Vote for Joe

I spent the last few days extensively updating our position paper on “Agriculture.” (The updated paper should be up within the next month.) Anyway, one of the things I’m writing about is a seminar I attended in Ohio where a Bluffton College economics professor said that modern corporations, for the most part, see people as “individual markets,” not “individuals living in community.” As a result, making money from the “individual markets” is the priority, and how people live in community isn’t given much of a thought. So corporations often don’t hesitate to pollute, overwork cheap labor, or exploit natural resources… How this translates in the farming world is that corporate mega-farms in America can grow at such volume and ship cheaply enough — that these farms can undercut small family farmers selling to local markets in: Central America. As a result, impoverished people in the Third World become that much more impoverished… Question: Something to be “American Proud” of?

We took the kids to a jury trial for two Cleveland Catholic Workers who committed a non-violent act of civil disobedience about a month ago. During a prayer/protest rally outside an Armed Services Recruitment Center in Lakewood, Ohio, these two men chose to enter the premises and hold, in effect, a “sit in.” Police arrived and asked them to leave, but they chose to remain — and got arrested. The story made the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper and all the regional network news shows… On the stand before an almost full courtroom, Catholic Worker Chris Knestrick said he believed the “gospel of Jesus” calls us to pacifism with phrases like: turn the other cheek; do good to those who have harmed you… Knestrick, who is the Social Justice Coordinator at nearby St. Edward’s High School in Lakewood, said he’s seen, first-hand, the devastation war can wreak. He said his father was a Special Forces Green Beret in Vietnam who developed a bad case of post traumatic stress disorder. It dramatically affected, not only Chris’s dad, but the whole family… Joe Mueller was the other accused Catholic Worker. He had gone to Iraq the year before with a Christian Peacekeeper’s Team. (The next CPT team over to Iraq were kidnapped, made international news, and ultimately one of the members were murdered by insurgents.)… Mueller explained that during the protest in front of the Recruiting Center, the names of the dead soldiers were being read… Both men wanted to talk to recruiters and potential recruits that day, with the hopes of disuading some from becoming part of that list of names… Note: During one of the recesses, I was interviewed by Cleveland’s CBS anchor Harry Boomer. I said these men, like so many people in America these days, are opposed to the Iraq War. I then correlated their non-violent disobedience to similar acts during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America’s South. I said in retrospect, America sees how important those acts were in helping bring about an end to a societal wrong. And while the circumstances around Iraq are complex, these Catholic Workers should be commended for standing up for their beliefs. And, I added, it’s not like these men are criminals. They spend their days trying to help the poor in Cleveland in as many ways as possible, including taking them into their home, running a nightly drop-in center for the disadvantaged, and so on… Mr. Boomer also asked me my take on the Iraq War. I said we went in there predicated on finding Weapons of Mass Destruction. “Yet if we let the weapons inspectors into Montana, what would they find?” I posed. “They would find 2,000 Weapons of Mass Destruction aimed all over the world. Wouldn’t that make us [read: U.S.] look like a terrorist nation to a lot of other countries?” Well, of course it would. Note 2: Mueller and Knestrick lost the court case. Yet we told our kids that they actually won in respect to what they were trying to do — which was to get a point across.

Met with Meegan Kresge who is involved with Cleveland’s new “City Fresh” project. Sponsored by Ohio State University’s Agricultural Extension (and a number of other organizations), City Fresh is about inspiring “small scale agriculture” in the city. Ms. Kresge has just completed a 10-week City Fresh course that trains potential “city farmers” in such areas as: growing, composting, selling to area restaurants and other markets… Ms. Kresge said she is working to get a grant, and other financing, to turn part of an old, abandoned parking lot on Cleveland’s near Westside into a pretty substantial garden/farm. Ms. Kresge said Cleveland’s “Forest Service” will drop off free wood chips that will be laid 12 inches thick over the asphalt. This will then be layered with a good amount of topsoil made from composting. Then the plot will be ready for planting… Ms. Kresge said we will start seeing more of this local urban growing across the country as oil prices continue to climb. And with this, peoples’ understanding of how “freshness” adds to a food’s nutritional value will increase as well. Note: During her City Fresh course work, Ms. Kresge said a concept which really fascinated her was the: “Mobile Market.” That is, people were encouraged to consider pulling “veggie carts” around the neighborhoods. I mean, why not. The ice cream guy does it. And what’s better for you anyway, huh?

