In Bradford, Ohio today, I interviewed Richard Brogden who was back visiting his mother here. Brogden currently lives in Israel and is pastor of the Narkis Street Congregation there. He said trouble continues to brew in Isreal, despite the giving of the Gaza Strip land back to the Palestinians a couple weeks back. Rev. Brogden said “right wing factions” in Israel feel the Israelis are making too many sacrifices with land concessions — like that of the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, he said Palestinian attacks continue as well… The day before in Vandalia, Ohio, I interviewed Bob Swab, who is a former Social Action Coordinator for the Cincinnati Dioceses. In speaking of Pro-Life issues, he said: “The man is never taken to task on abortion.” And not only should the man be held as responsible for a pregnancy, but the man should also receive counseling, and so on, just like the woman, he said… Swab also said it is ironic we are fighting terrorism abroad, yet we harbor the “School Of The Americas” (Ft. Benning, GA) here.
We traveled to Xenia, Ohio where I interviewed Tom Griffis who helps co-ordinate Habitat for Humanity projects here. He told me one of the Habitat house initiatives in Xenia the year before pulled together 12 churches to help. Besides making for the building of a quality house, this kind of church cooperative is excellent at getting dialogue going between people who wouldn’t ordinarily mix… In Xenia, I also interviewed Mary Howell who is the Secretary for St. Brigid’s “Partners in Education.” Parents involved with Partners in Education do creative fundraisers to help subsidize the cost of St. Brigid School field trips, new lockers, a track program, balls for the playground. In addition, Ms. Howell told me the school also has a seperate fund specifically designated for students needing help paying for tuition, for uniforms, and so on. Note: Several years ago, I gave a talk to an Education class at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. While at the class, I also learned about an alternative high school program in Rhode Island that included “teams” that would form around each student. The team would include parents, the school counselor, a teacher, a business person from the community in a field the student may be interested in, a neighbor… The team would meet each month to talk about the student’s progress, strategize about goal planning, and so on. Not only does the student get a tremendous amount of support, but this team concept helps get other people who might not necessarily be that interested in the town school system, interested. Everybody wins. Note 2: I threw out the first pitch at a St. Brigid Church picnic kickball game today — and one of the youth ‘kicked’ it for a home run. (I’ve yet to master ‘rolling’ a good curve ball.)
We attended a conference on “Peak Oil” at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio today. The conference focused on the societal shift that needs to happen now that we’re now on the verge of peak oil production worldwide, and we are starting to move into a downward oil cycle. Put another way, speaker Pat Murphy echoed what many environmentalists are now saying: “The fossil fuel party is over.” Murphy, who is the Executive Director of Community Services, Inc. in Yellow Springs, called for much more of a phasing in of solar and wind technologies: “as soon as possible.” Murphy pointed out that during the oil crisis of the late ’70s in the U.S., Jimmy Carter had solar panels put on the White House roof. Ronald Reagan ordered they be taken down when he got in… Murphy also noted only 18% of the world lives in First World comfort, while much of the rest lives in staggering Third World poverty. He said we have become a country of ravenous “consumers” (energy, food, material goods…); while billions in the Third World live with less than the bare essentials in food, energy, shelter, and so on. He said years from now, our American society will be looked at as an abberation in regard to how we should really be living within the context of the global community. And Mr. Murphy added it is essential we become a society of “conservers,” rather than “consumers ” — as soon as possible as well… Berkley, California’s Jan Lundberg said: “The eco-system is on the ropes and the industrial world is in denial.” Describing himself as a “cultural change activist,” Lundgren said our society is going to have to “relocalize and contract.” That is, in the next era there will be a lot more local production for local consumption with food and goods, because peoples’ mobility will be curtailed significantly. [It was pointed out at the conference that an average food item in America now is trucked about 1,500 miles before getting to the table.]… Conference speaker Michael Shuman, from Maine, reiterated we must begin shifting to smaller, sustainable communities in which there is more interdependency. The author of the book: “Buy Local,” and an economist, Shuman proposes more incubators and mentorship programs to help small local businesses get started. He also recommends local citizens buy shares in local businesses to increase, even more, the local ties, etc.
