Share your smiles, compliments, time, talents, money, and energy with those around you. We must truly be the change that we want to see. And we can do it. We are doing it. Believe that the future is full of mindfulness where hearts mean more than our accounts.
The Love Initiative.
Notes From the Road – Bright Lights Blog
http://troubadourofpeace.blogspot.com/
Book a house concert or music for a yoga class today!!
TOUR DATES
Date | Time | Venue | Location | Cost |
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3/22/18 | 3:00 PM | Choices | Akron, OH | |
3/22/18 | 6:00 PM | Tea Time for Peace | Kent, OH | |
3/23/18 | 5:00 PM | Friends of the Metro Parks Benefit w/ the Bright Lights | Akron, OH | |
3/27/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother’s Lounge | Cleveland, OH | |
3/30/18 | 6:30 PM | 330 Day @ Akron Civic Theatre | Akron, OH | |
3/31/18 | 10:30 AM | Celebration of Life for Marilyn Stroud | Cuyahoga Falls, OH | |
4/3/18 | 6:30 PM | MLK Kirtan | Akron, OH | Donations |
4/4/18 | 6:30 PM | Nonviolent Communication Circle | Akron, OH | Donations |
4/6/18 | 7:00 PM | Big Love Night @ Live Music Now w/ Rhodes St Rude Boys | Akron, OH | $5-10 |
4/7/18 | 8:30 PM | Mustard Seed Highland Square w/ Bright Lights! | Akron, OH | |
4/10/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother Lounge | Cleveland, OH | |
4/16/18 | 7:00 PM | Wolf Creek Winery | Norton, OH | |
4/21/18 | 6:30 PM | Bright Lights @ the Rialto | Akron, OH | $5 |
4/22/18 | 4:00 PM | Yoga Central | Canton, OH | |
4/28/18 | 7:00 PM | Wine Mill | Peninsula, OH | |
5/2/18 | 6:30 PM | Nonviolent Communication Series | Akron, OH | Donations |
5/4/18 | 7:00 PM | Big Love Night @ Live Music Now w/ Gretchen Pleuss | Akron, OH | $5-10 |
5/5/18 | 12:00 PM | Cleveland VegFest | Cleveland, OH | |
5/5/18 | 6:00 PM | Bent Ladder winery | Doylestown , OH | |
5/8/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother’s Lounge | Cleveland, OH |
ECOLISE
The European Network for Community-led Initiatives on Climate Change and Sustainability, is the initiator and main organiser of the European Day of Sustainable Communities. We have 46 member networks and organisations across Europe
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A celebration of local communities taking action for a zero-carbon, regenerative and inclusive Europe.
This is an ECOLISE flagship event. #EDSC19 #SustainableCommunity
Become a co-creator of the day! For details see https://www.sustainable-communities.net/
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Start: Monday, January 13, 2020• 5:30 PM
End: Monday, January 13, 2020• 8:30 PM
Location:Cherokee United Methodist Church•2105 Cosgrove Ave, North Charleston, SC 29405
Host Contact Info: southcarolina@poorpeoplescampaign.org
Join the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival in South Carolina for the eighth stop of the We Must Do M.O.R.E. national tour as we Mobilize, Organize, Register and Educate.
Click here if you’d like to volunteer and help make this tour a success!
The tour in South Carolina will culminate with a Moral Monday March and Mass Meeting on Monday, January 13th in Charleston, SC. This will follow a weekend of activities a community canvas to register people for a movement that votes and a community site visit.
Monday, January 13th | Charleston, SC
South Carolina Moral Monday March & Mass Meeting
5:30 PM – Gather for the march
6:30 PM – Mass Meeting begins
Cherokee United Methodist Church, 2105 Cosgrove Ave, North Charleston, SC 29405
**No large bags or umbrellas will be allowed in the mass meetings and small bags are subject to being searched.
At the Moral Monday, we will hear from South Carolinians directly impacted by systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy, and the corrupt moral narrative. We will also hear from Rev. Barber and Rev. Theoharis, Co-Chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is organizing a 25-state We Must Do MORE national tour from September 2019 to May 2020. This tour will lead into the Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington, where thousands of poor people and moral agents will gather at the nation’s capitol on June 20, 2020 to demonstrate their power.
