We stopped in Yellow Springs, Ohio (pop. 4,000). The town is dotted with “NO SPRAWL” signs. Chamber of Commerce volunteer Joan Horn told me a developer had recently bought a tract of land on the outskirts of town and had plans to put in a strip mall with a Kinkos, and a number of other stores. (All Yellow Springs’ businesses are currently located downtown.) Many of the residents, who believe in the concept of Decentralism in general, maintaining the integrity of their downtown specifically, and keeping things as ‘walkable’ and cyclable as possible — dramatically rose up with these loud, yellow yard signs and a barrage of letters-to-the-editor of the town paper. The developer backed off. Note: In an article about “Getting Fit” in the current Time Magazine, it was noted: “The average Amish man takes 18,425 steps a day, and the average Amish woman takes 14,196. A typical American [not counting those in Yellow Springs, Ohio] takes: 5,000.”
We’re in Peebles, Ohio, where we are staying with some friends for a few days. Our Sarah’s pen pal Leah Brockhoeft is here. They are both nine-years-old and have recently started a: “Club.” The Club is focused on “What Kids Can Do To Help The World.” (Quite a leap from when I was nine and the “Club” was in a tree house where we talked about bicyles, baseball and how to keep girls out.) Leah had recently put together a handmade booklet she sent to Sarah. The booklet included magazine pictures and captions of tsunami victims in Indonesia. It also had a plan Leah had devised for raising money for the survivors. She was doing extra things around the house, like mowing the grass, weeding the garden… to make money for the cause. Shortly after we arrived, Leah and Sarah also made a lemonade stand and raised a considerable bit more for Indonesia as well. Note: The Brockhoefts are not only teaching their children about helping the disadvantaged, they are also teaching them about a gamut of moralistic issues. One being “modesty in dress.” One afternoon the kids went swimming in a small, inflatable back yard pool. For a swimsuit, Leah wore a light, rubberized dress that came down to her knees and snapped in the middle. Leah’s mother Joanne told me she had ordered the dress from a company called: “Wholesome Wear.”
We stopped in Mt. Hope, Ohio a couple days ago. And yesterday the campaign had us intersect with Gene Enz of Mt. Joy, Ohio. (Notice the ‘optomistic’ tenor, hope, joy… [sorry]) Anyway, Enz is a farmer who told me he would like to see less government programs to help the disadvantaged, and more “people helping people” programs at a grassroots, local level. We then went to Peebles, Ohio where we learned there is an organization here in Adam’s County (as there is in other parts of the country) called: “Love Inc.” This is a non-profit that networks those in need with local churches, and individuals, who can help. As an example, Joanne Brockhoeft, who participates in the program here, said someone might have an unexpected medical emergency, and need funds; or a family might have had another child, and needs a bed; and so on… I couldn’t help but think this is the kind of program Gene Enz would like to see more of. Note: This part of the campaign swing has taken us through a lot of rural farm land with a lot of “hokey moo cows.” Meant to be pronounced: “horsey moo cows.” That’s our two-year-old Jonathan’s name for: horses. (Don’t ask me how he came up with this apparent cross breeding idea. But we think it’s kind of cute.)
We have launched on our next tour, first stop: Mt. Hope, Ohio (pop. 2,000). Author Gene Logsdon has called Mt. Hope the best town in Ohio. Why? Mt. Hope is Amish, and for the most part: sustainable. That is, the main modes of transportation are buggies and bicycles. Because of limited (and non-polluting) mobility, local people have to rely on local people for the “stuff of life.” Farmers grow for the local people. A diversified group of small “Mom & Pop” shops downtown provide: clothing, shoes, hardware, food… again, all the basic stuff of life. With everyone reliant on everyone else, common sense would say the people here are quite close. And they are, according to Daniel Troyer. Daniel is an Amish woodworker with Homestead Furniture, who grew up in Mt. Hope and lives in a home with his family, right next to his parents. The Amish place a tremendous premium on family, as they do on community — as opposed to unbridled upward mobility. Dan expalined, for instance, the Amish here have an insurance group with a rather unique fund. People in the group put one day’s wages into the fund, every month. Daniel said this is an expression of care for one’s neighbors, and a way to ‘insure’ that no one goes without help.
