Sustainable Options for Youth

New year tabling at Akins HS

2012-01-24T18:13:00.000-06:00

We had our first literature table of the new year at Akins HS today. Akins is either the first or second largest high school in our district, and because of the rainy day, most students stayed in the cafeteria to eat today, so it was packed. We were directed to tables near one of the back walls where students waited in line for one of the food carts. It was a good place to set up, with plenty of room for our stenciling project, peace wheel and literature. I had added a new "Paz, Amor" stencil to our designs, since Valentines Day is coming up, and I brought colored paper in case students wanted to use that stencil to print valentines instead of folders. I liked the way several students used the stencils to fashion their own messages. For example, one woman made a birthday card for her Honduran friend that included a Honduran flag design.
We're stocked up with new literatre from the War Resisters League: a new flier written and designed by high school students, called, "Know Before You Go, Cause There's No Reset Button;" a flier about the power of nonviolence; a pamphlet directed to women who are thinking of enlisting; and more of the Project YANO flier, "The military's not just a job -- it's 8 years of your life."

The universal thirst for knowledge - and peace

2011-12-28T10:54:00.000-06:00

Some years ago, I met Ken Hannaford-Ricardi in Chicago when we were participating in a 10-day fast to try and bring more attention to the effects of the economic sanctions on the people of Iraq. Ken has been active with Voices for Creative Nonviolence and has traveled to countries where the US has been at war in order to witness firsthand the effects of US policies on ordinary people. Now, he is in Afghanistan and is writing about his experiences on Waging Nonviolence. Here is his post from December 27 about meeting with young people in Kabul.

It’s early evening near Pole Sorkh (po-lay sork) Square in western Kabul. Although it’s barely 6:00, winter’s cold bare feet have already started their walk across our apartment. Ali, Abdulai, Roz Mohammend, and Faiz have joined Maya and me on the floor of a small room that later will double as a bedroom for a quiet evening of reading and studying. Like most of the others, I’ve cocooned myself in a thick quilt and I’ve begun reading Ha Jin’s novel of the Korean War, War Trash.

Not five minutes into the Prologue, I sensed Faiz edging his way over to me. His voice quiet, almost a whisper, slips out into the room; “Will you study with me?” Over the next fifteen minutes, we worked our way through three short lessons in a workbook written for first graders. Each consists of a simple, one page story followed by a series of questions based on the text. They are extraordinarily simple; they seem almost humiliating for a twenty year old young man. As we study, nineteen-year-old Roz Mohammed shyly carried his blanket and English language dictionary to our corner and settled in. Every so often, he’d shyly interrupt Faiz as he read and say, “Teacher, what does this word mean?”

Across the room, Maya and Ali worked on the meanings of basic words culled from a middle school dictionary. Ali studied intently, pronouncing each word carefully, as if it were an egg that might easily be broken. “Basket. Bully. Bundle,” he would say, repeating each word until he got it right.

A half hour after we began, still only a few sentences into Ha Jin’s prologue, I looked across at Maya and asked, “Where in America can you find anything like this? A cold room, nothing but quilts and a kettle for tea on the floor, and four boys asking us question after question about a language they’re trying to learn.” In truth, this type of thing happens all the time in our small apartment. The five young Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers who live here with their friend and mentor, Hakim, never go anywhere without a workbook or dictionary. After breakfast, one pulls a sheet of paper from his jacket pocket and begins to study. Waiting for a ride, another asks, “What does this mean?”

Across the hall from us live four university students. One is studying electricity; one aspires to be a pharmacist. Two days after our arrival, one of them, a young man named Said, knocked on our door and asked if one of us would like to help them learn English. Maya and I settled on meeting them in their apartment at 7 pm that night. The first class had three students; the second, five; now there are six. We work from copied pages and a white board. Each student actively participates.

Each of these young men, all symbols of the “new Afghanistan,” possesses a thirst that won’t be quenched. In our conversational practice, we talk of how they will shape their country in the years ahead. According to some figures, 68 percent of Afghanistan’s thirty one million people are under eighteen years old. No matter what the old guard wants to believe, the future of Afghanistan belongs to the young. We can only hope they won’t be co-opted by the temptations dangled before them by western “leadership.” We can only hope they’ll grab the reins of power and gallop off in a new direction, one of peace and reconciliation.

If the world you and I inhabit really wants to help these young people, and I doubt very much it does, it will do all it can to slake their thirst for knowledge. It will provide all the help they ask for, and nothing more. It will respect their intelligence and desire to find their own way. These students deserve our respect. They know, no matter what we say, they don’t have it now. It’s about time they do. -- by Ken Hannaford-Ricardi

photo of Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers from Voices for Creative Nonviolence

Arts and letters at Bowie HS

2011-12-08T15:04:00.000-06:00

Tami, George and I had a great day at Bowie HS today during their lunch sessions. More students than at any school so far - about 50 - took us up on the offer to stencil their own file folders, and, as always, their creativity with the materials was wonderful: each one unique, even when using the same stencils. Students also liked the Peace Wheel, and checked out the literature, including copies of Addicted to War. Thanks to students and staff for taking part in our "make art, not war" theme, and for talking with us about issues regarding military enlistment, peace, Occupy, school classes and plans for the future. We liked being situated in the hallway in front of the student banner shown in the photos above about healthy relationships, which relates to what we are talking about, too.

Building Peace for the Next Generation

2011-11-10T17:44:00.000-06:00

A story for Armistice Day. Thanks to Ray for sending this via Christian Peacemaker Teams:

CPTnet

7 November 2011

SULEIMANIYA/CHICAGO: Building peace for the next generation.

Mohammad Salah Mahdi came to Chicago from Suleimaniya in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to give a keynote address at the CPT Congress 13-16 October 2011. Besides working as the translator, advisor, and driver for the CPT Iraq team, Mahdi teaches English to sixth and seventh grade teachers at Seventh Azar Basic School in Suleimaniya. Before he left Suleimaniya, he asked his students to write letters to students in Chicago and videotaped them singing songs of greeting and friendship in English.

On 12 October, Mahdi visited CICS West Belden School on the west side of Chicago accompanied by CPT Iraq team reservist and Chicago area resident David Hovde. Military recruiters come to the school and Tim Doran, one of the teachers, feels the students may not think they have many alternatives to what the military offers them. Doran’s class of mainly Latino students sat on the floor in the gym to view Hovde’s slides of his time on the CPT Iraq team. Then Mahdi showed the video of his students singing. “The leaders of our countries talk to each other, but the common people don’t. Making friendships between the common people of our countries is a way to make peace,” Mahdi told the students.

One of the students asked what kind of music people liked in Kurdistan. Mahdi mentioned a popular Kurdish musician. A teacher immediately looked the musician up on the web and played a music video on YouTube for the class. While the music played, Hovde suggested that Mahdi teach them Kurdish dancing. Mahdi led a line of students and teachers holding hands and danced with them around the gym as he waved a colorful piece of fabric with his free hand. The demonstration ended with a showdown between Mahdi and one of the male students, with each showing new moves that the other tried to copy. The student won by moving himself along the floor with his hands like a caterpillar, which Mahdi did not try doing.

Mahdi then gave his students’ letters to Doran, explaining to the class that since he is from a Muslim context, his female students wanted their letters to go to female students and his male students wanted their letters to go to male students. As Mahdi and Hovde left the school, the security guard, a veteran of the Iraq war, mentioned he was sorry he could not hear Mahdi’s presentation.

On 19 October, Mahdi and Hovde returned to the school. This time Mahdi spoke to fifth, sixth and seventh graders, giving some of his students’ letters to each class. Mahdi expressed his hopes to the classes that, besides letter writing, the students could also exchange artwork to put on display at the schools. Perhaps in time students could even visit each other’s schools. When asked what his biggest accomplishment was, Mahdi said, “I’m doing it at this moment, building peace between our countries for the next generation.”

photo: students at MLK march, Austin 2011

Going solar for job training

2011-11-08T00:21:00.003-06:00

A friend who lives in the new Mueller development just got a solar panel installed on her roof, and she said that about a third of the home owners in that neighborhood have signed up to have the panels installed through a rebate program with the city. The solar industry is a good place to look for job training. See the CoolAustinJobs site for info about this and other green jobs.

Austin Community College offers programs and scholarships in the renewable energy field. And there are other ideas in the Texas Green Jobs Guidebook. Check them out!

Local Marine recruiter charged in sexual assault of high school student

2011-11-05T21:15:00.003-05:00

The following article about a Marine recruiter sexually assaulting a local 16 year-old high school student was published in today's issue of the Austin American-Statesman. As the article notes, this is the second time within a year that a military recruiter has been charged with a sexual assault of an AISD student, and in both cases, the recruiters made the initial contacts with the students during high school recruitment visits.

I hope that AISD administrators think about this. If the recruiters had been affiliated with an organization other than the US military, would that group still be allowed onto high school campuses?

When this kind of recruiter abuse occurs, the perpetrators are usually deemed "bad apples" whose behavior is not representative of military values. However, if one takes an honest look at the rates of sexual assault within the military and behaviors that are accepted and often even promoted within the armed forces, such as the use of misogynous cadences, pornography and the solicitation of prostitutes - many of whom, overseas, are underage - then it's not surprising that "military values" could lead to recruiter abuse.

Unfortunately, the US military is a male-dominated institution in which a culture of gender discrimination still prevails, and sexual assault is committed at higher rates than in the civilian world. This is a serious issue. It's among the most important reasons that I think high schools should not be used by the US military for recruitment purposes.

Here is the article:

Marine recruiter charged with sexual assault of high school student

by Claudia Grisales Austin American Statesman November 5, 2011

Following a weeks-long police and military investigation, a Marine Corps recruiter has been charged and jailed in a sexual assault case involving a 16-year-old female McCallum High student, officials said Friday.

Sgt. Timothy Lamont Craig, 26 , has been charged with sexual assault of a child following a Sept. 22 football game at House Park Athletics Facility, near Lamar Boulevard and Enfield Road, court records and police said Friday.

The case has drawn investigators from the Austin Police Department, the Marine Corps and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which tracked Craig's movements in a government-issued vehicle and cellphone used in contacting the victim, officials said.

"The Marine Corps holds its members to the highest standards," said Marine Corps Capt. Abraham Sipe, a district public affairs officer. "We take these allegations very seriously, and we will ensure the appropriate actions are taken throughout the course of this process."

Craig had been a campus senior recruiter for the branch's North Austin recruiting substation since April 2010 , Sipe said. He recruited at McCallum, Anderson and LBJ high schools and the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in the Austin district and at Round Rock's Westwood High, he said.

Craig, who joined the Marines from California in 2004, visited one or two campuses a week during lunch periods or at other times allowed by the schools, Sipe said.

The teen told police she had met Craig at a recruiting booth at school, the affidavit said, though it did not say when. The pair exchanged hundreds of text messages starting in July and at least a half-dozen phone calls in September, according to court records.

Austin school officials said Craig visited McCallum twice, in September 2010 and 2011.

The Austin district "had no knowledge of any concerns with this recruiter prior to this incident," the district said in a statement. "As soon as the district was made aware of the situation, AISD police took immediate action to prevent this particular individual from entering our campuses."

The district did not have additional information about Craig's visits to other campuses. A call to the Round Rock district was not answered Friday afternoon.

According to the affidavit, the teen had made plans to meet Craig during the game, where she thought she was going to do a workout for the Marines. After she was dropped off, she met Craig in his government-issued vehicle, and he drove her to a nearby alley, the affidavit said.

There, Craig made a sexual gesture toward her before they engaged in sexual intercourse, the affidavit said.

The teen's guardian contacted police in late September after overhearing her discussing the incident, an arrest affidavit said, and Craig was contacted about the allegations Oct. 11.

Craig was booked into the Travis County Jail late Thursday night on $100,000 bail, jail records show. He was in jail records Friday night.

He has been removed from his position pending the outcome of the investigation, said Sipe, the Marine district public affairs officer.

"This is a joint civil and military investigation," Sipe said. "We will continue to cooperate, and once it is completed, we will decide whether there will be additional adjudication within the Marine Corps."

This is the second time this year that a local military recruiter has been charged in connection with a sexual assault of a high school recruit. In April, Staff Sgt. Roland Benavides was charged with sexual assault in a 2009 incident involving an Akins High School student. Benavides is awaiting trial.

Youth video artists! Second Annual "If I Had a Trillion Dollars" Video Contest

2011-11-03T21:38:00.002-05:00

Calling all video artists ages 23 and younger! This just in from the good folks at the National Priorities Project:

It seems that these days, everyone has an opinion about how our federal budget should be spent, cut or balanced. Youth are disproportionately affected by budget cuts, but often don't have a voice in the debate -- until now.

The American Friends Service Committee and National Priorities Project are pleased to announce the second annual If I Had a Trillion Dollars (IHTD) national youth video contest.

The IHTD Youth Film Festival asks young people to speak out on the federal budget and to consider how our nation prioritizes spending and revenue generation.

Who? The contest is open to individuals and groups of youth age 23 or younger; actress and activist Susan Sarandon heads up an esteemed panel of judges

What? Videos must be 3 minutes or less in length and chronicle how the video maker(s) would spending $1 trillion

When? Videos must be received by January 15, 2012

Where? April 7 to April 10 -- AFSC and NPP will hold a youth leadership conference, film festival and screening for members of Congress in Washington, DC. Those whose videos are curated into the festival are invited to attend.

What else?

AFSC and NPP offer a host of resource materials available on the federal budget and critical issues often missing from the debate such as tax cuts for the wealthiest and war spending.

Travel scholarships are available.

To see last year's winners, visit the IHTD 2010 winners page.

For more information about If I Had a Trillion Dollars, click here.

The U.S. federal budget is not just a bunch of numbers. It's a blueprint of what we value as a nation. If I Had a Trillion Dollars asks young people to understand their budget and tell us if it represents what they believe is most important -- most needed -- at this critical moment in history.

What would the next generation do with $1 trillion dollars?

Please join us and help us spread the word about this important project!

The GI Rights Hotline: a great resource for soldiers and their families

2011-11-02T19:15:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, during our school visit at LBJ High School, a student made a beeline for our table and told me that her brother was in the Marines and that he was having trouble. I told her about the GI Rights Hotline, which can be reached online or by phone at 877-447-4487. The calls are free and confidential, answered by non-military volunteers who are trained in military regulations and can answer questions about many kinds of problems GIs face in the armed forces.

The kinds of trouble reported by enlistees include sexual trauma, hazing, racial discrimination, physical injuries from training exercises, psychological injuries, family problems and changes in core beliefs about killing in war.

As we tell students, after bootcamp, it's usually very difficult to get a discharge from any branch of the military, but the counselors who answer the GI Rights hotline can help by listening, presenting options and describing the possible consequences.

For students who have signed a DEP contract, but who have not yet begun bootcamp, it's important to know that you CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND. At any point before your report date, you can decide to not go. It is legal and there is no punishment. You can just not go. You can call the GI Rights Hotline to speak with a counselor if you wish, who can help explain this crucial aspect of the Delayed Entry Program.

Tabling at LBJ/LASA HS

2011-11-01T23:01:00.002-05:00

We had a table today at LBJ/LASA HS and student interest was strong among LBJ students. Quite a few opted to take part in the stencil-your-own paper folders, and, as always, it was great to see how creative the students were. We brought some Americorps brochures to the career counseling room because we are noticing that schools don't tend to have Americorps information available for students. The brochures can be ordered from Americorps in bulk for no charge.
We added a new "Food Not Bombs" design to the stencil art. The panda designs and "Peace Takes Courage" are still the most popular.
Thanks for welcoming us to your school, Jaguars!

Job Training Resources in Austin

2011-10-31T15:45:00.000-05:00

This is the info on our Job Training flier. The info should be current as of this date, but let us know if we need to update phone numbers, etc.

JOB TRAINING … Be who YOU are in the world!

American Youthworks
1901 E. Ben White Blvd, Austin, TX 744-1900
http://www.americanyouthworks.org/

This non-profit charter high school serves ages 16-21 with high school or GED programs, health care, counseling services, social services, job training, and job placement. Helping 1,000 students per year, they also oversee three local Americorps programs: Casa Verde Builders, which teaches construction skills; Environmental Corps, which trains workers to restore and preserve parks and public lands; and Computer Corps, which has students teaching computer skills to children. Americorps provides a living allowance, health care, and (on successful completion) money to use for college or trade school.

Americorps for Community Engagement and Education (ACEE)
Charles A. Dana Center, 2901 N IH-35, Suite 2.200, 471-6764
www.utdanacenter.org/acee

Learn teaching skills by doing bilingual literacy tutoring in local elementary schools through this Americorps program. As with all Americorps programs, you learn valuable skills while earning a living stipend and an educational award to use toward college or college loan repayment. For more local and national Americorps programs: www.nationalservice.org

Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, Texas State Department of (DARS)
800-628-5115

Assists persons with physical or psychological barriers to employment, by providing services or equipment needed for them to get a job, including job training or college, as part of an agreed-upon plan. Call for referral to the nearest counselor office.

Austin Community College
http://www.austincc.edu/
512-223-4222

ACC has more than 80 different job-skills programs that can be completed in a year or less, and also offers 2-year associate degrees and transfers to 4-year colleges. With campuses across Austin, including the new South Austin campus directly across from Crockett High School, ACC provides affordable, high-quality classes and financial aid toward tuition.

Austin Freenet provides free public computer labs and free or low-cost computer classes at neighborhood libraries, community centers, and public agencies. All Wired for Youth classes are free, including website design. See www.austinfree.net for class times and locations, or phone 236-8225.

Capital IDEA
504 Lavaca Street, Suite 1008, Austin, TX 78701, 457-8610
http://www.capitalidea.org/

Trains legally-resident adults, whose incomes qualify them, with training for careers in health care, high tech, or accounting. For full-time students who reside in Central Texas, it provides tuition, fees, books, and child care. Also provides free English, GED, and college prep classes. Has ties with local employers.

Goodwill Industries of Central Texas1015 Norwood Park Blvd., Austin, TX 78753, 637-7100
748-5574, Leah Winsberg, Eligibility Specialist, WIA Youth Services Program
http://www.austingoodwill.org/

This program serves persons 14-21 who are in or out of school, who have barriers to employment such as a physical or mental handicap, homelessness, runaway status, pregnancy or parenting, academic skills below grade level, having been through the juvenile justice system, and being or having been a foster child. Young people are receiving such services as GED, job readiness training, job placement, job coaching, tuition costs, child care, and emergency housing, rent, or utilities. Goodwill also runs the City-County Summer Employment Program for youth.

Internships are unpaid or low-paid jobs in which the employer teaches the worker job skills. Ask a school counselor, teacher, Workforce Center employee, or employers who appear at job fairs. Non-profit agencies may be willing to offer worthwhile internships, too, if asked.

Job Corps (inquire at Texas Workforce Center, 6505 Airport Blvd, Austin) For ages 16-24, free self-paced training in 27 different occupations, including medical assistant, CNA, auto body work or mechanics, culinary arts, welding, computer repair, and corrections. Training takes place at a residential center in San Marcos and lasts 8-12 months. On successful completion, graduates receive $1,200 to use toward college. The Job Corps is a certified Texas high school offering a diploma or GED; its college program busses students to ACC (San Marcos) or St. Phillips in San Antonio. Must be a legal U.S. resident, drug-free, not on probation, and with no outstanding fines, warrants, or court dates.

Job Fairs are of two kinds: one-employer and multi-employer. Employers may be hiring right away or may take part to gain community visibility and a list of interested people. Many offer on-the-job training, sometimes with college credit or professional certificates. Multi-employer job fairs include the quarterly fair held at the Workforce Center, 6505 Airport Boulevard, and the annual Goodwill-American Statesman Job Fair in May. Dress for an interview and take a current resume; you may be interviewed on the spot. Fairs are announced in classified ads, at employers’ premises, on billboards, on Public Access TV, on websites, and at Workforce Centers.

Skillpoint Alliance
201 E. 2nd St., Austin, 323-6773
http://www.skillpointalliance.org/

Skillpoint Alliance runs Community Technology and Training Centers (CTTC’s) at Reagan and Travis High Schools and several other locations, giving free computer and business skills classes (must attend an orientation first). Their no-charge 4-week Construction Gateway program (381-4216), one of the top 4 in the U.S., trains about 100 people per year in basic constructions skills: carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. Must be age 18, no diploma required; 9 college credits on successful completion.

Texas State Technical Colleges offer certificate and associate degree programs in technical or applied subjects. The nearest TSTC to Austin is at 3801 Campus Drive, Waco, TX 76705 and offers programs in 31 different fields of study. Most of the 4,500 students live in dorms or apartments. Phone 800-792-8784 or ask your school counselor.

The University of Texas at Austin
Professional Development Center, 471-4622
www.utexas.edu/cee/pdc

Professional development classes for certificates (no college credit) in public relations, marketing, leadership, human resources, project management, and process management. Courses given at the Thompson Center at U.T. or at the Jake Pickle Research Center on Burnet Road.

The Urban League
8011 Cameron Rd., Bldg. A-100, 478-7176

Free GED, job-seeking skills, and specific training: typing, keyboarding, computer use.

Central Texas Workforce Centers teach job-seeking skills, offer keyboarding practice, and administer keyboarding and spelling tests required by some employers. Under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), some job-seekers are eligible for free career testing, transportation costs, skills training, work uniforms, and clothes for job interviews. The 6505 Airport Blvd. Workforce Center coordinates several services for younger job-seekers, such as work internship programs, paid summer jobs, and support services such as child care. For other locations see www.twc.state.tx.us, where TWC also offers links to training resources, actual job vacancies, forecasts of ‘hot’ occupations, and typical pay rates for various occupations.