We will demand the implementation of our Moral Agenda and call all people of conscience to engage in deeply moral civic engagement and voting that cares about poor and low-wealth people, the sick, immigrants, workers, the environment, people with disabilities, first nations, the LGBTQ community, and peace over war.
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising!
We must do M.O.R.E!
Manifesting the DREAM of MLK Jr.!
Sneak Peek Showing of “We Cried Power: A documentary of the PPC”
Dayton: January 19th at 12:00PM
College Hill Community Church
1547 Philadelphia Drive
Dayton, Ohio 45406
Looking forward to hearing your voices and making a change with you to mobilize,organize, register and educate Ohioans around poverty, racism,ecological devastation and the war economy!
Check out the newly designed website! Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Here is a link to a video that describes the tour during the 2nd stop in North Carolina.
PPC in NC, We Must Do M.O.R.E!
For those of you wanting to join us in DC for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 20, 2020, please visit the site below and book your ride! The PPC Rally will also make stops along the way to fill the bus, so if you don’t see your city listed let us know and we can find a way to connect you. We will also need to do a tremendous amount of fundraising to send those that are impacted.
Here is the link to book your ride to DC, Click HERE
Register for the March on Washington Click HERE
Here is the donation link for those who would like to support those going to DC.
https://actionnetwork.org/ fundraising/ohio-poor-peoples- campaign/
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EXCITING NEWS FOR APRIL: The National Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering and Educating (M.O.R.E.) Tour, will be coming to Dayton, Ohio, with Campaign co-chairs Rev. Theoharis, and Rev. Barber on April 23, 2020—details will be coming in a few weeks!
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising!
We must do M.O.R.E!
Manifesting the DREAM of MLK Jr.!
Cincinnati: January 20th
A special collaboration with Public Allies from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Sneak Peek of “We Cried Power”, followed by an economic and panel discussion.
Cincinnati Public Library in the Tower Room
800 Vine St, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Looking forward to hearing your voices and making a change with you to mobilize,organize, register and educate Ohioans around poverty, racism,ecological devastation and the war economy!
Check out the newly designed website! Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Here is a link to a video that describes the tour during the 2nd stop in North Carolina.
PPC in NC, We Must Do M.O.R.E!
For those of you wanting to join us in DC for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 20, 2020, please visit the site below and book your ride! The PPC Rally will also make stops along the way to fill the bus, so if you don’t see your city listed let us know and we can find a way to connect you. We will also need to do a tremendous amount of fundraising to send those that are impacted.
Here is the link to book your ride to DC, Click HERE
Register for the March on Washington Click HERE
Here is the donation link for those who would like to support those going to DC.
https://actionnetwork.org/ fundraising/ohio-poor-peoples- campaign/
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EXCITING NEWS FOR APRIL: The National Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering and Educating (M.O.R.E.) Tour, will be coming to Dayton, Ohio, with Campaign co-chairs Rev. Theoharis, and Rev. Barber on April 23, 2020—details will be coming in a few weeks!
It’s not the waking, it’s the rising!
We must do M.O.R.E!
Manifesting the DREAM of MLK Jr.!
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THE POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN AND WE THE WORLD ARE COLLABORATING
Visit OUR Facebook page to watch a virtual screening of “We Cried Power”.
There will be a panel discussion afterwards.
Visit the facebook page here – We, the World
to watch the live screening
of the PPC documentary on January 26th, at 6:00 pm.
Looking forward to hearing your voices and making a change with you to mobilize,organize, register and educate Ohioans around poverty, racism,ecological devastation and the war economy!
Check out the newly designed website! Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Here is a link to a video that describes the tour during the 2nd stop in North Carolina.
