Archive for October, 2005
October 31
Colorado Springs, CO
uncomfirmed
October 30
Colorado Springs, CO
uncomfirmed
October 29
Bolder/Lyons, CO
uncomfirmed
A day off. Charlie and I went for a long hike this morning. Just two minutes of sunshine and they were spectacular. It was just as the sun was lifting above the horizon. It hit the Rockies making them glow red. And the clouds behind were stormy, grey, so it looked like the red light was coming from within.
It’s been a full week of events. My favorites have been high school classes. On Wednesday, the Wheels tour went to a charter school in Denver. After our presentations, a few of the kids in the class made it clear they were planning on enlisting in the military in order to go to college. One wanted to hear from Kelly that they could enlist without being sent into a war zone. Another lives in a rough neighborhood and said he’s likely to get shot there anyhow, so why not take his chances in Iraq and get the benefit of the G.I. bill.
Bob left the bus yesterday. Our new bus driver, Dan, has been to Iraq and Palestine and is more eloquent on the issues than any of us. He has a good sense of humor and often uses it to diffuses combative energy when it enters the dialogue. Candy, a vet from the Gulf war, also came on board yesterday. She mostly gets around in a wheelchair, wears a crew cut and “S-W-E-E-T C-A-N-D-Y” tatoos across her fingers. As she spoke last night to the group in Lyons, she listed a dozen ways her body and mind have “fallen apart” since the war, including intense pain in the muscles and joints of her legs which make it difficult to walk. She attributes many of her ailments to shots she was required to get before heading over to Saudi Arabia, including one that contained anthrax.
Tabling with Bea, Dan, and Candy at Columbia College
Dan
Thursday, October 27 (12pm)
Front Range Community College
Ft. Collins, CO
with Wheels for Justice
www.justicewheels.org
Wednesday, Octover 26
5pm
Tivoli, Auraria Campus
Room 320 A/B/C or Multicultural Lounge
(from Speer Blvd, w. on Auraria Pkwy, left on 9th into parking lot)
Zoe Williams
303.570.9362
Email williamz@mscd.edu
Presentation open to all campus.
I’ve been on the Wheels of Justice Tour for four days. The tour pairs eyewitness accounts from Palestine and Iraq. I have been speaking with two women who have spent time in Iraq. Kelly is from the Colorado National Guard and served as an mp. Dahlia is an Iraqi American doctor with family in Baghdad and Basra. It’s been intense, listening to their stories and to the stories of those in the audience. I did an event on my own at the Best Charter School. The kids were great. We have a bus driver named Bob who is funny and loves Charlie. They often hang out in the bus together while an event is going on.
Dahlia (Kelly behind her) speaking to students at PS 1, a charter school in Denver
Students at PS 1 listening to Kelly tell her experiences as a soldier in Iraq
When we arrived at the lounge at Tivoli Auraria campus, where we were giving our presentation, there was only one vertical person. Dahlia is holding up a publication entitled “Sign of the Times.”
With students and teachers from the Best Charter School in Denver
With Bob outside Wheels bus
Writing from the back of the Wheels of Justice bus. The Sabeel conference finished a couple hours ago. My wheels friends went out to dinner and Charlie and I shared a sandwich I had saved from from lunch and then went for a long walk.
The conference had excellent speakers–Phyllis Bennis, Mark Ellis, Jeff Halper, Michael Tarrazi. My workshop was during the final session which worked well. Most of the people who came had had enough analysis and were ready for art and storytelling.
A highlight for me was sitting and talking with Cindy Corrie. Cindy is the mother of Rachel Corrie who was killed in Gaza in 2003, trying to prevent the demolition of the home of a Palestinian family. I met Craig and Cindy Corrie at the Atlanta Sabeel conference last February. Since Rachel’s death they have been tirelessly asking our government for a US-led investigation into her killing. And in March they initiated a lawsuit against the Israel Defence Force and the government of Israel, to seek justice for Rachel and also information. (Unfortunately, the Israeli parliament, counter to international law, has passed retroactive legislation making it impossible for most Palestinians and others to file suit against the IDF for injury that occurred in the occupied territories after September 2000.)
The Corries breathed life into a conference that was heavy on analysis. During lunch Cindy played a video of a press conference Rachel took part in two days before her death, then read some of Rachel’s correspondences from Gaza.
To read a recent article by the Corrie’s go to www.counterpunch.com/corrie10102005.html
With Craig and Cindy Corrie at Sabeel Conference
Wednesday, October 26
PS 1 (charter high school)
Denver, CO
with Wheels of Justice
www.justicewheels.org