I went to a meeting on “affordable housing” last night on Cleveland’s near Westside. Attended by some 60 people, the meeting was sponsored by Neighborhood Voices, a dynamic group that has been proactively advocating for affodable housing in this area since 2003. The issue, in a nutshell, is this: The near Westside of Cleveland (like the near West and Eastsides of so many metropolitan areas these days) is caught in the juggernaut of ‘upscaling.’ That is, with gas prices continually rising, young urban professionals — and others from the suburbs — have been moving into the near Westside and rennovating on a grand scale. It is becoming wholesale “gentrification,” which in turn displaces the poor who have been in these neighborhoods for generations… Neighborhood Voices is shooting for a “mix” of socio-economic and racially diversified groups. “We are about inclusiveness, not exclusiveness,” said Neighborhood’s George Herbek, who facilitated the meeting. Herbek stressed the group was working for the “common good” in an area that has an ethnically rich Westside Market, vibrant churches, and all types of outreach help within walking distance… Neighborhood’s Jim Misak said the group was working with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority in lobbying for affordable housing in a series of new “Hope 6” projects in the neighborhood. And Marge Misak, Jim’s wife, said the group had met with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson who is now philosophically on board about, not just offering one-time affordable housing, but “permanent affordable housing.” Note: Several years ago, St. Patrick’s Church, also on Cleveland’s near Westside, spearheaded a “Project Afford Drive.” Money was raised to purchase and rennovate several homes, which were in turn offered at affordable prices to low income people.

Memorial Day… We went on a family picnic in the “Metro Park” in Rocky River, Ohio, today. While eating lunch, we talked to our children about their grandfather (on my side) flying jets off aircraft carriers for the Navy. (He got his wings just a few weeks after the Korean Conflict had ended.) We also told them about their great grandfather (also on my side) who fought during the World War I, road an Army motorcylce with a side car, and the fear for him and his Army buddies at the time was, among other things, being exposed to: “mustard gas.” We then prayed. We prayed for the soldiers in Iraq — on both sides. And we prayed that not only would the Iraq War end soon, but that all war would end soon. [Our administration would propose a U.S. Dept. of Peace — see “what joe stands for” (home page) to help bring some of that about.]… There were a lot of people in the Metro Park today. And after setting up our picnic spot, I strategically drove the “average Joe” Mobile (complete with a whole lot of signage) to a high traffic area about a quarter mile away. Well, when you don’t have the millions for advertising… Anyway, while heading back, I walked by a picnic table with an extended family of about 12 from the Medina, Ohio, area who were discussing, of all things, presidential elections. And just as I got a bit closer, one of the family members said (Are you ready for this?): “You watch, the next thing they’ll come up with is a reality show where anyone can run for president.” My cue… I walked right up to the table and told them I was that anyone. They laughed, thinking I was kidding. I showed them my “average Joe Schriner for president” button. They still thought I was kidding. Then, for kicks I guess, they asked me my platform. I smiled and said: “With Social Security, for instance, we’d like to see a paradigm shift. I believe(based on an interview I did with a former teacher of economics at North Carolina State Univeristy) that the American populace should look at the Social Security Fund as merely another form of ‘insurance,’ and not an ‘automatic’ after retirment. If someone is making, say, $70,000 or more on pensions, stocks, etc., annually, they shouldn’t be in need of Social Security as well. This would not only help keep the Fund solvent in the face of the current demographic shift of baby boomers entering retirement in way more numbers than those entering the work force; but it would also free up a lot more capital for those less fortunate.” At this point, the people from Medina didn’t think I was kidding anymore. And how I knew, was the partiarch of the family (he had on a blue apron and a grill fork in his hand) said: “If you get to D.C., are you going to remember us?”