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March 8th, 2021News, Updates & Events |
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Uncle Foods Diner
Meal Schedule |
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Enjoy our Annual
Pot of Gold Dinner and Support Uncle Food’s Diner Wednesday, March 17th, 2021 Celebrating 50,000 meals served on the Streets of Ashland since early 2020!!  Our Annual Pot of Gold Dinner will be held this year on Wednesday, March 17, featuring meals-to-go, since we cannot gather as before. Your meals will be delivered by our student volunteers between 5 and 6 pm on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Traditional Irish Lamb Stew or Vegan Stew Option - Colcannon: mashed potatoes with kale
- Home-baked Irish Soda Bread
- Pub Green Salad
- Bailey’s Brownies
$20. per meal $12. for children You can request meals for yourself, your family and friends by clicking the button below. |
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| By purchasing tickets you will help celebrate and support Uncle Food’s Dinner’s 29th year in operation and 50,000 meals served on the streets of Ashland, ramping up to four-days-a-week instead of our traditional weekly Community Meal. We have served as a mobile crisis unit with our food deliveries, seeing people through unemployment, houselessness, COVID shutdown and the Almeda Fire. We continue to interface with other organizations to meet the food needs of those who are hungry in our community. Our meals affirm people’s right to basic needs, dignity and respect. Since 1993, Uncle Food’s Diner has been a major feeding program for Ashland’s food insecure residents. We want to honor the Ashland United Methodist Church for their partnership in supporting The Diner. Generous donors like you are the key to our success and make it possible for Uncle Food’s Diner to provide local individuals and families in need with a warm meal and an opportunity to feel welcomed into our community. Our thanks for your time and consideration! |
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Register for the Zoom Webinar here: bit.ly/MarchEvent2021. Betty LaDuke is a lifelong activist and creator whose art expresses the people’s stories of struggle and celebration with vibrant colors and flowing forms. She will be speaking about migrants, refugees, the pandemic and her latest works, including Fire, Fury, and Resilience. Once you register for the webinar, you will receive an email confirmation with a link to access the event. Limited “seats” are available for the live webinar, but if we reach max capacity, you will be able to view a recording of the webinar later. If you have not done so already, you may want to download Zoom before the event at 7 pm on March 11. If you have questions about using Zoom, please reply to this email.
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News & UpdatesCOVID Housing and Community The Environment The Nation International Legislation Journalism EventsClimateSocial JusticeCommunity TV & Films |
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Jackson County COVID StatisticsCurrent as of 03/18/2021: View updated stats HERE Jackson County COVID-19 TESTING SITES |
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Dear friends, social activists and fearless comrades,
I have been working for ONA as a labor representative for nurses in Southern Oregon. We all know how difficult the last year has been in Southern Oregon and through it all, Oregon nurses have been there, serving our community through COVID and wildfire and everything else that has come up. I represent the nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center, where nurses earn less than anywhere in the valley. Meanwhile they are working long hours without breaks or enough days off without the support of Providence management for fair pay and patient safety. The hospital has a high turnover rate and is short-staffed and during COVID Providence Medford nurses are taking care of sicker patients with inadequate personal protective equipment. Unfortunately, it seems that Providence works nurses until they break down, get sick or leave. We can’t keep our most skilled nurses in Medford because Providence overworks, underpays, and undervalues nurses. Now, when nurses are asking Providence Medford Medical Center (PMMC) for fair wages and safe staffing levels, Providence is dragging its feet. They are one of richest health systems in the country and received nearly $700 million in taxpayer money while sitting on $12 billion in reserves and investments but they so far are refusing cost of living raises for hard-working nurses and they will not commit to providing adequate PPE so nurses don’t have to reuse masks and gowns while working with COVID patients. It’s outrageous. As we go through these contract negotiations over the next several weeks, we are asking for your help to show support for Providence nurses. During contract negotiations, Providence executives pay attention to the opinion of the community. Would you send a letter of support for Providence nurses to Chief Executive Officer Chris Pizzi, Regional Human Resource Director Beth Lagler, and Chief Nursing Officer Kate Kitchell? We are also asking you to share our posts on Facebook to help us raise awareness of our fight for a fair contract. Here is our page – please check it out and hear the stories from nurses first hand. Thank you for supporting Providence nurses! In solidarity, Misha Hernandez, Oregon Nurses Association Labor Relations Representative 541-210-4905 Hernandez@OregonRN.org |
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Protestors Demand Jackson County Jail Follow COVID-19 Guidelines
Activists gather outside of the Jackson County Jail, Saturday evening, March 6.
