[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-08-10

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 8/10/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, the Upcoming
Events Calendar:

Aug 12 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine
St.
Taping of this week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Aug 12 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

August 14 (Thursday) 7PM, home of Jamie and Gary Storm, 304 E. George Huff
Dr, Urbana
AWARE Presents working group meeting.

Aug 19 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of next week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Aug 19 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

August 22-23 Urbana Sweetcorn Festival
AWARE will be tabling at our own booth.. Booth staffing required 5PM-11PM
on Friday, 11AM-11PM Saturday.

August 24 (Sunday) - University of Illinois Quad Day - AWARE is invited to
have a presence at IVAW/CAN table(s).

September 6 (Saturday) 2-4PM Main St. & Neil St., Champaign
The Main Event - AWARE's monthly (first Saturday of each month) street
demonstration event. Largely focuses on opposing U.S. occupations of Iraq
and Afghanistan, but is open for anyone to join us either using one of our
signs or one of their own. We try to have a topical flyer to distribute to
motorists and passers-by each month.

September 7 (Sunday) 2-4PM, Urbana Free Library
AWARE Presents event: panel on PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).
Composition of panel currently being finalized, but will include local
folks who work with PTSD-affected individuals.

September 12 (Friday) noon - 1:30PM, Latzer Hall at University YMCA, 1001
South Wright Street, Champaign
"Friday Forum" presentation: Luis Alberto Urrea, author of "The Devil's
Highway: A True Story", about an incident in 2001 of 26 men attempting to
cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the
deadliest region of the continent. Only 12 men emerged. Luis Alberto
Urrea, is from Tijuana but now lives outside Chicago. Lunch may be
purchased for $6.00 ($3.00 for students with a valid ID.). Join a book
club that is reading the book by contacting Rev. Mike Mulberry
<m.mulberry at comcast.net> or Patricia Syoen psyoen35 at sbglobal.net. Study
guide available.

September 12 (Friday) 5PM-8PM, Pages for All Ages bookstore, 1201 Savoy
Plaza Lane, Savoy
Book signing event: Luis Alberto Urrea (see immediately above).

September 15 (Monday) 6PM, WEFT 90.1FM audio broadcast of Luis Alberto
Urrea "Friday Forum" presentation (see above).

October 9 (Thursday) (time TBA), Allen Hall (on campus, 1005 W. Gregory
Drive, Urbana)
Dan Kenney of Clearwater on Blackwater and the privatization of war

October 10 (Friday) 7PM Urbana City Council Chambers (400 S. Vine
St., Urbana)
Dan Kenney of Clearwater: "Privatization Threatens Our Democracy" - how
privatization of our military, police services, prisons, and schools
threatens our democracy. Outsourcing of political decisions, security, and
other significant functions that were once inherently the government's
responsibility has stripped the power from the people and given it to
companies and corporations such as Blackwater and Halliburton. To be
recorded for broadcast on UPTV.

October 29 (Wednesday) 7:30PM, Auditorium, Smith Memorial Hall, 805 South
Mathews Ave., Urbana
Naomi Klein: "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism in Latin
America"
(hosted by the UofI Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies as
part of the CAS/MillerComm Lecture Series).
See: http://www.cas.uiuc.edu/casmillercomm.php#oct29

*****
Minutes of 8/10/08 AWARE meeting:

About 15 in attendance

News of the week was heard courtesy of Carl Estabrook

Finance Report:  Balance is $1634

Main Event:
========
(AWARE's monthly street protest held at the intersection of Main & Neil
2-4PM on the first Saturday of each month).

Next Main Event is 4 weeks away

Working group reports:
*****************
Library Resources:
=============
(Compilation of valuable reference materials w/strategies to make them
available in the community through various channels including local
libraries).

(nothing new to report this week)

AWARE Presents:
=============
(Organization of AWARE-sponsored events in the community)

Next AWARE Presents working group meeting is August 14th (see upcoming
events calendar above for details).

Current plans for future presentations include:

1. PTSD panel - including local individuals that work with veterans
affected by PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). See above
in upcoming events calendar for date/venue details.

Communication is in progress to firm up panelists - 5 folks in
mind, primarily folks whose work supports local PTSD-affected folks. Also
possible is a local PTSD-affected panelist.

New Information:
Tentative panelist lineup is:
Martin Smith
Ann Russell
Trent Stevens
Abigail Malone
Mike Mlekowski

There is a meeting of the panelists scheduled for Sunday, August 24th at
5PM (though this conflicts with weekly AWARE meeting).