Last night we took the kids to a town park in West Mansfield, Ohio. In the park is a restored “Flatwoods Schoolhouse.” An historical plaque here says descendents of slaves who may have eached Ohio through the Underground RR formed the community of Flatwoods (near here). This one room school house was built in 1868 for African American children — not long after Blacks were allowed to attend school in the U.S. for the first time. [See our position paper on “Amends to Blacks and Native Americans.”]… Note: West Mansfield is also the home of “Goff & Electric Train Museum,” the biggest independent train museum in Ohio, it’s claimed. Delphos Goff told me he has 238 locomotives and more than 1,000 other train cars and other assorted pieces. He also said he can run four tracks at the same time… On the way out of town, we stopped at the “Hungry Farmer Restaurant” where there are two big John Deere green clocks (with different kinds of John Deere tractors for each hour); a play area for children with, of course, metal John Deere tractors, and a couple guys in the restaurant even had on John Deere hats this night. We’re talking: ‘farm ambiance’ to the max.
Traveling south on Rte. 68 in Ohio, I interviewed Larry Spradlin who has been a volunteer EMT the past 20 years in Ada, Ohio. Larry is a member of the Local Emergency Planning Board, which is made up of representatives from the Fire Department, Police Department, town council, business community… He said it is his take that we have been way too preocupied with “Homeland Security” of late, and as a result, planning for natural disasters, and the like, has lagged. He said he believes we saw this quite graphically in New Orleans. On a local level here, Larry said he’s been lobbying for more emphasis on planning for the aftermath of, say, tornadoes than terrorist attacks in this rural area. Because he said common sense would indicate tornadoes are more likely in this part of Ohio… We then traveled south to Kenton, Ohio where I was interviewed by the Kenton Times. The reporter asked if I thought the busy hurricane season this year is a byproduct of global warming. I said it could well be. In addition, I said according to things I’d read of late, global warming could well be accounting for dramatic melting of the polar ice caps and the warming of the oceans. For instance, I read an article last year that explained that as the ocean temperature rises along the coasts, massive amounts of plankton are dying in kind. Why that’s important is because plankton is the first level: on the food chain. Note: In La Rue, Ohio today I learned that the famous Jim Thorpe lived here. He coached and played for the Oorang Indians, which was a Nationl Football League team made up entirely of Native Americans. Local historian Lance Roberts told me that La Rue was the smallest city (pop. 800) to ever have an NFL team. The team played just two years, 1922 and ’23. And it probably would have been longer, if the guys didn’t get so tired. Roberts told Oorang Indians would play the first half, go to the locker room, change into Native American traditional garb, do a Wild West half-time show (“With wild animals, and everything,” Roberts smiled.), then race back to the locker room, change, and take the field for the second half. Let’s see the ?Cincinnati Bengals, or Cleveland Browns, do that, huh!
Talked with Paul Weaver, a visiting professor at Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio. He is from Worthington, Minnesota and recently coordinated the establishment of a bi-lingual, elementary school there. The school is a mix of Hispanics and Whites, with a twist: Hispanics youth learn English — and the White youth learn Spanish. In addition, each group learns about the other group’s culture, and so on. The intent is to promote more diversity, and more understanding. Excellent initiative… Paul is also a member of the “Christian Peacekeeper Team (CPT).” He has gone into “hot spots” in South America, for instance, to stand as a peaceful witness, mediator, and so on, in the midst of street violence and war zones. Note: Several years ago, while doing research on the organization, I attended a CPT National Conference in Indiana. There I learned that it’s the CPT credo that: As soldiers are willing to die for their cause; CPters are willing to die for peace.
Interviewed Frank Grieshop on his farm in Russia, Ohio today. Frank built his home here for a mere $6,000, and it is one of the most energy efficient we’ve seen. It was built into the side of a hill for insulation, has multiple solar panels on the roof and a wind turbine out back. In addition, the south side of the place are all large windows (for passive solar) and they overlook an indoor garden… Grieshop also has 70 head of cattle on his farm, all organically fed. He is what we’d consider an extremely good environmental steward… From Frank’s place, we headed north to get our “kicks” on Ohio’s Rte. 66. We stopped in Celina to pass on a press release, then headed to Spencerville where I was interviewed by the editor of the newspaper. She asked if I had any advice to help with the funding shortfall Ohio schools are currently experiencing. I said for one, even if a local levy to support a school system fails, wouldn’t it be common sense that the people who voted for the levy set up a voluntary school fund to deposit the taxes they would have been assessed anyway. This way, at least the school system would get some funds. And who knows, maybe others would get on board when they see the lengths there fellow citizens are going to help the local youth. The editor said she’d never heard of that idea, but added she thought it was a: “good one.”
