the 1980's, Peg was driving us back from a Southern Life Community gathering (folks in the Southeast US who say no! to nuclear weapons and, especially, the nearby Trident submarines and missiles at Kings Bay, St. Marys, GA), and I sang to her: "I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you or me...." A special time. If you participate in the annual School of the Americas Watch demonstrations, you've heard Peg speak.
In the Struggle,
Wendiferous
"Weary of Weeping"
by Pearl Tilton
I am weary of weeping.
I am tired of weeping for young men and women
Cut down before they have fulfilled their life's promise.
In World War II, I wept for brothers and classmates and neighbors.
In Korea, I wept for nephews and the husbands and sweethearts of younger women.
In Vietnam, I wept for contemporaries of my son.
Between wars I have wept for civil rights workers who laid their lives on the line
For their ideals and were trampled and reviled by the ignorant dupes of the demagogues.
I have wept for the Kennedys and for the Kings and for the fear and hate and ignorance that brought them down.
Today, I weep for the world's leaders and followers who will not acknowledge that peace and good-will are superior to war and violence.
I am growing old and weary of weeping.
Oct 20, 2007
Reflection on Time
I take it whenever I can find it. Time, I mean; specifically time in the present, the now. This moment, before it dies. I take it and I hold on to it, or at least I try to hold on to it. Because after living for 97 years, I don't know how much time I have left. Or how well I will be able to make good use of it.
I do not look back often. Without searching for details, I know that most of my life has been healthy and happy. Like most women, I went through the stages of adolescence, marriage and motherhood, facing the challenges and enjoying the luxury of family. I was blessed with two fine husbands and two fine children.
As a young woman I was involved in women's rights, and in civil rights generally. I followed my second husband to Italy in 1952 with my three and four year old children. I embarked on a business career in my 60's while we were living in Italy. I learned how to speak Italian, and built up a successful business with my husband. I retired when Gordon passed away, left Italy, and came to St. Augustine with my son and daughter-in- law in 1982.
This entirely new life style spun me into political awareness on a national level, and into volunteerism locally. I had never realized how important volunteerism could be. There were so many places to work -- in the public libray, the hospital, the schools, the COA, the food bank, and more.
Then I learned of several local organizations concerned with social justice issues, including NOW, TREES, and the League of Women Voters, After meeting Barbara Weidner, founder of Grandmothers for Peace International, based in California, I started an affiliate here in St. Augustine, called Grandparents for Peace. We are pimarily anti-nuke and anti-war, but we network with a wide assortment of organizations that are concerned with various issues, such as racism, the environment, the homeless.
Becoming "Granny guru" to the peace camps sponsored by the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice has brought me close to hundreds of youngsters from diverse cultures and walks of life. I have learned so much about their problems, and fears. For example, how the recent immigration legislation affects long-established Mexican farm families in and around Apopka, which is the local base for Cesar Chavez's Farm Workers Union. While the children were born in the U.S.A, their parents face imminent deportation.
I guess the key word to describe what my life has been is expansion - from the limiting confines of self and family, to the boundless world around me. I recognize the value of all life. I am more aware of and concerned for others. I treasure each day.
I want more time....
I do not look back often. Without searching for details, I know that most of my life has been healthy and happy. Like most women, I went through the stages of adolescence, marriage and motherhood, facing the challenges and enjoying the luxury of family. I was blessed with two fine husbands and two fine children.
As a young woman I was involved in women's rights, and in civil rights generally. I followed my second husband to Italy in 1952 with my three and four year old children. I embarked on a business career in my 60's while we were living in Italy. I learned how to speak Italian, and built up a successful business with my husband. I retired when Gordon passed away, left Italy, and came to St. Augustine with my son and daughter-in- law in 1982.
This entirely new life style spun me into political awareness on a national level, and into volunteerism locally. I had never realized how important volunteerism could be. There were so many places to work -- in the public libray, the hospital, the schools, the COA, the food bank, and more.
Then I learned of several local organizations concerned with social justice issues, including NOW, TREES, and the League of Women Voters, After meeting Barbara Weidner, founder of Grandmothers for Peace International, based in California, I started an affiliate here in St. Augustine, called Grandparents for Peace. We are pimarily anti-nuke and anti-war, but we network with a wide assortment of organizations that are concerned with various issues, such as racism, the environment, the homeless.