This is only a sampling of training resources. You have many options; to explore them, first think about your interests, personal strengths, and skills. Find out which agencies or programs might work for you, and make an appointment to talk with them. Even if one appointment doesn’t work out, you can probably get referred to another agency or program that can help you. Talk with others—your friends, relatives, school counselors, librarians, and adults who do jobs you think you might enjoy. Ask about internships, apprenticeships, and community service projects as well as regular jobs. Sometimes, the best training is on-the-job with a good employer. The number-one best way to get a well-paid, enjoyable job is through personal contacts!

Israeli Arab and Jewish student dialogue, November 1, 5:30 pm

2011-10-21T12:22:00.000-05:00

Looks like a good event, sponsored by Interfaith Action of Central Texas:

On Tuesday evening, November 1, Two students, Haneen Kinani (Arab/Muslim, 12th grade) and Yael Keinan (Jewish, 11th grade), both from Hand in Hand's Jerusalem school will participate in a public forum and dialogue at Congregation Beth Israel's Smith Auditorium, 3901 Shoal Creek Blvd. from 5:30 to 7 PM. The event, will include a presentation and dialogue centering on Hand in Hand, education and interfaith/ethnic relations in Israel and the United States. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free and open to the public.

Founded in 1997, Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education, is a unique network of integrated, bilingual schools for Arab and Jewish children in Israel. Hand in Hand students are taught by Jews and Arabs in both Hebrew and Arabic. Learning each other's language, culture and religion is critical to breaking down stereotypes and fostering mutual respect. Students develop pride in their own heritage while acquiring the skills and experiences needed to live peacefully in a diverse, often conflicted, society. These are skills that are needed in every culture, including our own.

Hand in Hand is a living model of collaboration to create a more peaceful, pluralistic and democratic society. As one mom from the Wadi Ara community put it, "The school that we have started together as Arabs and Jews, parents, educators, and community members, is making peace, building it every day, every hour."

Haneen and Yael, who will be accompanied by Lee Gordon, Hand in Hand co-founder, are dynamic speakers and tremendous representatives for Jewish-Arab coexistence and peace.

For more information, contact Robert Ozer at 512-913-3953 or at bozer@grandecom.net.

This event is free and open to the public

SOY table at Crockett HS

2011-10-18T14:48:00.001-05:00

Tami and I had a good visit today at Crockett HS in South Austin, where we enjoyed talking with many students who stopped by the table to spin the peace wheel, take literature and try out the stenciling. Thanks, Cougars!

#OccupyWallStreet: the process is the goal

2011-10-15T00:26:00.000-05:00

The coverage of the #OccupyWallStreet movement provided by the Waging Nonviolence blog has been great. Also, here is an article by Tim King on the Sojourners blog with his take on it:

Like many of my contemporaries, I found the non-violent protests in Egypt that led to regime change earlier this year terribly inspiring. But, also like many in my generation, I never thought such a movement could happen here.

I had seen people my age start successful businesses, become pop-stars and even play a key role in partisan political campaigns, but I had never seen them develop and sustain a social movement.

Sure there have been more focused shifts around issues like educational equity, LGBT rights or global poverty that my generation has had a hand in shaping, but nothing that quite had the look or the feel of what I imagined the anti-War or Civil Rights movements of the 1960s to have been. I assumed we — my contemporaries ( I’m 27) — simply didn’t possess the interest or the will-power to accomplish something that big.

I was wrong.

It isn’t clear yet what immediate or enduring effects the Occupy movement will have on our current economic or political situation. But, there are three things that I believe have the potential to significantly shape a whole generation — and perhaps the future of our nation.

First, a generation — my generation — is learning how to act. More importantly, we are learning how to act collectively. And what makes this of lasting significance is that we are seeing some results.

For much of its life, my generation has the ability to broadcast our thoughts and ideas around the globe, 24/7, but we hadn’t felt heard … until now. An epic shift has occurred in the last few weeks, a transition from wide-scale disconnection and disenchantment because of our perceived (at least) voicelessness with the powers that be, to seeing responses to our message calling for justice and transformation from around the country and the world.

Right now, across the nation high school students, college kids and legion twenty-somethings are watching their peers create something positive and powerful that has been amplified worldwide. Whether we start sleeping outside or not, a lot more dreams seem possible. The vision my friends and I have for our futures — and, more importantly, for the futures of the least of those among us — is catching on at home and abroad. It’s infectious, resonating deep in the hearts and minds of our contemporaries around the globe. They, too, want to act collectively and watch as their efforts bring about lasting, positive change.

Second, the members of my generation are invigorating democracy. The democratic processes in our country seemed like little more than so many lackluster reality TV shows. It had a veneer of authenticity but we couldn’t shake the feeling that somebody was standing just out of the camera shot, scripting the “real” dialogue and pulling all the strings.

Anyone who thinks that the Occupy demonstrations are, at their roots, about “socialism” or “communism” isn’t listening. It’s all about the democratic process. While the movement has not coalesced around a political party or a particular policy platform, it has radically embraced the idea that one person and one vote are supposed to count.

Going forward, that’s going to make things challenging. Democracy — especially direct democracy — isn’t easy. I have great hope that the Occupy movement’s current systems of decision-making will be rooted to the discipline of democracy as they continue to evolve.

Third, #OccupyWallStreet protesters believe that part of their responsibility is to model within their individual and diverse “Occupy” locations, a sort of alternative community. Such an idea has long existed in Christian and other religious traditions. Some faith communities live in the midst of society while trying to model a different way to live and relate, while others have separated themselves from society in order to, they believe, better live out their beliefs.

In either paradigm of engagement, the purpose of each faith community is similar: To lift up a mirror to society in general and model alternative ways of living that others may choose to follow or not.

The #OccupyWallStreet movement probably won’t look like it does right now next year or the year after that. The demands they are making right now might not be the same demands they will make in five or ten years. In order for this movement to have the same sort of impact that the Civil Rights Movement did, it will need to grow, develop and be sustained over decades, not months.

If the end result of “The Occupation” is tens of thousands of young people who believe it is our responsibility to:

1. Act with others for social change;

2. Invigorate democratic processes;

3. Model life-giving alternatives to the systems they are protesting;

then no matter what else it accomplishes, it will have been successful.

________________________________________

Making Art, Not War at McCallum High School

2011-10-11T15:36:00.001-05:00

Tami and I had a good day tabling at McCallum High School, an arts magnet school. We had stenciling supplies, and students were really creative in their use of the materials! We added the "#OccupyWallStreet" action to our Peace Wheel of Fortune, and a number of students had heard about Occupy Austin. One student said she'd spent the weekend there at City Hall Plaza and that her dad had spoken at the rally.

Thanks to McCallum students and staff for stopping by the table and checking out our wares! Here is the current Peace Wheel lineup, along with some photos from today, including some of the awesome student stencil art and a copy of a new flier on Active Nonviolence.

Waging Peace: winning freedom and justice through creative nonviolence

Egypt’s popular uprising began with a mass rally on January 25, 2011 as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered in public squares calling for governmental, economic and social change. The overwhelmingly nonviolent crowds faced violent suppression by their president, but they succeeded in ousting him from power and inspired other Middle East freedom movements happening right now.

#OccupyWallStreet began on September 17, 2011 in New York City as a nonviolent public assembly led by young people who support human needs over corporate greed. Using First Amendment rights and democratic organizing, this movement has spread to many other US cities, including Austin!

Gidon is an award-winning hip hop and spoken word artist in Austin who was president of his class at Reagan High School. He has been active with The Cipher and the Texas Youth Word Collective and the band, Public Offender, whose CD, Drop Jewels, is a call to men to stop violence against women. He teaches performance poetry at the Texas Empowerment Academy.

Wangari Maathai (1940 – 2011) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for leading the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, a tree-planting effort undertaken mostly by women’s groups. Maathai earned a doctorate degree and stressed the connections between ecological conservation and human rights.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968) is perhaps the best known of all US Civil Rights leaders. Following methods used by Gandhi and the freedom movement in India, King’s oratory, writings and personal example directed the movement in using nonviolent strategies such as mass marches, boycotts, sit-ins and direct negotiations in achieving equal rights.

Greensboro sit-in On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter where they were refused service, but they did not leave, even when harassed. The next day, more students continued the protest, and the movement grew throughout the south (including Austin) with widespread sit-ins at segregated restaurants, department stores, movie theatres, swimming pools and churches.

Cesar Chavez (1927 – 1993) led worker strikes, boycotts and marches for higher wages and better working conditions for agricultural workers in the US, including South Texas. He and Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers, led the successful California grape boycott and helped organize other labor organizations in Texas and the Midwest. A statue of Cesar Chavez stands on the UT campus.

Julia Butterfly Hill is a poet, speaker and environmental activist who lived for two years on a platform 18 stories high in a 1,000 year-old redwood tree in California as a protest against clear-cutting. Her book about that experience, The Legacy of Luna, was published in 2000.

Flobots is a rock/hip-hop band based in Denver. Lyrics of their release, Fight With Tools, promote nonviolent methods as the tools for social change.

Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was one of the most influential nonviolent activists in history. He helped lead India to independence from British Colonial Rule and his nonviolent methods inspired MLK and others in the US Civil Rights Movement.

Helen Keller (1880 –1968) was the first deafblind person to graduate from college. She learned to speak and became a world traveler and author who was outspoken in her advocacy for peace, women’s voting rights and labor rights.

Wangari Maathai, presente

2011-09-27T14:50:00.000-05:00

Today, when Tami picked me up to go to Lanier High School to do our tabling, she told me she had just learned that Wangari Maathai had died of cancer. We have included Ms. Maathai on our Peace Wheel for the past couple of years. Today, on the Peace Wheel we had added the Occupy Wall Street action that is going on right now in NYC. Somehow, I think Ms. Maathai would have been supportive of the young people using democratic people power to nonviolently challenge corporate power. Here is a good article about the remarkable life of Wangari Maathai as published in the Washington Post:

Wangari Maathai, 71, Nobelist and advocate for Kenyan women, environment, dies

By Emily Langer, Published: September 26

Wangari Maathai, 71, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who sparked an international movement for women’s rights and environmental preservation by teaching poor Kenyan women to plant trees, died Sept. 25 in a Nairobi hospital.

She had cancer, the Associated Press reported.

Dr. Maathai became the first African woman to receive the award when the Nobel committee honored her in 2004 “for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.”

In 1977, she founded the Green Belt Movement, a nongovernmental organization that married the two causes at the center of her work: women’s equality and stewardship of the land in her native Kenya.

By training rural women to plant trees, she hoped to give them greater control over their lives. Among other uses, the wood would serve as fuel for cooking fires. For each tree that survived outside the nursery, planters earned a few cents and a measure of economic independence.

At the same time, the women would help halt the deforestation and resulting erosion that was stripping bare entire swaths of Africa. More trees would lead to better soil, which in turn would allow greater crop cultivation and better nutrition.

Few people took her and her collaborators seriously.

“Well, that is typical,” Dr. Maathai told the Los Angeles Times in 1989. “First of all, we are women.”

To date, 40 million trees — figs, cedars, acacias, baobabs and more — have been planted across Africa, according to the Green Belt Movement Web site. Dr. Maathai’s work inspired the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign, which has planted more than 11 billion trees since 2006.

“The work of the Green Belt Movement stands as a testament to the power of grassroots organizing, proof that one person’s simple idea — that a community should come together to plant trees — can make a difference, first in one village, then in one nation, and now across Africa,” President Obama said Monday in a statement.

Known as “Kenya’s green militant,” Dr. Maathai pursued peace in a roundabout way.

“When our resources become scarce, we fight over them,” she told a Norwegian television station near the time of her award. “In managing our resources and in sustainable development, we plant the seeds of peace.”

She was jailed and severely beaten numerous times for her outspoken defense of her causes. Former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi called her a “mad woman” and “a threat to the order and security of the country.” She challenged him, and won, in a high-profile battle over a proposed skyscraper and statue of the autocratic leader in a Nairobi park.

After Moi stepped down, Dr. Maathai served for several years in the Kenyan parliament, including as deputy minister for the environment, before losing her seat.

She survived over the years, she once told The Washington Post, by having “the thick skin of an elephant.”

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, a village in the highlands of Kenya, on April 1, 1940. She often spoke about the brook where she drew water as a girl. Over the years, that stream dried up, forcing women to walk long distances for water.

“Throughout Africa,” Dr. Maathai said in her Nobel lecture, “women are the primary caretakers, holding significant responsibility for tilling the land and feeding their families. As a result, they are often the first to become aware of environmental damage as resources become scarce and incapable of sustaining their families.”

In all her work, Dr. Maathai fought the notion that underprivileged people must rely on outsiders for help. In her 2006 memoir “Unbowed,” she recalled repairing the walls of her mother’s hut with dung.

“It was important to share that experience,” she told National Public Radio, “because it’s very easy for people now to see the Nobel Peace Prize and to see the PhD and to see all the good things that are now with me and forget where I came from.”

When she won the Nobel, Dr. Maathai was reported to be the first woman in east and central Africa to earn a doctorate. She owed her education in part to her brother, who one day asked their parents why she didn’t go to class with the boys. Her parents then enrolled her in school.

She later studied in the United States through a leadership program for young Africans, earning two degrees in biology — a bachelor’s in 1964 from the school now known as Benedictine College, in Atchison, Kan., and a master’s from the University of Pittsburgh in 1965.

Her doctorate, in anatomy, came from the University of Nairobi, where she later chaired the department of veterinary anatomy.

Her marriage to Mwangi Maathai ended in divorce.

“I think my activism may have contributed to my being perceived as a woman who is not too conventional,” she said in a 2004 interview with The Post. “And that puts pressure on the man you live with, because he is then perceived as if he is not controlling you properly.”

Survivors include three children and a granddaughter, according to the Green Belt Movement Web site.

As a student in the United States, Dr. Maathai experienced such wonders as the Mississippi River, the winds that she said blew through Kansas “like violins” and an American autumn.

“Trees losing their leaves!” she told The Post. “They were of course very beautiful and different colors, and this doesn’t happen in Kenya. . . . And then they all fell, every one of them. And the tree literally went to sleep.”

© The Washington Post Company

________________________________________

Beginning the school year at Austin HS

2011-09-14T15:29:00.001-05:00

Today, Tami and I launched the Fall semester with our table at Austin HS, and it went well. We had positive feedback from school staff members, and students stopped by to check out the peace wheel and materials.

Some readers have asked about who is on the peace wheel, so here is the list that we hand out to students. Because a student last year suggested that we add events as well as people to the wheel, we did that, so here is what we have going. We often switch out the people on the wheel, so we ask students for suggestions as we go.

Peace Wheel of Fortune hand-out:

Waging Peace: winning freedom and justice through creative nonviolence

Egypt’s popular uprising began with a mass rally on January 25, 2011 as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians gathered in public squares calling for governmental, economic and social change. The overwhelmingly nonviolent crowds faced violent suppression by their president, but they succeeded in ousting him from power and inspired other Middle East freedom movements happening right now.

Gidon (Gator) is an award-winning hip hop and spoken word artist in Austin who was president of his class at Reagan High School. He has been active with The Cipher and the Texas Youth Word Collective and the band, Public Offender, whose CD, Drop Jewels, is a call to men to stop violence against women. He teaches performance poetry at the Texas Empowerment Academy.

Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for leading the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, a tree-planting effort undertaken mostly by women’s groups. Maathai earned a doctorate degree and has written and spoken extensively about conservation and human rights.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 – 1968) is perhaps the best known of all US Civil Rights leaders. Following methods used by Gandhi and the freedom movement in India, King’s oratory, writings and personal example directed the movement in using nonviolent strategies such as mass marches, boycotts, sit-ins and direct negotiations in achieving equal rights.

John Lennon (1940 – 1980) was a member of the British rock band, The Beatles, and also had a successful solo career. He and his spouse, Yoko Ono were outspoken peace advocates who expressed their views through music and performance art.

Greensboro sit-in On Feb. 1, 1960, four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter where they were refused service, but they did not leave, even when harassed. The next day, more students continued the protest, and the movement grew throughout the south (including Austin) with widespread sit-ins at segregated restaurants, department stores, movie theatres, swimming pools and churches.

Cesar Chavez (1927 – 1993) led worker strikes, boycotts and marches for higher wages and better working conditions for agricultural workers in the US, including South Texas. He and Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers, led the successful California grape boycott and helped organize other labor organizations in Texas and the Midwest. A statue of Cesar Chavez stands on the UT campus.

Julia Butterfly Hill is a poet, speaker and environmental activist who lived for two years on a platform 18 stories high in a 1,000 year-old redwood tree in California as a protest against clear-cutting. Her book about that experience, The Legacy of Luna, was published in 2000.

Flobots is a rock/hip-hop band based in Denver. Lyrics of their release, Fight With Tools, promote nonviolent methods as the tools for social change.

Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) was one of the most influential nonviolent activists in history. He helped lead India to independence from British Colonial Rule and his nonviolent methods inspired MLK and others in the US Civil Rights Movement.

Helen Keller (1880 –1968) was the first deafblind person to graduate from college. She learned to speak and became a world traveler and author who was outspoken in her advocacy for peace, women’s voting rights and labor rights.

Widow of army suicide victim confronts Donald Rumsfeld

2011-08-30T18:21:00.001-05:00

The following press release was issued this weekend by Coffee Strong, the GI coffee house near Ft. Lewis, WA. A newspaper account in the Tacoma News Tribune also covered the story.

Today, military spouse Ashley Joppa-Hagemann and anti-war veteran Jorge Gonzalez went on Joint Base Lewis-McChord to meet with Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld, most infamous for his part in leading the United States into the bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was at JBLM to promote his New York Times bestselling book Known and Unknown: A Memoir.

Mrs. Joppa-Hagemann introduced herself by handing a copy of her husband’s funeral program to Rumsfeld, and telling him that her husband had joined the military because he believed the lies told by Rumsfeld during his tenure with the Bush Administration. She then recounted her husband’s painful story of eight deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, his battle with PTSD, and eventual suicide, for which she blamed the military and Rumsfeld himself whose only response was to callously quip, “Oh yeah, I heard about that.” Despite the reply, Mrs. Joppa-Hagemann continued to lay the blame directly at the feet of Rumsfeld and the military for not providing enough care for soldiers and veterans returning from deployments in combat zones. However, within moments Ashley and Jorge were dragged from the Post Exchange by a group of 5-6 security agents and military police officers, and told not to return.

Former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld’s uncaring response is demonstrative of the attitude taken by many at the top-levels of the U.S. government. While they seize any opportunity to participate at a photo-op in front of expensive new barracks facilities or publicly praise the sacrifice of service members, they rarely take even a moment to honestly listen to those whose lives are overturned by their failed policies and poor planning. If politicians and top-level officials truly care about Joint Base Lewis-McChord and other military communities they’ll begin to listen to the folks¬like Ashley Joppa-Hagemann¬who are most affected by the negative consequences of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

''''''''''''''''''''''''

photo from Coffee Strong

High school students create videos on nonviolence

2011-08-26T18:33:00.000-05:00

Check out this video of Los Angeles students in a World Cultures high school class who made several hand-drawn animated films in one day as a way to demonstrate the kinds of qualities that nonviolence embodies: courage, empathy, respect, risk.

Americorps: a great sustainable option

2011-07-29T10:26:00.000-05:00

We continue to promote Americorps as an excellent alternative to joining the military. Americorps programs offer a living stipend, valuable service work and an educational award toward college, and most Americorps members work in teams which adds to good bonding and team-building experience.

Here is more about Americorps and some of the programs available in the Austin area:

After successfully completing a term of service, AmeriCorps members who are enrolled in the National Service Trust are eligible to receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. You can use your education award to pay education costs at qualified institutions of higher education, for educational training, or to repay qualified student loans.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act made changes to the maximum amount of the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. The amount is now tied to the maximum amount of the U.S. Department of Education’s Pell Grant. For terms of service that are approved using 2009 funds (or earlier funds), the award continues to be $4,725.00 for a year of full-time service, and is pro-rated for part-time service based on the full-time amount.

For terms of service that are supported with 2010 funds, the award value increased to $5,350.00. For terms of service that are supported with 2011 funds, the award value increased to $5,550.00. You can make payments from your award in full or part, and can take up to seven years after your term of service has ended to use your award. To confirm the award amount for which you are eligible, call your program or project sponsor.
Benefits of AmeriCorps Service

As an AmeriCorps Member, you will receive a wealth of benefits. Perhaps the biggest benefit you will experience when you join AmeriCorps is the satisfaction of incorporating service into your life and making a difference in your community and your country.

Whether you are tutoring kids, building homes, clearing trails or helping to start a local health clinic you will see the direct results of your work.

But there is more. As an AmeriCorps member, you'll be eligible for a variety of benefits that make the dedication of a year of your life worthwhile.

You Will Be Able to Pay Your Bills

Many AmeriCorps members receive a modest living allowance. You will not get rich from it, but most AmeriCorps members have found that it covers their basic expenses.

Help with College Costs and Student Loans

Each AmeriCorps member who successfully completes a term of AmeriCorps service will receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award*. You can use your Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to pay educational expenses at qualified institutions of higher education, for educational training, or to repay qualified student loans. You have up to seven years after your term of service has ended to claim the award.