PPC in NC, We Must Do M.O.R.E!
For those of you wanting to join us in DC for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington, June 20, 2020, please visit the site below and book your ride! The PPC Rally will also make stops along the way to fill the bus, so if you don’t see your city listed let us know and we can find a way to connect you. We will also need to do a tremendous amount of fundraising to send those that are impacted.
Here is the link to book your ride to DC, Click HERE
Register for the March on Washington Click HERE
Here is the donation link for those who would like to support those going to DC.
https://actionnetwork.org/ fundraising/ohio-poor-peoples- campaign/
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EXCITING NEWS FOR APRIL: The National Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering and Educating (M.O.R.E.) Tour, will be coming to Dayton, Ohio, with Campaign co-chairs Rev. Theoharis, and Rev. Barber on April 23, 2020—details will be coming in a few weeks!
My Queer Valentine Reception
Hosted by Torpedo Factory Art Center and Target Gallery
Friday, February 14, 2020 at 7 PM – 10 PM
Next Week18–32°F Sunny
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105 N. Union St, Alexandria, Virginia 22314
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Art in Person and in Progress. Located in Old Town Alexandria, the Torpedo Factory Art Center is home to 165 working artists, seven galleries, The Art League, and the Alexandria Archaeology Museum. Free admission.
My Queer Valentine Shows the Richness of LGBTQ Life
The warmth of recognition is strong inside the exhibition.
I took my girlfriend to see My Queer Valentine on a Monday morning; it was a date, I told her. We took the Metro down to King Street and walked to the Alexandria waterfront. Once we got there, we strolled into The Torpedo Factory Art Center’s Target Gallery, hands interlocked.
For My Queer Valentine, the contemporary gallery’s spring show, the small space is filled with large-scale photographic prints, paintings on both large and small canvases, and sculpture. Visually, the pieces cover a broad range of styles, including a digitally influenced take on Abstract Expressionism, geometric interpretations of fire, Basquiat-esque mark-making and writing over photographs, sculpture with few references to recognizable forms, canvases made three-dimensional by the attachment of glittery found objects, and small silkscreen prints. Thematically, they may at first seem to not cohere, but that’s only because My Queer Valentine’s juried works cover a diverse and rich swath of queer life.
As for taking my girlfriend, I had another motive that I didn’t say aloud, though she may have picked up on it. I wanted to enter that exhibition as a visibly gay person, and I wanted to see how that affected my experience of the art. It was the right choice. My Queer Valentine does more than curate work that examines what it means to be LGBTQ in the 21st century: It creates a queer space warm with the joy of recognition.
Some works speak directly to that joy, like artist Cat Gunn’s abstract canvases. Their dramatic patterns represent the harmony of being in a relationship where their partner sees them as their authentic, nonbinary self, they write in the wall text. There are glittering squares and wobbling lines moving back and forth across the plane, but things seem to be coming together the longer you look—parts that once made no sense have an internal logic that reveals itself with sustained attention and open mindedness. Recognition can be dangerous, and the closet offers safety, but it also means hiding behind a mask. The relief of dropping the charade and being seen is transcendent.
My Queer Valentine isn’t camp, not as a whole, but it’s full of artworks made by people who understand the humor and the wondrous pompousness of queer glamor. (That glamor and its high drama are knowingly self-important because there are still so many people who wish we didn’t have it.) The first pieces the viewer encounters play with the feminine trappings of artificial jewelry, glitter, plastic, and resin, all in bright, loud colors; one piece dripping with sequins invites viewers to “lick me until ice cream.” That kind of playful sexuality thrives in many of the works, even the more subdued ones. A beige canvas on the opposing wall asks the onlooker to “come (cum on my) back.” The half-joking, half-serious attitude toward sex is one of My Queer Valentine’s greatest strengths, highlighting the laughter and joy inherent in queer life and queer sex.