Late last month, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office reported that ten people incarcerated in the County Jail had tested positive for COVID-19. On Saturday evening, around 30 protestors marched around the Jackson County jail with noisemakers and signs, calling for the release of detainees at risk of contracting the virus. Leona Evans was one of the demonstrators who helped organize the event. She says that although the group wanted to make a statement to the jail staff, they mostly wanted to see if the people inside could hear their support. “We wanted to come and show some support and really make as much noise as possible so that we could penetrate that wall and see if people could hear us and let them know that people care,” said Evans. “I think that people feel really isolated and alone and like the world has forgotten about them.” Continue Reading … (Originally published on ijpr.org by Sydney Dauphinais on March 7, 2021) Return to top |
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While the pandemic may be keeping us all physically separate for a while longer, rest assured that CLDC has been staying busy defending your constitutional rights.Just yesterday, in fact, we issued a press release regarding our client, Teresa Safay, who was wrongly targeted for chalking in front of her congressional representative’s office in Medford. Ms. Safay’s case was prosecuted under a civil infraction meant to punish graffiti, after the building owner, the law firm Hornecker Cowling, claimed it took over seven hours to clean the chalk. Further, both of the prosecutors on the case formerly worked for Hornecker Cowling. It’s hard not to see that this is a clear cut incident of the legal system attempting to chill dissent. To learn more about the case, please read our media releaseHERE.Earlier this week we filed an amended complaint against the City of Eugene and its police department on behalf of local residents who were brutally attacked by police officers during the mobilizations for Black lives in 2020.New information came to light that warranted updating the suit, notably: - The names of the individual officers who violated people’s civil liberties; and
- That one of those officers not only used excessive force AND oversaw the SWAT assaults was none other than longtime Eugene cop Sgt. Bill Solesbee, who CLDC successfully sued back in 2012 for using excessive force on a protester. Solesbee has had multiple additional complaints filed against him for violating protesters’ and local residents’ rights, yet the Eugene Police Department recently put him in charge of training junior officers.
You can read more about our case, and why the Eugene Police Department needs to be finally held accountable, HERE. |
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Lawrence Ferlinghetti: 1919 – 2021A memoir of the poet aboard a Greenpeace ship On Monday, February 22, 2021, American poet, publisher, and innovative book seller, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, died from lung disease, at the age of 101.
In the summer of 1977, Ferlinghetti joined the crew of the Greenpeace ship during the whale campaign and he wrote an historic poem in the ship’s dreambook.
Ferlinghetti was born in New York in 1919, earned a B.A. in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, completed a doctoral degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, and published his first short stories in Carolina Magazine. He moved to San Francisco in 1951, and founded the first all-paperback bookstore in the US — the now-famous City Lights Books — to “democratise” modern literature by making new and innovative writers widely available. City Lights began publishing their own books in 1955, featuring international writers such as Charles Baudelaire and Pablo Naruda, and became known for publishing renowned American beat-era writers such as Jack Kerouac, Diane di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, and Anne Waldman. In 1957, US agents arrested Ferlinghetti on obsenity charges for publishing Ginsberg’s “Howl.” After an historic freedom of speech trial, the court acquitted Ferlinghetti, who became an international cultural hero. His City Lights bookstore became a hub for progressive politics and revolutionary writers.
Continue Reading … (Originally Published o www.rexweyler.ca on February 26, 2021) |
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To stop climate disaster, make ecocide an international crime. It’s the only way. The following is an op ed by Jojo Mehta and Julia Jackson published in The Guardian February 24, 2021.
The Paris agreement is failing. Yet there is new hope for preserving a livable planet: the growing global campaign to criminalize ecocide can address the root causes of the climate crisis and safeguard our planet – the common home of all humanity and, indeed, all life on Earth.
Nearly five years after the negotiation of the landmark Paris agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and associated global warming to “well below 2.0C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5C”, we are experiencing drastically accelerating warming. 2020 was the second warmest year on record, following the record-setting 2019. Carbon in the atmosphere reached 417 parts per million (ppm) – the highest in the last 3m years. Even if we magically flipped a switch to a fully green economy tomorrow, there is still enough carbon in the atmosphere to continue warming the planet for decades. The science is clear: without drastic action to limit temperature rise below 1.5C, the Earth, and all life on it, including all human beings, will suffer devastating consequences. Continue Reading … |
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Win a FULL Scholarship for the Food and Sustainability Certificate Courtesy of the Center for Nutrition Studies
 The Center for Nutrition Studies is well known for its longstanding and widely popular Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate powered by eCornell. The initiative to launch a new program focused on food and sustainability came directly from Dr. T. Colin Campbell himself. Dr. Campbell’s passion for recognizing the holistic nature of complex systems and the relationship between human and environmental health is revolutionary.