The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 created two new federal programs: a new Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and a new Income-Based Repayment plan (IBR) for the repayment of federal loans. The new Income-Based Repayment plan helps to make repaying education loans more affordable for low-income borrowers, such as an AmeriCorps member living on a stipend; AmeriCorps service is also recognized as equivalent to a public service job for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Professional Development

As an AmeriCorps member, you will gain valuable experience that translates directly into job experience in your chosen field. You will learn teamwork, communication, responsibility, and other essential skills that will help you for the rest of your life Many find their AmeriCorps year to provide them with more experience and skills than they would have gotten in a traditional, paying job.

Opportunities with AmeriCorps Austin

Not sure what to do after graduation?

Looking for a part-time job you can feel great about?

Want to do your part to make Austin a truly great place to live?

Are you interested in local service opportunities with AmeriCorps? See below to read descriptions about local AmeriCorps projects, learn more about the opportunity to serve for one year, find information about the education award, living stipend, and benefits of becoming an AmeriCorps member. Full-time, part-time, and quarter-time positions are available.

AmeriCorps is an opportunity to make a big difference in your life and in the lives of those around you. It's a chance to apply your skills and ideals toward helping others and meeting critical needs in the community. Each year, AmeriCorps offers 75,000 opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups. Whether your service makes a community safer, gives a child a second chance, or helps protect the environment, you'll be getting things done through AmeriCorps!

Check out the program descriptions below for the AmeriCorps*State programs in Austin.
Austin AmeriCorps*State Programs

ACE: A Community for Education (Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin

ACE is an early literacy intervention program that works to ensure all children build a strong foundation in reading during their first years in school. ACEE members tutor young children (pre-k through first grade) in reading, teach ESL classes, conduct parent literacy workshops and literacy based Family Fun Nights, and co-chair the Día de los niños/Día de los libros bilingual family literacy day. Members receive extensive initial and ongoing weekly training from literacy specialists. Our goal is that half of our members are proficient in Spanish, but this is not a requirement to apply. Full-time and part-time positions are available for September through May or June. Visit ACE's website for more information.

American Youthworks: American YouthWorks Environmental Corps

Members of E-Corps build parks, maintain trails and do environmental projects, often spending weeks camped out in back country areas across the state. Full- and part-time positions; start dates in January or June. Visit the website for more information.

ASSET*AmeriCorps - Active Service Solutions for Economic Transition

ASSET, an AmeriCorps program of Easter Seals Central Texas, addresses the money management, housing, and assistive technology needs of people with disabilities who are experiencing various transitions. Statewide ASSET*AmeriCorps members, better known as ASSET Navigators, assist individuals with disabilities in flexible one-to-one, small-group, or class-like settings to work toward their independence goals. Want to learn more about the Navigator experience? Visit the website at http://asset.accesstexashousing.org or contact their staff at asset@eastersealstx.com.

College Forward

Members of the College Forward AmeriCorps program provide free college preparatory and retention services to high school juniors and seniors, facilitating their application and matriculation to college. The program promotes academic achievement, student retention, career exploration, and service-learning opportunities. Full- and part-time positions available. Contact: americorps@collegeforward.org or 512-452-4800.

Communities in Schools of Central Texas

Members of Communities In Schools of Central Texas AmeriCorps mentor and tutor public school students in grades 3-8 who are at risk of dropping out. Members receive extensive pre-service and ongoing training to empower them to be excellent tutors, supportive mentors, and leaders of service-learning projects. Full- and part-time positions available for September-July. Contact americorps@cisaustin.org or 512-464-9733, or apply on the CIS of CT website.

Go Centers—College for All Texans

Go Centers College for All Texans AmeriCorps members serve in high school college and career centers, known GO Centers, to encourage higher education after graduation and provide a college-going culture among students, parents, and the community. Our members work with students individually and/or in small groups to provide mentoring, college admission, financial aid assistance, test preparation, and career exploration for students in 9th-12th grade. Contact Claudette Jenks at 512-427-6529 or email claudette.jenks@thecb.state.tx.us, or visit the website for additional information.

Goodwill Industries of Central Texas

Members of the Goodwill Industries of Central Texas AmeriCorps Program focus on Youth Development, Financial Literacy, Employer Development, and Volunteer Management. The individuals provide direct service to participants in Goodwill's various programs and recruit volunteers to further Goodwill's mission. Full- and part-time positions are available. Email americorps@austingoodwill.org for more information, or please fax resume and Goodwill application to 512-480-5948. Please write "Americorps Member" as the position you are seeking on the application.

Travis County 4-H CAPITAL AmeriCorps: 4-H CAPITAL

Through hands-on scientific learning experiences, 4H CAPITAL provides quality science and outdoor education to underserved Austin youth in a variety of out-of-school environments, after-school clubs, and camps. 4-H programs promote leadership, citizenship, scientific literacy, health, life skills, and academic development. AmeriCorps Program year is mid-August through end of May/June. Full and part-time positions available. Visit 4hcapital.org, or email travisac@ag.tamu.edu to request an application.

AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America)

Full-time positions only. Help nonprofits that serve low-income communities to build capacity and work toward long-term sustainability. The primary difference between VISTA and AmeriCorps*State programs are that VISTA is only full time, and VISTA members do not do direct service with clients, but work for agencies to build their capacity to serve (i.e., volunteer management, fund development, PR/Marketing, etc. Openings are available in a wide range of agencies in Central Texas. See www.americorps.org for more information.

For more information about AmeriCorps opportunities in the state of Texas see www.onestarfoundation.org.

The few, the proud, the power line electricians

2011-07-26T22:35:00.000-05:00

Nice article in today's Austin American-Statesman about the kinds of jobs that are in demand in the Austin area, and there are many. Featured is the profession of working on electrical power lines, which pays well, and there is a training program at ACC for this work. As the article notes:

The graying of the work force and the greening of the industry are opening up new opportunities.
"You can't have a smart grid without a smart line worker," said Ray Cook, an Austin Energy trainer and an ACC climbing instructor.
Few people with the aptitude to work with electricity can also climb a utility pole with 40 or 50 pounds of equipment. Even fewer want to do it in extreme weather.
"It's a very select club," Cook said.
He said there are only about 110,000 line workers nation-wide, and shortages in the industry are prompting signing bonuses as utilities compete for workers.
[David] Weaver, 28 of Austin jumped at the chance to join the field. He was studying renewable energy at ACC when the college started its line worker program.
He thought it had everything he wanted in a job: Making good money while working outdoors with his hands.

Veterans launch Operation Recovery at Ft. Hood

2011-05-31T18:03:00.002-05:00

On Memorial Day, I joined supporters of Under The Hood Cafe in Killeen to learn more about the Operation Recovery project now underway at the entrance of Ft. Hood. Members of IVAW have gathered to bring their concerns directly to the new administrator of the base, General Campbell. Concerns center on the multiple deployments of soldiers who are clearly suffering psychological and physical injuries that are not being treated adequately in the military. Members of IVAW have built a watch tower overlooking one of the entrances to Ft. Hood to demonstrate their intent to hold the General accountable and to continue their efforts to meet with him. See the video above of the press conference held this week by IVAW members at the watch tower.

Above, two of the silkscreened posters that Aaron brought from the Justseeds Artists' Cooperative to help illustrate traumatic injuries resulting from combat and military life.

Career Fair at Austin CAN! Academy

2011-05-19T16:59:00.000-05:00

We were happy to be invited to participate in the Austin CAN! Academy annual career fair along with other tablers and classroom presenters. Our table was conveniently located right in front of a painting of MLK, and two Austin Community College tables were next to us, representing health sciences and computer sciences (including a robotic car). We always have some ACC materials at our table, so it was good to be near the ACC folks.

This year, SOY also participated as classroom presenters. Hart spoke about SOY and his army experience, and we were honored to be joined by two Americorps members, Katy and Sam, who spoke about their experiences in Americorps -- one of the Sustainable Options that we most frequently promote.

Katy's Americorps position is as a caseworker at Casa Marianella, a refugee shelter not far from the CAN Academy, and Sam worked in a six-month wilderness and trail maintenance program in the Pacific Northwest. Katy and Sam gave very compelling talks, describing what their work entailed and the team-building, learning and personal growth that they've experienced, along with the monetary benefits Americorps provides: health insurance and a living stipend while in the program, and an educational award at the end.

Hart brought the chin-up bar, which was a popular draw, even for some school staff! We gave away stenciled folders and also invited students to make their own. The hallways and classrooms at the CAN Academy are filled with creative art and diagrams. A mariachi band also arrived and serenaded through the school.

Special thanks to Katy and Sam and to all the students and staff who welcomed us today!

Pull-ups 4 Peace at Reagan HS

2011-04-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

We were glad to make a return visit to Reagan HS today. We tabled just outside the cafeteria doors during their single lunch period. This was TAKS testing week, and it felt like students and teachers were happy to put that behind them. Students tried out the pull-up bar. Top number for chins among students (men and women tried it) was 11, I believe. Hart did 17! Hey -- Peacebuilding keeps him PeaceStrong!

We were told about Reagan's student/community garden, which is beautiful -- and will be included in Austin's Community Garden Tour this weekend.

Chinning up for peace at Akins HS

2011-04-18T15:17:00.000-05:00

Hart and I had a good visit today at Akins HS. We tried out our new chin-up bar! If the Marines use chin-up bars to convey a certain message about strength, then our message is that making peace takes strength and discipline, too, but of a different kind. Not a discipline that is based on following orders, but discipline that is built from within. It takes discipline to use nonviolence in conflict situations rather than resorting to violence in response. Peace force one ... Peace force two .... Peace force three...!
Soon after lunch began, a school administrator told us that we could not use the chin-up bar indoors, so for the second lunch, we moved our tables outside the cafeteria and tabled there, which worked out well. We also invited students to do the penny poll and to stencil their own folders at the peace wheel end of the table, and many did!

SOY table at Eastside Memorial HS

2011-03-13T14:26:00.002-05:00

Hart and I had a good day at Eastside Memorial HS on Friday, March 11. At the International School at Eastside, students represent many different countries of origin, as shown in a tile mosaic above. Students who stopped at our table tended to linger, talking with us about our materials and their thoughts about war, peace, school, etc. Some said they planned to attend the march and rally planned for the next day by educators from around the state -- which attracted thousands to the capitol, calling on legislators to fully fund our schools. Students are our future!

Military sexual trauma

2011-03-11T00:13:00.001-06:00

This statement was issued by Iraq Veterans Against the War on March 8, International Women's Day:

In honor of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, Iraq Veterans Against the War honors those women who are organizing to end the wars, and all women who have paved the way before us.

We also want to use this month as a platform to raise awareness about the particular ways war and militarism impacts women, and thereby, our larger community. As a start, today we launched an internal petition within IVAW condemning Military Sexual Trauma (MST). MST is defined by the military as "any lingering physical, emotional, or psychological symptoms resulting from a physical assault of a sexual nature, or battery of a sexual nature."1 This encompasses a range of experiences, from sexual harassment to unwanted sexual contact (including stalking and rape), and both women and men in the military can experience it.

See IVAW's Statement on Military Sexual Trauma and share it with your friends.

Military Sexual Trauma is widespread and under-reported

Studies indicate that 22% - 33% of all women in the military report experiencing Military Sexual Trauma.2 There is also some evidence that women experiencing MST are at higher risk for developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of their MST.3 The Pentagon reported that 2,923 cases of sexual assault occurred in the U.S. military during 2008, about 63% of which were cases of rape or aggravated sexual assault. But with the Pentagon's estimate that 80% of military sexual assault goes unreported, real numbers are likely much higher.4

It's About Human Rights

MST affects the entire military and veteran community and is not just a women's issue. It's about the rights we all have as human beings to live and work in an environment free from harassment, abuse, or violence. But often times, within the military, sexual harassment and assault is treated as a joke, perhaps because it is perceived as only affecting women. Claims against perpetrators of sexual violence often are ignored, and these same sex offenders are even promoted! Victims often are expected to continue working with their assailants.

IVAW's Operation Recovery campaign aims to stop the deployment of troops who are dealing with un-treated trauma, including Military Sexual Trauma. While Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury are forms of trauma that are gaining wider recognition, MST remains in the shadows. But Operation Recovery hopes to help change that, by removing the stigma associated with all of these forms of trauma and by organizing for our right to heal.

We are also pleased to report that our sisters in the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN) have filed Freedom of Information Act Requests from the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense to obtain information on the prevalence of MST and how the military treats MST claims. SWAN has also initiated a lawsuit against the military on behalf of 17 MST survivors. Their efforts will go a long way in our own campaign to stop the deployment of those suffering from MST.

Iraq Veterans Against the War is mobilizing to take on Military Sexual Trauma within our community and in our grassroots organizing efforts. This is a commitment we take seriously. We hope you share our statement on Military Sexual Trauma with your friends and colleagues.

In Solidarity,

Iraq Veterans Against the War Staff

Aaron, Amadee, Bryan, Chantelle, Jason, Joe, Jose, and Sarah

Sources:

1 www.military.com/benefits/veterans-health-care/sexual-trauma

2 www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/newsletters/research-quarterly/v20n2.pdf

3 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1513167/

4 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2009/03/mil-090317-afps06.htm

photo from San Antonio International Women's Day March, 2011 by editor

March 12, Youth Slam

2011-03-05T23:01:00.000-06:00

From the Texas Youth Word Collective:

Is there a teen you know who is waiting to WOW the world?

**They Speak: Citywide Youth Poetry Slam**

Last chance to qualify for this season's Slam Off and a chance to compete in San Francisco in July as part of Austin's official team at the Brave New Voices Youth Poetry Festival and Slam.

WHO: Teens ages 13-19 can compete + all ages of youth and the adults who support them to cheer on the slammers!

WHEN: Saturday, March 12th - 2pm FREE writing workshop; 2:30pm slam signup; **3-5pm SLAM**

WHERE: Ruta Maya World Headquarters (coffee shop and performance venue) - 3601 South Congress Avenue, Austin TX

COST: FREE for slammers; $5 for audience members

MLK and Montgomery Bus Boycott help inspire nonviolence in Egypt

2011-02-12T13:38:00.001-06:00

A commenter to a post at the Waging Nonviolence blog pointed readers to this: a great story about how an Arabic translation of a comic-style booklet about MLK and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, first published by the FOR in 1958, may have been part of the inspiration to Egyptian organizers in their courageous and successful nonviolent movement to oust their president. Just as MLK and many other US civil rights organizers were deeply influenced by the Ghandian nonviolence movement that liberated India from British colonial rule, nonviolence has a way of spreading from people to people.

The Arabic translation was a project initiated by Dalia Ziada, Egypt director of the American Islamic Congress.

Here's a quote by Ms. Ziada from the story:

Spreading the message of non-violent resistance throughout the Middle East is ultimately a means to an end for Ziada and the rest of the AIC; that is, to inspire action. "The main message I hope that Arabic readers will take from the MLK comic book is that: change is not impossible. It is time to stop using our muscles blindly. Let's try using our intellect in innovative, creative ways to pressure decision makers and end dictatorship, tyranny and the suppression practiced against us."

Conscientious Objector, Josh Stieber

2011-02-11T09:53:00.003-06:00

Here's a good article by Rachel Signer posted today on the Waging Nonviolence blog. The GI Rights Hotline, a free, confidential, nongovernmental service can be reached at 877-447-4487 (overseas number: 510-535-1104) or girightshotline.org

Last December at Slate, Kathryn Schulz interviewed 22-year-old Josh Stieber on his choice to become a conscientious objector. Stieber grew up a devout evangelical Christian, and says that, at the school he went to, Bush was presented as an example of what a strong Christian man should look like, and the global war on terror was presented as an opportunity to rescue an oppressed people and spread democracy through the Middle East, along with Christian and Western values.

But after going to Iraq, he quickly saw that the democratic values he went there to promote had no place in the training of soldiers or how they were expected to behave:

"Pretty quickly after I got in, I started to see inconsistencies between how the military was talked about in such glorified ways [when I was] growing up, and then how it was acted out in training. Training was very desensitizing. We screamed slogans like, “Kill them all, let God sort them out.” We watched videos with bombs being dropped on Middle Eastern villages with rock and roll music in the background. People really started to celebrate death and destruction, and that definitely didn’t match up to what I’d expected. I’d told myself that I was willing to kill if necessary, but that wasn’t the same as celebrating it."

Stieber’s unit moved into an abandoned factory in Baghdad, and he watched as the populace staged a peaceful demonstration against them. Many of the residents were displaced by the soldiers’ presence. Before long, the protesters resorted to violent tactics.

"They had tried telling us nonviolently that they didn’t want us in their neighborhood, and when that didn’t work, they tried telling us violently, by using snipers and roadside bombs and that kind of thing. And once they started to get violent, we started to get violent, too. It went back and forth and each attack seemed to be more severe than the last one. Eventually the escalation led to a kind of desperation on the part of a lot of soldiers."

It was then that Stieber refused orders to shoot an unarmed civilian. He began to see that he was part of a contradictory, useless, unwanted, and harmful effort.

Instead of standing by passively, Stieber opted to go to military prison after seeing a video about Gandhi. But his parents intervened and told him about conscientious objector status. His fellow soldiers were angry about his decision, but instead of returning their anger, Stieber tried to practice his newfound belief in nonviolence by listening and being empathetic; he found that it helped ease tensions.

Now Stieber is becoming a teacher and is reflecting on the shift in perspective he experienced in Iraq. The same beliefs in Christian morality and democracy that brought him into the military in the first place were the same ones that led him toward the realization that the violence in Iraq is unnecessary and wrong.

Data from the Governmental Accountability Office shows that the military processed 425 applicants for CO status from 2002 to 2006—a tiny portion of an organization with around 2.3 million people. (According to J.E. McNeil, executive director of the Center on Conscience and War, those statistics aren’t very accurate because they don’t account for applicants whose requests didn’t make it up the chain of command for a final decision.) Tellingly, it was Stieber’s parents, not his superiors in the Army, who informed him about the possibility of applying for CO status rather than going to a military prison. Perhaps if such information were more readily available to those in uniform, it would be opted for more frequently, and they would feel freer to voice their reservations about the policies they’re ordered to carry out.

Waging peace at McCallum HS

2011-02-03T16:33:00.006-06:00

Excellent visit today at McCallum HS. Students have a lot of interest in different aspects of peace -- human rights, animal rights, environmental sustainability, opposition to war. During our tabling last week at Austin HS, a student suggested that we add events to the peace wheel in addition to the individuals. Good idea! So, for this table, I added two events: the Greensboro Sit-ins from 1960 and the Egyptian people's movement taking place this very week. Not many students were aware of what's happening in Egypt. I recommend the coverage being done at the Waging Nonviolence blog.
The penny poll photos above were taken before many students had taken part, but, as always, the education, environment and health care categories wound up with the most pennies.

US vets support Egyptian people power

2011-02-02T21:41:00.002-06:00

good letter posted today on Common Dreams:

In Solidarity With the Egyptian People and the Soldiers Refusing to Repress Them
by U.S. Military Veterans and Allies
As veterans and friends and families of veterans and active-duty members of the US military, we stand in solidarity with the courageous Egyptian people and the brave members of the Egyptian military who have refused to repress the people, and in some cases, joined them. We stand opposed to the role the US government has played in economically and politically supporting Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship. We oppose the 1.3 billion dollars in annual military aid our government continues to give to security forces in Egypt. We are horrified that during the week-long uprising, our tax dollars have paid for the weapons and training that have killed more than 125 peaceful protesters and injured thousands more.

After decades of supporting Mubarak's rule, the U.S. claims to support a "transition," calling for "restraint from both sides." Yet the Obama administration has been giving the Egyptian military strategic assistance throughout the uprising. When protests broke out on the 25th, the Egyptian military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Sami Hafez Anan, was in Washington as part of an annual strategizing session. He stayed in DC until the 28th, when he returned to Egypt to command the security forces.

We do not believe Egyptians are "anti-American" for holding up the tear gas canisters that have killed so many peaceful protesters in Cairo, pointing out that they are stamped "Made in the USA." We believe that the US government's foreign policy is against the values of the American people. Our own government has chosen to support an Egyptian dictatorship, making a mockery of our country's deeply held democratic values.

We know that "regime change" and "democracy" were the code words behind the US invasion of Iraq, which took the lives of thousands of our young people and more then one million Iraqis. In the name of "regime change" and "democracy," we bombed, shot, tortured, and imprisoned a large number of Iraqi citizens.

That does not mean we support dictatorial governments in Middle Eastern countries. We believe in regime change that comes from the people. Invasion, occupation, and the use of force have failed at creating just societies. What we hope to see in Egypt is regime change by and for the people, society transformed from below.

In Egypt, the streets are filled with demonstrators chanting, "The people and the army are one hand!" The moment may soon approach when Egyptian soldiers will be forced to choose between killing or joining the people. Recently we have seen soldiers act heroically and peacefully in similar circumstances in Tunisia, Yugoslavia, Portugal, and Venezuela.

There is a parallel in the US: some of us who were in the military refused to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan, while others have spoken out against military injustice since returning. Some have supported soldiers who have blown the whistle on our government's war crimes. Others have supported military refusers as they were imprisoned or forced to flee the country for their crimes of conscience.

We extend our support to all members of the Egyptian military who follow their conscience, just like those Americans who refused their orders to go to war or refused to fight once they got there. We support those who refuse to fire into crowds, those who lend their support to democracy.

We also recognize that the U.S. has a sustained military presence in Egypt, with a Connecticut National Guard unit currently being deployed to the Sinai Peninsula. We call on U.S. soldiers in Egypt to follow their conscience and stand on the side of the Egyptian people.

Today we stand in support of a global peoples' movement for freedom, democracy, peace, equality, and justice!

Peace and freedom be with you, people of Egypt!