Linda Hesh’s “Kissing Booth” is another joyful artwork. It’s not a stunning feat of technique and construction; it’s just a wood and steel booth, like one you might see at a county fair in the ’50s. It advertises itself as, unsurprisingly, “KISSING BOOTH.” It’s not anchored to a wall. Instead, it stands out from a corner and beckons viewers to come in, where they might notice that its gingham pattern is made up of pictures of kissing same-sex couples. I’ll admit my biases here: I’ve always had a love for participatory art. But the booth’s standing invitation to come inside, to take a picture kissing underneath it, and to share that picture with the world is a brave act, even in 2020 in Alexandria—brave for the artist and the piece inviting those kisses, brave for the people who choose to do so. Even though queer desire is hypervisible in contemporary life, it’s not always recognized as a loving, human affect. By asking people to kiss, Hesh affirms the romance of the gesture and the genuine safety of the space around it.
The most striking pieces were by D.C.-based photographer Matt Storm, a transgender man. His work is challenging, cheeky, and hard to look away from. The two images on display come from his Act of Looking series, where he returns to the same studio in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the famous gay vacation spot, to photograph his body “to create an expanded lexicon of ways to see a body, inclusive of ways to see my body,” he writes in his artist’s statement. In the first image, we see him standing naked, in a pose that looks relaxed but requires him to hold himself in place with his own strength. His muscles are tense but not flexed. His face isn’t overly expressive, but there’s a spark of playfulness in his eyes and a hint of a smile on his mouth. And his arm drapes behind his back, coming to rest between his legs, where he holds his fingers playfully—an obvious commentary on how, as he says, “my body is incongruous with how we are taught to see bodies.” In another, he clasps his hands in front of his crotch, fingers crossed. We can’t see his face, but we can feel the humor. The piece is titled “Crossing my Fingers, Getting Away with Something.”
But a different series of works stopped me in my tracks. Aurele Gould’s photographs pulled my gaze from the moment I entered the gallery. When I saw her triptych of an athlete putting pre-wrap around another girl’s thigh, I felt a lump in my throat. “A moment of transference is constructed, a care and an intimacy among women,” she writes in the wall text. Immediately I thought of Barbara Kruger’s 1981 piece “Untitled (You Construct Intricate Rituals),” which famously says “You construct intricate rituals that allow you to touch the skin of other men” over an image of men roughhousing. But I thought of it less because of its artistic impact and more because, for years, queer kids on Tumblr have been using it as a memetic reference point for jokes about the forbidden, magnetic pull of another person’s skin. In the three images of the piece, we see hands grab the inner thigh, let go to wrap the tape around, and return to place both hands on the partner’s leg.
Likewise, I’d been primed to see Gould’s piece “Acrylic” before I walked in—it represents My Queer Valentine online—but I stopped myself from making a beeline to it. When I did make my way over and allowed myself to look, I noticed for the first time the two models’ sharp, long, matching acrylic nails gently cradling each other’s faces. That striking image is made more striking by those glittery nails. Gould knows this: “I like how thought processes can fold unto each other, like thinking about when stereotypes can be used and who they can be used by,” she wrote in the wall text. I felt a pang of recognition. I smiled. The two lovers in the photograph stared at me, nails shining, and I took my girlfriend’s manicured hand and stared back.
105 N. Union St., Alexandria. (703) 746-4587. torpedofactory.org.
WE – A global campaign of We, The World to unite
and amplify the efforts of people, organizations
and movements working for the common good
WE.net
This Special Broadcast
is part of our MLK Program
Carrying Forward the Work and Legacy
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sign Up at WE.net/MLK
The Poor People’s Campaign
A National Call for Moral Revival
Rev. William Barber, Rev. Liz Theoharis, Other Leaders
and a Growing Coalition of Organizations
Drawing on the unfinished work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s
1967/68 Poor People’s Campaign
Panel Discussion and Interactive Online Broadcast
Sunday February 23rd at 6PM Eastern Time
Watch the Broadcast LIVE or Watch the Recording on
We, The World’s Facebook Page
Please LIKE the Page to be notified when our Broadcasts are starting
Featured Speakers Include:
Karen Palmer (Host) is a Global Kindness Leader and a Livestream / Social Media Expert who co-produces several popular online talk shows. She is a best-selling author and is Coordinator of We, The World’s Campaign for Women. She helps change agents and peacemakers find their voice, and share their message and gifts globally. Find her at http://www.globalkindnesstv.
