MEETING NOTES FOR PEOPLE FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND HEALING

People for Peace, Justice, and Healing
February 7, 2009

People for Peace, Justice and Healing met Saturday, February 7, 2009, at 10 a.m. at Associated Ministries. Present for check-in were: Kyle, Sheila, Sally M., Nancy, and Mark.

AGENDA

1. PALESTINE (Nancy).
General discussion, with attention to sources of resistance to the issue of the plight of Palestinians, among them complexity, fear of intimidation and accusations, despair of progress, and to ways of overcoming these.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. CINDY & CRAIG CORRIE TO SPEAK AT KING'S BOOK IN TACOMA -- TUES., FEB. 10 @ 7:00 p.m. (Nancy). Cindy and Craig Corrie, whose daughter Rachel Corrie (1979-2003) lost her life in Rafah in the Gaza Strip at 23 when she was run over by an IDF bulldozer while protecting the home of a Palestinian pharmacist from destruction, will speak at 7:00 p.m. on Tues., Feb. 10, about the current situation in Gaza from a human rights perspective. -- They will also address the question of what Americans can do to help the situation there. -- A flier on the event for posting is available here.

2.DIGGING DEEPER READS LIZA MUNDY'S 'MICHELLE: A BIOGRAPHY (Mark). On Mon., Feb. 9, at 7:00 p.m., UFPPC's study circle, Digging Deeper, will examine Liza Mundy's Michelle: A Biography (Simon and Schuster, 2008). Book description: "Though they've spoken before, author and Washington Post reporter Mundy confesses early on, 'the presidential campaign declined access to Michelle and discouraged friends from talking.' The resulting biography of Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic Presidential nominee Barack, is neither as full nor satisfying as Mundy hopes, but works as a sympathetic, gently probing profile of a strong, self-assured family- and business-woman whose husband's meteoric rise (as Mundy puts it, 'Obama had been beamed up. He had ascended') catapulted her into the national spotlight. The product of humble Chicago origins, Princeton and Harvard Law educations and a fierce sense of self, Michelle suddenly found herself defending her background and career, her husband's campaign, the couple's role as parents, and her own personal philosophies and pronouncements in front of a national audience. In her broad assessment, Mundy considers seriously, if not conclusively, questions raised by some of Michelle's now-infamous (and oft-misquoted) statements about her pride in America, as well as the controversy surrounding the Obamas' former pastor. Though Mundy never develops a clear argument regarding Michelle's significance as a national figure-present or future-she does document how Michelle got there: as a smart, formidable and uncompromising woman."

Respectfully submitted,
Mark