(Organizations are for identification purposes only)

Scott Kimball, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Sarah Lazare, The Civilian-Soldier Alliance
Ryan Harvey, The Civilian-Soldier Alliance
Jacob George, Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, 3 tours
Ethan McCord, Iraq Veteran, Bravo Company 2-16 (seen in Iraq "Collateral Murder" video released by Wikileaks)
Josh Stieber, Iraq veteran
Jonathan Uss
Maggie Martin, Iraq Veterans Against the War
Clare Bayard, The Catalyst Project
Austin McCann, The Civilian-Soldier Alliance

February They Speak poetry slam

2011-01-30T19:58:00.004-06:00

Calling all youth poets and those who listen:

CITYWIDE YOUTH SLAM!

Saturday February 12th @ 3pm (Presented by the Texas Youth Word Collective)

*2pm - Free writing workshop
*2:30-3pm Slam signup
**3pm SLAM BEGINS!

ADMISSION: $5 cover, free for slam participants

PLACE: Ruta Maya World Headquarters,
3601 S. Congress, Austin , Texas 78704
CONTACTS: Dr. Sheila Siobhan (512) 422-6653, Co-Director
Ron Horne (512-632-5033, Co-Director

E-Mail: u21slam@yahoo.com

The first youth slam of the new year was led off by a 14 year old female participant who grabbed our attention with the honesty in her voice. She was followed by several evocative performances and calls to action. There was only one thing missing: YOU!!! You or a teen you know may be waiting for this moment to be heard and wow the world. Come enjoy an afternoon of stirring, thought-provoking poetry.

*This is one of only TWO more chances to qualify for the big Slam Off and
compete to win a spot on 2011 They Speak Youth Slam team for this summer's
nationals in San Francisco!!! (Note: All ages are welcome to participate in
the citywide slams. But only 13-19 year olds can qualify for nationals.)

Come be inspired and support the youth of Austin and Central Texas in our 9th
season. You'll see some of last year's phenomenal youth poets, as well as some
surprising, great new faces to rock your world.

We are conducting writing and performance workshops by none other than National
Poetry Slam Finalist, and two-time Austin Slam Champion, Christopher Michael as
well as other nationally renowned writers and performers here in the Austin
area.

This project is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts
Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

photo of Shay by editor during January's slam

Great Day at Austin HS

2011-01-29T20:23:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, Hart and I had a busy and inspiring school visit at Austin HS. Making our day very special was being accompanied by a film crew who had flown in from Japan and New York to work on a documentary film they are making about Hart. Many students stopped at the table, some coming back with friends, to check out the penny poll, the peace wheel of fortune, the fliers, books, new stenciled folders - and the film crew! The penny poll results showed students voting heavily for the environment over military spending. I had brought along one of the stencils, "Peace is Sustainable," ink and a brush so that students could print their own folders if they wished, since it takes just a few minutes and the ink dries fairly quickly. On the spot, we made art, not war!
Many thanks to Austin HS administrators, who welcomed us and gave permission for the film crew to join us on campus.

JROTC programs drain school district budgets

2011-01-24T19:54:00.004-06:00

This analysis, by Rick Jahnkow, of the Project on Youth and Nonmilitary Opportunities is crucial information for every school board considering budget cuts, including Austin's. JROTC programs are poor substitutes for PE classes, not only because of the program content, but because JROTC programs COST MORE. As they deliberate how to cut costs, AISD should investigate the full expenses of JROTC and discuss cutting JROTC in favor of less expensive and more productive classes for high school students.

Jr. ROTC Contributes to the School Funding Crisis
by Rick Jahnkow

As sources of public money for public education shrink, K-12 school districts are being forced to consider budget cuts that will seriously affect classes and student services. In some places they are reducing or eliminating counselors, school nurses, teacher aides, librarians, and programs like art, music and athletics.

One program that is rarely subjected to cuts is the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), a military training/recruiting program that is currently offered in approximately 4,000 of the nation’s high schools. Even though this course is a non-academic elective that does not count toward meeting admission requirements at state colleges and universities – and schools are scrambling to provide electives that do help students meet those requirements – JROTC is usually given privileged treatment by school trustees who are politically intimidated by the pro-JROTC lobby and often deceived about the money that could be saved by cutting the program.

There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about the presence of a military-run program in public schools – for example, the propagandistic character of the curriculum, the questionable credentials of the instructors, and the fact that JROTC brings marksmanship training into most of the schools where it exists. Public debate over these concerns, however, has never led school trustees to remove a JROTC unit. In large part, this is because of the well-organized lobby that emerges from JROTC classes themselves. There is considerable politicking by instructors, and the military structure of the program allows them to easily mobilize cadets and their families.

This lobby, however, has sometimes failed to prevail when a school district with major financial problems looks closely at the cost of JROTC. They discover that, in comparison to alternative classes, JROTC is much more expensive to maintain than school administrators and trustees have been led to believe. The reason their initial assumptions are often wrong is that promoters of JROTC encourage the false belief that federal money will cover any extra costs. After approving the program, most school administrators never realize that the partial subsidy offered by the Pentagon (which comes from its recruiting budget, by the way) does not match the additional expenses generated by the high staffing requirements of the JROTC contract.

How JROTC is a net drain on civilian school funds

Under the standard JROTC contract, the Department of Defense provides students with books, uniforms and special equipment such as pellet rifles. The school district must provide insurance, building facilities and maintenance, and must assume responsibility for paying instructors' salaries and all the normal employment taxes and benefits that cover regular teachers. JROTC instructors must be retired military officers approved by their military branches. They are not required to meet the same qualifications as other teachers.

The school district receives from the DoD only a partial contribution toward instructors’ salaries and nothing toward the substantial cost of employment taxes and benefits. The subsidy amount for each instructor is calculated based on the military pay and housing allowance the officer would receive on active duty, minus his or her military retirement pay. This difference is then cut in half and the result is the maximum amount the DoD will pay the school district.

The JROTC contract requires the hiring of a minimum of two retired officers (one a non-commissioned officer) for the first 150 students enrolled as cadets at a school. After 150, another instructor must be hired for each additional increment of 100 cadets (e.g., three instructors for 151-250).

It’s important to note that only one non-JROTC classroom teacher would normally be hired to teach 150+ students. Furthermore, JROTC cadets are generally allowed by schools to take the class in place of physical education, and a single PE teacher would normally support 250+ students. So if JROTC were eliminated in a school district, less than half as many teachers would need to be hired to replace them.

In other words, to have JROTC, a school district must more than double the staff normally required for the number of students involved. Because the federal subsidy amount will likely cover less than half the total salaries and none of the employment taxes or benefits for two (or more) JROTC instructors at each school, schools wind up using extra money from their budgets to, in effect, subsidize a high school military training/recruiting program for the Pentagon.

An example of a specific school district

When Air Force JROTC was introduced in 1995 at Vista High School in Vista, California, the projected net cost to the district for two JROTC instructors to teach 95 cadets was:

Salary, plus taxes and benefits $79,386
Federal subsidy -28,305
Net JROTC expense 51,081

In comparison, one PE teacher was allocated for an average of 250 students at Vista HS, therefore .38 of one PE teaching position would have been required for those 95 cadets. The total cost for that portion of a PE teaching position, including taxes and benefits, was $52,250 x .38 = $19,855.

The projected net loss to the Vista school district was:

Net JROTC expense $51,081
Net cost for .38 PE allocation -19,855
Net loss of funds 31,226

(Data source: Vista Unified School District, 1995)

If one assumes the same salary and benefits rates in a district with 13 JROTC schools (San Diego Unified, for example), the annual budget loss would have been $405,938 in 1995.

While it is certain that the numbers for salaries and benefits have increased since 1995, the basic formula for calculating the true cost of JROTC is the same today: determine the total net cost for all JROTC staff and subtract the total net cost for alternative teaching staff needed to support the number of students in JROTC. The difference will reveal how much additional money would be freed up for other uses if JROTC were cut from the district’s budget.

School trustees are often given budget summaries from district staff that include the net cost for JROTC, but without the critical comparison to the cost for substituting JROTC with classes like PE. This makes it difficult for them to make fully informed decisions about which programs to eliminate when they need to make budget cuts.

People who would like to draw a district’s attention to the true cost of the program should try to find out what JROTC budget figures have already been circulated, which may be available on a school district’s web site. If the information is not available, or if it is lacking a comparative analysis, school trustees can be asked to provide specific facts about the program’s cost. In the process, trustees may come to realize that their assumptions about JROTC’s economics were based on false or incomplete information. With a more accurate financial picture, they would be more likely to consider cutting JROTC as a potential way to resolve a budget crisis.

For a copy of this article in PDF format, go to the JROTC section of Project Yano. This article is from January-March 2011 Draft NOtices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft.

photo by editor

Removing barriers to more equality or more enlistment?

2011-01-24T19:19:00.007-06:00

Excellent articles in the new issue of Draft Notices, a newsletter produced by the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD) in San Diego, including this one by Jorge Mariscal about DADT and the DREAM Act:

Ambiguous Victories: Civil Rights in the Age of Neoliberalism
–by Jorge Mariscal

The widespread celebration around the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) was certainly justified. The fundamental unfairness of a policy – at its core a free speech issue – that forced U.S. servicewomen and men to lie about an important part of their identity made DADT unsustainable. Generational change and common sense won repeal despite opposition from the most retrograde elements of the military hierarchy and their surrogates like John McCain.

Advocacy groups called the repeal of DADT a “civil rights” victory and the corporate media trumpeted it as one of several end-of-year victories for the Democrats. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell called the lame duck session the “most productive Congress since Lyndon Johnson, maybe since the New Deal.”

One of the pieces of legislation that did not make it through this “productive Congress” was the DREAM Act, a bill that has languished in the Senate for almost a decade. Like DADT, the basic appeal of DREAM is difficult to resist: hard-working, undocumented youth brought to the United States as children deserve a pathway to legalization. The vast majority of DREAM-eligible youth have no direct experience of their family’s country of origin and many of them are high achievers with college and even graduate school degrees.

The subtext to DREAM is far less sentimental. As some Latino activists have pointed out, DREAM legislation from its earliest incarnation was the handiwork of the Department of Defense. The Pentagon understands that a large pool of eligible young people, many of them bilingual and well educated, would be a potential bonanza for recruiters. Given that the vast majority of undocumented working-class youth find it difficult to complete even two years of college, this particular path to legalization will lead them necessarily into an eight-year military enlistment contract in exchange for permanent legal residency.

What the movements to pass the DREAM Act and repeal DADT have in common is an uncanny admixture – the goal of regularizing the status of two admirable and aggrieved communities and their direct connection to the machinery of U.S. militarism. At a time when the United States is engaged in a number of hot wars and an unknown number of covert operations, this connection should concern everyone who otherwise supported the passage of DREAM and DADT.

Few of us would deny gay and lesbian people or qualified undocumented youth their right to serve in the military if they choose to do so. But what was difficult to watch was the parade of queer servicemen and women making the media rounds and describing the U.S. military as the “greatest organization in the world.” Even more disturbing were public protests and hunger strikes in which undocumented youth held “Let us serve” signs and proclaimed their eagerness to enlist and a willingness “to die for my country.”

The point is not to criticize immigrant youth who, desperate for legalized status, perceive military service as a way out of a life of constant fear of deportation. The real question is whether or not any of these young people understand the uses to which politicians have put the U.S. military over the last 60 years.

If, in fact, the activism around DREAM and DADT are civil rights movements, it seems clear that civil rights in 2010 is remarkably like civil rights circa 1940 when excluded groups, eager to win a modicum of inclusion, remained silent about the most destructive aspects of liberal capitalism. Were he to reappear today, Dr. King would be hard-pressed to recognize his own values in this contemporary civil rights agenda.

What is missing above all is King’s critique of U.S. militarism, his insistence that bloated Pentagon budgets make the social safety net impossible to sustain, and his stunning proclamation that his country was the greatest purveyor of violence in the world. All of these assertions are as true today as they were in 1967.

As we celebrate the repeal of DADT, let’s be realistic. Military culture will continue to be homophobic, sometimes violently so (the astonishingly high percentage of women in the military who report sexual harassment is a related facet of this culture). As we advocate for comprehensive immigration reform that will include legalization for deserving young people, let’s be pleased that hundreds of DREAM youth may attend college – but lament the fact that thousands will be tracked into the armed forces.

Our gay, lesbian, and immigrant sisters and brothers are faced with a dilemma. Will their communities support a spirited debate about the advisability (morality) of military service in this most recent chapter of U.S. imperial adventurism? DREAM and DADT activists (and President Obama himself) would do well to revisit Dr. King’s “fierce urgency of now” text, especially the part where he warns: “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

DADT had to be repealed; DREAM students deserve a path to legal status. But given its on-going imperial role, is the U.S. military a legitimate means for achieving the goals of civil rights at home and human rights abroad?

This article is from the January-March 2011 Draft Notices, the newsletter of the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft.

MLK Day March and Celebration

2011-01-18T18:21:00.005-06:00

I took the photos above during yesterday's MLK Day March and Community Celebration, beginning near the MLK statue at UT, crossing the newly named JJ Seabrook bridge over I-35 at MLK, and winding up at Huston-Tillotson University. Americorps members with Communities in Schools (CIS) brought paper signs and markers for kids to make their own signs.
Our CodePink group marched, as we have for 4 annual MLK Days, with the "War is Not the Answer" banner. Peace signs were everywhere this year!

SOY table at Crockett HS

2011-01-14T15:49:00.006-06:00

Had a really good visit at Crockett HS today during the two lunches. Students liked the new stenciled folders and a number of them contributed responses to the "What does peace mean to you?" poster at our table. Our display (needs to be updated with our new name and phone number) is still on a table near the entrance to the school library next to the military pamphlets, as shown above, so I restocked it. Thanks to the school librarians for keeping the display visible.

Several students said that recruiters are at the school "a lot," so they were glad to see our alternative materials and a "peace table."

Nice student art -- maybe influenced by Georgia O'Keeffe.

Thanks to students and staff for a warm welcome!

Book review: "Saurcana, Terror from the Sea"

2011-01-07T15:16:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite publications is Rethinking Schools, an excellent quarterly magazine written largely by and for educators. I read it cover to cover. In the current issue, I am pleased to have a book review published.

The review came about in this way: Summer before last, I attended the national conference in Chicago organized by the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (nnomy). There, I met many dedicated people who are working in highschools to teach peace and justice and truth-in-recruitment. Among the attendees was Robert Hager, a disability rights attorney from Houston who was doing outreach in the schools with other Houston educators. I learned that he also had directed an alternative "Adventure Playground" program in the 1970s and that he'd written a novel for middleschoolers based on that experience and in response to US "Wars on Terror." I was glad to meet a fellow Texan, and also was curious about his book, so he sent me one.

I read Saurcana, Terror from the Sea during a Greyhound bus ride (great venue for reading, in my experience), and was very taken with the novel. So, I asked the author if I could write a review and submit it to one of my favorite mags. He graciously agreed. The author and the editors of Rethinking Schools were all wonderful to work with, and I am glad to have had the opportunity.

The story is interesting on several levels -- it's simple while intricate, gentle while suspenseful, imaginative and real. The action takes place along a shore -- a significant setting, since, where land and water meet, there is found the richest mix of life. Yet, in the story, as in the real world, border lands become places where barriers of various kinds are often erected. Weapons are poised. Enemies are created. The protagonist in the story, a youngster on the verge of adulthood, asks why.

Check out the review AND, even if you aren't a teacher, if you have a tween in your household, order up a book and leave it lying around. I bet it gets read!

Above: Cover art by Bill Hughes

What Would YOU Do With $1 Trillion?

2011-01-05T17:10:00.003-06:00

This just in from the good folks at the National Priorities Project -- . Check out the "What Would You Do With $1 Trillion" video contest entries linked here from students across the country ...

The American Friends Service Committee and National Priorities Project are preparing to announce the six lucky winners of If I Had a Trillion Dollars (IHTD), a national video contest which asks young people to convey how they would spend the more than $1 trillion dollars spent on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After receiving 48 compelling video submissions from passionate young men and women across the country, AFSC and NPP will be announcing first, second and third place prizes in both the middle/high school and the college level categories on January 17, 2011, the celebrated birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. All videos can be viewed on the IHTD YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/IHTDVideos.

The two national organizations launched this collaboration with the goal of engaging young people in conversation about military spending and our nation's federal budget priorities. First prize is a trip to Washington, D.C. and a video screening for members of Congress and the Obama Administration, to coincide with the release of the President's 2012 budget.

A panel of esteemed artists/scholars, Haydn Reiss, Andrea Assaf, Diana Coryat and Vijay Prashad, will judge the submissions and decide the winners.

Nathara Bailey, at Amherst Regional High School (MA) reflected that she "had never worked with federal figures and the only thing [she] knew about the budget was from [her] own school and seeing [programs] being cut." While she had an idea of how much money the wars have cost, working with the exact figures "created a whole other level or layer to [her] understanding of how much money was being spent." Bailey focused on education because "everything starts there...there are a lot of things missing in [the] education system due to the budget and that's really unfortunate because that's where we are supposed to start being people."

Cara Cheng, at Lick-Wilmerding High School (CA) wrote, "Instead of using $1 trillion to harm, we have multiple alternatives to use the money to benefit the world. I participated in this contest to help our community and our world."

Aiden Tharp, at the University of Chicago (IL) offered, "The number one change I would like to see in my community is better and broader funding of social service programs, whether housing, food, income, children and family services or education. Just one example of where we need help is with homeless youth in Chicago. On any given night there are approximately 9.000 homeless youth looking for shelter but only 306 beds available."

To view and comment on the videos, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/IHTDVideos. For more on the contest, visit http://afsc.org/action/if-i-had-trillion-dollars-youth-video-contest.

For more on AFSC's work for peace and justice, visit www.afsc.org, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. To find out more about the federal budget and spending, visit http://nationalpriorities.org/.

SOY stencil art

2010-12-30T17:03:00.003-06:00

From our workshop...stenciled paper folders to give to students during our Spring school tabling. More designs on the way...

More reflections on the repeal of DADT

2010-12-28T19:47:00.003-06:00

Here is a comment on Cindy Sheehan's piece (previous post) from a friend who is a military veteran:

Cindy writes, "We live in a world governed by binaries, straight or gay, them or us, freedom or tyranny. Until we break away from this norm, we shall forever be shackled to a narrow existence, manipulated by a political establishment that serves its own interests."

In this one sentence I think she has expressed and raised to my consciousness the underlying reason why I have 'felt good' about the move to remove the stigma of gays in the military...or anywhere else. This is an underlying principal. Next we deal with the problem of how the military is employed and we advocate for change for all members of the military regardless of their biological or physical differences.

I think often of how we train our children to accept and celebrate differences...or as she points out...binaries. My school/the other school; my team/the other team, people who wear my color of tee-shirt...etc. It's ingrained in our culture, perhaps in all cultures. But it is 'So 20th century' just as war is, and racial prejudice is, and....

... Changing the culture of the military (and corporations) is one of our most important challenges. In the meantime, I still see the movement for accepting gays as equals in the military as positive because it helps eliminate a binary and will perhaps cause others to look more closely at the greater danger of thinking in terms of 'them and us'.

Cindy Sheehan: "Don't Go. Don't Kill."

2010-12-26T20:32:00.005-06:00

Posted by Cindy Sheehan on December 25, 2010. Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004.

Don't Go. Don't Kill.
By Cindy Sheehan

The recent repeal of the US military policy of "Don't ask, don't tell" is far from being the human rights advancement some are touting it to be. I find it intellectually dishonest, in fact, illogical on any level to associate human rights with any military, let alone one that is currently dehumanizing two populations as well as numerous other victims of its clandestine "security" policies.

Placing this major contention aside, the enactment of the bill might be an institutional step forward in the fight for "equality"; however institutions rarely reflect reality.

Do we really think that the US congress vote to repeal the act and Obama signing the bill is going to stop the current systemic harassment of gays in the military?

While I am a staunch advocate for equality of marriage and same-sex partnership, I cannot – as a peace activist – rejoice in the fact that now homosexuals can openly serve next to heterosexuals in one of the least socially responsible organisations that currently exists on earth: The US military.

It is an organisation tainted with a history of intolerance towards anyone who isn't a Caucasian male from the Mid-West. Even then I'm sure plenty fitting that description have faced the terror and torment enshrined into an institution that transforms the pride and enthusiasm of youth into a narrow zeal for dominating power relations.

Wrong battle for equality

It is hard to separate this issue from the activities of the military. War might be a "racket", but it is also the most devastating act one can be involved in, whether you are the aggressor or a victimized civilian, no one can shake off the psychological scars of war. No one.
Its effects on the individual as well as collective human psyche are terminal. Championing equal rights is an issue of morality, war is immoral, and the US military is heading further and further down the path of immorality.

Even with the advent of WikiLeaks, transparency and accountability of US military activity has been sucked into a black hole of silence. Drone attacks, illegal cross-border interventions, extra-judicial assassinations all occur in the name of national interest. It is not in the interest of equal rights activists to support an institution that is intent on ignoring every protocol of human decency.

Face it, gays are now and have been in the military since before Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.

The only difference being one can now admit their orientation without fear of official recrimination - a major boon for the equal rights movement! The capacity for increased carnage should not be celebrated as a victory!

I cannot help but think about those that are on the receiving end of US military aggression. So a minor change has occurred at the input juncture of the war machine, but the output remains the same: we dismantle systems of indigenous governance, support disingenuous often criminal overlords, commit endless acts of brutality, and worst of all leave entire nations rudderless, spiraling downwards into the same abyss that engulfs the US military's lack of accountability.