Rick Ulfik (Co-Host) is the Founder of We, The World and the WE Campaign at WE.net. Rick is the Co-Creator of 11 Days of Global Unity – 11 Ways to Change the World linking local awareness and action campaigns into an inspiring international movement with participants including Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall, Deepak Chopra, Eve Ensler, Bill McKibben and many others.
The Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis is Co-Chair with the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival which has organized the largest and most expansive wave of nonviolent civil disobedience in US history. She is the Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary and is a Founder and Coordinator of the Poverty Initiative.
Rev. Janelle Bruce, Esq. is a National Organizer with Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. She is also the Founder and Pastor of the Church Without Walls, Global Reach. Her life, ministry and work is guided by Micah 6:8, “He has told you O’ mortal what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with the Lord”.
Njimie Dzurinko is the founder and co-coordinator at Put People First and the Pennsylvania Poor People’s Campaign. Njimie studied Urban Studies at Temple University and English Literature/Poetry at University of Pennsylvania.
Take Action and Be of Service
During MLK 40 Days of Peace
To Participate Now Through Feb. 29th
For Updates & To Participate
WE.net/MLK
Takes under a minute!Full MLK Broadcast Links and other activity details here:
WE.net/MLK-program
Don’t SLEEP through the REVOLUTION!Thank you!Rick Ulfik
Founder of We, The World and the WE Campaign at WE.net
Subscribe to our WE Campaign Global Action Newsletter: WE.net/subscribe
Now is the Time For WE Video – Narrated by Desmond Tutu and Jane Goodall for We, The World: WE.net/we-video
Manifesting The Dream – Service Activities to Honor and Carry Forward the Work and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. https://WE.net/MLK
11 Days of Global Unity – 11 Ways to Transform Your World
An Urgent Message from Your Children at WeYourChildren.org
GlobalUnityCalendar.org – See and post social change and cultural events for a global audience!
Volunteer Sign-up: https://WE.net/takeaction/
Organization Sign-up: https://WE.net/11days/
Donation Page: WE.net/donate
Facebook – Twitter – YouTube – News Blog
2020
New York City at Sony Hall
Get ready to celebrate!
Join us in New York on March 9, 2020 as No Bully celebrates our partners and friends at our annual Broadway Against Bullying event. This annual one-night-only cabaret show, featuring stars from some of Broadway’s biggest musicals, benefiting No Bully’s mission to eradicate bullying and cyber-bullying worldwide.
Calling all New York area Friends who LOVE Broadway. March 9th: Broadway Against Bullying, a one-night-only cabaret featuring stars from some of Broadway’s biggest musicals. Lexi Lawson (Hamilton), Telly Leung (Aladdin) and Kevin Duda (Book of Mormon). A wonderful organization, committed to a kinder world, No Bully has teamed up with Broadway Stars,(Year 2) for an evening supporting bullying prevention school programs and positive action initiatives. Entertainment and Doing Good! Get your tickets for March 9: www.nobully.org/broadway2020 and join the movement to end bullying! #broadwayagainstbullying #nobully #bullying #kindevolution, #nobullyingperiod
IGNITING COMPASSION
Words that come to mind when describing our team include: compassionate, kind, inclusive, strong, and has a generosity of spirit.
Each one of us has our own personal story around bullying and we hold this work near and dear to our hearts. We are constantly trying to live out our mission on a day to day basis, both igniting compassion around the office and also the world!
No Bully takes a holistic approach to partnering with schools and districts by involving the administration, staff, parents, and students in the process.
FIND OUT MORE
No Bully is the most comprehensive professional development program proven to combat bullying and enhance school culture.
