[Peace] minutes of weekly AWARE meeting 2008-08-24

[Randall Cotton]

Minutes of 8/24/08 AWARE meeting are below, but first, the Upcoming
Events Calendar:

Aug 26 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine
St.
Taping of this 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)

Sep 2 (Tuesday) 1PM, Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St.
Taping of next week's "AWARE on the Air" for UPTV.

Sep 2 (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
"PTSD: Our Troops, Our Community"
Panel on PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) co-sponsored by AWARE and
IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War). Six panelists slated, including
veterans suffering from PTSD and local folks whose work includes assisting
PTSD-affected veterans:
Martin Smith - IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War)
Mike Mlekowski -  IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), suffering PTSD
symptoms
Paul Anderson - IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), suffering PTSD
symptoms
Ann Russell - clinical social worker, works w/veterans
Abigail Malone - Psychiatrist, works w/veterans
Trent Stevens - Army veteran, UofI academic advisor for disabled veterans
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 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) (TENTATIVE), 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 8/24/08 AWARE meeting:

About 20 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 flyer for AWARE Presents PTSD panel event on one side, and
information on the current Afghanistan situation on the other side. PTSD
flyer is essentially complete. Carl volunteers to initiate an Afghanistan
piece for the other side..

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

(no new info this week)

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)
Mike Mlekowski -  IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), suffering PTSD
symptoms
Paul Anderson - IVAW (Iraq Veterans Against the War), suffering PTSD
symptoms
Ann Russell - clinical social worker, works w/veterans
Abigail Malone - Psychiatrist, works w/veterans
Trent Stevens - Army veteran, UofI academic advisor for disabled veterans

Mike and/or Paul is slated to attend (perhaps not both)

Gary Storm, Conrad Wetzel, Barbara met with panelists to plan details of
event (during the AWARE meeting, but elsewhere in town)

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

Other Public Service Announcements planned

Expenditure proposal for PTSD panel discussion presented last week (for
copying flyers, refreshments) ratified for up to $50.

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).

It was noted his presence on October 9 at Allen Hall is tentative.

Public Square spot is planned for publicity

Other events may be arranged in town.

Expenditure proposal presented last week for Dan Kenney event (meals,
mileage for Dan and also flyering) ratified for up to $200.

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

Tentative possible date of October 28th has emerged. This would be the day
before Naomi Klein's appearance on campus.

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).

100 "Coexist" stickers ordered (the 50 ordered recently are already gone).
Other materials to be ordered (perhaps already ordered) as well.

It was suggested we have someone in front of the table handing out
articles/flyers or other information, but it was noted this is apparently
against farmer's market rules. However, it is allowed to hand out material
from within our booth area (from behind or the sides of our table).

Sweet Corn Festival
==============
Weather was better than expected, pretty big crowds.

We were able to get our booth moved to a higher traffic, less noisy spot
(following the example of the Army's recruiting booth).

Some discouragement reported among table staffers at the disinterest of
most passersby.

It was noted that this crowd is different from the Farmer's Market crowd,
fewer percentage of interested and supportive folks with a small but
colorful presence of folks who are hostile.

It was noted that because the environment is busy and crowded, we don't
stand out very much. For events like this, we may do better to put
together something to attract attention, even if it's just a person out in
front handing out flyers.

A "designated front person" was suggested for next year.

Also suggested for next year: lighting under the tent so folks can read
our wares (at night it was just too dark for some folks to bother)

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.

August 12th edition of AOTA is available on newsfromneptune.com, will be
moved to AWARE
website (anti-war.net) along with later editions.

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)

AWARE introduction sheet
===================
(Effort to create and maintain a short welcoming half-sheet introduction
to AWARE for new faces attending our meeting.)

Draft has been completed, revisions in progress, posting to AWARE's
"peace-discuss" list for comments/suggestions/feedback is anticipated
later this week

T-shirts
=====
Additions made (in very small quantity so far) to our T-shirt stock:

"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

Our price for these shirts (from Syracuse Cultural Workers) is $15.

Old Business
**********
Bill Walton: (issue of long-time local homeless man banned from Lincoln
Square Mall, City Building and Library)
Waiting for outcome of meeting between Bill's childhood friend and Mayor
Prussing.

New Ideas
*********
Nancy Dietrich-Rybicki of the Channing-Murray Social Justice Committee has
forwarded a series of events for AWARE to consider co-sponsoring.

No financial sponsorship being requested - lending our name only. Many
events identified, list has been posted to AWARE's mailing lists for
consideration at next week's meeting. See:

http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/2008-August/017943.html

Mention made of Bob Naiman's suggestion of screening the powerful film
"Blood and Oil". See:
http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/2008-August/017821.html

Mention made of the United for Peace and Justice "Million Doors for Peace"
campaign slated for September 20th. See:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3949

Mention made of planned event to protest occupation of Palestine during
the RNC in St. Paul. [I could not find details regarding this on the web -
RC].

Events of the Past Week
*******************
(none mentioned)

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