He himself is a lecturer in the course, along with his daughter (and CNS President) Dr. LeAnne Campbell and many other well-versed and respected experts in the fields of agriculture, policy, food systems, and the way they all interact. This course is the perfect next step for anyone seeking to connect these dots en route to becoming an expert in food, sustainability and healthy, connected living. We are excited to partner with the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies to give away one FULL scholarship for the brand new Food and Sustainability Certificate. Enter here for a chance to expand your perspective, boost your credibility and advance your career! Simply fill out this form and share the article on social media and we will inform the winner by March 11th. Return to top |
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Great news! The U.S. Senate just passed the American Rescue Plan, which means relief is finally on the way. Once this legislation is passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and signed by President Biden, we’re going to put money in people’s pockets, vaccines in their arms, kids in classrooms, and open signs on Main Street businesses. And it’s not a moment too soon. This past year will go down in our nation’s history books as one of our most difficult and frightening chapters. More than half a million Americans — including over two thousand Oregonians — have lost their lives to the coronavirus. Millions have lost their jobs, and are struggling to keep the lights on and stay in their homes. Frontline workers — especially those in vulnerable and medically undeserved communities — are still facing shortages of personal protective equipment. Educators are working tirelessly to keep educating our children, some of whom have not stepped foot in a classroom for nearly a full year. State and local governments have lost critical revenue they need to pay firefighters and first responders. Continue Reading …
A Bold Plan For Relief
This week marks a full year since Oregon’s first coronavirus case was reported. Since then, 2,231 Oregonians have lost their lives to the pandemic. Throughout this long, challenging winter, Jeff has continued to advocate for the resources and plans families and businesses across Oregon need to make it to the other side of this chapter — including strategies to get vaccines distributed as quickly as possible, direct payments to struggling families, extended unemployment insurance, and help to safely get
students back in the classroom as soon as possible. Each of those items, and more, are included in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
Continue Reading …
State Senator Jeff Golden is now a co-sponsor of the Anti-Racism Curriculum Act (SB 683) Return to top |
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Video | Jan. 6 attack was ‘domestic terrorism’ – FBI’s Wray |
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| FBI Director Chris Wray on Tuesday accused supporters of Donald Trump who carried out a deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol of domestic terrorism and vowed to hold them accountable. Click Here to Watch the Video |
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 The ‘Morality’ of AI WeaponryA congressionally appointed panel, called the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, is recommending that the United States military launch a major program to develop autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software.
The panel, led by Google’s former chief executive Eric Schmidt, has prepared a report that calls for the expenditure of $20-30 billion to advance the program. There is a set of things that have to happen in America to maintain leadership
globally… #AI is the #technology that drives our economic output… and we need
to do whatever it takes… It’s not so much the money as it is getting the forces
aligned. – #NSCAI Chairman @EricSchmidt
— National Security Commission on AI (@AiCommission) February 23, 2021 Its vice-chairman, Robert Work, a former deputy secretary of defense, said autonomous weapons are expected to make fewer mistakes than humans do in battle, leading to reduced casualties. “It is a moral imperative to at least pursue this hypothesis,” he said.
The draft report recommends that Washington “adopt AI to change the way we defend America, deter adversaries, use intelligence to make sense of the world, and fight and win wars.” (Work is on the board of directors for Raytheon, and board of advisers for Govini, a big data and analytics firm committed to transforming the business of government through data science.) Continue Reading … |
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Talking Back is a six-part web series that reveals the growing movement for justice in the theater field. Through candid conversations with founding artistic directors, newly appointed leaders, and activists who have operated at all levels of leadership in arts organizations across the US, Talking Back explores what it takes to transform not just an institution, but an entire industry. |
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Justice For Myanmar publishes details of Myanmar’s tools of digital surveillance and repression Justice For Myanmar reiterates call for a global arms embargo March 2, 2021, Yangon: Justice For Myanmar has today published details of technology used for digital surveillance and repression, found in Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Transport and Communications budget documents and an Elbit Systems unmanned aerial vehicle repairs proposal. The budget documents examined span from the 2018-19 financial year to 2020-21. The Ministry of Home Affairs is under the control of the Myanmar military and the minister is appointed by Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. The Myanmar military had unrestricted access to all technology transferred to the Myanmar police and domestic intelligence agency, the Bureau of Special Investigation and, since the illegitimate February 1 military coup, has unrestricted access to technology procured by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung says: “These budget files show that the Myanmar military and the security forces under their control have continued to seek support from the West for their surveillance technology and tools of repression. The military are now using those very tools to brutally crack down on peaceful protesters risking their lives to resist the military junta and restore democracy, and to move against journalists who are exercising their right to report on protests. These items are dual use and should never have been sold while the military cartel continues to commit crimes against humanity and war crimes, operating outside of civilian control with total impunity. The international community made a critical mistake in normalising relations with the Myanmar military, allowing it to procure technology and carry out its corrupt business and failed to act decisively as the military committed a campaign of genocide against the Rohingya. Now is the time for them to take full responsibility to protect the people of Myanmar and immediately impose targeted sanctions and a global arms embargo in response to this brutal and illegitimate military coup and excessive use of violence, deliberately and ruthlessly targeting peaceful protesters.”
