[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-08-17

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 8/17/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, the Upcoming
Events Calendar:

Aug 18 (TODAY - Monday) 7:30PM, Urbana Free Library Auditorium, 210 W
Green St
The Nursing Home Crisis: Problems and Solutions, Presentation and
Discussion with Tara McCauley, AFSCME Representative and Nursing Home
Employees

Aug 19 (Tuesday) noon-1PM, Illinois Terminal Building, 45 E. University
Ave., Champaign
Rally for a US energy policy that supports clean energy and energy
conservation, and promotes creation of green jobs.  Stand in opposition to
offshore oil drilling and subsidies for big oil! This is a moveon.org
event hosted by Bob Naiman of Just Foreign Policy, also supported by local
Greenpeace chapter. See:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=50447

Aug 19 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine
St.
Taping of this 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 (Friday-Saturday) 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).

Aug 26 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of next week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Aug 26 (Tuesday) 10PM, UPTV (cable channel 6)
Broadcast of "AWARE on the Air", taped earlier in the day (see above)

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).
Five panelists slated to attend, including veterans affected in some way
by PTSD and folks whose work includes assisting PTSD-affected veterans.
Martin Smith - IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), UofI student
Mike Mlekowski -  IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), UofI student
Ann Russell - clinical social worker, works w/veterans
Abigail Malone - Psychiatrist, works w/veterans
Trent Stevens - UofI academic advisor, Asst. Professor of Military
 Science, Army veteran, works w/veterans attending UofI
More details below in meeting minutes.

September 11 (Thursday) 7PM, home of Jamie and Gary Storm, 304 E. George
Huff
Dr, Urbana
AWARE Presents working group meeting.

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-9PM Urbana City Council Chambers (400 S. Vine St.,
Urbana)
Dan Kenney of Clearwater: "Outsourcing our Sovereignty - Blackwater and
the privatization of War". 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 8/17/08 AWARE meeting:

About 18 in attendance

News of the week was heard courtesy of Carl Estabrook

Finance Report:  Balance is $1477

Working group reports:
*****************
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 September 6th

Flyer suggestions:
publicity for AWARE Presents PTSD panel event
current Afghanistan situation
current Georgia situation

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

The book distribution project based on the bookcrossing.com model will go
forward with the project title "Seeds of Peace and Justice" and the first
two books are slated for release: ("Devil's Highway", and "Surviving
Justice: America's Wrongfully Convicted and Exonerated").

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

Next AWARE Presents working group is scheduled for Sep. 11 (see upcoming
events calendar above).

Current AWARE Presents event lineup:

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.

The following 5 panelists are slated to attend:

Martin Smith - IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), UofI student
Mike Mlekowski -  IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), UofI student
Ann Russell - clinical social worker, works w/veterans
Abigail Malone - Psychiatrist, works w/veterans
Trent Stevens - UofI academic advisor, Asst. Professor of Military
 Science, Army veteran, works w/veterans attending UofI

Gary Storm may moderate

Conrad is scheduled to do a Public Square spot on WILL-AM 580 to publicize

mention made of Time Magazine's cover story from earlier this summer
"Prozac:  the Military's Secret Weapon". See:
http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20080616,00.html

Panelists scheduled to meet next Sunday, August 24th.

2. Dan Kenney of Clearwater on the privatization of war, including
Blackwater, in a recorded event for the community on October 10 (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.

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 news to report this week)

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 next week (the 23rd) because
we'll need to table at the Sweet Corn Festival that day.

Sweet Corn Festival
==============
Booth is much bigger than what we're used to at Farmer's Market - we'll
set up our canopy.

When closing down Friday evening, pull the cash/valuables and just lower
canopy.

Friday night - expect music from 7-10:30PM. Saturday night - expect music
2-4PM and 7-10PM. It's unclear whether the music will be loud enough to
adversely affect our efforts.

Our Booth number is #301 - Race St. east side of the road - middle of the
block. We must check in at least an hour ahead of time, but Durl
volunteers to do so.

We will be two booths away from a military recruitment presence.

Mention made of ongoing need for free literature (counter-recruitment,
articles,  news summaries, etc)

Idea: set up the recently purchased electronic display at AWARE's Sweet
Corn Festival table. Would need to go through Barbara for that.

Also mentioned: The 10' x 30' Cost of War billboard could be displayed
somewhere in town - it need not be an actual billboard.

As an aside, mention made that the Church of the Brethren on N. Neil plans
on installing a prominent banner stating that they're a "peace church".

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.

This past week, we had our first audience (of one 8-)

Last week's edition is on newsfromneptune.com, will be moved to AWARE
website. Future editions also are planned for availability on AWARE's
website.

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
==========
Business cards arrived. Many distributed at Farmer's Market. All are
pleased with how they turned out. Extras are stashed in AWARE's storage
space at the IMC.

>From Randall: new idea for another promotional piece: a half-sheet intro
for new meeting attendees. Roger offers to help. Request made for posting
of a draft to the "peace-discuss" list.

T-shirts
=====
New AWARE T-shirts arrived. Cost: $12.

Suggestion for additional t-shirts to stock from Syracuse Cultural
Workers:

"Peace" in 3 languages, see:
http://syracuseculturalworkers.com/t-shirt-peace-salaam-shalom-unisex

"No Justice" fish shirt, see:
http://syracuseculturalworkers.com/t-shirt-no-justice-unisex

As an aside, mention made of several AWARE members' plans to travel to the
Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Old Business
**********
Bill Walton: (issue of long-time local homeless man banned from Lincoln
Square Mall, City Building and Library)
New information has come to light from a friend that knew Bill growing up
and in school. Many details learned, not all described here (to preserve
some privacy). Bill is indeed a veteran, perhaps from the Vietnam era,
though he faced substantial physical and psychological adversity before
then during childhood. Bill does have some financial support from a sister
(not local). Bill's friend from childhood plans to meet with Mayor
Prussing. Suggestion made to wait on any further action until after Bill's
friend meets with Mayor Prussing. Other information for future reference:
ownership of Lincoln Square Mall is listed in state records as "James H.
Webster", 2610 Castlerock Dr., Urbana.

New Ideas
*********
AWARE Presents working group proposes expenditure for PTSD panel
discussion, copying flyers, refreshments - up to $50. Also, for the Dan
Kenney event - he's driving down from Northern Illinois - expenditure to
cover expenses - meals, mileage also flyering - up to $200. To be ratified
at a subsequent AWARE meeting according to usual policy.

Events of the Past Week
*******************
Mention made of Walmart's bullying of employees to vote against Obama.
See, for instance:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB121755649066303381.html

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