I wonder what the response towards don't ask, don't will be overseas? I wonder if mothers across the Swat Valley in Northern Pakistan are cheering the repeal of the act (most likely not), gathering in the streets to celebrate a victory in the global pursuit of human equality, only to be forced to take cover as yet another hellfire-laden drone appears on the horizon. Hell hath no fury as a drone operated from somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Don't equal human rights extend to those that the Empire has mislabeled as the "enemy"? Or do we now have to ignore the fact that innocent people are being slaughtered by the thousands?

Unjust binaries

We live in a world governed by binaries, straight or gay, them or us, freedom or tyranny. Until we break away from this norm, we shall forever be shackled to a narrow existence, manipulated by a political establishment that serves its own interests.

We should embrace complication, appreciate difference and most of all not be duped into accepting "victories" that clearly benefit an elite, that you and I (pardon the binary) will never be part of.

Some of us in the peace movement work really hard to keep our young people out of the hands of the war machine that preys on disadvantaged young people in inner cities and poor rural settings.

To see a demographic that is (without appearing to stereotype) traditionally better educated, more politically progressive, and economically advantaged fight to join this killing machine is very disheartening.

I can see how one could view the repeal as a step forward, framed in the context dictated by the political elites of the Washington beltway. I can imagine much displeasure amongst the military brass – but I cannot reiterate enough how this is not a progressive moment in the social history of the United States.

The US military is not a human rights organisation and nowhere near a healthy place to earn a living or raise a family. My email box is filled with stories of mostly straight soldiers and their families who were deeply harmed by life in the military.

Because of the callous and violent nature of the system, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is on the rise and suicide rates among veterans and the spouses of active duty soldiers are skyrocketing.

Veterans still find it very difficult to access the services, benefits and bonuses that were promised to them by their recruiters. I cannot imagine the repealing of DADT significantly improving the material conditions experienced by gays during military service.

While the children of war profiteers and politicians are protected from any kind of sacrifice, this Empire preys on the rest of our youth – gay/straight; male/female – and spits their mangled or dead bodies onto the dung heap of history, without a qualm or a twinge of conscience.

Joining the US military should never be an option for the socially conscious while our troops are being used as corporate tools for profit, or hired assassins for imperial expansion. Soldiers are called: "Bullet sponges," by their superiors and "dumb animals" by Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state.

While soldiers are dehumanised and treated like dirt, they are taught to dehumanise "the other", and treat them as less than dirt. It is a vicious cycle, and the way to stop a vicious cycle is to denounce and reject it, not openly participate.

I want to bang my head against a wall when another young gay person commits suicide as a result of despicable bullying, yet people within the same community have fought hard for the right to openly join the biggest bully ever! Don't go, don't kill!

Human Rights Day at LBJ/LASA HS

2010-12-10T15:08:00.003-06:00

Hart and I really enjoyed our tabling date today at LBJ/LASA HS. We tried out a new peace wheel prize -- stenciled pocket folders -- which were the first prizes to be chosen, so we'll produce more of them for next time. I learned how to do the stenciling through reading a great article in one of last year's issues of Rethinking Schools.

We met several students who have been part of the two-year Fire Fighters program that has been such a good pilot project at LBJ. We learned, however, that the program may not be funded after next year's students finish. This would be a real loss. We were hoping that the program would be extended to other high schools in our district, in fact. All the students we talked with spoke highly of the program. I could tell that they were proud of their accomplishments in learning the challenging EMT and fire fighting skills. Seniors will take their certification tests next week, they said.

Today, Dec. 10, is the United Nations International Day of Human Rights, so we invited students to contribute to a poster about the rights they value most. Freedom of speech was the most often cited. We had a few copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights available for students to see.

Thanks to all students and staff who welcomed us and made use of our resources today!

Iraq War veteran, Jason Hurd's Letter to America

2010-11-15T22:31:00.002-06:00

Posted today on The Huffington Post:

In honor of Veterans Day, Huffington Post Impact and Causecast present Salute To Service, a week-long series honoring the remarkable men and women of America's armed forces. Each day, a war veteran will share a personal essay about victories and struggles during war and in its aftermath, as well as nonprofit projects to support at home.

My name is Jason Hurd, a 31-year-old Iraq Veteran from Kingsport, Tenn. I served 10 years as a U.S. Army combat medic from 1997 to 2007.

After spending four years on active duty at Fort Lewis, Wash., I joined the Tennessee National Guard and deployed to central Baghdad from 2004 to 2005. I went to Iraq knowing that our occupation was both illegal and immoral, but as a medic I felt a duty to deploy with my fellow soldiers. The mission of the Army's medical corps is "to conserve the fighting strength," i.e. the medic must ensure the health and combat readiness of each soldier under his care.

I forged strong relationships with soldiers in my unit; we were close friends. What if one of them were killed or injured? Could another medic provide the same level of care I could? Despite my moral reservations, I thought my unit would do some positive things during deployment: protect Iraqi civilians and help them rebuild their country.

I was wrong. You can't protect people while simultaneously oppressing them.

My experiences in occupied Iraq traumatized me. I returned home angry, with debilitating depression and vivid memories playing through my mind like an eight-millimeter reel: dead soldiers, dead civilians, car bombs, IEDs, rockets, the smell of open sewage, bodies splattered on walls, U.S. soldiers firing at unarmed Iraqis. The war followed me home. Despite a rudimentary understanding of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), I never expected the condition to exact such a toll on my life. I destroyed numerous relationships, was fired from my job, attempted suicide in a friend's bathroom, and spent a week on the psychiatric ward at Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, N.C. -- all within three years of returning home from Iraq.

Healing the trauma of war never happens overnight and often means a lifelong struggle. In that context, healing requires at least two things: a long-term commitment to health and a supportive community. I found that commitment and community when I joined Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) in August 2007. We are a group of active duty service members and veterans having served since September 11, 2001. IVAW's mission and goals are three-fold: immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, reparations paid to Iraqis and Afghans for the destruction we've caused and full benefits for all returning veterans regardless of discharge status.

In pursuit of our goals, IVAW recently launched our first national campaign called Operation Recovery: Stop the Deployment of Traumatized Troops. While IVAW seeks to end deployments for all troops, the current wars continue in part because our government denies troops their basic right to heal.

According to the Department of Defense's own conservative reports, 17 percent of those currently deployed in Afghanistan take at least one psychotropic drug -- an antidepressant, a sleeping pill, an anxiety medication -- the same drugs that I am prescribed as a disabled veteran. Up to half of deployed troops suffer from PTSD. Sixty percent of women serving in the National Guard and Reserve, along with 27 percent of men, experience Military Sexual Trauma (MST).

According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the DOD can't even establish that service members are mentally fit to deploy nor can it ensure accurate mental health assessments when they return. Is it a good idea to deploy a soldier multiple times after she's been raped? Should we deploy Marines who require psychological help now? Should we force troops to deploy after receiving closed head injuries?

According to current DOD policy, a unit commander can force a traumatized troop to deploy against a medical professional's advice -- all in the name of "combat readiness". I believe these practices are egregious and violate our country's most basic values. GIs deserve to heal from their wounds -- both visible and invisible -- before we hand them weapons and return them on a fourth, fifth or sixth combat tour.

IVAW cannot accomplish this alone. Our government needs traumatized troops to fuel the occupations overseas. We need you to fight with us. Visit http://www.ivaw.org/operation-recovery to learn more about our campaign and sign the pledge supporting no more deployments for traumatized troops.

SOY table at Reagan HS

2010-11-15T14:33:00.006-06:00

We gave some literature to the career office at Reagan HS, and as we were walking through the hallway, we saw the display pictured above. We question the implication that military service leads to higher education and greater income. In fact, it usually doesn't.

The US Bureau of Labor reports that veterans have higher unemployment rates than non-veterans. For women veterans aged 18 - 24, the unemployment rate is double that of nonveteran women in the same age group (16.3% unemployment among vets vs. 8.4% among non-vets according to 2007 statistics). And homelessness is also higher for veterans compared with nonveterans. Approximately one third of homeless adults in the US are vets, when vets only comprise about 11% of the general population.

Veterans face post-traumatic stress injuries that can make family and work life more difficult on many levels. Beginning salaries for enlistees are low, considering the long hours that are required for most assignments. Fewer than half of veterans get a college degree with their GI Bill benefits, partly because family responsibilities and military duties often don't leave enough time for school.

A surer path toward higher education and higher paying jobs is to attend college sooner rather than later and not trade 8 years of your early adult life for a military contract.

photos: Top: Jason and Hart, Iraq Veterans Against the War, with our table. Bottom: A display in the hall outside the college and career room.

Under The Hood Cafe benefit tonight

2010-11-14T11:20:00.004-06:00

Great piece by Alice Embree, board member of Under The Hood Cafe and Outreach Center in Killeen, Texas:

We can’t give you anything...
Making the war personal

By Alice Embree / The Rag Blog / November 14, 2010

We can’t give you anything but war, buddy
That’s the only thing we’ll hire you for, buddy...

These lyrics, to the tune of “I can’t give you anything but love, baby," were on my mind as several of us made a now familiar drive to Killeen, Texas, last weekend. The words were written by Vernell Pratt of the 70s-era Soeur Queen.. They have a relevant ring in this recession.

I probably wouldn’t have known anyone in our current “volunteer” army if I hadn’t gotten involved with the coffeehouse Under the Hood in Killeen, Texas. Comparisons are often made to the Vietnam-era GI resistance, particularly because Under the Hood’s predecessor, the Oleo Strut, was well known in that resistance.

Yes, there was a Vietnam-era draft that made the war personal for a generation. You could avoid mucking through the jungles in the boot-steps of French colonialists if you were privileged. George W. Bush is certainly an example. But what was markedly different was the economic landscape. This recession has provided a perfect storm for military recruitment. Piled onto the jobless landscape, you have escalating college, health care, and housing costs.

The soldiers entering the military in the post-911 atmosphere do so for reasons of patriotism and pocketbook. They are lured by lies about Iraq’s relationship to the Twin Towers and never told about the previous U.S. relationship with jihadists in Afghanistan while the Russians were there. But the lure of steady pay, bonuses, and benefits is almost a no-brainer given the devastated job market.

Monthly paychecks, housing subsidies, recruitment bonuses, deployment bonuses, medical and dental care for soldiers and their dependents, post-discharge VA care, and assistance for education. It is no accident that soldiers refer to their “job” and their “contract” all the time. It is no accident that any soldier who resists a deployment is forced to make a careful calculus of the monetary cost. An “Other Than Honorable” discharge often means re-paying a bonus, losing healthcare, and losing access to college assistance.

The Baby Boomers who were in Austin remember college with $70 rents, tuition of $50 a semester, coffee for seven cents in the Chuck Wagon. Not so, in this environment where college graduation means the “commencement” of daunting loan payoff.

Meanwhile we veer through the current political landscape with blinders. Does anyone, besides Michael Moore, ever speak about the relationship of mounting deficits and endless war? Does anyone really believe that continuing tax cuts for the wealthy has a relationship to job creation? Haven’t the tax cuts been in place? How’s that been working out for job creation?

We are in one of the best run shill games ever. Stagnant wage growth, transfer of wealth to the wealthiest, a ransacked job market, global companies packing manufacturing jobs off to the lowest bidders on the planet. The “housing bubble” was a Wall Street con man’s paradise with average folks piling on debt and Wall Street trading derivatives of that debt until the house of cards fell down and they got bailed out with taxpayer dollars.

Meanwhile, back at Fort Hood in Killeen, suicides are continuing their record-breaking pace. Multiple deployments with no end in sight have taken their toll with outright casualties and walking casualties, with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We hear about it on Veteran’s Day and then almost everyone tunes it out.

Please don’t tune out an alternative this Sunday. Support Under the Hood’s mission to provide a free speech zone, a pro-soldier, anti-war presence a mile from the gates of the largest military base in the country, Fort Hood. Sunday, November 14th, 6-11, Jovita’s in Austin, $10 dollars. If you can't attend, you can support Under the Hood through its website, here.

[Alice Embree is a long-time Austin activist and organizer, a former staff member of The Rag in Austin and RAT in New York, and a veteran of SDS and the women's liberation movement. She is active with CodePink Austin and Under the Hood Café. Embree is a contributing editor to The Rag Blog and is secretary of the New Journalism Project.]

photo from Under The Hood

They Speak

2010-11-13T23:28:00.003-06:00

It was inspiring to hear the poetry presented during today's round of the Texas Youth Word Collective They Speak poetry slam series. The next slam will be held in the same location: Ruta Maya Coffee House on South Congress on Saturday, Dec. 11. Workshop at 2 pm and slam at 3 pm.
Be there!

Our SOY table today at Akins HS

2010-11-12T15:00:00.004-06:00

It was good to have a table today at Akins High School, one of the largest schools in our district. Hart and I also appreciated talking with a St. Edwards University student who came to observe us for a thesis she is writing about recruiting in the schools.

Youth Poetry Slam season in full swing

2010-11-10T22:30:00.003-06:00

An announcement from the good folks at the Texas Youth Word Collective:

PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!

THEY SPEAK YOUTH POETRY SLAM - SEASON #9!Presented by the Texas Youth Word Collective
EVENT: They Speak Youth Poetry Slam
DATE & TIME: Saturday, November 13th, 2010, 3 pm
(slam sign-up from 2:30-3:00)(Writing Workshop – 2:00pm)
ADMISSION: $5 cover, free for slam participants
PLACE: Ruta Maya World Headquarters,
3601 S. Congress, Austin , Texas 78704
CONTACTS: Dr. Sheila Siobhan (512) 422-6653, Co-Director
Ron Horne (512-632-5033, Co-Director
E-Mail: u21slam@yahoo.com
Website: www.txywc.org

Okay. One down, five to go. The first slam of the new season saw a slew of students from McCallum High School. What they lacked in experience they more than made up for in enthusiasm. In fact, based on her performance, one of their students is half way toward qualifying for next spring’s They Speak Slam Off. She was joined by another new voice, a freshman at UT, and a member of last year’s They Speak team. McCallum sent many new voices to this year’s slam. We can’t wait to hear more new poets with new poems from schools throughout the Austin area. Come on Round Rock; come on Del Valle; come on AISD, you’re not gonna let Pflugerville show you up are you?! We hope to see more schools send more students to compete to make a spot on the 2011 They Speak Youth Slam team to take on the world next year in the City by the Bay: San Francisco!!!
.

In Los Angeles this past July, your Austin 2010 They Speak Youth Slam Team out-performed dozens of other youth slam teams from across the country and around the world to make the semi-finals of the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. This team was sooooo good; they were the first Austin team to make the semi’s since 2004. They were, in a word, exceptional. Their poems were soulful, clever, and poignant; mamas were crying, boys were cheering, and tears flowed like rivers in their final bout. The team made us proud in L.A.

So, come help us continue to launch this, our 9th season of the city wide youth poetry slam - They Speak Youth Poetry Slam. This year we are back in our old house, Ruta Maya World Headquarters on South Congress. And just like when we started, we’re starting back on Saturday afternoons, we’ll be in the old spot with the old vibe, and we will be starting on time, promptly at 3pm for the benefit of those who show up on time and our venue owner. We’re still going to have the same great dj, another great host (secret released prior to the show), some of last year’s phenomenal youth poets, as well as some surprising, great new faces to rock your world as they do every year.

We are conducting writing and performance workshops by none other than National Poetry Slam Finalist, and two-time Austin Slam Champion, Christopher Michael as well as other nationally reknowned writers and performers here in the Austin area. Christopher Micael coached the 2010 They Speak Youth Poetry Slam Team all the way to the Semi-Finals of the Brave New Voices International Youth Slam Festival, an achievement that hasn't been copied since 2004. Aspiring writers and performers will have the unique opportunity to work with, and learn from, a nationally well-known and respected spoken word artist. We ask parents and teachers to encourage their children and students to attend.

We invite you to see what all the excitement is about and be inspired by the voices and leaders of tomorrow. Those participants between the ages of 13 and 19 will be eligible to compete for a spot on the team we take to Brave New Voices 2011 in the Bay Area, San Francisco, California.

Please come for an afternoon of stirring, thought-provoking poetry. This project is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

SOY welcomed at Bowie HS

2010-11-01T16:36:00.006-05:00

Hart and I had a SOY literature table today at Bowie HS and were welcomed by many students. They were interested in the screened patches, and we are now out of the panda design, which proved the most popular. Hart again offered to write students' names in Arabic for them, and many students asked him to do that. The peace wheel and literature were of interest, too. This was our busiest table at Bowie that we can remember.

Success: students in Bay area opt out of Pentagon's data base

2010-10-25T18:59:00.007-05:00

Check out this good news from students and allies out in Oakland, CA who are organized as BAYPEACE (Better Alternatives for Youth). In their latest achievement toward protecting students from unwanted contact from military recruiters, they worked with the school board in San Francisco to allow students to opt out of the Pentagon's "JAMRS" data base. Here is their report:

Another Victory for Student Privacy from the JAMRS Military Recruiting Database!
On October 12, 2010 the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) Board unanimously passed Resolution No. 108-24A1— a Recommitment of the San Francisco Unified School District to Further Protect Student Privacy from Military Recruitment.

The resolution, presented by Commissioner Sandra Lee Fewer, was the third "JAMRS opt out" resolution inspired by the BAY-Peace Youth Manifesto Campaign. BAY-Peace: Better Alternatives for Youth, working in partnership with the American Friends Service Committee, is behind the three year, grassroots, youth-led campaign aimed at raising students' awareness of their right to opt out of having their personal information sold to the military by the private military recruiting database called "JAMRS."

According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, Joint Advertising Market Research Studies (JAMRS), is a private database funded by the Department of Defense with the goal of maximizing recruitment efforts. In 2005, the Pentagon announced the existence of the JAMRS Database—a massive registry of 30 million Americans between the ages of 16 and 25 for military recruitment purposes.

The JAMRS database includes information such as name, date of birth, gender, mailing address e-mail address, race and ethnicity, telephone number, high school name, graduation date, Grade Point Average, college intent, military interest, field of study and the student's ASVAB test score. The information is collected from a wide range of public and private sources, unbeknownst to the youth themselves or to their parents. A 2007 lawsuit by the New York Civil Liberties Union won the right of students to keep their personal information from being sold to the military by opting out of the JAMRS database.

These new Student Privacy resolutions in Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco each require that a "Joint Advertising Market Research Studies (JAMRS) opt-out form to be included in every high school student's registration packet" to inform students of their right to tell JAMRS not to sell their personal information to military recruiters. They also require that opt-out forms to be made visibly available at all Oakland, Berkeley and San Francisco High School campuses.

The three districts already provide the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) opt-out form to protect students from unwanted pursuit by military recruiters. However, since most students and parents are not aware that their information is also being collected by JAMRS, a second opt-out form is considered to be necessary for further protection.
The Student Privacy Resolutions address the increased use of detailed personal information by military recruiters to target those young people whose options are limited by the economic crisis. In the words of Phuong Vuong, a teacher and organizer with BAY-Peace, "As a school District serving working class students of color, the population most targeted by military recruiters, the San Francisco Unified School District should do all it can to support youth to have fulfilling opportunities, opportunities that really embrace life and intellectual development."

Luis Montoya, a BAY-Peace Youth Action Team member, got loud applause from the crowd when he expressed his appreciation to the San Francisco Board for giving students the right to protect their privacy. "You are giving voices to the voiceless, and we all know that nobody can avoid the voices of the voiceless. So thank you!"

Board President, Jane Kim expressed her surprise that a second opt out form was necessary to protect student privacy. "I had no idea that there was a private company that was giving out student information to the military, and I'm really glad that Commissioner Fewer was able to follow up and to work with our legal office... to bring forward a policy for our district as well." Ms. Kim thanked the American Friends Service Committee for bringing the JAMRS issue to the attention of the Board.
Sandra Schwartz, of the American Friends Service Committee testified to the importance of protecting students from the "...extremely aggressive military recruiting practices that occur... At last count we are working in twenty five schools throughout the Bay Area and some of those schools have recruiters on campus every week."

According to Commissioner Jill Wynn, "Our district has always had a strong, strong tradition of opposing military recruiting in the schools... Our policy is quite clear. We follow the specific letter of the law and that is that we allow the same access, and only the same access, that we allow to other post secondary options for students... Military recruiters believe they can track people down, follow them around the school yard, go after them over and over again and come back to the school whenever they want to... We've had military recruiters say that 'the law requires you to let me in here whenever I want to' and that is absolutely untrue." Commissioner Hydra Mendoza also expressed her frustration with military recruiters who attempt to have free access to students. "I also want to publicly say to the recruiters that you're not welcome in our schools."

BAY-Peace has recently received funding to support their Youth Action Team to get the word out to community activists in school districts around the country about the JAMRS military recruiting database. Grants from the A. J. Muste Foundation, Resist and the Rose and Sherle Wagner Foundation will help BAY-Peace youth to distribute copies of our new video called "The List," which was produced with youth from The Factory this summer, to educate students about their right to opt out of JAMRS. Please join them in supporting this important project!

Our SOY table today at McCallum HS

2010-10-22T15:59:00.005-05:00

Hart and I had a great school visit at McCallum HS today. Photos above. A few observations:
Quite a few students lingered and then brought friends over to the table. They participated in the penny poll (the environment jar had the most votes for federal budget priorities), peace wheel and "I'd rather buy" fliers, which we posted on the bulletin board behind us. The most popular patch design was probably the one of the pandas eating bamboo. Animals are important!
Several students staffed a Breast Cancer Awareness table across from us. It makes me sad that young people have to be worried about cancer. Our message about the environmental costs of war and militarism tie in with that.
McCallum is the arts magnet school, and it's always great to see the student art that is on display in the halls, a couple of photos of which are above.