Continue Reading … |
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She Didn’t Die. She Multiplied: Remembering Berta Cáceres, March 2, 2016Note: This short remembrance was originally written for Talking Circle, the monthly newsletter of the Native American Studies Programs and the Native American Student Union at Southern Oregon University. Peace House supports the work of human rights in Honduras and sponsors accompaniment of human rights defenders. In visits to Honduras in recent years, I met Berta Cáceres and some of the Lenca people mentioned below, and briefly accompanied them. This week marks the fifth anniversary of Berta Cáceres’ murder. We offer this in remembrance that the work of promoting human rights, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the protection of Mother Earth continues everywhere. — Jim Phillips, Peace House Board Chairperson  Like our sisters and brothers in the United States and Canada, Native people across Mexico, Central America and South America are leading efforts to protect Mother Earth. Dam-building projects, mining, logging, and other extractive industries are promoted by governments and private industries at the expense of Indigenous people and their land and water. In many Latin American countries, Native communities are recognized as the first line of defense for the environment and the Earth. This work often requires great sacrifice. Many die in the struggle, while others are jailed for protecting the rivers, the forests, and the land.
The Lenca people are the largest Indigenous community in Honduras, about 300,000. In 2013, the Lenca found themselves confronting their own Honduran government and a foreign company that planned to build a dam across the Gualcarque, a river that the Lenca call sacred, where the spirits of the ancestors and the descendants yet to be born dwell. The dam-building company’s guards told the people they could no longer use the river. Continue Reading on the Peace House Website … |
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| Two important human rights bills were introduced into Congress in the past two weeks. Both bills deal specifically with the U.S. relationship to Honduras, but their implications are much wider. In the U.S. Senate: The Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act (S 1) was introduced in the Senate last week by Senator Jeff Merkley, and co-sponsored by seven other Senators. It would suspend military and so-called security aid to Honduras and strengthen independent anti-corruption mechanisms. This is the bill that Honduran human rights leaders and many other Hondurans have been wanting, and many U.S. solidarity groups have been working for for more than five years. The Honduran military and police have been the chief and often violent enforcers of a corrupt government. This is a response to a long string of corruption scandals that have diverted money from public health, education, and other essential services to the pockets of prominent politicians, and to widespread involvement of top government officials in major drug trafficking. Hondurans call their government a narco-dictatorship. In recent weeks, Berta Oliva, Director of the Committee of the Families of the Detained/Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) and other major human rights leaders have seen increased threats and surveillance of them and their associates, more killings of people in police custody, and other troubling signs. Peace House actively supports and sponsors accompaniment for Berta Oliva. In the U.S. House of Representatives: The Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in its last session byRepresentative Hank Johnson (D-GA). Now Rep. Johnson has re-introduced the bill in the current session of the House.The bill is named in honor of Berta Cáceres, the Honduran Indigenous environmental leader who was killed in march, 2016, for her leadership in defending Indigenous lands and rivers against dam-building and extractive industries that destroy the environment and displace communities. These unwanted projects are enforced against the will of local communities by the Honduran army and police.The bill introduced by Rep. Johnson would stop U.S. military and police aid to Honduras, at least until a thorough review can be made of how the aid is used and how it abets human rights violations. In the past, Oregon Reps. Bonamici, Blumenauer, and DeFazio have supported this legislation. Beyond Honduras, these bills both put on record that human rights and anti-corruption is returning as a major criterion and principle in U.S. foreign policy and aid. These bills also address some of the root causes of emigration. (More about that in another Peace House post to follow soon.) Both of these bills need support. To help: - If you live in Oregon, contact Senator Wyden and urge him to support the Senate bill. You might also send a short “thank you” to Senator Merkley for introducing the Senate bill. To support the House bill, contact your U.S. Representative and urge support. Be sure you know and mention the bills by their titles (above).
- If you live outside of Oregon or have friends, relatives in other states,you can urge them to contact their Senators and Representatives in support of these bills. Again, mention the bills by their titles.