Becoming "Granny guru" to the peace camps sponsored by the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice has brought me close to hundreds of youngsters from diverse cultures and walks of life. I have learned so much about their problems, and fears. For example, how the recent immigration legislation affects long-established Mexican farm families in and around Apopka, which is the local base for Cesar Chavez's Farm Workers Union. While the children were born in the U.S.A, their parents face imminent deportation.
I guess the key word to describe what my life has been is expansion - from the limiting confines of self and family, to the boundless world around me. I recognize the value of all life. I am more aware of and concerned for others. I treasure each day.
I want more time....
Oct 2, 2007
Jan 14, 2006
Peg's Background
MY BROTHER JO
He played college football. He slept all through his Christmas vacation. The Dr. called it sleeping sickness (from kissing?) - mono. He flunked out.
He didn't like our father's insurance stuff. Made friends with longshoreman on the docks of NYC Consulted Roger Baldwin (ACLU) about becoming a Union leader. Went to Highlander Folk School. Moved to Youngstown, Ohio. Organized SWOC (first CIO union of steelworkers). Joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They were volunteers for liberty. They fought the first fight against fascism. They understood that their country was part of the world, and that its citizens had responsibilities to the international community. Surviving veterans continue the struggle for liberty, social justice, and democratic values even today.
MY HERO
I scoured New Orleans looking for something to do in Jo's name. I found Gordon Mclntire one evening, standing tall under a single dim light bulb in a YMCA hall, describing the work of the Louisiana Farmers Onion. He looked down at me with amazement. A Vassar city girl wanting to help? Why? What could she do? Type, edit, hold down the office while he was away signing up members, organizing locals. I proved my ability, and my love. The "onion" grew into a union and became an important part of the National Farmers Union. NFU president was best man at our wedding in 1940. In 1949 and 1950 our children, Jil and Jo, were born. We moved to Rome, Italy, where Gordon was employed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Our happiness was shattered by a letter of termination. McCarthyism The UN Director General yielded to pressure from the U.S. State Dept. We lost even our U.S. passports. But Gordon fought back for five long years, and was totally vindicated. His private struggle inspired and strengthened McCarthy victims in UN organizations in many other foreign countries. Human rights issues were linked to liberty, social justice and democratic values.
MY MENTOR
I attended a NOW Convention in San Francisco in 1988 (50 years after my brother's death, 30 years after my husband's). That's when I first met the late Barbara Wiedner, founder of Grandmothers for Peace Int/l. She invited me to her home in Sacramento and quickly assembled a pool-side party in my honor. Introducing me, she said she knew I had been "involved" in Peace and Justice issues for many years. I was standing at the outer edge of the diving board, in an ankle-length Indian cotton cocktail dress, and I jumped into the water. Dripping wet, I corrected Barbara's statement. "I have not been involved," I said. I'm committed. "
Some of you may recognize this as a take on a Martina Navratilova quote. When she was asked the difference between the two, she answered. ,”Think of a ham and egg omelet. The chicken is involved, the pig is committed."
Once back in St. Augustine I started Grandparents for Peace: Our program includes alternatives to violence, and environmental issues. I think the greatest expression of love a grandparent can make is active participation in efforts to
(1)eliminate nuclear weapons,
(2) convert military bases, munitions facilities and research sites into peacetime purposes,
(3) promote and assist development of peace curricula in our schools, including conflict resolution techniques, and
(4) help children realize a greater awareness of and responsibility for our very beautiful, but fragile, planet.
That is why EARTH DAY is being celebrated in St. Augustine. Held at the Amphitheatre on A1A South, back to back with the Farmers Market, residents and tourists of all ages are urged to attend ... to learn from the educational exhibits, to enjoy the art and craft exhibits, to have fun playing, drumming, dancing and singing with each other. Grandparents for Peace together with St. Augustine Volunteers for Earth (SAVE) regard this as a special opportunity to see this community event as inte-rgenerationalism in action.