Mention made of the film "In the Valley of Elah", in which PTSD figures
prominently. Recommended. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Valley_of_Elah

2. Dan Kenney of Clearwater on the privatization of war, including
Blackwater, in a recorded event for the community (see above in upcoming
events calendar for date/venue details).

Public Square spot planned for publicity.

3. Jeremy Scahill event still being pursued (he is on a book tour this
Fall. Scheduling information anticipated from Scahill)

4. New proposal under development: Invite Juan Cole to speak (University
of Michigan Professor of History, middle-east expert, author of Informed
Comment blog, see: www.juancole.com ). Initial contacts to promote
interest in this at UIUC: Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern
Studies and Center for Global Studies.

Mention made of information passed by Ken Urban to AWARE regarding a
September visit by an out-of-town anti-poverty/anti-war activist.

Anti-Racism:
=========
(AWARE's efforts to keep apprised of and provide support for
anti-racism/anti-discrimination efforts, including efforts of CUCPJ -
Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice)

No CUCPJ meeting this week.

Public comment was made last Tuesday regarding political smear attack on
Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy by Vic McIntosh (supported by Tom
Bruno). No response yet from McIntosh, though an apology has been
suggested to him.

Farmer's Market:
============
(AWARE's presence at the Urbana "Market on the Square" each Saturday from
8AM to noon where we offer progressive and anti-war materials, generally
at or below cost).

REMINDER: There will be no Farmer's Market on the 22nd (we'll need to
table at the Sweet Corn Festival at that time).

AWARE on the Air:
==============
(AWARE's weekly television show on public access cable channel 6 - UPTV,
Urbana Public Television)

Taping occurs each Tuesdays at 1PM and is broadcast later the same day at
10PM. AWARE members (and friends) invited to participate - the more the
merrier (see details above in upcoming events calendar). Program quality
is always better with more participants.

Video posts of recent AWARE on the Air editions to the Internet are
expected this week.

Sponsorship of the UPTV timeslot is being transferred to Karen Medina.

There is always room for more participation in AWARE on the Air - prepared
statements OK. Arriving late/leaving early is OK.

Blackwater
========
(Activism regarding notorious domestic policing and international
mercenary contractor Blackwater, including coordination with
Illinois-based activist group Clearwater: see:
http://www.noprivatearmies.org )

(nothing new to report this week)

Business Card
==========
1000 AWARE business cards ordered for under $70. Thanks to Stuart Levy for
much technical help.

T-shirts
=====
AWARE T-shirt design passed around again. 30 total have been ordered
total, including 11 pre-ordered by AWARE folks for themselves. Estimated
cost: about $10 each.

Old Business
**********
"Holiday Market" - where "Farmer's Market" goes after they shut down in
November (inside Lincoln Square Mall). Deadline for signing up is
September 25th. There are 6 Saturdays, $30 each. Approval without
objection obtained to sign up and pay the fee for all 6 Saturdays.

Petition for Bill, longtime homeless man, who prefers not to live indoors
(going back at least to 1985) and has never harmed anyone. He has
apparently been banned recently from the Library, the Urbana City Building
and the Lincoln Square Mall, leaving him with diminishing sources of water
and shelter. David H. has drawn up a petition (which has been sent to the
peace-discuss mailing list for further development) to reverse the ban
from Lincoln Square Mall. The petition for Bill that was being put
together at Health Alliance was reportedly quashed by management there.

Mention made that Bill may have been on the street as early as the 70's,
perhaps due to an accident that resulted in head injury. His last name may
be Walton. For the time being, there are individuals that check up on him
and look out for him.

New Ideas
*********
Quad Day - 24th of August, Sunday - AWARE is apparently welcome as guests
at the IVAW and CAN tables.

Events of the Past Week
*******************
Tim Johnson protest event at his office, last Thursday, on Fox Dr. in
town, to oppose lifting of ban on offshore drilling. New signs - "Grand
Oil Party". Johnson was not there, Phil Bloomer spoke in response,
apparently giving only platitudes.

Mention made that this may be the beginning of a Congressional recess and
that this would be a good time to meet with Tim Johnson *in person* on any
number of issues. [Confirmed: today, in fact, is the first
official day of the August recess period, euphemistically called the
"Summer District Work Period". See:
http://www.house.gov/house/House_Calendar.shtml and, for a few laughs,
also see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEKNdZqrukc . The recess lasts until
Sunday, September 7 - REC]

Other upcoming events
*****************
(none identified)