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Background: Kitchen Table Activism (KTA) is a monthly activity by the Rural Organizing Project. The idea is that small actions can lead to powerful collective results when groups of people gather to complete the same action across the state of Oregon.Why this activity? Over the last year, the ROP network has been thoughtfully crafting the Roadmap to a Thriving Rural Oregon through hundreds of conversations, and we are committed to making sure our priorities are heard loud and clear by our elected officials! 2021 Bills that Back a Thriving Rural Oregon The Roadmap to a Thriving Rural Oregon includes the priorities our communities need to move from fighting for survival to truly thriving. The Roadmap came out of hundreds of conversations with human dignity groups across rural Oregon about what our communities need most as the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recession lay bare the big gaps in our communities’ social safety nets that have been widening for decades. Now we are taking these priorities to the legislative session! Check out the Roadmap and see below for bills being considered in the Oregon State Legislature under each of the four Roadmap categories. We are All Essential - Just Enforcement Act (House Bill 2205): If passed this would create a law that would allow workers and organizations to sue employers that break the law when state agencies don’t have the capacity to do so. It would also increase the Bureau of Labor and Industries and Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s ability to enforce labor laws and bring Oregon’s law in line with California’s higher standard. Read more about the Just Enforcement Act.
- Childcare for Oregon Act (House Bill 2505 / Senate Bill 239): If passed this would create a law that would make childcare and other essential resources available for every Oregon family.
- Decriminalize Sex Work (House Bill 3088): If passed this would create a law that would decriminalize sex work by no longer considering adult prostitution (sex work), commercial sexual solicitation (customers/clients), and promoting prostitution to be crimes.
Healthy People Make Healthy Communities - Oregon Energy Affordability Act (House Bill 2475): If passed this would create a law that would make energy bills more affordable by protecting people from rate increases, especially for low-income households who spend the largest portion of their income on energy needs.
- Drug Addiction Treatment & Recovery Act (Senate Bill 755): In November of 2020, Oregon voters made history by passing Ballot Measure 110. The new law decriminalizes personal possession of small amounts of all drugs while expanding access to addiction treatment and other health services.
- Navigating Pathways to Prosperity (House Bill 2835): If passed this would create a law that would require community colleges and universities to hire one full-time Benefits Navigator to support students in accessing state and federal benefit programs, including SNAP.
Safe and Welcoming Communities - Sanctuary Promise Act (House Bill 3265): The Sanctuary Promise Act would ban local jails from contracting with ICE, ban ICE from detaining community members in and around courthouses without a judicial warrant, allow everyday Oregonians to sue local law enforcement for breaking the law, prevent racial profiling in our jails, and strengthen other key parts of the decade’s old sanctuary policy.
- Timber Tax Fairness (House Bill 2598): Tax cuts for timber corporations have cost Oregonians at least $3 billion since 1991. That’s money that counties relied on to fund schools and essential public services. Timber companies continue to log at faster rates, employing fewer people, and exporting more of the benefits out of state. If passed this would create a law that would bring back the severance tax on cut logs, something that counties in Washington are currently benefiting from, and make sure that timber companies pay their fair share so that county governments have the funding they need to meet their responsibilities to their communities.
- Right to Rest Act (House Bill 2367): If passed this would create a law that would establish the rights of houseless Oregonians to rest in public without fear of harassment, criminalization, and fines.
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Iowa Reporter Fights Charges Connected to Covering Black Lives Matter Protest  A press badge for Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri features her jail booking photo from her May 31, 2020 arrest while covering a Black Lives Matter protest. Sahouri is set to stand trial on Monday, March 8. 2021, on misdemeanor charges, a case that prosecutors have pursued despite international condemnation from advocates for press freedom. (Photo courtesy Andrea Sahouri via AP)RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa journalist faces trial Monday on charges stemming from her coverage of a protest against racial injustice, a case that prosecutors have pursued despite international condemnation from free press advocates who say she was just doing her job. The case of Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri, who was pepper sprayed and arrested while reporting on a clash between protesters and police, will highlight an aggressive response by Iowa authorities against those who organized and attended protests that erupted last summer and occasionally turned violent. Sahouri and her former boyfriend are charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts, misdemeanors that could bring fines and up to 30 days in jail. They face a two-day trial at Drake University in what the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker says could be the first for a working journalist nationwide since 2018. Sahouri’s newspaper, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Amnesty International are among press advocates that have demanded Polk County drop the charges, which they call an abuse of power that violates the Constitution’s First Amendment. Continue Reading … |
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Petition to “Save the Medford Mail Tribune from its Owner’s Changes!” A few days ago, local resident and former longtime Mail Tribune reporter Allen Hallmark started a change.org petition in response to the recent editorial by owner/publisher Steven Saslow where he outlines changes he intends to make in our local paper(s). Mr. Saslow purchased the Medford Mail Tribune and Ashland Tidings four years ago.
