Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. I met with Bowling Green State University graduate student Jeff Moore today who explained he was recently on a “Cultural Emersion” trip to The Bronx with BGSU sociology professor Dr. Bill Thompson. Moore said, among many things, he was particularly struck with how education (because of dead-end poverty, and the like) doesn’t seemed to be valued much in The Bronx. However, Moore said there was also hope there with such creative programs as The Point. Running out of an old converted warehouse, The Point offers area youth meals, tutoring in school work and computers… Among the more creative programs, said Moore, is an art class that revolves around: graffiti. “Well, it seems to be what some youth are quite interested in,” Moore smiled.
8/9/04
Average Joe Buckey Blitz Tour cont. The Columbus Dispatch ran a front page article yesterday saying that based on a recent poll the presidential election this year could come down to “7 percent of Ohio voters who say they are undecided.” By the end of our current “Average Joe Buckeye Blitz Tour,” I wonder how many of them will ‘decide’ for an ‘average guy’ who comes from their own state?
8/9/04
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. We have come to Bowling Green, Ohio for a whistle-stop event at noon Wednesday here in the downtown. I graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1978 with a degree in journalism. On a previous campaign swing through here (on a Summer/2000 biycle tour of the Midwest), I told a reporter from Bowling Green’s Sentinel Tribune newspaper that if someone would have suggested that I would be running for president 25 years later, I would have replied: “Have another cup of coffee.”
8/6/04
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. We did a whistle-stop event in Chagrin Falls, Ohio today on a street corner overlooking the falls here. Beautiful sight. A reporter from the Chagrin Valley Times asked me about our platform. I noted that the upscale environment in Chagrin Falls might not be as ‘beautiful a sight,’ in respect to spiritual and social justice (id, post_author, post_date, post_content, post_title, post_category, post_excerpt, post_status, comment_status, ping_status, post_password, post_name,to_ping, pinged, post_modified) VALUES. That is, people here might want to consider that the next time they step into the new Lexus with all the options, or hop in a comfortable bed in their $300,000 (or more) home… “there’s a little child starving to death at the same moment somewhere in the Third World.” I also told the reporter that according to U.N. figures there are some 24,000 children (and adults) who starve to death in the World — every day. That, I said, should give us all pause… After the event, our children talked with photographer Itamar Gat, who had come to shoot our event. He’s from Israel and fascinated them with tales of riding camels in his youth in Israel. “No Joseph (our six-year-old), there is no camel riding in Ohio — that I know of,” I smiled… Tonight we journeyed across the state, not by a camel caravan, but rather by “Average Joe Mobile” caravan, to Bowling Green, Ohio. While having coffee with Liz in a cafe called “Grounds for Thought,” I was approached by a representatve of the local chapter of the: League of [Teed-Off] Voters. (They actually use other phraseology than ‘Teed-Off’). Shannon Morgillo told me the group is primarily made up of young adults who want to form a “voting block” for change. And they meet every week to stategize about doing just that. Bowling Green’s chapter currently has about 15 people.
8/5/04 (cont.)
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. Tonight we met with Fran Clark who is the past president of the board for Womankind. Fran explained Womankind is a rather unique Maternal and Prenatal Care Center that offers women with unexpected pregnancy, and their families, comprehensive care that includes long term counseling, education and support programs. The organization, which is based in Garfield Heights, Ohio, is rather unique in that among it’s 100 volunteers, or so, there are a good number of doctors, nurses, midwives… who provide a continuum of care for the first 28 weeks of pregnancy. Other support services include: childbirth classes, breast feeding information, nutrition counseling, legal assistance, financial counseling… Note: Fran Clark attends St. Joan of Arc Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. And after a prayer service there tonight, my wife Liz came across a brochure for the “Elizabeth Ministry,” which involves assigning a woman “mentor” to a mother during child bearing years to help with parenting questions, to foster camaraderie and to help in other areas… I couldn’t help but think that the Elizabeth Ministry, or similar programs, would be the next natural extension of the “Pro-Life” work continuum. (The Elizabeth Ministry is based out of Allen, Texas.)
8/5/04 (cont.)
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. On a campaign swing through Ohio last week, President Bush stopped to visit with the Cleveland Browns at their training camp — even though I’m sure he’s a Cowboy’s fan [read: photo-op]. Not to be out done, and because growing up I was an avid Browns fan (being from Cleveland and all), we headed to their training camp today. After a few long, winding country roads, we arrived at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio. I asked a student where the Browns were. “While they used to train here, they now train in Berea, Ohio (some 40 miles away),” he said. I told a rather disgruntled wife (and campaign manager) that we “really need an advance staff.” She said something about really needing a new husband.
8/5/04
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz cont. In a talk at St. Stephen’s Church in Niles, Ohio, this morning, I asked: “Does anybody remember the word ‘modesty’ as it relates to dress anymore?” Later we did a whistle-stop event in downtown Niles. A television crew and reporters from Youngstown and Warren were there. I said to Stephen Oravecz of the Tribune Chronicle that in a “saner society,” wouldn’t it be better if, instead of spending billions of dollars on Space Programs to get to Mars to see about water there, we were spending that money on projects to make the water clean on this planet so scores of little children didn’t have to die from contaminated drinking water in the Third World, every day. (On an 8-month tour of Ohio in 2002, I said the same thing to a reporter in Wapakonata, Ohio — home of the first astronaut to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong. Ok, so maybe we lost a few votes in Wapakoneta, but…)
8/4/04
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz Tour cont… Tomorrow we do a noon whistle stop event in the shadows of the William McKinley Presidential Library. Out front there is a display explaining there have been eight presidents from Ohio. I’ll be the 9th.
8/4/04
Average Joe Buckeye Blitz Tour cont… We met with Fr. Karl Kish in Cortland, Ohio today to hear about C.H.O.W. (Courtland Humanitarian Outreach Worldwide). “We see a world that suffers from an unequal distrubution of goods and resources that results in poverty,” according to C.H.O.W. literature. To help, Fr. Kish pointed out churches and other organizations here have united to: send winter clothes to Kosovo, school desks to El Salvador, medical supplies to the Honduras… Our platform calls for such initiatives across the country, en mass, and the Meadville (PA) Tribune recently noted our campaign has adopted the motto: “Live Simply So Others May Simply Live.”
8/3/04
11:44 a.m.: We have just crossed the Ohio line on Rte. 90 heading west. And the Average Joe Buckeye Blitz Tour is underway. Let the games begin! … And they did. Our first stop was Cortland, Ohio. We were eating dinner in an outdoor pavilion by ourselves when, out of the blue, a group of some 16 bocce bowlers showed for their weekly game. They, graciously, asked us to play, but again there was no suggestion of me ‘throwing out the first…’ er, ‘rolling the first ball’ as the visiting presidential candidate. (See 7/27 entry from Sanford, Maine.)