There are so many ways to become a part of No Bully’s mission to dramatically reduce bullying. Consider yourself invited to tell us how you’d like to connect.
Phone:
(415) 767-0070
Mailing Address:
No Bully
1012 Torney Ave
San Francisco, CA 94129
Take Action on National Refugee Shabbat
National Refugee Shabbat 5780, which will take place on March 20-21, 2020, is a moment for congregations, organizations, and individuals around the country to dedicate a Shabbat experience to refugees and asylum seekers.
Register: Learn more about how your community or group can participate at hias.org/nrs – it’s not too late!
There are also many ways individuals can take action for refugees and asylum seekers in the week leading up to National Refugee Shabbat, as well as on the actual Shabbat itself (in accordance with individual Shabbat practice). Feel free to share the list below widely with family and friends.
12 WAYS TO TAKE ACTION THIS NATIONAL REFUGEE SHABBAT
1. Advocate – Call your Member of Congress to ask them to stand for the rights, safety and dignity of refugees and asylum seekers.
2. Get Involved in the Election – Research the candidates running in local elections in your area, and let them know that the rights of refugees and asylum seekers are among your top priority issues this year.
3. Update Your Facebook Photo Frame – Show your support for refugees by updating your Facebook profile picture with the HIAS #JewsforRefugees frame. Click here for directions.
4. Join the “Jews for Refugees” Facebook Group – Joining this group is a great way to connect with thousands of other committed individuals across the country, access up-to-the-minute information about the Jewish response to the refugee crisis, and share the actions that you are taking. Click here to join.
5. Donate Your Miles to Asylum Seekers – HIAS has partnered with Miles4Migrants (M4M), a nonprofit charity dedicated to using donated frequent flyer miles and money for the relocation of refugees and those seeking asylum – including families recently separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. HIAS and Miles4Migrants (M4M) will work to identify refugees and asylum seekers who need assistance purchasing airfare to reunite with their families. Donate your frequent flyer miles here the week of National Refugee Shabbat.
6. Buy Refugee-Produced Goods – Support refugees and asylum seekers around the world and in your local community by buying refugee-produced goods and/or researching refugee-owned restaurants in your community and having a meal there. Check out this website to purchase goods made by a collective of African asylum-seeking women living in Tel Aviv, Israel.
7. Give Life to Refugees and Asylum Seekers – In the week leading up to National Refugee Shabbat, set up a Facebook fundraiser to benefit HIAS’ work.
8. Scholarships for Displaced Students – Research whether your local universities and colleges offer scholarships to refugees and asylum seekers. If not, reach out and ask them to consider starting such a program. Check out Columbia University’s program for an example.
9. Have A Difficult Conversation – Using the HIAS Conversational Guide for How to Talk About Refugees with Family and Friends, commit to having at least one conversation with someone in your life who has expressed concern about welcoming refugees to the United States or even someone who has made disparaging remarks about refugees or asylum seekers.
10. Light Shabbat Candles with Intention – As you welcome Shabbat on March 20, use this reading before lighting Shabbat candles to set an intention to stand with refugees and asylum seekers around the globe.
11. Host A Gathering In Your Home – Invite a small group of friends over to your home for Shabbat dinner or lunch or a havdallah (the ceremony for closing Shabbat) wine and cheese gathering. At the gathering, consider using the HIAS National Refugee Shabbat 5780-2020 Programming Content Resource. Use the text study on page 6 of this guide as a jumping off point for conversation, take a look at and discuss the refugee art on page 13 of this guide, or screen the movie suggested on page 14 and 15 of this guide.
12. Start A Book Club – Start a book club – for adults or young people – to read books by and about refugees and asylum seekers. Use this list as a jumping off point for suggestions or search google for even more ideas.
TODAY.
Where have we been?
Where are we going?
What might be possible together?
https://peopleshub.org/
https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesHub-1695905997109684/
The Circle may be over but the workshops are coming up!
It’s time to sign up!!