https://www.change.org/p/residents-of-southern-oregon-northern-california-save-the-medford-mail-tribune-from-its-owner-s-changes The petition opens with a recap of some of these changes: “On Sunday, Feb. 28th, Steve Saslow, owner/publisher of the Mail Tribune of Medford, Oregon, wrote an editorial announcing big changes in how the paper would be run. He will take over from an editorial board to decide which editorials run & which don’t. He will fire any reporter who he thinks is slanting the news. He will no longer run stories from the Washington Post or other newspapers he thinks are “slanted” toward the liberal side. He will also reject all letters to the editor on national topics because he said liberals and progressives submit 10 to 1 the number of letters that conservatives submit. He’ll only accept letters about ‘local’ and ‘regional’ issues – without defining those terms.” I spoke with Allen Hallmark about why he feels this is so important. A native Texan, born and raised in Fort Worth, Hallmark earned his college degree in history in the early 1960’s. He studied law, served in the Army during the Vietnam war and after four years (including one year in Vietnam), returned very much against the military and our presence in Vietnam. He got involved in war protests, became a photographer, pursued his Masters in Journalism and after landing on the west coast in search of work, got a job as a reporter at the Medford Mail Tribune in 1976. Hallmark continued to work there for over ten years, until 1986. “I enjoyed the work, covered a lot of subjects and became the main political reporter for the last five years,” he said. (Sadly, Hallmark lost his home in the Almeda fire of last September.) Continue Reading … (Originally Published in The Ashland Chronicle by Susanne Severeid on 04 Mar 2021) |
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 Government: Federal & State Project
Monday, March 8 from 2:00 to 3:30 via Zoom
Link to SOCAN Calendar Event SOCAN’s Board of Directors requested that the Government: Federal and State Project make recommendations regarding which proposals that are currently before the 2021 Oregon Legislature SOCAN should consider supporting, opposing, or watching. This determines which bills we submit testimony for. The team has determined its priorities and will discuss ongoing tactics. For more information contact Alan Journet. Zoom meeting link |
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 SOCAN Leadership Circle
Wednesday, March 10 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm
Link to SOCAN Calendar Event
SOCAN Leaders will discuss upcoming Monthly Meetings as well as SOCAN projects. Individuals who are interested in the work of SOCAN are invited to join the project leaders at this meeting. Contact Kathy Conway for more information. Zoom meeting link |
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Dear Readers,
We offer this Bill for discussion and encourage your participation in the hearing tomorrow, March 9th at 1 pm. Please let us know your thoughts. Your Peace House Newsletter Staff
URGENT – CALL TO ACTION SUPPORT OREGON’S HB 2367 ***THE RIGHT TO REST ACT*** House Bill 2367, the Right to Rest Act, is critical life-saving legislation for our houseless community. The act will end the daily “sweeps” of houseless camps where some municipalities in Oregon are forcing folks to move, seizing all of their personal possessions and displacing their home – over and over and over again. This bill protects people’s right to exist in public space without threat of harassment, ticketing, or arrest. This bill was introduced by Rep. WInsvey Campos – Oregon’s youngest legislator and a person who lived with housing instability growing up. HB 2367 is scheduled for a public hearing on March 9, at 1pm Legislators need to hear from you BEFORE March 9th! HERE’S HOW CAN YOU HELP: - Submit written testimony before March 9th
· You can use this testimony template as-is, or customize this template, or you can write your own testimony. · Click on this link for instructions to submit your written testimony online! · Submit written testimony by mail: House Committee on Judiciary, 900 Court Street NE, Room 453, Salem, OR 97301 · Have questions? Email or call Marie Tyvoll, 503-998-6338, mtyvoll@gmail.com - Register to give live testimony at the public hearing!
· Register in advance of March 9th to give live testimony by calling 833-588-4500 anytime between 7AM-7PM daily. You have the option of testifying by phone or computer. · You can also register to give live testimony with this link. Please note that they recommend you also submit written testimony in addition to giving oral testimony: https://survey.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2h0YgrmfRYHiGR - Contact House Judiciary Committee Members by email, phone and social media! To share your support for HB2367. Click on this link for the list of committee members and contact information.
- Attend an OHSU HB 2367 Information Session!
When: Wednesday, March 3, at 5:30pm Who: This is for OHSU students but anyone is welcome to attend! What: Learn about HB 2367 and how to advocate for its passage How: Meeting link: https://ohsu.webex.com/ohsu/j.php?MTID=m6401fa218b4b32d06dfa50bd85632f75 Meeting number: 1208916109 Note: WebEx will automatically download with easy to follow instructions once you click the link above so you’ll want to do that in advance of the meeting. - Share on social media!
