MEETING NOTES

People for Peace, Justice, and Healing
May 12, 2012

People for Peace, Justice, and Healing met on May 12, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. at the Antique Sandwich Company in Ruston. Present for check-in were Sallie, Susan, Sol, Rob, Mark, Colleen, Carl, Sheila, and Vivi..

AGENDA

1. DISCUSSION (All).

POINTS OF INFORMATION

1. KXOT 91.7 OFF AIR (Sallie).
After Fri., Jun. 29, KXOT will no longer be broadcast on 91.7 FM. Comments and questions for KUOW Management can be sent at this link:

2. ALICE MUNRO (Colleen)
Colleen shares the view that Alice Munro, 80, whom Cynthia Ozick has called "our Chekhov," is the best short-story writer at work today.  Her first collection of short stories was published in 1968:  Dance of the Happy Shades. Subsequent collections are Lives of Girls and Women (1971), Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You (1974), Who Do You Think You Are? (1978), Moons of Jupiter (1982), The Progress of Love (1986), Friend of My Youth (1990), Open Secrets (1994), Selected Stories (1996), The Love of a Good Woman (1998), Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001), No Love Lost (2003), Vintage Munro (2004), Runaway (2004), Carried Away: A Selection of Stories (2006), The View of Castle Rock (2006), and Too Much Happiness (2009).  In 1996 John Updike wrote:  "The Canadian Alice Munro has managed to earn a sizable literary reputation on the strength of her short stories.  This is not an easy feat; Raymond Carver was the last American to do it, and Donald Barthelme before him, with Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor and Katherine Anne Porter making their names when short fiction was still a prime component of the popular culture.  Munro's stories, which began to appear in The New Yorker about twenty years ago, were from the start characterized by ambition:  a well-meditated complexity and multiplicity of plot, an intense clarity of phrase and image, an exceptional psychological searchingness and honesty" (John Updike, More Matter [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999], p. 334).

3. DURANGO, COLORADO (Rob)
Durango, a Colorado town of about 17,000 people, is a must stop for those traveling near La Plata County.  It is near popular sites for skiing, hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, rock climbing, and other sports.  Thirty-five miles to the west is Mesa Verde National Park, with its ancient cliff dwellings.  A steam-powered heritage railway runs north to nearby Silverton, where Harold Ross, founder of The New Yorker, used to live.

4. WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL (Sheila)
Since 2008 the World Science Festival, founded by Brian Greene, has been held every summer in New York.  The 2012 festival will be held from May 30 to June 3.

5. JOHNNY CLEGG AT WOODLAND PARK ZOO AUG. 5 (Sheila)
Tickets for Johnny Clegg on Sun., Aug. 5, 2012, at the Woodland Park Zoo, are $74.00.

6. KURT ELLING'S "SAMURAI COWBOY" LIVE AT KPLU (VIDEO) (Sallie)
Singer-composer Kurt Elling became interested in music through his father, Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church.  He visited KPLU studios in 2011 and performed "Samurai Cowboy."

7. SHIPPING COAL THROUGH THE PORT OF TACOMA? (Vivi)
There is concern that a bulk good terminal may make the Port of Tacoma a site of coal exporting, though the News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) reported on Apr. 25, 2012, that "Port Chief Executive Officer John Wolfe . . . has said the port ruled out exporting coal from the bulk terminal."

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. UFPPC SALON (Sallie)
On Sun., May 20, at 3:00 p.m. United for Peace of Pierce County will present a fund-raising salon featuring a cooking demonstration and talk by Rosalind Bell featuring mostly local foods.  This salon is a fund-raiser for United for Peace of Pierce County.  A donation of $25 is suggested, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds.  An RSVP would be appreciated but isn’t required to attend:  Please call or write Kristi:  253-573-1504 or kristinebel@msn.com

2. GROUND ZERO "MOMS AGAINST BOMBS" -- SAT., MAY 12 (Sallie)
On Saturday, May 12, 2012, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action will honor the original intention of Mother’s Day (peace) and the women who have resisted war throughout the ages.  It will be a full day of activities, including nonviolence training, action planning, and a vigil and action at one of the entrance gates to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, home of the West Coast Trident nuclear ballistic missile submarine fleet.  See link for more information.

3. MOTHER'S DAY VIGIL AT IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTER (Colleen)
The fourth annual Mother's Day Vigil in support of immigrant mothers and families at the Northwest Detention Center will be held on Saturday, May 12th, 12 noon-2 pm (1623 E. "J" St., Tacoma).

4. BIX TO BE AWARDED GREATER TACOMA PEACE PRIZE (Mark)
On Jun. 2, 2012, at the annual Spring Banquet of the Scandinavian Cultural Center at PLU, the Rev. William Bichsel, S.J., popularly known as "Bix," will be awarded the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize.  See here for more information about the banquet.

Respectfully submitted,
Mark