Saturday, July 01, 2006
The Growing Resistance and the Need to Recharge
I'm off for a week's writing retreat in Norwood, VA, today. No blog while I'm recharging (oh, don't hold me to that, but probably not). I'll be staying at a place called The Porches, which looks divine. I'll report back to all you DC-area writers in need of retreating. A super-weird twist to the week was finding out that the house was built by my great-great-grandfather William Cabell in 1854. Bizarre. Maybe some history muses will visit with me...
For fabulous reading while I'm away, spend lots of time with the DC Places issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly, which was just published yesterday. Not only does the issue include poems about DC by illustrious poets like Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell alongside a diverse array of living local and national poets, but it also features a great map by Emery Pajer. Click on any pushpin on the map of DC to read the poem that mentions or is set in that location. How cool is that?? Special huge thank yous to Kim Roberts and Andrea Carter Brown for their incredible contribution to the literary life of this city.
And news from the resistance front:
US Army Officer Lt. Ehren Watada refuses to go to Iraq: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003044627_nogo7m.html
An update on the situation of Lt. Ehren Watada: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003080016_watada23.html
From the article: βIn January, Watada asked to resign his commission because, he stated: βI am wholeheartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership.β Peace groups around the nation plan a day of protests and vigils in support of Watada on Tuesday.β
I also heard news that poet and living inspiration Sonia Sanchez was arrested at a protest (from Ethelbert Miller):
Philadelphia police arrested the poet Sonia Sanchez this afternoon (28 June) along with at least ten other grandmothers in an anti-war protest at a U.S. Army recruiting center. The women (most of whom are from Philadelphia) were taken to the Phildelphia's 16th precinct, at Lancaster and 39th Street. The women were replicating actions of 18 gradmothers--ages 91 down to the 60s--who earlier this year were arrested in New York City when they attemped to join the army at the Times Square U.S. recruiting office. In a trial, the eighteen grandmothers were acquitted of all charges. The New Yorkers, members of the Granny Peace Brigade, are wending their way down to Washington DC., by bus, holding vigils, protesting, and meeting like-minded groups along the way.
Rock on, grandmas!!
Have a fun and nonconformist 4th. Till next week.
For fabulous reading while I'm away, spend lots of time with the DC Places issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly, which was just published yesterday. Not only does the issue include poems about DC by illustrious poets like Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell alongside a diverse array of living local and national poets, but it also features a great map by Emery Pajer. Click on any pushpin on the map of DC to read the poem that mentions or is set in that location. How cool is that?? Special huge thank yous to Kim Roberts and Andrea Carter Brown for their incredible contribution to the literary life of this city.
And news from the resistance front:
US Army Officer Lt. Ehren Watada refuses to go to Iraq: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003044627_nogo7m.html
An update on the situation of Lt. Ehren Watada: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003080016_watada23.html
From the article: βIn January, Watada asked to resign his commission because, he stated: βI am wholeheartedly opposed to the continued war in Iraq, the deception used to wage this war, and the lawlessness that has pervaded every aspect of our civilian leadership.β Peace groups around the nation plan a day of protests and vigils in support of Watada on Tuesday.β
I also heard news that poet and living inspiration Sonia Sanchez was arrested at a protest (from Ethelbert Miller):
Philadelphia police arrested the poet Sonia Sanchez this afternoon (28 June) along with at least ten other grandmothers in an anti-war protest at a U.S. Army recruiting center. The women (most of whom are from Philadelphia) were taken to the Phildelphia's 16th precinct, at Lancaster and 39th Street. The women were replicating actions of 18 gradmothers--ages 91 down to the 60s--who earlier this year were arrested in New York City when they attemped to join the army at the Times Square U.S. recruiting office. In a trial, the eighteen grandmothers were acquitted of all charges. The New Yorkers, members of the Granny Peace Brigade, are wending their way down to Washington DC., by bus, holding vigils, protesting, and meeting like-minded groups along the way.
Rock on, grandmas!!
Have a fun and nonconformist 4th. Till next week.