· Here are flyers and fact sheets for social media: R2R 2021 SHAREABLE · Hashtags: #Right2Rest, #HousekeysNotHandcuffs, #RightToRest , #HBR · Handles: @stopthesweepspdx and @withouthousing · Please include this link in all posts, this is the link for this Call to Action document: CALL TO ACTION_HOUSE BILL 2367 Here’s more information on House Bill 2367: |
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League of Women Voters
On March 7, 1965, John Lewis, Hosea Williams, and 600 civil rights marchers were viciously beaten and tear gassed by Alabama state and local police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge as they embarked on a march from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights. “Bloody Sunday” ignited the conscience of the nation and led to the Voting Rights Act, passed five months later. Today the fight to ensure every eligible American has the right to vote has taken on new urgency. Since the 2013 Supreme Court Decision, Shelby v. Holder, that removed federal oversight of states with long histories of voter suppression, there has been a dramatic rise in state laws that restrict people’s right to vote. In fact, since the 2020 election, state legislators have introduced four times as many bills that suppess people’s basic right to vote as last year. The League is pleased to co-sponsor “From Bloody Sunday to Today: The Fight for the Right to Vote,” an in-depth conversation among nationally recognized experts, presented by the Workers Circle and the Center for Common Ground. There will be ASL and live captioning provided. Presenters will look back at what it took to get the Voting Rights Act passed, how it expanded the vote, the ongoing attempts to subvert it, and how passing voting rights legislation in 2021 is an urgent matter of racial justice and critical to strengthening our democracy. You’ll leave this conversation equipped and inspired to take action. RSVP today! |
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 US Exceptionalism: Its Story in Nicaragua and Beyond Sunday, March 14 12 PM Pacific / 1 PM Nicaragua / 3 PM Eastern / 7 PM United Kingdom / 8 PM W. Europe Please join us for a webinar on Sunday, March 14, with three stimulating speakers: Brian Willson, Kathy Hoyt, and Sofia Clark. “US American Exceptionalism” is a concept promoting the United States as the Shining City on the Hill. The first among nations. The example all other states should follow. This webinar will address the notion of US exceptionalism, with special but not exclusive focus on Nicaragua. Brian Willson will describe the history and origins of the dogma of US American exceptionalism – the fear and trickster psychology behind it, the adolescent culture which produced it, and its origins in Nicaragua and Central America in the 1800s and 1900s. Kathy Hoyt will focus on American exceptionalism as an ideology to justify punitive sanctions on other nations. She will discuss sanctions in general, with emphasis on the illegality and harm caused by US unilateral sanctions, and she will review current US sanctions on Nicaragua. Sofia Clark will examine American exceptionalism in the global context – how it is used to justify US foreign policy around the world. |
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 INVITATION: For folks who want to learn and un-learn the patterns of whiteness, of privilege, dominance, and fragility in the company of others on the path of anti-racism work. Please join our mailing list for the most current information on our offerings. RSVP: To receive the Zoom link for specific monthly offerings, RSVP here INTENT: This space is primarily for self-identified white folks to do the necessary work of deconstructing whiteness. A space is offered to feel discomfort, make mistakes, to examine biases and experiences in a supportive atmosphere. GOAL: To come away with actionable items for our own lives, that eventually create a safe and welcoming community for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. DATES & FORMAT: A new format for 2021, offerings are held every 4th Thursday of the month, 6:30-8:30 PM. Alternating months, starting March 25, will offer the opportunity for work with a more intimate cohort. The format for both consists of a topic, videos, experiential exercises, reflective writing, sharing, and connecting. Cohort offerings: March 25, May 27, July 22, September 23, November 18 (third Thursday!) General offerings: April 22, June 24, August 26, October 28, 2021 PREPARATION: QUESTIONS?: Contact Toni Lovaglia: dwlearningspace@gmail.com |
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If you missed the first episode when we introduced Rural Race Talks and heard highlights from the show, be sure and catch it here as we get ready to go Behind the Scenes with Rural Race Talks. In this month’s episode, we talk with LaNicia about the power of learning in public and what motivated her to start a call-in radio show focused on talking about racial justice in our rural communities. |
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You can significantly develop your skills – and gain new resources – so you can make big progress on issues you care about (climate, peace, environment, human rights, economic justice, etc., etc., etc.) Please sign up now for my series of FREE ONLINE WORKSHOPS every week for 6 consecutive weeks starting in mid-March. - Sundays afternoons March 21 to April 25 (1:30-3:30 pm Pacific Time), OR
- Monday evenings March 22 to April 26 (6:30-8:30 Pacific Time).
These workshops are FREE and user-friendly. They are good for people of ALL ages and ALL levels of experience. People who have taken these workshops have found them informative, inspiring, and practical. |
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How can we rebuild beautiful and affordable homes after the fires? |
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| Tuesday, March 9th at 11:00AM |
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| Sandy Bishop, Executive Director of the Lopez Community Land Trust |
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The Lopez Community Land Trust, located in Washington on Lopez Island, holds over 100 acres with seven affordable neighborhoods. This land trust preserves historic farmland while creating beautiful net-zero homes with gardens and community centers. Our speaker, Sandy Bishop, has 22 years of project management for local community-based developments and manages five affordable housing neighborhoods on the island. Sandy will show us how to use housing cooperatives and community land trusts to rebuild affordably. |
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Attend the ongoing Zoom Series Every Tuesday at 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM
For quick access: zoom link here |
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The Lotus InstituteIt’s March, how is your heart?  The Lotus Institute staff are all together, miraculously, and COVID negative in California where we are about to begin work on The Wind Gate, the second of our ‘Four Gates ‘ series of online trainings. We continue to be buoyed by stories of small and big acts of love, care and resilience around the globe while letting our hearts break and our minds and bodies dig into action in response to suffering.