We headed south to Greenville, Ohio where I told the Greenville Daily Advocate newspaper that I had talked the day before at an organic farm festival at Dan Kremer’s Farm in Yorkshire. I said Dan, who is a strong advocate of organic farming, would be the type of person I’d tap for a Secretary of Agriculture position. A small town, common sense guy who has a penchant for doing the right thing in the face of a (agri)culture doing the wrong thing, chemical farming… We then made a campaign stop in Versailles, Ohio where Joe Hurell from Miami County honked and called out that he had voted for us in 2004. We talked a bit on the side of the road, and Joe explained he was running for Congress next year. He also said he wanted to thank us for holding true to Catholic Church teaching “on every point…” And finally, we headed to Russia, Ohio where I participated in a Bible Study at St. Remy’s Church. The topic came up about one’s sin nature. I said several years ago I’d read a book called The Road Less Traveled. And in it, author M. Scott Peck said we are all subject to the “Natural Law of Entropy.” That is, we’re lazy and have a tendency to flow downstream, so to speak. Spiritual growth, on the other hand, is about swimming against the current like a salmon swimming upstream. That is, spiritual growth is about continually making harder decisions. For instance, I mentioned that it would have been easier for some at the prayer group to stay home, crack a beer and sit back to watch Monday Night Football. But instead, they had chosen to come here to study and discuss how to better incorporate the teachings of the Bible into their lives. Note: Later in the group, one of the members (who I will keep anonymous) made a corrollary back to what I was saying about the “tuna swimming upstream.” Apparently not a fisherman.
I was the featured speaker at Dan Kremer’s “Eat Food For Life” Organic Farm Festival in Yorkshire, Ohio today. I said several years ago we interviewed professor David Orr who is the head of Oberlin College’s Environmental Science Department and author of the book: Earth in Mind. He explained farm chemicals like herbacides, pesticides, and so on, are creating “chemical cocktails” that are exploding in the form of things like cancer in our systems. I said with all due respect to “A Race for a Cure,” the country should, I believe, be more focused on : “A Race for Prevention.” That is, common sense would say we should be in a race to stop using things that cause cancer in the first place. And I said our agricultural platform would push for a tremendous shift to much more organic farming in the country… During Campaign 2004, I was interviewed by a newspaper in Bellefountaine, Ohio — right in the heart of rural America. I said the U.S. is so concerned about the use of chemical weapons by other countries; meanwhile, and quite paradoxically — many American farmers are using ‘chemical weapons’: on us. Note: Dan Kremer not only farms organically, but is an evangelist for the practice. (He follows Catholic Rural Life Association teachings for being a good environmental steward.) His farm festival drew people from Covington, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio… He also gives seminars and has helped establish a quite successful, organic co-op that represents a number of local organic growers (providing bread, meat, cheese, vegetables, fruit…) out of his “Farm Store” in Yorkshire. For more on the Kremer farm, see: www.eatfoodforlife.com
In Sidney, Ohio I interviewed Kevin Schmiesing of the Acton Institute. The Intstitute works to bring together religious, business, academic and political leaders. The hope is to help promote more social justice and human dignity in the world. For instance, Schmiesing explained Acton will bring together theologians and economists to discuss things like: just wage; just price; just working conditions… “Employers have a responsibility above the logic of the market,” said Schmiesing, referring to the promotion, for instance, of the issues just outlined… Someone who is taking all these to heart, and more, is Michael La Frome, who also lives in Sidney. He is currently an independent contractor, but had previously worked for a construction firm. He’s a Catholic and has taken the papal encyclical: “On Human Work” to heart. La Frome told me he takes seriously the encyclical’s teachings about bringing spirituality into the work place. And as an example, when La Frome, who is adamently Pro-Life, found out his company’s insurance plan covered abortions, he went to the front office to protest. He also said he took issue with some of the “dishonesty” he saw, in regard to the company, say, promising something — then not following through. La Frome finally went out on his own. Note: I met with La Frome in “The Spot” Restaurant in downtown Sidney. (It’s the: spot to be.) President Bush, it turns out, had stopped here for lunch just before Election 2004. Collages of pictures of Mr. Bush with the owner, the employees, the townspeople — even Mr. Bush with a batch of “The Spot” pies for his staff — were all over the walls. Meanwhile, not even one person took my picture in the restaurant this morning. Not even my daughter Sarah, and I had asked her to! Ah, the trials of an independent presidential candidate…