[Peace] AWARE meeting minutes for August 6, 2006

[Stuart Levy]

AWARE Minutes for August 6, 2006  (posted 10 days later, sorry!)

18 people attended.   Durl facilitated, Stuart took notes.


Finance report:

  $2112.50 in account, of which $760 is already promised for various purposes,
    including Kim Abel's visit.  More ways to spend being proposed.
    So it's less than it seems.

Main Event:

  Less traffic than usual; but, several new people joined us.

  Any hostile "static"?  Ricky - no, no serious incidents in a long time.
    One exasperated guy came back a second time.

  Need new signs?  Yes, that'd be good, they're getting old.
  At too many signmaking parties, the host is the only one to make any signs.

  Thanks to David Green who made (a? several?) new sign(s) about
  the bombardment of Lebanon, and also made a flyer about the situation.

Farmer's Market:
  None next Sat (Aug 12th) as we'll be at Douglass Park for C-U Days instead.

Billboard:
  No update.  Non-responsive response from Rick Mills, who wrote 
  that he had no time to answer.  Asked him about 3 weeks ago re the
  Adams headquarters' basis for their 501(c)3-only policy; Rick promised
  quick reply, none yet.

  Can we go under another 501(c)3 org, like the IMC?  -No, we've asked,
  it's too close to campaign activity for them to feel safe about sponsoring it.

  Maybe decide at next week's (8/13) meeting whether to give up on Adams.

Bus signs:
  For $200/month, CUMTD will post 75 signs, 11x17", on the poster-rails inside
  pretty much their entire bus fleet, if we provide the signs.

  Use lawn signs so we don't need to make new ones?  No, we can fit much more on
  an interior bus sign -- riders will be sitting near it for quite a while.

  Brian Dolinar's wife (who works for UofI) has posted such signs in the past,
  got good results.

  So, should we go with signs on a bus regardless of what Adams does?

  Durl objected -- many students ride the bus, and most don't vote.

  Yes, but also many working-class people, and many black people,
  and many University employees, ride the bus -- we'd like to reach them.

  And (David K. and Randall) -- this issue could give students a *reason* to vote!
  So we want signs up in plenty of time before voter reg. deadline (Oct 15th).

  Gary Storm offered to be part of a bus-sign design group, and collected a
  signup sheet of others interested.


AWARE Presents:

 August 10:
  There'll be a dinner at Siam Terrace for Kim Abel at 5PM Thursday (Aug 10);
  vegetarian menu, drink included, cost $10 + gratuity.  Contact Jamie Storm
  (gary_jamie {at} hotmail.com) by end of Tuesday if you'd like to be there,
  so she can give a count to the restaurant.

  At 7PM Thursday Aug 10, in the Urbana Free Library meeting room (downstairs),
   Kim Abel, Illinois Valley Community College nursing instructor,
   will be sharing stories of her work with injured soldiers at
   Walter Reed Army Hospital in summer of 2005.
  (Any posters available?  Yes, on line on AWARE Presents web site.)

 Sept. 25/26:
  Paul Street arrives Sept. 25th; on 9/26 at 11:00AM he'll be interviewed
  on Focus 580 (WILL-AM).  He's a columnist/blogger (ZNet, Z magazine, ...),
  interested in racism, imperialism.

 October (when?):
  Karen Yarbrough to speak on Illinois state resolution calling for impeachment (of Bush).
  She submitted a bill; it failed (didn't get out of committee?) this spring,
  but she'll reintroduce it this fall (November?).


Church Presence:

  Annette received her "blessing" (severance pay) from the Vineyard.  She thinks
  they don't care for any further dialog about the issue.


  Mort: (US Rep.) Tim Johnson will be in town.  Suggest going to his church -- maybe bearing
  some signs alluding (gently) to Johnson's activity.

  Ricky: Johnson will be in Lincoln Square Mall on Sat (Aug 12).  People might
  walk around the mall wearing anti-war T-shirts!
  

Court Watch:

   Belden Fields wrote a good op-ed piece which got published in News-Gazette.

   3PM Monday Aug 7th, Courtroom A, Patrick Thompson's sentencing hearing.
   He has a new lawyer (Robert Kirchner) who is filing a motion to delay sentencing
   to allow time to file a motion for a new trial.

   Lots of inconsistencies weren't presented in Thompson's recent trial,
   and several important witnesses simply weren't called by the defense; for example,
   Terence Ware, coworker of Thompson's accuser, reported that the accuser was
   at work on time that day (in conflict with her testimony that the
   attack made her late), and was laughing and joking.
   
Counter-recruitment:

   Tracy Satterthwaite mentions there have been many military recruiters at Urbana High.

   [...]

Student Groups:

   "AWARE on Campus" will have a Quad Day table (8/22);
   the "Eyes Wide Open" AFSC event which Carol Inskeep is bringing (9/5)
   will be on campus; and sometime in October there'll be an Alternative
   Quad Day, another opportunity.

