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.
9/23/05
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!
9/21/05
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.
9/20/05
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.”
9/19/05
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.
9/18/05
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
9/17/05
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…
9/16/05
I was interviewed by the Piqua (OH) Daily Call newspaper yesterday. The reporter asked if my family’s giving up everything to “follow a dream” had inspired others to follow their dreams? I said: “I hope so.” I also told the reporter that it occured to me that it was an awful knee jerk reaction to start pumping billions of dollars into New Orleans to rebuild right away. I said what would make more sense, I believe, is to allow for a time of considered study, debate, and discernment…. In Sidney, Ohio last night, I interviewed Dan Howk who had worked as an emergency room nurse in Brunswick, Georgia for six years. He said like with the poor who had been left behind in New Orleans, Brunswick has a whole population of poor “whose primary care physician is the: Emergency Room.” And Dan said hospital staff there had seen this from generation to generation… During an interview with the Sidney Daily News today, I said Americans should consider house sharing (two families to a home). You would cut expenses in half on shared appliances, heating, lawn equipment, mortage payments… And some of the savings, hopefully a significant amount of the savings, could go toward ending, oh, things like inner city poverty and world hunger. Note: At Mass at Holy Angels Church in Sidney today, the Gospel reading was about the Apostle Paul exhorting people not to make money (and all it can buy, read: comfort, status, and so on…) their main priority; while making the things of God secondary. Translated: Wouldn’t that mean sacrificing some of our American ‘comfort’ in single family dwellings, as an example, so millions living in abject poverty in the Third World can have at least the bare necessities in shelter, food, clothing? I mean, a third of the Gospel message, for instance, is about helping the poor. So in this case, wouldn’t cutting back on our ‘comfort’ levels in the U.S., to help the poor of the Third World, be: putting the things of God first — as opposed to making money (to purchase ‘comfort’) their main priority? What we spend the most money on, ultimately, indicates our main priority — no matter what we say.
9/15/05
In Piqua, Ohio I interviewed Wendy Wion who has taught at Piqua Junior High School the past 20 years. She was at a training in town today to understand more about the criteria for the “No Child Left Behind” proficiency requirements. She said the standardized requirements have her limited as far as how much creativity she can use in a classroom. She is a language arts teacher, and said she likes to expose her students to wide arrays of literature on a specific topic. (For instance, in the past she used to devote a whole unit to the writings of Anne Frank and other books on the Holocaust, because of it’s historical significance, etc.) However, because of all the criteria now around learning the rudiments of literature (facts, opinions, author’s main intent…) so the students grade well on the standardized tests, Ms. Wion said she has had to limit the Holocaust reading (or other broad band book pursuits) to much shorter periods of time. “There’s so much more I want to show them, give them,” said Ms. Wion… Another concern, said Ms. Wion, is just who is devising these tests, and what criteria they were using to come up with the test questions… In the book: Test Scores and What They Mean, author Howard Lyman writes: “Any time we prepare a test, whether for classroom use or for national distribution, we must decide what items to write, what elements of information to include, what wording to use, etc. Inevitably there is some degree of subjectivity in test-making.” [In other words, what might be deemed a priority in education by some, might not be by others.] And do we want the Federal Government determining this? Or do we want local teachers at local schools with local students, assessing those educational priorities based on the student needs they see, and using their own creativite professionalism to meet those needs? Note: When Piqua librarian Glenn Devers found out I was running for president, he smiled and told me he had been considering running for president himself. If he decides to declare, he said his slogan would be: “GLENN IS GREAT IN 2008!” I asked him if I could use that if he doesn’t run. He smiled again.
9/14/05
We have headed into the interior of Ohio for more campaigning. (After the last presidential election, one should perhpas never overlook Ohio.) And again, we are doing this all without political strategists… In Deleware, Ohio, Bill Edmonds took me on a tour of the Andrews House. Started some 12 years ago, the Andrews House is a big, two-story place that is supported by 12 area churches. During the ’90s, the house provided rooms for runaway youth. It now provides transitional housing for homeless families. In addition, the Andrews House does community meals for those in need and provides extremely low rent office space upstairs for such non-profits as: Big Brothers and Big Sisters; Action for Children; Alzheimer Association… It occurs to me that the networking of these 12 churches to help support all these positive initiatives througout Deleware creates the type of creative synergy which could work in any town. Note: On Sunday at Mass in West Union, Ohio the priest told a joke: A secretary came to the psychiatrist explaining: “There’s a man in the lobby who says he’s invisible.” The psychaitrist replied: “Well, tell him I can’t see him then.”