EARTH DAY promises to be a very meaningful experience for young and old; leading to greater respect for each other, and for Planet Earth
MY CO CHAIR, Paul
I cannot close without acknowledging the talent and initiative of Paul Archetko. You may know him as the artist behind Skinny Lizard t-shirts. I met him through Ancient City Entrepreneurs (ACE) and he has been a friend and my EARTH DAY co-chair since then. Thank you, Paul And thanks to all our St. Augustine Volunteers for Earth friends.
He played college football. He slept all through his Christmas vacation. The Dr. called it sleeping sickness (from kissing?) - mono. He flunked out.
He didn't like our father's insurance stuff. Made friends with longshoreman on the docks of NYC Consulted Roger Baldwin (ACLU) about becoming a Union leader. Went to Highlander Folk School. Moved to Youngstown, Ohio. Organized SWOC (first CIO union of steelworkers). Joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They were volunteers for liberty. They fought the first fight against fascism. They understood that their country was part of the world, and that its citizens had responsibilities to the international community. Surviving veterans continue the struggle for liberty, social justice, and democratic values even today.
MY HERO
I scoured New Orleans looking for something to do in Jo's name. I found Gordon Mclntire one evening, standing tall under a single dim light bulb in a YMCA hall, describing the work of the Louisiana Farmers Onion. He looked down at me with amazement. A Vassar city girl wanting to help? Why? What could she do? Type, edit, hold down the office while he was away signing up members, organizing locals. I proved my ability, and my love. The "onion" grew into a union and became an important part of the National Farmers Union. NFU president was best man at our wedding in 1940. In 1949 and 1950 our children, Jil and Jo, were born. We moved to Rome, Italy, where Gordon was employed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Our happiness was shattered by a letter of termination. McCarthyism The UN Director General yielded to pressure from the U.S. State Dept. We lost even our U.S. passports. But Gordon fought back for five long years, and was totally vindicated. His private struggle inspired and strengthened McCarthy victims in UN organizations in many other foreign countries. Human rights issues were linked to liberty, social justice and democratic values.
MY MENTOR
I attended a NOW Convention in San Francisco in 1988 (50 years after my brother's death, 30 years after my husband's). That's when I first met the late Barbara Wiedner, founder of Grandmothers for Peace Int/l. She invited me to her home in Sacramento and quickly assembled a pool-side party in my honor. Introducing me, she said she knew I had been "involved" in Peace and Justice issues for many years. I was standing at the outer edge of the diving board, in an ankle-length Indian cotton cocktail dress, and I jumped into the water. Dripping wet, I corrected Barbara's statement. "I have not been involved," I said. I'm committed. "
Some of you may recognize this as a take on a Martina Navratilova quote. When she was asked the difference between the two, she answered. ,”Think of a ham and egg omelet. The chicken is involved, the pig is committed."
Once back in St. Augustine I started Grandparents for Peace: Our program includes alternatives to violence, and environmental issues. I think the greatest expression of love a grandparent can make is active participation in efforts to
(1)eliminate nuclear weapons,
(2) convert military bases, munitions facilities and research sites into peacetime purposes,
(3) promote and assist development of peace curricula in our schools, including conflict resolution techniques, and
(4) help children realize a greater awareness of and responsibility for our very beautiful, but fragile, planet.
That is why EARTH DAY is being celebrated in St. Augustine. Held at the Amphitheatre on A1A South, back to back with the Farmers Market, residents and tourists of all ages are urged to attend ... to learn from the educational exhibits, to enjoy the art and craft exhibits, to have fun playing, drumming, dancing and singing with each other. Grandparents for Peace together with St. Augustine Volunteers for Earth (SAVE) regard this as a special opportunity to see this community event as inte-rgenerationalism in action.
EARTH DAY promises to be a very meaningful experience for young and old; leading to greater respect for each other, and for Planet Earth
MY CO CHAIR, Paul
I cannot close without acknowledging the talent and initiative of Paul Archetko. You may know him as the artist behind Skinny Lizard t-shirts. I met him through Ancient City Entrepreneurs (ACE) and he has been a friend and my EARTH DAY co-chair since then. Thank you, Paul And thanks to all our St. Augustine Volunteers for Earth friends.
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