SOY table at Lanier High School

2010-09-24T15:12:00.006-05:00

We had our first Sustainable Options for Youth literature table of the fall semester at Lanier HS today. Hart and I were pleased to see so many students come by the table and participate with the peace wheel of fortune, the penny poll and the "I'd rather buy..." posters, which we put up on the bulletin board behind us.

Hart is studying Arabic at ACC this semester and offered to write students' names in Arabic script to take with them, and that was popular.

Photos above of our table, silkscreened cloth patches (peace wheel prizes), posters filled out by students, penny poll (early on) and some of the paintings that Lanier has displayed on their walls.

Women veterans organize

2010-09-09T19:39:00.004-05:00

This message came yesterday from Iraq Veterans Against the War . It's good to hear about this new Women's Committee:

Iraq Veterans Against the War's first ever Women's Retreat took place over Labor Day weekend at beautiful Raccoon Creek State Park near Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh chapter of IVAW hosted the event, providing home-cooked meals as well as child care for participants who brought their children.
For many of the women veterans in attendance, it was the first time they had ever shared their military experiences, including surviving military sexual trauma. One participant noted, "This is the first time I've ever talked about these issues. When I leave here, I will leave behind the shame I have carried all these years."

In addition to the emotional support that the participants shared together, they also accomplished some tangible goals:

1) The group formalized the IVAW Women's Committee, which will continually reach out to women vets and service members offering support and ways to increase their involvement in the GI resistance movement.

2) We inaugurated a Women's veteran zine, "Ain't I a Veteran?" Many of the women in attendance described bad experiences with therapists and other health care providers in the Veterans Administration system. The first issue of the zine will provide guidelines for how to choose a healthcare provider. The second issue will be a survival guide for active duty women service members containing resources on health care, sexual violence support, and other issues related to their rights as military women.

3) We generated ideas for solidarity projects with Iraq and Afghan civilians as part of IVAW's mission to work for reparations, including a water sanitation project and a writing project with Iraqi refugee families in the United States.
A chief reason stated for going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan was to liberate women in these countries, and IVAW women must expose that myth. The idea that a military that oppresses and violates its own women can liberate women in other countries is a farce.

We know that women and children suffer most in war, and we share with them a common humanity. We believe that empowering women is what will end war.
Our work together in IVAW's Women's Committee has just begun. Stay tuned for future updates on our work.
Individual donations from supporters like you is what made this gathering possible.
We thank you!

In Solidarity,

The Women's Committee of IVAW

From clay

2010-08-23T18:23:00.008-05:00

One of the cool things about our printing event last night was getting to see some of Alejandra's ceramic work -- such as these clay figures, above. Beautiful!

Printing for peace

2010-08-23T16:08:00.010-05:00

Last night, Alejandra hosted a silk-screening party and SOY dinner at her ceramics studio, and it was great! We printed a bunch of images onto cloth that we'll give away to students as peace wheel prizes during our school tabling visits.

Alejandra demonstrated the process -- she already had transferred images we wanted to use onto two screens. Then, we ironed the cloth (used bed sheets work well), spread it out flat on a work table, used a squeegee to press acrylic ink through the screen, placing the screen at intervals down the length of the fabric, then let the ink dry for a few minutes before ironing it again to help set the ink. We also printed a few t-shirts.

Make art, not war!

Austin's Brave New Voices move LA crowds

2010-07-31T12:07:00.006-05:00

Austin's under-21 poetry slam team, "They Speak," competed this month in the Brave New Voices International slam finals held in Los Angeles. They spoke - and then some. Big, big congratulations to Austin's team! Check out the report sent this morning by Ron and Sheila at the Texas Youth Word Collective:

To Our Beloved Poetry Family and Wonderful Supporters:

We are back from Los Angeles and the 2010 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. Now that we have had a night or two of sleep since BNV, I wanted to make sure that we informed our community of supporters what happened out in LA and how the team did. I should say from the outset that this year’s team is one of the best we have ever had, taking nothing away from teams of previous years. They showed great camaraderie, class, grace, passion, devotion, and dedication, all in ways that were surprising and inspiring. These young people demonstrated levels of maturity, sportsmanship, and respect for people and the art form that many adults in the poetry community could learn a lot from.

On Monday, the team arrived at Occidental College, located between Pasadena and Glendale, California. Occidental is a gorgeous campus in the LA mountains, flush with beautiful trees, huge flowers, and interesting southwestern architecture. The team met up with hundreds of other teenage writers and performers from across the country. Shay, as four time member of Austin’s youth slam teams, and veteran of BNV, served as the team’s ambassador and liaison with the other teams. They attended the Opening Ceremonies for BNV, and had a wonderful time interacting with the rest of the youth at the Festival.

Tuesday, the team members attended all-day writing workshops by such nationally recognized writers/performers as Marc Bamuthi Joseph (Kennedy Center), QueenGodIs, Robbie Q Taylor, among others. Notable, to me, on Tuesday was our team captain, Shay, passing on competing in The People’s Champion individual youth spoken word competition to make sure she was prepared to give her best performance for her team. As it turns out, this would be the first of her many selfless acts during the course of BNV.

Wednesday, in the BNV Quarter Finals, the They Speak Youth Slam Team came in second in both of their bouts. In their first bout, the team went up against teams from Los Angeles, Guam, Ann Arbor, and Nashville. This was an extremely competitive bout, with an amazing solo performance in the last spot in the last round by Nashville that helped them win the bout. In They Speak’s second bout, they went up against Detroit, Denver, Stockton CA, Delaware. In this bout, the team came in second to Denver, a team which made the Final Stage (and I’ll have something more to say about them a little later).

Later Wednesday night, the They Speak Team competed in the finals of the Robert Redford Center’s Speak Green competition, hosted by former Obama Administration environmental advisor Van Jones. The top three scorers at this competition would go on to perform at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Austin’s was the only team/ensemble performance in the competition against eleven other performers. They Speak, in a word, ROCKED it!!!! The audience cheered as the team gave a flawless performance of a poem comparing the abuse of the environment and the kidnapping and trafficking of young women into prostitution. Powerful, poignant, and eye-opening are the only ways to describe their performance. While the team did not score high enough to make Sundance, they have already been requested to perform at the Life is Living Festival in Houston later this year as a result of their making and performing in Speak Green. NO team in the history of our organization has ever qualified, much less performed in Speak Green. Performers at Speak Green have gone on to perform at the White House. More importantly, as a result of the team’s two high scoring second place showings (missing first place in each by less than 1½ points) it was announced at the end of Speak Green that the team qualified for the Semi Finals of BNV.

In their semi-final bout, They Speak Austin went up against Phoenix, Stockton, Albuquerque, and Houston. It was a phenomenal bout, a very close competition. Austin was the final team in the final round of the bout. The team was prepared to do Homebound, an incredible group piece where Shay, the team captain, is center stage and the rest of the team perform their parts from different locations in the audience. Everyone was in position to perform when, out of the blue, the Captain called an audible, and instead of performing her last poem EVER at BNV (she will not be eligible to make our youth team after this year), she said, “I know ya’ll think I am going to do a poem, but I am so proud of my teammate who has grown and progressed so much since she made the team, so I want to give the baby of our team the stage.” And with that Shay, our three-time team champion and four time team member, relinquished her last performance opportunity, giving a solo performance to the youngest member of the team, Lauren “Zuri” Hendricks (the next generation of youth poets in our community), while her mother, Elisa, looked on, crying the whole time. Zuri did her poem “Mamma’s Hands”, a personal poem about her grandmother.

So, as you might imagine, I'm VERY, VERY, VERY proud of our team. They were the embodiment of the principles we seek to promote: teamwork, hard work, and commitment to the craft and the youth spoken word movement. Big ups to the Teen Titans: Shay, as team captain and leader, Zack, Sheenika, Zuri, and their incredible coach, Christopher Michael. They were winners today, tomorrow, and forever!!!!!!!! You all made all of our work worthwhile.

Also, BIG thanks to The Mammas: Sheenika's mom, Monica, for chaperoning and keeping Sheila and I in stitches the whole time, Zuri's mom, Elisa, for single-handedly raising a boat load of dough to get the team out here (and dancing like it's 1999), and Zack's mom, Diane, for making the pizza run after the night of the Semis and shuttling the team to LAX! Thanks as well to Harold Hendricks aka Daddy Do Stuff, for running the kids to practices and performances. Also big thanks to Cesar and Sherri Taylor for their very generous last minute donation that provided us with the money in time to buy the team’s airline tickets. All of you are absolute blessings to us. And, of course, big thanks to our poetry slam family: Neo Soul, APS, KPS, 2nd Verse, Spoken and Heard, and all of you that came to the features, bought CD's, and made donations to the cause in person and online. There is a special place in Heaven for all of you.

Thanks.

Ron & Sheila
Texas Youth Word Collective

photo by makingpeace

A Banner Day

2010-07-09T16:01:00.003-05:00

A new banner for us...
Inaugurated today at Hart's workshop at the national convention of Iraq Veterans Against the War taking place this weekend in Austin ...

Farms, Not Arms

2010-07-08T11:00:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Thomas Heikkala for sending along this article about a recent career fair held in Los Angeles by the Farmer Veteran Coalition.

Transitioning from Fighting to Farming

by Rebecca Kheel, Santa Monica Daily Press, July 1, 2010

DOWNTOWN — Phil Northcutt's path to agricultural work was a self-described "wild story" and "spiritual journey."

Northcutt joined the U.S. Marine Corps after finding work in the music industry unsatisfying. He came back from Iraq a few years ago injured and in pain and became addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol. He then got a doctor's recommendation to take medical marijuana for his pain. But aside from using the medical marijuana, he began growing and running a co-op himself. For his marijuana activities, he found himself spending a year in jail.

Though growing marijuana got Northcutt in trouble, it ultimately led him to his real passion: agriculture.. Northcutt is now studying organic farming at Santa Rosa Junior College and works at a horse stable at the college's Shone Farm. His dream is to own a 4,000-acre sustainable ranch where he can train other veterans in agriculture and farming.

"I realized working with plants I got a level of satisfaction that I couldn't get doing other things," he said.

As a sign of his support for veterans going into the agricultural industry, Northcutt attended a career fair Wednesday at the Santa Monica Civic Center hosted by the Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC), a nonprofit organization that connects veteran farmers and helps veterans seeking employment in the farming industry.

"There's [a lot of these] organizations, 'Veterans this' and 'Veterans that,' and they're not all really helping us. A lot of them are just out there advertising and taking money," Northcutt said. "But what Michael [O'Gorman, the executive director and founder of FVC,] is doing here is really one of these organizations where he's got a good group of people out here doing their stuff, and they're doing real [stuff] to help veterans. They're really taking a personal interest."

Approximately 100 veterans and 75 exhibitors gathered at the Civic Center for FVC's second career fair, the first in Santa Monica. Tables from farms and agricultural businesses run by veterans, as well as organizations that support veterans, were set up throughout the auditorium for attendees to learn about and express interest in volunteer or career opportunities.

After getting the FVC fully up and running in February, 2009, O'Gorman said he would get calls from individual veterans looking for work on a farm in July, August or September, times farmers do not need farmhands. Instead of fielding one veteran's request at a time, O'Gorman decided to hold a career fair in Santa Rosa in March, the beginning of the farming season, to help more veterans at once and educate them on farming needs and practices.

"These guys aren't your normal farmers. They're going to be the leaders in the next generation of farming," O'Gorman said of a group of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans standing behind him during an introductory speech Wednesday. "They're proactive, they're ingenious, they're creative, they got hardcore stamina."

Bringing the fair to Los Angeles, an area not typically recognized for its agriculture, presented difficulties in finding groups to participate, O'Gorman said. So the FVC expanded the fair to include all stages of food production, such as produce distribution and retail.

The unemployment rate for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars ages 18 to 24 is approximately 30 percent, or 250,000 people, according to the FVC. Farming provides a growing and necessary field for veterans to find employment in, one that will also help curb the rate and effects of post traumatic stress disorder, said Shad Meshad, the founder and president of the National Veterans Foundation, who attended the fair.

"It's like a domino effect," Meshad said. "People go, 'What do jobs have to do with PTSD?' Well, it could play a part, particularly if you have readjustment issues, and you can't find a job, and you have a wife, and you have a child, and you have a house to pay for. I don't know of any other way you can solve that. We have to have jobs."

Aside from helping veterans find careers, the fair provided an opportunity for veterans already in agriculture to build a community and learn from each other, said Jason Rich, a Navy veteran who works with Hungry Mother Organics, an organic produce company in Carson City, Nev. At the fair, Rich met Colin Archipley, a Marine Corps veteran who founded Veteran's Sustainable Agriculture Training, and learned about his use of bio-hydroponics as a sustainable farming practice, which he said he will try to use in his work now.

Tom Schoettler came to the career fair as a veteran friend of Northcutt's. He grew up on a farm, and although he did not originally want to work on his family's farm, he said he now hopes to take over the operation one day. In the meantime, Schoettler wants to learn about other opportunities in agriculture.

"There should be a thousand more of these everywhere around here," he said. "It's good for me to know there's other people out there that are in the same position I'm in and that are looking to do the same things that I'm interested in."

photo by Susanna Frohman, from the Farmer Veteran Coalition site

They Speak poets prepare for LA

2010-06-30T22:32:00.005-05:00

On Saturday, I went out to the "Slam Bowl" fundraiser for the Texas Youth Word Collective - which was great. The four poets who comprise this year's "They Speak" slam team performed several team poems that they are bringing to the Brave New Voices International Slam next month, hosted this year in Los Angeles. Always, these young poets do Austin proud.

The TX Youth Word Collective sent out this message about their plans:

Dear Supporters & Friends,

It’s that time of year again and the Texas Youth Word Collective is scrambling to raise the necessary funds to take Austin’s They Speak Youth Poetry Slam Team to Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival 2010 (BNV) in Los Angeles. We have a very exciting team this year and they’re counting on us to get them there.

Our immediate need is to raise $500 in 5 days to purchase their airline tickets! We hope that you’ll consider making a donation to the cause and two ways for you to accomplish this:

Website: Go to www.txywc.org
Enter the website and click on the “Home” button
Click on the “Donate” button for our Paypal page

Snail Mail: Or, you can mail a check to “TYWC” at
Texas Youth Word Collective
8301 Zyle Road, Austin, TX 78737

All donations are tax-deductible.

For additional information contact:
Dr. Sheila Siobhan – (512) 422-6653
Ron Horne – (512) 632-5033

We’re very excited about our team this year! Coached by Christopher Michael (Killeen Poetry Slam Founder, 2 time Austin Poetry Slam Champion, 2nd Place National Poetry Slam Indie Winner) - Shanitria Harris (3 time Austin Youth Slam Champion, 4 time team member!) from Texas State University, Zachary Caballero (Hendrickson H.S.), Lauren “Zuri” Hendricks (Texas Empowerment Academy), and Sheenika Medard (Hutto H.S.) have already been entertaining audiences around Austin as they prepare for their trip. You can learn more about our program and the team by visiting our website.

What is BNV? It’s not all about the competition! BNV offers youth the opportunity to participate in workshops, open mics, and ciphers, as well as attending performances by internationally renowned spoken word artists such as Saul Williams, Hodari Davis, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and DJ Kool Herc, to name a few. This year’s BNV schedule includes the following activities:

The First Wave Show
Coaches Open Mic
Opening Ceremonies
Brave New Voices Writing Workshops
Brave New Voices Town Hall meeting
The Peoples Championship (Individual Late-Night Slam Tournament)
The Brave New Leaders Conference
The Brave New Teachers Conference (Sat. 7/24/10)
2nd Annual BNV MC Olympics
Brave New Voices Speak Green (sponsored by Robert Redford)
Brave New Voices Grammy Museum Tour
The International Youth Poetry Slam
Quarter Finals (Begins with 50 teams)
Semi Finals (Reserved for 16 teams)
Finals (Reserved for the final 4 teams)
Open Mics, Cyphers, and more….

This year there will be 750 participants from over 50 international communities! Participating cities include: San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, London, Miami, Washington DC, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, New Orleans, Detroit, Houston, Oakland, Santa Fe, Portland, Denver, St. Louis, Kansas City, Albuquerque, Hawaii, Hartford, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, Nashville, St. Louis, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Madison, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Baton Rouge, Chapel Hill, Milwaukee, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Plymouth, Kalamazoo, Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Burlington, Newark, Watts, Fontana, Mendocino, Austin, Anchorage, Taos, Chico, Navajo Nation, Hopi Nation, Pueblo Nation, Chimayo, San Jose, Jersey City, Baltimore, Savannah, Mexicalli, Louisville, Amherst, Las Vegas, Eugene Canandaigua, Worcester, Leeds (UK), Mostar (Bosnia).

This is an amazing opportunity for our youth! Please help them realize their dream by taking a few moments to donate to the cause.

Sincerely,

Sheila Siobhan, Executive Director
Texas Youth Word Collective
They Speak Youth Poetry Slam
(512) 422-6653
u21slam@yahoo.com
www.txywc.org

photos by makingpeace

Replacing arts magnet program with JROTC angers parents and students in San Antonio

2010-06-14T12:15:00.004-05:00

I was in San Antonio this weekend for a wedding and happened to pick up a copy of Friday's issue of the San Antonio Express-News. The Metro section's front-page headline story was "Parents protest changes at TJ: Arts magnet to be ended; focus on JROTC."

According to the article, a highly regarded arts magnet program at Jefferson HS in San Antonio is scheduled to be phased out in 4 years, and part of the replacement emphasis will be on "leadership training," including a requirement that all incoming students enroll in a JROTC program beginning this fall.

School district officials say that in conjunction with ending the arts magnet program, they plan to increase arts offerings in other schools throughout the district, but why must this be an either/or situation? Why not keep the magnet program and build on its success by increasing art class options in other schools?

If the concern is funding, then do school officials know that JROTC programs are costly for the district? Have they been clear with parents and students about the reasons for and actual costs of introducing JROTC at Jefferson?

Parents and students expressed strong objections to the changes. One parent was quoted saying, "I don't think we need any of our students or sons and daughters dying in wars that we don't even belong in." Another parent said, "Militarizing this school, it's a bad idea."

At SOY, we agree. JROTC uses a top-down, follow-orders type of discipline, which is not the same as developing self-discipline, which is much better learned through the arts. Do district officials want to graduate students who learn creative problem-solving skills through strong education in the arts and sciences, or students who learn that "leadership" means either following or giving orders?

Here's the article:

Parents protest changes at TJ: Arts Magnet to be ended; focus on JROTC
by Lindsay Kastner, San Antonio Express News, June 11, 2010

A plan to boost fine arts offerings across San Antonio Independent School District high schools has angered parents at Jefferson High School, where the Grammy-recognized Fine Arts Magnet Academy is scheduled to be phased out in four years.
The shifts are part of a long-range facilities plan and will allow for more robust course offerings across the district and improved academics and leadership at Jefferson, where incoming freshmen will be required to take JROTC starting this fall, district officials said.

But parents and staff are unhappy with plans to do away with the district's only fine arts magnet, the only magnet program to be phased out in a plan that mostly involves adding or streamlining programs. Next year will be the last year freshmen will be allowed into the program.

During a community meeting at the school Thursday night, trustee Ed Garza, who represents the Jefferson area, tried to calm fears by emphasizing that no staff or course offerings would be eliminated under the new plan.

“I'm a very strong advocate of arts for this school,” he told a crowd that included parents and students clutching artwork and hauling canvases.

In the fall, Jefferson will begin requiring all incoming freshmen to take at least one semester of JROTC, district spokeswoman Leslie Price said earlier Thursday. Garza said the requirement, while likely to be taught by a JROTC instructor, was actually for a separate “leadership” course.

Next school year only, students enrolled in the fine arts magnet will be exempt from the requirement. That exemption ends as the magnet is phased out.

After their freshmen year, Jefferson students will be required to choose between a “military prep” program in which they will continue JROTC or a “leadership and public service” track in which they must join a campus leadership organization and complete designated public service hours.

“I don't think we need any of our students or sons and daughters dying in wars that we don't even belong in,” a father said from the audience as Garza explained the school's new leadership focus Thursday evening.

“Militarizing this school, it's a bad idea,” said another parent.

Most parents at Thursday's occasionally tense meeting were more upset about the loss of the school's arts magnet.

Garza said unlike other magnets, the Jefferson program isn't offering courses that are unique to the school. Students take arts courses that are available at many other district high schools and though the program has some enrollment requirements, it is termed a magnet largely because it actively recruits students from outside school and district boundaries.

The school “has never been a true magnet,” Principal Joanne Cockrell told the crowd, adding, “You're talking about something that never has really existed except in name and the fact that you are allowed to go around and recruit.”

Price said the district wants to boost its fine arts offerings at all of its high schools, but having a magnet that draws students from outside the school boundaries can make it difficult to grow strong programs elsewhere.

“That can diminish the offerings at some of our smaller schools,” she said.

About half the 246 students enrolled in Jefferson's fine arts magnet come from outside the school's zone. Price emphasized that eliminating the magnet will only mean the school will no longer be able to recruit those outside students.

But parent Virginia Guzman, who helped organize the meeting, said part of what makes the magnet special is the commitment students make to the program.

“The kids in the magnet program, they want to be there,” said Guzman, whose son just graduated from Jefferson.

“I don't have a kid going into the program, but I would like to see TJ brought back up to speed,” said Guzman, who graduated from Jefferson in 1979. “Good school, good kids, good community, right? And that's what I would like to see.”