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The Ribbon 2020 – Tangible Hope for No Nuclear War
The Ribbon was founded by Justine Merritt who had visited Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in 1982. She was greatly affected by the tragedy caused by the Atomic Bomb. After arriving home, it came to her to create a Ribbon, and decided to have a Ribbon event on the 40th memorial anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It was in the middle of the Cold War between The United States and The Soviet Union, and using nuclear weapons could happen again at a moments notice.
On August 4, 1985, in Washington, D.C., fifteen miles of Ribbons encircled the Pentagon and other important monuments: With the message of “What I cannot bear to think of as lost forever in a nuclear war”. The Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima was also encircled.
The Ribbon International is now a Non Governmental Organization in Association with the United Nations. Since 1985, many Ribbons have been created around the world. People carry Ribbons and pray for Peace at many occasions such as; community memorial gatherings and marches related to nuclear, peace and environmental issues. Ribbons have been exhibited in various places as well.
Nowadays the world is closer to the tragedy of nuclear war or a nuclear accident more than ever before.
On August 1st 2020, the 75th Anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, The Ribbon International is planning to have a Ribbon event in New York City and in other cities around the world. Please join us, and pray for a world without nuclear weapons and never another nuclear tragedy. (If you cannot join, please pray with us wherever you are.)
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How to make Ribbon
(Please also see our website: www.theribboninternational.org)
- Cut a panel of sturdy cloth, double thickness, of any color.
- Finished size: one meter by a half meter (or one yard by a half yard)
- Sew 20cm (9 inch) pieces of ribbon to each corner so the panels may be easily tied together.
- On this panel, sew, paint, write, embroider, weave, knit, tie-dye or use any other kind of ornaments to express what you most love about the world and want to protect from what is endangered on this earth.
- If you wish, write your name and/or any message on the back of the panel.
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BECOME A LOCAL CONTACT FOR THE RIBBON IN YOUR COMMUNITY – organizations, schools, places of worship, individuals, artists, teachers and many others have adopted the Ribbon project for such celebrated days as Earth Day, World Peace Week and United Nations/Global Citizenship Day to promote local awareness and action. Create Ribbons to display at local events, advertise in newspapers, organization newsletters, on radio and TV.
THE NEW RIBBON: TANGIBLE HOPE | ||
THE UNITED NATIONS HAS DESIGNATED SEPTEMBER 21 | THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE Honor this day of global cease fire |
CREATE RIBBON EXHIBITS FOR PEACE |
To help support the Ribbon project and keep it growing around the world please send tax exempt donations made out to – Peace Action Education Fund, 40 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ 08542, USA and direct it for The Ribbon International.
We invite you to join the Ribbon project, there is no fee. Just create and display a Ribbon, you have then symbolically joined with others world wide in creating and thinking in terms of care and protection of the earth and its inhabitants.
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Pieces to Peace,
There will be no check-in table in Arlington in August
with an aging, greying teacher with a red Bic pen
waiting to grade assignments for more than ten miles of Ribbon.
All the pieces belong there:
all the symbols of a nation’s yearning for peace.
Who would want to judge the pieces?
Choose one as better than another?
Work of Art?
Work of heart?
Who would want to judge the pieces?
Lay aside a child’s rain-touched, felt tipped rainbow
for an artist’s gessoed work?
Who would want to say the eighth-grader’s acrylic basketball court
held more promise that the quilter’s careful stitches
holding her aching heart together after the evening’s late news?
Each one makes The Ribbon:
the pizza, poison ivy, pomegranate seeds
the ladybugs, mid-Hudson bridge,
poetry,
and creed;
each segment makes The Ribbon.
It is in the addition we find the sum:
for it is one yard
plus one yard
plus each yard of cloth
that we honor the diversity,
that we celebrate the unity.
Each piece makes The Ribbon;
each piece brings the piece.