Jobs with Justice:

   AWARE (and other groups) had joined Jobs with Justice;
   JwJ steering cmte has now decided what dues to ask of members:
      $50.

   JwJ activities:
    spearheaded the Big Box living wage legislation that passed in Chicago;
    instrumental in starting US Labor Against the War;
    part of IL Coalition for Peace & Justice;
    involved with several UofI unions: GEO, Service Employees, AFSCME, stagehands
   
---
Last week came a request for AWARE co-sponsorship of La Leche League walk.  Should we?

  Lots of questions raised:
    Does it align with AWARE's mission?
    Does it get our name out to an audience we'd like to know about us?
    Are we spreading ourselves too thin?

  When Tide puts their logo on race cars, it's not because they care about racing;
    they just want visibility, and so do we.

  La Leche appropriate for us: "if the world were run by mothers there'd be no more war".

  What's the deal?  For $30 we'd get our (1.5-inch-square) logo on
  all the walkers' shirts as they walk around Meadowbrook Park.

  Tedious & confusing discussion followed...

  Do we agree?  Our requirement for consensus is 9/10ths in agreement.
  5 were opposed, so no.

  Do we agree to have our name/logo used if someone else raises the $30
  (from members' pockets instead of AWARE's treasury)?
  No, still enough opposed for no consensus.

  Karen M. suggested that interested members could still meet, come up with
  their own non-AWARE name/logo, and offer that to La Leche walkers.


Another request: Urbana High cheerleading banner sponsorship.

  Urb. High cheerleaders raise funds by asking community organizations
  to sponsor (part of) a banner to be shown during basketball games.
  For $250 you get a portion of a 2x10-foot banner, hung behind(?) the baskets.

  [Tatiana Mays], Urbana High student (and Carol George's daughter) contacted us.

  Is this a foot-in-door for forming an Urbana High student organization?
  Not a quid-pro-quo, but yes it would establish a relationship.

  Randall: I wouldn't propose this unless we'd also make a real effort for
  counter-recruitment at Urbana High.

  Janet: $250 is too much money.  And I'm much more in favor of breastfeeding than cheerleading!

  Karen: Not sure this is a good way to make the connection.  If this would work,
  then other ways would work too.

  Cody (Urb. High student): People in the Democratic student group there might be
  interested.

  Carol Inskeep's husband Matt is Urb. High librarian -- bet there'd be some
  faculty interested too.

  [Not sure whether we came to a conclusion on how to proceed with counter-recruitment
   prospects at Urbana High; but we aren't supporting a cheerleading banner.]

---
Eyes Wide Open:
  Carol Inskeep: Last year, AWARE and others brought the Eyes Wide Open exhibit
  (done by AFSC (American Friends' Service Committee)).

  AFSC is bringing it around again this year -- Tuesday Sept. 5th, UofI Quad.
  There'll be 101 pairs of empty boots, for the 101 Illinois military people who've
  been killed in Iraq; this year there will also be materials on the many
  Iraqis who have died in the war.

  Seeking help: 9/5 7:00AM setup (boots in the grass, ...),
  4:00PM takedown, or be there during the day to staff a table,
  or participate in the noon reading of names.  (Arab Students Association
  involved -- in naming Iraqis killed in the war?)

  Need to raise about $300 in all to fund the exhibit (van rental, etc.);
  Carol's asking say $50 from AWARE.

  Promoting the event: flyering at Main Event?  AWARE web site?

  AWARE-on-campus student group could make the Quad table reservation.

---
Peace and Peace-discuss e-mail lists are being clogged with spam.
There's been some discussion on the lists about moderating.
Randall Cotton proposes:

   - No content policing -- only automated spam [of no interest to anyone at AWARE]
     gets deleted.

   - Bob Naiman, Stuart Levy, Linda Evans to be moderators.

   - Molly Stentz, Zach Miller (who are currently listed as moderators
     but are no longer around C-U) to be removed as moderators.

   - Make switch to moderation of non-list-members, so that
     mail sent by members would be posted immediately,
     while mail from non-member addresses would be held for
     review by the moderators.

   Each passed by consensus.

---
Events:

   Channing-Murray Hiroshima Day of Remembrance
     (was going on during 8/6 AWARE meeting, and several who'd
      attended it came to join the end of AWARE mtg)

8/7  Mon 3PM Courtroom A  Patrick Thompson's sentencing hearing.

8/10 Thu 7PM Urbana Free Library meeting room -- AWARE Presents
     Kim Abel (see above).

8/11-12 AWARE table at C-U Days, Douglass Park.

8/12 Sat anti-war rally in Washington, DC.  Sadia Bekal is trying to
     organize transportation for people who'd like to go.

8/22 Quad Day -- AWARE-on-campus will have a table.

9/2 Sat -- Labor Day weekend -- Fall Pot Luck at the Kruse's

9/5 Tue 7AM-4PM  "Eyes Wide Open"  on UofI Quad;
    help wanted (see above)

9/25-26 Mon-Tue  Paul Street Visits; interviewed on WILL-AM on 9/26 at 11AM