"The army is not what it says it is."

2010-06-13T15:50:00.006-05:00

Last week, a group of military spouses at Ft. Hood, the largest US army base, came forward to speak to the press about the systematic neglect of their active-duty husbands by the US army chain of command, especially in regard to their husbands' physical and psychological combat injuries.

Journalist, Dahr Jamail interviewed several of these women and published a comprehensive report on Truthout.

"The Army is not what it says it is," [said one military spouse]. "Recruiters make it sound so good, but once you sign up, you're screwed. My kids wonder what they did wrong because of what the Army is doing to their father. They feel like they've lost their father. I don't know what to do anymore. There's a whole bunch of soldiers who need this story out. They need help and they are not getting the medical help they need."

This is what active nonviolence looks like

2010-06-08T15:10:00.005-05:00

Excellent story published last week: [editor's note: I have replaced "illegal" with "undocumented" in this posting, wherever the author is referring to persons. Ningun ser humano es illegal.]

Student Immigrants Use Civil Rights-Era Strategies
by Russell Contreras, AP

BOSTON — They gather on statehouse steps with signs and bullhorns, risking arrest. They attend workshops on civil disobedience and personal storytelling, and they hold sit-ins and walk out of class in protest. They're being warned that they could even lose their lives.

Students fighting laws that target [undocumented] immigrants are taking a page from the civil rights era, adopting tactics and gathering praise and momentum from the demonstrators who marched in the streets and sat at segregated lunch counters as they sought to turn the public tide against racial segregation.

"Their struggle then is ours now," said Deivid Ribeiro, 21, an [undocumented] immigrant from Brazil and an aspiring physicist. "Like it was for them, this is about survival for us. We have no choice."

Undocumented students, many of whom consider themselves "culturally American" because they have lived in the U.S. most of their lives, don't qualify for federal financial aid and can't get in-state tuition rates in some places. They are drawing parallels between themselves and the 1950s segregation of black and Mexican-American students.

"I think it's genius," said Amilcar Shabazz, chairman of the W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts. "If you want to figure out how to get your story out and change the political mood in America, everybody knows the place to start your studies is the civil rights movement."

For two years, Renata Teodoro lived in fear of being deported to her native Brazil, like her mother, brother and sister. She reserved her social contact for close friends, was extra careful about signing her name anywhere, and fretted whenever anyone asked about her immigration status, because she been living illegally in the United States since she was 6.

Yet on a recent afternoon, Teodoro gathered with other [undocumented] immigrants outside the Massachusetts Statehouse with signs, fliers and a bullhorn — then marched the streets of Boston, putting herself in danger of arrest by going public but hoping her new openness would prompt action on the DREAM Act, a federal bill to allow people like her a pathway to citizenship via college enrollment or military service.

"I don't care. I can't live like this anymore," said Teodoro, 22, a leader of the Student Immigration Movement and a part-time student at UMass-Boston. "I'm not afraid, and I have to take a stand."

The shift has been building, said Tom Shields, a doctoral student at Brandeis University in Waltham who is studying the new student movement.

"In recent months, there has been an interest in connecting the narrative of their struggle to the civil rights effort for education," Shields said.

The movement has gained attention of Congress. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano in April, asking her to halt deportations of immigrant students who could earn legal status under DREAM, which stands for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors act, and which they're sponsoring.

Last month, three [undocumented] immigrant students demanding to meet with Arizona Sen. John McCain about DREAM were arrested and later detained for refusing to leave his Tucson office. High school and college students in Chicago and Denver walked out of class this year to protest Arizona's tough new law requiring immigrants to carry registration papers. In December, immigrant students staged a "Trail of Dreams" march from Miami's historic Freedom Tower to Washington, D.C., to raise support for DREAM.

Similar student immigrant groups have sprung up at the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Houston.

By attaching themselves to the civil rights movement, Shabazz said, the immigrant students can claim the moral high ground and underdog status of the debate.

"The question now is ... can they convince moderate, middle-of-the-road, independent voters to support them?" he said.

The Rev. William Lawson, an 81-year-old civil rights leader and retired pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, called the student activists' tactics courageous and said he'd like to meet them. But Lawson, who marched with Martin Luther King Jr., cautioned student immigrant activists to prepare for peers getting arrested, deported or possibly killed.

"You do have to expect consequences. Many civil rights activists faced injury, sometimes death," said Lawson. "And I'm not sure how many of these (students) understand the fundamental philosophy of nonviolence."

Students have to keep in mind the audience they're trying to win over, said Lonnie King, 73, a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the group responsible for sit-ins at segregated restaurants across the South in the 1960s.

"They need to understand that the bulk of folks are in the middle," King said. "They have to coach their message to make it broadly appealing."

In Massachusetts, hundreds of student activists have gone through training by Marshall Ganz, a public policy lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School and a former organizer with the late Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers movement. At special camps, students attend workshops on civil disobedience, storytelling and media outreach.

Students who have attended the workshops even continue to use the well-known farm workers' rallying clap at the end of organizing meetings.

"They know that clap," Ganz said, "because I taught them that clap. It's all about the experience."

Teodoro said the training changed her life and showed her the cause was larger than herself.

During the rally last week in Boston, she led a march from the Massachusetts Statehouse to Sen. Scott Brown's office at the John F. Kennedy federal building, which also houses U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices. Along with Carlos Savio Oliveira, 22, of Falmouth, Mass., another [undocumented] immigrant, the pair walked into the federal building to hand Brown's staff 1,500 letters of support for the DREAM Act.

Outside supporters wore T-shirts with the words "Brown is beautiful" — a pun referring to the Chicano movement chant and Brown's well-publicized nude photo spread in Cosmopolitan magazine as a college student.

Brown, whose office was previously the site of a sit-in by the same group, has not said whether he supports the bill.

In September, Teodoro and a dozen other students also took a weeklong trip from Boston to the South, with Shields driving.

Along the way, they met with black former students who desegregated Clinton High School in Tennessee and Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. They visited civil rights museums and filmed the journey for a planned documentary. But the highlight was meeting Carlotta Walls LaNier, a member of the Little Rock Nine.

Teodoro cornered LaNier at a book signing of her memoir, "A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School."

"I went up to her at the signing and told her my story and tried not to cry," Teodoro said. "She listened. Then, she hugged me."

© 2010 Associated Press

photo by makingpeace

Think Tank

2010-06-03T16:35:00.003-05:00

I like the blog, "Waging Nonviolence," which features news about active nonviolence from around the world. Here is today's posting, about an Argentinian artist who has created a true Think Tank! Check it out:

Cruising down the busy streets of Buenos Aires, Argentinean artist and peace activist Raul Lemesoff has converted a 1979 green Ford Falcon into a moving library with the title “Arma de Instruccion Masiva” (Weapon of Mass Instruction) painted across it. Clambering out of the vehicle, he greets bystanders with a smile and offers them a book.

The Ford that buses him around used to belong to the Argentinean armed forces during its dictatorship. But now covered with over 900 hardcover books, he makes his cross-country trip handing out free literature for people in the cities of Argentina and in remote areas where schools and books are scant. He also accepts donations in order to supply schools in need.

In a recent interview, Raul explains the purpose of his project :

“The Weapon of Mass Instruction is meant to get people to recognize various aspects of life: sharing, education, and also to have a good time. It’s a contribution to peace through literature.”

By taking what was once a symbol of suppression and violence, Raul has transformed it into a peace campaign of communication through recycled books.

I’m not sure if Raul and his artistic rendered Ford Falcon are still traveling (the sustainability of the project depends on donations that can match-up or surpass the handouts). Despite any of these shortcomings, he plans on building more booktanks that will travel to other parts of the world.

photo of Raul Lemesoff and his Weapon of Mass Instruction posted on Waging Nonviolence

Peaceful Vocations excels in Ft. Worth

2010-06-02T10:40:00.006-05:00

Peaceful Vocations is a sister organization doing Truth in Recruitment work in Ft. Worth, Texas, and they have had a really active year. You can read more about them on facebook or on their website. Here is news they sent today about the awesome outreach they have done in their schools this year:

Another school year has come to an end for Fort Worth ISD and for Peaceful Vocations! For the 2009-2010 school year, We have tabled during lunch-time at all thirteen high schools, a total of twenty-two times. In addition PV attended eight College and Career days. Also, we attended the annual City Wide College Night and the first annual City Wide College for Middle Schools. There were also nineteen civic events for the Fort Worth community that PV was invited to. As always pictures can be viewed on our facebook.

Tabling today at Crockett HS

2010-05-26T17:52:00.005-05:00

Lynn and I had a literature table today during the lunches at Crockett HS where we were well received and enjoyed our interaction with students who came by. We happened to be set up in front of a large wall display of all kinds of peace signs, drawn and painted with images and messages about what peace meant to the students who did the art work. There were a couple of MLK quotes included, as well as environmental themes, inclusivity messages and even images of -- cupcakes! Or muffins, maybe. We're all for peace through good eatin'! The display was a perfect backdrop for our table.

Several students told us that the peace sign designs had been done as part of one of their student advisory sections, and that they also had done some conflict resolution discussion along with the art project. That was really good news!

Re restocked our literature display that is still on a table just inside the entrance of the library next to the recruiting materials and gave some more pamphlets to the folks in the Project Advance career counseling office.

At our table, we talked to some students about the College Forward program that they have at Crockett (having learned about it at a fundraiser last month), and several students said they knew about it. Some said they had 'sort of' heard about it, and when we said that it was for students who would be the first in their family to pursue college, they said that pertained to them, and they became interested. We also encouraged students to take advantage of the ACC campus located directly across the street from their school. Their Early College Start program, where high school students in the district can take college courses for no charge while still in high school is a great opportunity.

A few students who came by the table indicated they wanted to enlist in the military. One young man said he was in the DEP and was gung-ho about going to Afghanistan. He was willing to talk with us for a minute and hear another side of the story.

Social Studies texts in Texas -- and elsewhere

2010-05-23T11:14:00.005-05:00

Here's an excellent article published yesterday on Common Dreams in response to the textbook standards much discussed in Texas. The author, Bill Bigelow, is curriculum editor of the fine quarterly, Rethinking Schools.

Those Awful Texas Social Studies Standards. And What About Yours?
by Bill Bigelow

You've probably read the horror stories coming out of Texas about their new social studies standards, given final approval in a May 21 9-5 vote by the state's board of education. As the New York Times wrote back in March when the board gave its preliminary OK, these standards "will put a conservative stamp on history and economics textbooks, stressing the superiority of American capitalism, questioning the Founding Fathers' commitment to a purely secular government, and presenting Republican political philosophies in a more positive light." The Texas board of education has rehabilitated Sen. Joe McCarthy, erased mention of the 1848 Seneca Falls women's rights declaration, and required that the inaugural address of Confederate President Jefferson Davis be taught alongside Lincoln's inaugural. And that's just a taste of more than 100 amendments that Republicans have made to the 120-page social studies curriculum standards.

No doubt, the victory of conservative ideologues on the Texas board of education is troubling and worth the attention it's getting. With 4.7 million students, the Texas market is huge and exerts a powerful influence on the whole textbook industry. As Fritz Fisher, chairman of the National Council for History Education, told the Washington Post, "The books that are altered to fit the standards become the bestselling books, and therefore within the next two years they'll end up in other classrooms."

But all this Texas-bashing implies that standards everywhere else are good and fair and true. In fact, other states' social studies standards have their own conservative biases and deserve the same critical scrutiny that Texas' new standards are receiving. Other states may not celebrate Jefferson Davis, but neither do they encourage teachers to equip students with the historical background and analytical tools that they'll need to understand and address today's social and environmental crises.

Take my own blue state of Oregon. This is no bastion of conservatism. We have a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature; both U.S. senators are Democrats, as are four of our five U.S. representatives. But our social studies standards are profoundly conservative - in big and little ways. There is no recognition of the social emergency that we confront: a deeply unequal and unsustainable world, hurtling toward an ecological crisis without parallel in human history. The standards portray U.S. society as fundamentally harmonious, with laws designed to promote fairness and progress. Today's wars don't exist. Nor does hunger or poverty.

Political Bias
The first social studies benchmark in Oregon's standards requires that 3rd graders begin a nationalistic curricular journey as they learn to "identify essential ideas and values expressed in national symbols, heroes, and patriotic songs of the United States." By the time these 3rd graders reach high school they'll "understand how laws are developed and applied to provide order, set limits, protect basic rights, and promote the common good."

Capitalism is a well-oiled machine. Eighth graders learn "how supply and demand respond predictably to changes in economic circumstances." The economics standards include not a single mention of social class. Instead, everyone is smashed together as "a consumer, producer, saver, and investor in a market economy." No owners and workers who might have conflicting interests-we're all producers.

And what about the inequality that so many students can observe on their way to school? Eighth graders should: "Understand that people's incomes, in part, reflect choices they have made about education, training, skill development, and careers." No mention of the other factors that determine income: race, gender, social class, nationality, immigration status.

Labor unions make only one parenthetical appearance. But unions are irrelevant because in Standardsland, wages and salaries are "usually determined by the supply and demand for labor"; organizing has nothing to do with wages.

In fact, in most instances, the standards do not ask teachers or texts to alert students to the power of collective action, of working in concert with others, to enhance their economic circumstances-which, in the real world, is when people's lives actually get better. Instead, students are told to get ahead by making smarter individual choices.

And that's the message of the standards in a nutshell: in the United States we wend our way through society as individual choice-makers. Grade 5: "Identify and give examples of how individuals can influence the actions of government." And then in Grade 8: "Identify the responsibilities of citizens of the United States and understand what an individual can do to meet these responsibilities." In the standards, individuals may have social efficacy, but for the most part, only as individuals, not as members of organizations or social movements. Not surprisingly, the standards' pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstrap message is never complicated by concepts like race or racism, which make no appearance in the standards.

And, in these times of ecological crisis, the standards include no mention of human-caused climate change-only a line about how climate change can affect human activity. The standards encourage students to view the earth as a playground and a source of wealth. By grade 5, students will: "Understand how the physical environment presents opportunities for economic and recreational activity."

Pedagogical Bias
There is also a crucial pedagogical bias in social studies standards that was evident as far back as 1994, with the publication of the first National Standards for United States History by the National Center for History in the Schools. Those standards required coverage of such an enormous amount of material that teachers could succeed only if they adopted a stand-and-deliver rush through the ages. This academic weightlifting lives on. For example, Oregon's high school World History standards require students to learn about: how the agricultural revolution contributed to and accompanied the Industrial Revolution; concepts of imperialism and nationalism; "how European colonizers interacted with indigenous populations of Africa, India, and Southeast Asia and how the native populations responded"; Japanese expansion and the consequences for Japan and Asia during the 20th century; the impact of the Chinese revolution of 1911 and the cause of China's Communist Revolution of 1949; causes and consequences of the Russian Revolution of 1917; causes and consequences of the Mexican Revolution of 1911-1917; causes of World War I and why the U.S. entered; World War II; the Holocaust; the Cold War; the causes and impact of the Korean and Vietnam wars.

I'm not joking. In one year. And that's only a sampling of what students are expected to learn. There's more. Obviously, the only way a conscientious-well, obedient - teacher could handle such a curricular task is to start talking fast in September and not stop until sometime in June. And rely on a huge textbook. Sorry kids, no time for role plays, trials, simulations, imaginative writing, small group discussion, short stories, poetry, or anything else that will slow us down. It's December, and we haven't even gotten to Mao's Long March.

Social studies should help students grasp knowledge and tools of analysis so as to make the world a better place. Social studies should help students name and explain obstacles to justice, peace, equality, and sustainability. Instead, social studies standards like Oregon's are simply about covering material.

What Do Your State Standards Say?

This is merely my own state's standards. A few years ago, California State University at Monterey Bay professor Christine Sleeter wrote a fine article for Rethinking Schools, "Standardizing Imperialism," (Fall 2004) analyzing how the California state social studies standards endorsed a curricular Manifest Destiny that celebrates "explorers" and "newcomers" who "visit" and "settle." Sleeter found that "California's curriculum folds students into a ‘we' that is Western, Judeo-Christian, and has a democratic government with a capitalist market economy. These are juxtaposed to ‘them': non-Western, not Judeo-Christian, and totalitarian (or not free). . . . The standards have difficulty incorporating as ‘we' those whom the United States had previously colonized."

The real Texas standards story is not that the state has become some curricular outlaw. Yes, Texas has adopted some especially obnoxious standards-e.g., celebrating right-wing icon Phyllis Schlafly while scrapping United Farm Worker leader Dolores Huerta. But, as historian Eric Foner pointed out in a recent article in The Nation, Texas harms its students not so much by inserting or erasing particular facts or individuals, but in its overall framework-one that uncritically endorses "free enterprise" as it "ignores those who have struggled to make this a fairer, more equal society."

And in this respect, the Texas standards more likely resemble than depart from other states' social studies standards. So by all means, let's monitor, critique, and organize against Texas' reactionary standards. But let's also revisit our own state social studies standards and not just shake a scolding finger at Texas.

Bill Bigelow (bill@rethinkingschools.org) is the Curriculum Editor of Rethinking Schools magazine. A version of this article will appear in the summer issue of Rethinking Schools, www.rethinkingschools.org.

Maryland says ASVAB must not violate student privacy

2010-05-21T19:10:00.005-05:00

This good news was published on Common Dreams last week:

Maryland First State to Bar Schools Releasing Tests to Military
by Kathleen Miller, Associated Press, May 13, 2010

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A first-of-its-kind law bars public high schools in Maryland from automatically sending student scores on a widely used military aptitude test to recruiters, a practice that critics say was giving the armed forces backdoor access to young people without their parents' consent.

School districts around the country have the choice of whether to administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam, and ones that offer it typically pass the scores and students' contact information directly to the military. Topics on the test range from math and reading to knowledge of electronics and automobiles.

The Maryland law, the first in the nation after similar California legislation was vetoed, was signed last month and bars schools from automatically releasing the information to military recruiters. Instead, students, and their parents if they are under 18, will have to decide whether to give the information to the military. The law takes effect in July. One other state, Hawaii, has a similar policy for its schools, but not a law.

Roughly 650,000 U.S. high school students took the exam in the 2008-2009 school year, and the Department of Defense says scores for 92 percent of them were automatically sent to military recruiters. In the fiscal year that ended in September, 7.6 percent of those who enlisted in the military used scores from the test as part of their applications.

Nancy Grasmick, Maryland Superintendent of Schools, said in a letter to lawmakers that the test and score analysis are "free services that public schools often utilize as part of their ongoing career development and exploration programs." Grasmick took no position on the legislation in her letter and did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said the data is used both to screen students' enlistment eligibility and to determine their interests and skills for nonmilitary careers. Asked about criticism that the military is going around parents, Lainez said in an e-mail that "parents and other influencers are in the best position to help advise students of various career opportunities, and the pros and cons associated with each of the choices."

Members of the Maryland Coalition to Protect Student Privacy, which pushed for the legislation, argued the military isn't upfront about the test's real purpose. Coalition member and high school teacher Pat Elder said he became involved in the issue after volunteering on a phone hot line for troubled soldiers. Many told him they hadn't considered the military until a recruiter who'd seen their scores contacted them.

"I've spoken to 'C' or 'D' students who are called by a recruiter and told 'Dude, you're really good at this kind of stuff,' and that's what it takes for them to join," said Elder, who teaches at the Muslim Community School in Potomac, Md. "There is an insidious, psychological element to these tests."

While Maryland is the first state to pass a law prohibiting the automatic release of scores to military recruiters, some individual school districts elsewhere, including the Los Angeles school system, have policies to the same effect. Hawaii's Department of Education implemented its statewide policy last year. Four Maryland counties - Howard, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's - also blocked the direct release of scores to recruiters before the state law was passed.

State legislators in California passed a similar measure in 2008, but it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

School districts in Maryland have had different policies for when and how they administer the roughly 3.5 hour multiple-choice exam. Some school districts, like rural Allegany County, only offer the test to students at a technical high school, while individual schools in the Baltimore City district can choose whether to administer the exam.

Maryland state senator Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, said he sponsored the bill partly because school districts' approaches varied. He said constituents also told him they didn't think local school districts knew their options.

"They thought they had to turn over information to recruiters," Raskin said.

Some argued that the measure was antimilitary. Baltimore County Republican Sen. Andy Harris said the legislation gives students the impression that they should be skeptical of military careers.

"I think sending any message while we're at war overseas that the military in any way is not an honorable profession is the wrong message to send," Harris said.

Del. Sheila Hixson, D-Montgomery, sponsored the bill in the House, bristled at that argument.

"For me, it wasn't the military piece, it was the parental permission," Hixson said. "Parents didn't know what was going on and children didn't realize what was going on."

Toria Latnie, who now lives in Michigan, said a counselor at her son's Florida charter high school told seniors in late 2008 that the military aptitude test was a requirement for graduation. Latnie researched the exam online and refused to allow her son to take the test.

"I was angry, very angry," said Latnie, a mother of five. "I felt lied to, deceived, like people were trying to go behind my back and give my child's private information to the military."

IF I HAD A TRILLION $: a video contest

2010-05-10T11:55:00.003-05:00

This announcement just came in from the National Priorities Project. All you videographers, check it out!

If I Had A Trillion Dollars - Video Contest

A Call to Artists, Activists, Students

The money that is being spent on the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will reach $1 trillion within the next five months.

This money could be spent in our communities on many things that now face cuts, like after school programs, art and music programs, and summer jobs.

You can spread the word. The American Friends Service Committee and National Priorities Project are sponsoring a youth video project to help young people (high school and college age) enter the cost of war discussion. Share your ideas about what you would do - for yourself, your family and your community - with $1 trillion.

