Kenapocomoco
Newsnotes

This Month: 

• January Calendar
• Weekly Reminders
• A Moment of Humor
• Upcoming Events
• Opportunities for Action
• Websites of Interest
• Summer Opportunities
• News, Headlines, and Interesting Info

January Calendar

Note: This Calendar will be updated throughout the month as new events and activities are announced.

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Weekly Reminders:

• Kenapoc: Mondays at 9 PM @ Ken's House (702 East 9th Street) (but not during Jan term)

• United Sexualities: Wednesdays at 9 PM in the Chapel Lounge

• Movie Nights: Thursdays at 10 PM @ The Peace House (across Wayne St. from Helman Hall)

• MSAS (Manchester Students Against Sweatshops): TBA

• Amnesty International: 9 PM @ The Peace House (across Wayne St. from Helman Hall)

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A moment of humor:

28 things to Do Before the Bush Inauguration:

1. Get that abortion you've always wanted.
2. Drink a nice clean glass of water.
3. Cash your social security check.
4. See a doctor of your own choosing.
5. Spend quality time with your draft age child/grandchild.
6. Visit Syria, or any foreign country for that matter.
7. Get that gas mask you've been putting off buying.
8. Hoard gasoline.
9. Borrow books from library before they're banned - Constitutional law books, Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter, Tropic of Cancer, etc.
10. If you have an idea for an art piece involving a crucifix - do it now.
11. Come out - then go back in - HURRY!
12. Jam in all the Alzheimer's stem cell research you can.
13. Stay out late before the curfews start.
14. Go see Bruce Springsteen before he has his "accident. "
15. Go see Mount Rushmore before the Reagan addition.
16. Use the phrase - "you can't do that - this is America."
17. If you're white - marry a black person, if you're black - marry a white person.
18. Take a walk in Yosemite, without being hit by a snowmobile or a base-jumper.
19. Enroll your kid in an accelerated art or music class.
20. Start your school day without a prayer.
21. Pass on the secrets of evolution to future generations.
22. Learn French.
23. Attend a commitment ceremony with your gay friends.
24. Take a factory tour anywhere in the US.
25. Try to take photographs of animals on the endangered species list.
26. Visit Florida before the polar ice caps melt.
27. Visit Nevada before it becomes radioactive.
28. Visit Alaska before "The Big Spill."

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Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others.  And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will be in our troubled world.

--Etty Hillesum

Upcoming Events:

Things to look forward to:

• The Vagina Monologues V-Day performance in Wampler Auditorium  February 26
• Exercising Democracy: A Midwest Peace Summit, in Indianapolis   March 18-20
• 2005 Annual Student Peace Conference "Crossing Boundaries in the Name of Peace" Notre Dame   April 1-2
• Brethren Mennonite Council Spring Retreat for Queer students of Brethren and Mennonite Colleges April 8-10

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Opportunities for Action:

• War Resisters Support Campaign  If you are interested in supporting young American men who have fled to Canada to avoid fighting in the Iraq war, please sign this petition.
  
  http://www.petitiononline.com/resister/

• Seek Whereabouts of 17-year-old Raju Sharma Dhakal in Nepal  Raju Sharma Dhakal, a 17-year-old college student in Nepal, was reportedly released from prison on November 3, 2004, but was immediately re-arrested by security forces at the prison gates. His whereabouts are currently unknown and he stands at very high risk of torture or 'disappearance.'

          http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11440

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Websites of Interest:

• Alternative News Blog

  William Rivers Pitt, a well-known journalist in alternative media circles, has started this blog.  He updates it several times daily, and uses it to augment the stories posted at www.truthout.org, another excellent alternative media source.

  http://truthout.org/fyi/

   

• Cliff Kindy Iraq Blog

  Many of us know local organic farmer and international peacemaker Cliff Kindy.  He is spending five months in Iraq and writes periodic updates about his work there.  You can read them at this website.

  http://www.cliffiraq.blogspot.com/

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Summer Opportunities:

• Student Conference Coordinator

        Work with Earlham student and Goshen student for eight weeks during summer 2005 to plan, schedule and promote a           student peace conference at Earlham in the fall of 2005. Also involves arranging for registration, housing and transportation.

    http://www.manchester.edu/OHR/studentpositions.htm#CC

• Institute on Philanthropy and Voluntary Service

  ...a dynamic summer program for undergraduate students interested in volunteerism and careers in the nonprofit sector. This face-paced Institute offers a rigorous combination of professional experience, academic learning and service projects that will provide students with an unparalleled experience in the nation’s capital.

  www.dcinternships.org/ipvs

   

• Union Summer

  Union Summer is a five-week educational internship to participate in and develop skills useful for union organizing drives and other campaigns for workers' rights and social justice.  Heidi is a graduate of this program, and would be happy to share with you about her experiences during one of the best summers of her life.

  http://www.aflcio.org/aboutunions/unionsummer/

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News, Headlines, and Interesting Info:

Harper's Index from Harpers Magazine (November 2004):

• Chance that a Republican president has not won the popular vote : 1 in 6
• Chance that a Democratic president has not : 0
• Number of states in which voters can cast ballots in advance by mail or in person without providing a reason : 30
• Number of states with such a policy in 1996 : 11
• Number of U.S. soldiers returned from Iraq in the last year who have been diagnosed with mental-health problems : 5,375
• Ratio of suicides worldwide in 2001 to war deaths : 7:2
• Ratio of Americans killed by lightning since January 2002 to those killed by terrorism : 3:2
• Percentage of Britons over the age of 50 who have hurt themselves attempting to open product packaging : 71  
• Estimated number of Afghans who died in last year’s pistachio harvest : 50
• Number of restaurants in Guizhou, China, closed in April for adding opium to their dishes : 215
• Number of U.S. McDonald’s franchises whose drive-through order taking has been outsourced to another state : 2
• Minimum number of Californians serving a life sentence for cheating on a driving exam : 1
• Estimated chance that a classified document is “over-classified,” according to a Pentagon official this year : 1 in 2
• Percentage change between 2002 and 2003 in the number of U.S. buttock-augmentation surgeries : +533
• Price charged on Amazon.com this year for Lynne Cheney’s out-of-print lesbian historical novel, Sisters : $1,000

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Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of 

leaving things undone.  The wisdom of life consists in the elimination 

of non-essentials.  

~Lin Yutange 

 [Peace Studies Website]