Amen
JOURNEY. Justine Merritt
CA: Hope Publishing House
1993. (p.111) -Arlington, VA 1985
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Some Events in the Life of the Ribbon
1982: Justine Merritt is inspired to tie a Ribbon around the Pentagon in Washington, DC, USA from the theme; “What I cannot bear to think of as lost forever in a nuclear war”, and writes about it to friends on her holiday card list.
1985: August 4th: Over ten miles of Ribbons encircle the Pentagon and other Washington, DC buildings. The Atom Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan is also
1986: In New Zealand, Ribbons connect US and USSR embassies. In South Africa, Black and White mothers unite using Ribbons to tell their government they don’t want their children killing each other. In Japan, Ribbons are used to protest the razing of Ikego Forest. 10,000 Ribbons link B’hai temple to the ocean in Austrailia and USSR World Leader Mikhail Gorbachev is presented a Ribbon by Justine Merritt.
1987: In Okinaw, Japan, Ribbons help surround the largest military base in the Pacific and are displayed in Zushi for the environment at Ikego Forest. In Holland, panels connect the US and USSR embassies. Tamel, Sinhalese and Christian segments are exhibited together in Sri Lanka.
1988-1989: In the Middle East, the Interns for Peace calendar shows Ribbons made by Arab and Jewish children.
1990: In London, Ribbons are exhibited in the Houses of Parliament. In Geneva, Ribbons are displayed in the Palais des Nations during the NTP Conference.
1991: In New York, Ribbons are exhibited at the United Nations during the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Conference. Included are panels created by Iraqi and American children. New York State Museum in Albany has an International Ribbon exhibit.
1992: Ribbons are displayed in Brazil and around the planet during the UN “Earth Summit.”
1993: Ribbons are displayed at the Human Rights Conference in Vienna, inspire an environmental Ribbon contest in Singapore and is cosponsor of the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago.
1994: The Canadian Ecumenical Council Calendar features Ribbon segments as part of UN related art. Gas City and Marion Indiana create and exhibit Ribbons in preparation for the UN 50th anniversary.
1995: Ribbon displays celebrate the UN 50th anniversary Year. With the help of divers, Ribbons are carried under water and connect Egypt, Israel and Jordon. Segments are contributed by Switzerland, Germany, Italy and China.
1996: International Mothers of Liberia use Ribbons to help protest the stealing of children for the army. Towns in the Ukraine create panels calling for a world without wars or violence. Ribbons are given to all the UN Missions. Mayors for Peace through Inter-city Solidarity learn of the Ribbon.
1997: Estonia uses Ribbons to celebrate peace. Ribbons are taken to Haiti to promote a culture of peace. In Magdeburg, Germany, the Mayor inspires the city’s population to create and display panels for Human Rights Day and other occasions. The Bonadssamlingen Museum in Stenstorp, Sweden exhibits Ribbons.
1998: Ribbons are displayed at the UNESCO Culture and Developement conference in Stockholm, Sweden. *1998 is the UNITED NATIONS INTERNATIONAL YEAR of the OCEANS. Show on your Ribbon the beauty of our never ending oceans.
1999: Ribbon panels are displayed for Human Rights Day in Copenhagen, made in China, are exhibitied at the Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP99) in the Netherlands and created for the International Year of Older Persons.
2000 – 2006: Ribbons are given to all U.S. Congressmen for the UN Culture of Peace Year. Lake Havasu City, AZ, USA creates and display Ribbons for UN Day. Africans and Cubans receive Ribbons for peace. A Ribbon is given to Pope John Paul II in Rome in honor of the Decade for a COP and Non Violence for the Children of the World. 9/11 annually Ribbons are carried from the UN to the World Trade Center, NY with an Interfaith litany read.
2001 – 2010: The United Nations International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World. Show on your panel a “Culture of Peace.” Church Women United (CWU) initiates the Ribbon as part of their celebrated days of prayers for peace such as World Community Day.
Founder Justine Merritt and Michele Peppers present Ribbon panel to Pope John Paul II, in honor of the United Nations resolution for the Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non Violence for the Childrend for the World (2001-2010), October 17, 2001