Memorial Day: In Memorial Days past, our family has gone out to local cemeteries to honor those who have fought for our country. Yesterday, we met with a group of Catholic Workers on Cleveland’s near west side who, quite regularly, “fight for peace.” They are non-violent, opposed to war, and quite vocal about it. What’s more, they work stridently for more social justice, worldwide, to help diffuse some of the tension that leads to war. For instance, yesterday I interviewed Sr. Catherine Walsh who is with the Catholic Workers in Akron, and who had come out to Cleveland for the day. She supervises an Hispanic Catholic Worker House in Akron and said several years ago she had taken in a woman who had come here from the Honduras. A natural disaster had destroyed this woman’s home. A single mother, she left her three chidren with a sister, traveled north through five countries, and entered the U.S. illegally (with the help of “Coyotes”) to earn money so her children could eat and have another home. Sr. Catherine said the woman worked at a back breaking job for meager wages in a tire company (her arms often black and blue from all the lifting), all to take care of her children…. And we’re worried about these people being here? We should be looking at this as a tremendous spiritual opportunity, to help.
My wife Liz met with Beth Mancuso on Cleveland’s near west side. She is the “Queen of Recycling.” For her organic garden, she obtained a mixture of aged sawdust and manure from the Cleveland Mounted Police Stables. She noted that if she grows her own vegetables (for a family of four), there is less impact on the environment because tractors don’t have to plow and trucks don’t have to transport the produce. Beth also uses recycled coat hangers for cucumber vines and recycled computer boxes are used for cold frames in her backyard greenhouse. Recycled plastic jugs, filled with water dyed black, are used for solar heating within the greenhouse. (I couldn’t help but think how much saner it would be environmentally, if there were more Beth Mancusos out there.)
*We are preparing for our second tour of Campaign 2008 and need some help. On June 14, my family and I will launch on a 7,000 mile cross country tour. Our travels will take us through some 12 states and we are trying to raise donations now for the tour. We are quite affective at spreading a message on the road; but we need help. We can be reached by mail at: 2100 W. 38th St., Cleveland, Ohio 44113 until May 31; then we will be back in our old hometown (Bluffton) until June 14, doing final preparations for the tour. We can be reached by mail there between June 1 and 14: Joe Schriner, c/o the Basingers, 9745 N. Phillips Rd., Bluffton, Ohio 45817. Thank you. Note: An investment in us is a ‘vote’ for more help to hungry children in the Third World; cleaner skies over America; more quality health care for the poor; more Life options for women in crisis pregnancy… (Checks can be made payable to the: Schriner Presidential Election Committee.)
I talked with Peter Seelig at Calvary Reformed Church on Cleveland’s near west side this past weekend. Mr. Seelig, 66, retired from a job with the city of Cleveland 11 years ago. He has waved ‘Easy Street,’ so to speak, in his retirement. He has become a deacon at Calvary and regularly works with the children at the church. Mr. Seelig said he believed it was ‘God’s retirement plan’ that he remain as active as possible, for “the kingdom.” And his committment is such that, even though he lives 35 minutes from the church, Mr. Seelig comes in regularly — on a bus.
I interviewed Antonoitte Bosco this week. She has authored 14 books, including Choosing Mercy. The latter won a Pax Christi Award and is about her advocacy against the death penalty — even though her son and daughter-in-law were shot to death. Some 12 years after the killings, the convicted murderer wrote Ms. Bosco a letter asking for forgiveness. If he had been executed prior to this, Ms. Bosco told me whe wondered what his eternal, spiritual consequence would have been. Only God has a “right to take a life,” she said. And she added: “I don’t believe we should rob thieves, rape rapists, burn an arsonist, or kill a killer…” Our platform is in line with this as well. And we believe, strongly, in the concept of “Restorative Justice.” That is, there should be much more rehabilitative help for all those who are incarcerated.
Interviewed Kathleen Newsome over the weekend. She had the number “25,251” marked in black on her arm. It was for: the 25,251 st death toll victim (military, civilian, humanitarian aid worker…) in the Iraq War. Ms. Newsome is a member of “Code Pink for Peace,” which was helping sponsor a nationwide push to get people to pominently display “one of the casualty numbers” somewhere on their person. Ms. Newsome said that some of the figures she’s seen places the casualties in Iraq at: over 100,000 now. “No matter how smart a bomb is, they’re not that smart,” she lamented.