If you are age 13-23 (or work with young people), this is a chance to get involved by making a video with the theme "If I Had a Trillion Dollars..."

Videos should be short (1-3 minutes) and must be submitted by July 31, 2010.

You can download our Outreach Packet and Curriculum by going to:
IHTD Outreach and FAQ (afsc.org)
IHTD Curriculum (afsc.org)

First Prize - $500 and trip for 2 to Washington, DC to show video to
home legislator

Second and Third prizes - Flip video cameras

For more information contact mzerkel@afsc.org, 312.427.2533.

Return to Bowie HS and Austin CAN! Academy

2010-05-06T19:21:00.004-05:00

Over the past couple of weeks, we've tabled at Bowie HS and at an all-day career fair at the Austin CAN! Academy. Our table at Bowie was a return visit after we, with the help of AISD's school district attorney, were able to assure the Principal that we have been tabling in the high schools for over a decade now and that we're legit! See this earlier blog post for a recap of our truncated visit to Bowie in February. It was good to be back at the school and all went well.

Today, the career fair at the Austin CAN! Academy also went well. We were busy! Lots of students came by for literature and to check out the Peace Wheel. The school staffpersons were very welcoming, as they were when we participated in their fair last year. And the students were great -- very amiable.

One of the organizers of the career day was an Americorps member who is doing her service as part of the "Collegiate G-Force" initiative of the TX Higher Ed. Coordinating Board which places Americorps members in schools to help students navigate the college application and financial aid process. She also is an ACC student herself.

We have noticed many Americorps members who do their service in the high schools -- such as the College Forward coaches mentioned in the previous post and Communities In Schools workers. It's inspiring to meet these motivated young people who are helping students just a little younger than they figure out how they can go to college. I have to say, I wish the other arms of the federal government did as well by our students. That is, if military spending was cut and wars ended, college grants could go way up and college costs could go down. And the world would be much greener, too.

College Forward assists first-generation college-bound high-schoolers

2010-04-28T12:32:00.007-05:00

My partner and I attended a fundraiser this month for the organization, College Forward. Since 2003, this regional effort has helped high school students attend college as first-generation college students. In AISD, the program is available in Travis, Reagan, LBJ and Crockett high schools.

The program is effective largely because of the one-on-one support provided by coaches who assist students in accessing financial aid resources and going through the testing and application processes for college. We met a Crockett HS senior who was a finalist for a Gates scholarship, which would give her a tuition and housing grant for all four years of college at Baylor. We are rooting for her! And so is her coach, a recent college grad who is working at College Forward as part of an Americorps program. We commend her, too!

To qualify, students who would represent the first generation in their family to attend college, who have financial need and who rank in the top 60% of their class can apply to the College Forward program as juniors in high school. Beyond Austin, College Forward is also available at Del Valle HS, Georgetown HS, Hays and Lehman HS, Manor HS, Connally HS and Stony Point HS.

Check them out at www.collegeforward.org

Youth poets slam off

2010-04-05T22:04:00.005-05:00

Check this out. I recommend these poets.

An announcement from the Texas Youth Word Collective:

THEY SPEAK YOUTH POETRY SEASON #8 SLAM OFF!
Presented by the Texas Youth Word Collective

EVENT: They Speak Youth Poetry Slam Off Finals
DATE & TIME: Saturday, April 10th, 2010, 6pm
ADMISSION: $10 cover, $5 students with i.d., under 5 free
PLACE: The Independent (Corner of East 5th & Brushy Street, just east of I-35)
Austin, Texas 78702
CONTACTS: Dr. Sheila Siobhan (512) 422-6653, Executive Director
Tova Charles (514) 554-3720, Project Coordinator
E-Mail: u21slam@yahoo.com
Website: www.txywc.org

The Chinese consider the number 8 to be a lucky number, signifying sudden fortune, prosperity. This is our 8th season, and April 10th, the 8th Austin youth poetry slam team will be chosen to go to the City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. HBO will be returning to Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival again this year to film another eight part series. The field is set and the competitors are hyped and ready to go. Words will be flung with intensity, vigor, and purpose. No subject will go unscathed.

Thirteen participants from as close as next door and as far as San Antonio, from as young as 14 and as old (yeah) as 19, will compete for four spots that will represent our fair city in the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. This year’s group of finalists includes:

Zuri Henderson (Texas Empowerment Academy)
Amber Doyle (Texas Empowerment Academy)
Zach Caballero (Hendrickson H.S.)
Devonte Sanders (Lanier H.S.)
Gus Crowder (Travis H.S.)
Darrion “Chi-Town” Borders (Lanier H.S. Grad)
Sheenika “DeLight” Medard (Hutto H.S.)
Kellee Greenwood (Wagner H.S., San Antonio)
Cara Wallace (James Madison H.S., San Antonio)
Shanitria Harris (Texas State University)
Demetriel Graham (Texas State University)
Chris Chrown (Central Texas College, Killeen)
La’Darius “Tank” Jackson (Central Texas College, Killeen)

Most importantly, the audience will experience the best spoken word this year’s youth have to offer. You will laugh, cry, gasp. Above all, these young people will make you rejoice in what the future holds, both for them and for us. This, like many things in this era, will be epic. In addition to the youth poets, there will be musical performances including the lead vocalist for Blacklisted Individuals, Dashade Moonbeam and the vocal stylings of San Antonio’s duo Vocab and Digh, as well as poetry by Ms. Ebony Stewart (Neo Soul Slam Team Member), and of course our resident DJ F. Scott.

So, we invite you to help us launch this new energetic group of young writers and performers on our 8th voyage to Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival 2010. Please come for a night of stirring, thought-provoking poetry and see what all the excitement is about!

This project is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Priorities

2010-04-04T19:15:00.005-05:00

This is a poster filled in by one of the students at Eastside Memorial HS during our lunch-hour table there last week. At first, when he was invited to fill in the blank, he said "Drugs! I'd rather buy drugs than war. ha ha." But, then he looked at our penny poll and other materials and became pensive. He hung out for a while at the table. Then, he crossed out the D that he had started and wrote the other things above.

New group name stresses Sustainability of Nonmilitary Options

2010-03-27T20:08:00.004-05:00

This month, we decided to make a change to the name of our group. In light of the many ways that war and militarism are unsustainable to our planet and all its inhabitants, we are making a transition from the name, Nonmilitary Options for Youth, to Sustainable Options for Youth. The acronym, SOY, is appropriate, too. "I am" in Espanol, expresses our view that every person has intrinsic talents and possibilities that should be allowed to grow and flourish in a healthy environment.

Over the summer, we will gradually change the name on our literature and other materials. Our message and goals remain the same: to offer area high school students alternative points of view and information regarding the realities of military life and to discuss nonmilitary, sustainable options for pursuing their goals after high school.

Keeping his(her)story alive at LBJ/LASA High School

2010-03-08T16:26:00.010-06:00

On this day, 102 years ago, women in the needle work industry went on strike in NYC to call for higher wages, a shorter work day and an end to child labor. Rights taken for granted now, such as basic voting rights, were denied to women then, and were only gained through years (decades) of nonviolent action, including marches, petition drives, worker strikes and public demonstrations.

The his(her)story of such people's movements is not well-known among high school students, so tabling with our peace wheel and NOY literature at LBJ/LASA High School felt like the right place to be today. Students during both lunches were interested in the books, buttons and pamphlets at the table, and the peace wheel and penny poll were popular. Among the penny poll jars, health care and the environment received the most penny votes. At the peace wheel, it was good to see kids get interested in several of the people on the wheel whom they didn't know. We often hear students tell us that they attended Barbara Jordan Elementary School, or they know that Austin has a Cesar Chavez St., but they don't know who those people were. One student who took a peace wheel info sheet said, hopefully, that maybe some of those people would be on the TAKS test. I wish!

As Hart and I were setting up the table, a woman stopped by who was visiting LBJ as part of the Breakthrough Program, which aims to get low-income, first-generation students into college. Students can apply to the program in the 6th grade, and the program supports them from middle school through their high school graduation. This woman said she had lived in the Rio Grande Valley, where she had seen recruiters in the schools on a daily basis. She was glad to see our alternative materials, and we gave her a copy of the "It's My Life!" book as a resource for the students she works with.

Among the peace wheel prizes, we had "make bridges, not enemies" stickers sent out by CodePink, which provided a good opening for mentioning that International Women's Day bridge actions were taking place today around the world. Hey, we should have one in Austin, said a group of young women who were clustered around the peace wheel. Yes!

Photo above from the Million Musicians March for Peace, Austin, March 2009

Marching for International Women's Day

2010-03-07T13:01:00.006-06:00

To help celebrate International Women's Day, (March is also Women's History Month), I went to San Antonio along with 6 others from CodePink Austin to participate in their annual march through downtown yesterday. It was a diverse, spirited crowd, and I liked the range of peace and justice messages on the signs and banners held by the marchers. We held a banner made for the occasion by our own seamstress extraordinaire, Heidi Turpin. There was a notable presence of counter-recruitment signs and messages displayed throughout the procession, too, as shown in the other photos above. This was significant in San Antonio, home to several military bases.

Big thanks to Sylvia Thompson for these photos.

BayPeace Youth Resource Fair draws a crowd

2010-03-01T12:22:00.011-06:00

The photos above show some of the great goings-on at the Positive Opportunities for Youth Resource Fair held last week in Oakland, CA. The afternoon event was organized by BayPeace (Better Alternatives for Youth) in Oakland. The resource fair included performances by students and a visit to that evening's school board meeting to hand-deliver their 160-foot roll (!) of signed Youth Manifesto petitions asking the board to adopt a policy that would protect students from getting aggressively pursued by military recruiters.

Thanks to Jeff Paterson for taking photos, and to Susan Quinlan for sending them!

Women veterans face extra hardship

2010-02-28T19:22:00.004-06:00

This story was published last Sunday by CBS News:

"War does something to you where it just twists everything," Peacock said. "I don't look the same, I don't act the same, I don't have the same mannerisms."

For Women Veterans, Battles Go On At Home
Female vets face lower pay, higher incidence of homelessness and fewer services than their male counterparts

by Russ Mitchell
(CBS) More than 212,000 female service members have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan - 11 percent of the total force. One hundred twenty have been killed in action and more than 600 wounded, but the losses don't end there. CBS News correspondent Russ Mitchell reports on the battles these female warriors face after they return home.

Angela Peacock is just 30 years old, a veteran of the Iraq war who was discharged from the Army for health reasons and became homeless.

"Why does it have to be so hard," she sobs, "to just have a home and to just have a normal life?"

Peacock says she was living "from couch to couch" and "cleaning people's houses so I could stay with them."

"It's disgusting," said Paul Rieckhoff, head of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association. "It's a national disgrace that these heroic people are coming home and ending up homeless."

Rieckhoff's organization issued a report that says homelessness among young returning female fighters is on the rise.

The report, "Women Warriors," says female veterans earn on average $10,000 a year less in civilian jobs than male vets, making it harder to afford a home. And less than 5 percent of the homeless shelters run by the Veterans Affairs Department offer women separate housing from men.

"There are a variety of reasons why someone can end up homeless. A core factor many of them face is untreated mental health injuries like post traumatic stress disorder," Rieckhoff said.

Post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD was the reason Peacock was sent home from Iraq .She had spent her time in Baghdad driving in unarmored trucks and fearing roadside bombs.

"You don't ever know is today going to be the day," Peacock said. "A lot of us wrote letters home like, 'If I die give this to my mom.'"

Her downward spiral accelerated when she returned from Iraq. She became addicted to prescription drugs. Her husband left her, making her homeless. She found it hard to readjust to life back in St Louis.

"War does something to you where it just twists everything," Peacock said. "I don't look the same, I don't act the same, I don't have the same mannerisms."

"Almost half the women who we see today that are homeless are under 35," said Peter Dougherty, director of the homeless program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The VA says on any given night there are an estimated 6,500 homeless female vets. That's double the number a decade ago.

Angela Peacock now rents a house and has new support: GI Joe - a companion dog provided by the VA to help her cope with the PTSD when she's in public places.

"I have my days that are hard to get out of bed, and if fireworks or something goes off I'm just like done for the day," Peacock said. "But it's much better than it was. Much better."

For its part, the VA recently announced a five-year plan to wipe out homelessness among all veterans - male and female.

What's up at Bowie HS?

2010-02-26T17:52:00.006-06:00

Well, today, we had a different sort of experience at one of Austin's high schools. Hart, Bobby and I set up our table at Bowie HS as we had scheduled to do through the school's on-site coordinator. We've tabled there in the same spot just outside the school cafeteria, either once a year or once a semester for the past 6 or 7 years. And, as often happens at Bowie, our table drew the attention of JROTC students who stayed and talked with us for a while. I really like this because it gives a chance for them to talk with military veterans who may have a different viewpoint of war than their JROTC instructors. Bobby and Hart have both been in Iraq, with the US Marines and Army, respectively. The JROTC students today had good questions and comments for Hart and Bobby, who responded with good questions and comments, too.

But, just as the first lunch period was ending, Bowie's principal came over to our table and told us we had to leave. Why? He said a parent had contacted him with concerns about our "anti-war and anti-military" views. The principal took some of our literature to look at, which we encouraged him to do. It's essentially the same literature we've been distributing (trying to keep it updated so the info is accurate, of course) for most of our years of tabling, and we'd vetted it with Bowie's previous principal a number of years ago. I suggested we meet with him after packing up our things, but he said he was too busy. I tried to make an appointment with him when we were back in the administrative office, but the woman I spoke with said she'd have to get back with me.

It was such a surprise and disappointment to be told to leave like we were. We were not violating any school policy, and we'd gone through the proper channels as always.

Over the years, we've been welcomed by school staff in the AISD district. Even those who disagree with our views tend to honor our right to present the information we do so that students have a wider choice of options to consider for themselves when it comes to issues as serious as war, peace and military service. Also, school staffpersons realize, I think, that we are volunteers who adjust our work schedules to be able to visit schools during the day. Bobby drove from San Antonio this morning just to do this.

We are clearly anti-war -- and pro-peace. Our "peace wheel of fortune" is a peace education tool, showing some of the nonviolent methods that people have used over time to achieve liberty and justice. We are critical of the military as a system because we have seen firsthand how it harms people -- both the soldier and the civilian. We are pro-human, and every person in the military is human. The veterans in our group are able to talk to students about the military with direct experience. Some of us have different views about whether or not any country needs a military force. We want high school students to think more deeply about these things for themselves. Let's not be afraid of discussion. These are crucial issues for their age group.

By youth, for youth: Student Peace Alliance holds national conference in Georgetown, Texas this weekend

2010-02-22T11:28:00.006-06:00

This coming weekend, just up the road in Georgetown, TX, the Student Peace Alliance will be holding its second annual national convention at Southwestern University. The conference is expected to draw up to 500 young people from across the country. A friend sent a message today saying that free registrations are available if you go to the registration site at this link and enter "scholarship2010."
According to the website, the conference will include speakers and workshops on the following:

*People on the Ground Building Peace in Israel, Palestine, and Afghanistan
*Learn how to stop tomorrow’s war today
*Learn about how nonviolence drops murder rates in Providence, RI and Chicago; how restorative justice works in Baltimore and Fort Worth, and about prisoner rehab. in Texas
*Meet 500 young people from across the US
*Train in Nonviolent Communication, Organizing 101, Fundraising

Austin Bat Cave gives words wings

2010-02-19T12:04:00.004-06:00

Here's an exciting local writing program you may want to check into. The Austin Bat Cave is seeking submissions for an anthology of writings by high schoolers. Here's the article in this week's Austin Chronicle that describes the opportunity:

A Generation Gets to Talking
Literacy program the Austin Bat Cave anthologizes the words of local high schoolers

by Kimberley Jones

In a Clarksville house with clapboard siding and gently sloping hardwood floors, a few of the Austin Bat Cave's key players gather to talk. Twice a week, the house teems with young people, ages 6 to 18, who come for the free afterschool tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And year-round, kids congregate at the center for creative writing workshops – on topics as diverse as hip-hop poetry, songwriting, and newspaper reporting – taught by local creatives like Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff and Texas Monthly Editor-in-Chief Jake Silverstein. But on a gray day in mid-February, staff and volunteers are confabbing not about how to bring kids in to the Bat Cave, but about how to get the word out to them.

Call Roger Reeves a chief emissary. A poet and fellow at the University of Texas' Michener Center for Writers, Reeves is spearheading an effort at ABC to create a citywide anthology featuring writing from Austin's high schoolers. This winter, he's canvassed local schools, soliciting poems and short stories and conducting workshops. (Students can also submit online at www.austinbatcave.org.) As Reeves explains it, "We're going to put all these kids from all over the city together to think about, what are you guys saying individually and what are you saying collectively."

The theme of the debut anthology, to be published in May, is Reflections of a Generation. Reeves was inspired by a CNN article online that quizzed 10-year-olds on their impressions of the new millennium.

"I thought, that's what we need to have: What does this generation think of the first part of the millennium. What does that mean? They don't know that most of their lives there was no such thing as the possibility a black president. Like, the possibility of a black president is very much a last four or five years thing."

Austin Bat Cave Executive Director Courtney Robinson jumps in. "And hip-hop has always been around for them. Hip-hop to them is like any other genre – jazz or country or R&B. It's not new. So how do they feel about music?

"And we've been at war for a long, long time," she continues. "These kids – some of them were 7 and 8 when we went to war. Now they're in high school."

"And potentially could go to war themselves," Reeves points out.

Final selection of submissions to the anthology will come down to the discretion of Reeves and Houston-based writer Nick Flynn (Another Bullshit Night in Suck City: A Memoir). Austin Bat Cave co-founder S. Kirk Walsh explains Flynn's involvement.

"He taught in the New York City public schools for seven years and is just really behind this kind of work. He came here for a reading last year, and I kind of roped him in," she laughs. "He's very generous."

Flynn isn't alone in his enthusiasm for the program. Robinson praises the "humongous volunteer base," while Reeves points to the "really great energy" surrounding ABC, which was founded in 2005 and is an affiliate of 826, the now national literacy program that was started by Dave Eggers and others at a storefront on 826 Valencia in San Francisco.

This past year has seen the hiring of Robinson as ABC's new executive director, as well as more focused fundraising efforts for the nonprofit via the monthly Story Department events. Inspired by the Moth series in New York, the Story Department presents themed nights of live storytelling at various drinking holes around town ("those are for the grownups," Robinson says). The organization is also fast growing out of its current digs in West 11th. All told, it feels a little like the Bat Cave is at a moment on the brink.

"A year ago this time, we only had one foundation behind us, and now we have six," says Walsh. "They're not huge amounts, but we have some traction.

"We haven't quite hit the tipping point yet. But the citywide anthology is helping us to say [to the community], 'We're serious.' ... There's a lot of enthusiasm behind the Bat Cave, but the challenge is in galvanizing that enthusiasm. This kind of project is doing that – it's creating a container for that enthusiasm."

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The Austin Bat Cave is now accepting submissions for the citywide anthology. For more information, including upcoming workshops and volunteer opportunities, visit www.austinbatcave.org.

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Our visit to the Phoenix Academy

2010-02-03T13:05:00.008-06:00

Yesterday, Feb. 2, we did a presentation at the Phoenix Academy in South Austin, where we'd been invited by school staff. I introduced Bobby and Sara, who spoke respectively about military realities not usually mentioned by recruiters, and Americorps as a nonmilitary option.

The Phoenix Academy is a residential school within AISD that assists students who have had issues with substance abuse. We were told that some students come to the school voluntarily and some are referred. We were given a tour of the academy by two students and learned that residents' schedules are regulated carefully. They attend classes from 8 - 2 and follow AISD curriculum. They start their days very early (5 am for the girls!), participate in a variety of group therapy meetings, and have work assignments on the campus.

For Bobby and Sara's talk, the students gathered in their study hall room, boys on one side and girls on the other. They listened and asked very good questions. Bobby mentioned that often soldiers wind up trading meds, sometimes selling them to one another on a kind of black market, which leads to some taking dangerous amounts or combinations of meds just to ease pain. Self-medication with everything from alcohol to prohibited drugs is common in the military -- a real risk for young people who already have had trouble with substance abuse.

One student asked Bobby, who was injured in Iraq as a Marine, if he had gotten anything good from his military experience. Bobby thought a minute and said that he'd learned through it that war is not an acceptable way to resolve conflict. He also said he learned that people around the world want the same things: they want to be loved, to have jobs, to take care of their families, to hang out with their friends. He said that anything good he learned from the military was not taught to him on purpose.

One student asked Bobby about his tattoos. Bobby explained that he'd gotten the HUMAN tattoo on his right forearm because that's what the military tried to take away from him, and now he was reclaiming it.

Sara engaged the students in her talk about her two experiences in Americorps programs: a summer program in Arkansas on a Heifer Project demonstration farm, and her current position working at the local immigrant shelter, Casa Marianella. Sara speaks Spanish and is able to use that skill, as well as to earn a living stipend (about $400 every two weeks) and an educational award of about $4,700 for a year of service (about $1,700 for the summer).

None of the students had heard of Americorps, so it was a good eye-opener for them. Sara's enthusiasm for the program was evident, and students had quite a few questions about it. In addition to the educational award, Sara stressed that employers and college admissions folks tend to look positively on Americorps experience, so it's good for the resume as well as being good for the community.

Thanks to Bobby and Sara, and to the friendly staff and students at the Phoenix Academy for inviting us!

photo of Bobby at the MLK Day March, January 18, 2010
photo courtesy of Alice Embree's flickr site