What a time, what a time. Thank you for continuing to share your stories and work with us, as well as love notes of how our programs and Larry’s dharma talks have touched you. Thank you for sharing your feedback, calling us in when you see that we can do better. Thank you for being. As we round the corner into spring, we are visioning, and preparing the ground of our being for the new growth that is coming. What’s Coming Up At The Lotus Institute
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness for De-conditioning The Colonial Mind – Part 2 Wednesday, March 10th, 2021, 1.5 hrs With Larry Ward 7PM Eastern • 6PM Central • 5PM Mountain • 4PM Pacific Sliding Scale $0-$40 Part 1 is not a pre-requisite but you can watch/listen HERE MORE INFO AND REGISTRATION |
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Register for the Zoom Webinar here: bit.ly/MarchEvent2021. Betty LaDuke is a lifelong activist and creator whose art expresses the people’s stories of struggle and celebration with vibrant colors and flowing forms. She will be speaking about migrants, refugees, the pandemic and her latest works, including Fire, Fury, and Resilience. Once you register for the webinar, you will receive an email confirmation with a link to access the event. Limited “seats” are available for the live webinar, but if we reach max capacity, you will be able to view a recording of the webinar later. If you have not done so already, you may want to download Zoom before the event at 7 pm on March 11. If you have questions about using Zoom, please reply to this email.
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 Saturday Night Alive for the Global Peace Tribe has been the mecca of conscious, heart-centered, transformational community to gather online from across the globe for nourishing and soul-inspiring talks, music, and connection. Featuring world-class luminaries, brilliant musicians, and light-hearted comedians, we bring both warmth and wisdom during so much uncertainty. Join us on Zoom EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT in March for an online community gathering & inspirational variety show during these extraordinary times for: Music • Wisdom • Prayer • Mediatation • Magic • Community Connection Mar 6th theme: “Understanding & Communicating with Our Animal Family” Register Now! |
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 Film Wins Major Festival Awards We’re proud to announce that The Boys Who Said NO! was honored in December with the Supreme Jury Prize for feature documentaries at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, a top honor. San Luis Obispo Film Festival  MARCH 9 – 14
U.S. viewing (except NY)
Selected as a Special Presentation. Includes recorded Q&A with Judith Ehrlich, David Harris, Bob Zaugh, Winter Dellenbach and others in the film. Socially Responsible Film Festival  MARCH 15 – 21 U.S. viewing (all states)View the film any day during the festival. Be sure to also checkout the other great films programmed. Login on the festival site to buy tickets. |
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| Click Video Above to Watch the Trailer |
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Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility I am reaching out to let you know about Remembering Fukushima 10 Years Later, an upcoming documentary film screening and panel discussion in remembrance of the triple nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant in Japan on March 11th, 2011. To mark the ten-year anniversary of this tragic event, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility (Oregon PSR) is hosting this film screening and panel discussion to explore the lasting impacts of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the problems inherent in the nuclear power industry.
We’ll be screening the film Little Voices From Fukushima by filmmaker Hitomi Kamanaka, followed by a panel discussion. The film is available for streaming through March 11th. To cover the cost of screening this documentary film, we are offering tickets at $8.00 per individual viewer, and you can find more information and purchase tickets here. On Thursday, March 11th beginning at 5:00 PM (PST), we invite you and those in your network to join us for a panel discussion (via a Zoom webinar) about the film with Hitomi Kamanaka and others. The film, as well as the panel discussion, will be translated into both English and Japanese. We would very much appreciate your help in spreading the word about this event to mark the ten-year anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. If the ticket price is a hardship, please contact Sean and he can make arrangements for members of your organization to screen the film at no cost. After ticket(s) are purchased, we will follow up with a link and password to view the film, as well as a link to our online panel discussion on March 11th beginning at 5:00 PM (PST). The filmmaker, Hitomi Kamanaka, along with distinguished panel members Norma Field, Ruiko Muto, and Leona Morgan, will discuss the film and the disastrous impacts suffered by communities from the ongoing dispersal of radioactive contamination released from the explosions at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Nuclear technologies, from uranium mining at the beginning of the nuclear cycle to the precarious and dangerous burial of nuclear wastes, will also be discussed. |
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