Vote for Joe

I took the kids to a “Candidates Night” in our neighborhood. There is a mayoral race this year, and the current Cleveland mayor, Jane Campbell, spoke about Hispanic issues (the neighborhood had a big Hispanic population). She said since her administration started, the high school graduating rate for Hispanic youth has jumped from 32.4% a year to 50% a year… Several years ago on a Hispanic Immigration Border Tour, we researched the “Hispanic Council Program” in Eunice, New Mexico. Hispanics in this border town, who had been in America for awhile, set up a grassroots program to help new Hispanic arrivals. Bi-lingual tutors helped the new Hispanic youth with school work and scholarship funds were raised for youth who wanted to go on to college. Seminars were held to inform new arrivals about the array of social services they could utilize. There was also information about how to start small businesses in America, and so on. One of the coordinators, Leon Navarette, told me that new Hispanic arrivals here often get stereotyped (work wise). Many have much more talent than “putting a foot to a shovel,” he said. Note: While on the border tour, I told the Hobbs, New Mexico Sun newspaper that we shouldn’t look at new Hispanic arrivals as a burden; but rather as a tremendous opportunity: to help.

Met with a human rights activist from Columbia, South America. He is currently in the U.S. to raise awareness (behind the scenes) about the plight of the poor living deep in the forests of his country. According to this activist, through an intricate (and quite violent) web of multi-naitonal companies, factions of the Columbian government, and para-military groups clandestinely linked to the government, these villagers are being regularly terrorized (including many killings) in order to force them off their land. Land they have lived on for generations. The reason they are being forced out, is the multi-national companies want wholesale access to the forest’s natural resources, said the activist, who requested anonymity. The reason he requested anonymity is because a fellow Columbian activist, who had been vocally standing up for the rights of the villagers, was recently found murdered. Note: We’ll buy the cheap lumber from Home Depot without giving it another thought. Yet somewhere in a forest far from here, people are being terrorized so we can maintain our excessive U.S. lifestyle and the people behind the multi-national companies (and the governments they manipulate) — can make as much money as possible. One of the answers: As an example, forgoe the new home additons (new wooden flooring, new furniture…) in America, England, France… to reduce the demand for lumber, then take the savings and funnel it into a humanitarian aid agency to help the people in the forest villages of Columbia (Peru, Mexico…) become, and stay, sustainable. I mean most of us (in the “First World”) are already ‘overly sustainable,’ so to speak, in comparison to most of the rest of the world. An addendum… Several years ago I researched a development outside of St. George, Utah called: Kayente. This was a development of single story homes that were built with ‘low profiles.’ That is, the ceilings (as an example) were only about 10 ft. high — to conserve building material and enhance “view corridors” toward the western cliffs nearby. What’s more, lower ceilings means there is less air to heat, cool.

Periodically as we travel, we will stop in at a gym to work out. Today in Findlay, Ohio, we were invited to “Jim’s Gym.” A work out facility, with a twist. Music is often Christian music, and it’s an unwritten rule here that no one (or practically no one) dresses immodestly. How refreshing. I also couldn’t help but think, when did we start thinking it was ok to dress immodestly on the tennis court, at the track, with cheerleaders at a game… I mean this is nothing more than soft porn, and we participate in it when we watch, or allow our children to dress in this fashion, etc. It’s sin. And just because most spiritual leaders don’t have the gumption to say so these days, doesn’t change that. It’s sin… We stopped in Attica, Ohio where we were approached by a woman on the street who asked about the campaign. She got excited and said she was going to write something for the local newspaper — even though she wasn’t even a reporter. “I’ve done that over the years, and they’ve always accepted the stories,” she smiled. (If it were all that easy out on the campaign trail!) Note: A sign on Jim Gym’s wall reads: “Seven days without Gym’s Jim, makes one weak.”

We traveled to Ottawa, Ohio where we learned Pandora-Gilboa high school student Allison Flickinger had just become a non-voting member of the school board. In a newspaper interview, Allison said: “It’s good to have a student voice, instead of only adults who do’t actually attend our school.” Good point. I told the Putnam County Sentinel newspaper that this only made sense, common sense. And as we traveled, we’d share Allison’s story with the hopes of opening the minds of other school boards to this possibility… This evening we attended a Bible Study at a Christian church in Arlington, Ohio. The man who gave the Bible lesson this evening, said he used to attend a church that had an “Accountability Group.” That is, group members would pair up, set goals (more time with family, more time helping the poor…), then meet once a week to “account” for what they’d done to work toward those goals during the week.

We headed north to Montpelier, Ohio where local historian Alan Benjamin told me that Montpelierite Paul Siple was chosen by Admiral Bryd to be the “one Boy Scout in America (out of a nationwide selection)” to accompany him on his famous South Pole expedition in 1928. Perhaps of even more note, Benjamin told me Paul Siple went on to develop the first formulat to measure “wind chill.” Benjamin also told me that in 2003, Montpelier, Ohio was voted as having the “best tasting tap water in America.” They’ve since bottled some, more as a novelty, and display it at the Chamber of Commerce. I told editor Jason Schumacher of the Montpelier The Leader Enterprise newspaper that, while we don’t pander to anyone, the people of Montpelier could be assured we’d serve Montpelier bottled tap water at the Inaugaration. However, I also told the editor that Montpelier’s Rowe’s Recreation Restaurant’s “Road Kill Omelette” might not be on that menu that day. Note: Just after Hurricane Katrina, Montpelier adopted the “sister village” of Montpelier, LA, which is 60 miles north of New Orleans and received some flooding. I interviewed Marlene Oxender, whose husband drove down to Montpelier, LA the week before with a check for $1,300 and a truck load of food (including Montpelier bottled tap water, of course), clothing, and so on to help their “sister village” with recovery efforts.