WILPF BUSINESS MEETING
Next business meeting April 13 (second Thursday of each month), 7-9 p.m. at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, 1584 N. Van Ness Ave. Meetings are open to all members.
WOMEN IN BLACK
April 6 (first Wednesday of each month) at noon at the Fresno County Courthouse; come at least once during this critical year, perhaps during the month in which your birthday falls. Wear black, bring a sign if you wish, and stand in silence for peace.
STIR IT UP – WILPF – ON KFCF 88.1 FM (LISTENER-SUPPORTED FREE SPEECH RADIO FOR CENTRAL CALIFORNIA)
April 27 (4th Wednesday of each month) at 3 p.m. Jean Hays conducts outstanding interviews on subjects involving WILPF interests and activities. Let Jean know if you have ideas for a program. Tune in to 88.1!
RAGING GRANNIES
Meetings on selected Mondays at 7 p.m. Call Patty at 999-9709 for details.
EARTH WEEK SCHEDULE
MOTHER EARTH NEEDS ALL OF US!
Here is the schedule for WILPF and community Earth Week activities. Mother Earth needs us every day of every week!!
April 22: Radio Park, 10-4 p.m.
Earrth Day Faire. Lots of information and activities related to protecting our Mother. Come to the WILPF booth. You can pick up environmental info; learn to clean your kitchen and bathroom tiles with an earth-friendly vinegar solution and practice doing it at the booth. Go to the WILPF “ocean,” clean out floating plastic debris, and rescue fish by freeing them from plastic 6-pack rings. Plant and take home various plants! At 1 p.m. hear the Raging Grannies sing about water, fracking, GMOs and more.
April 23: Lost Lake Park, 2 p.m.
River blessing and ceremony by Audrey Osborne and other members of the Choinumni Tribe. Event will take place at the San Joaquin River just inside the entrance to Lost Lake Park. Follow the signs. If you want to avoid the entrance fee, park in the FINS Fish Hatchery free parking lot just past Lost Lake entrance. From the lot you can follow the very short, beautiful nature trail down to the ceremony location. It’s an easy walk, filled with nature’s beauty. Handicapped accessible. Turn off your electronic devices and listen to the sounds of nature!
April 25-27:
WILPF Library Committee members will do book presentations about Earth topics at Keppler, Fremont, and Centennial schools. Presentation times vary.
April 28: Wolk Garden, 6 p.m.
Presentation by Adam Scow of Food & Water Watch. Potluck and music. At 6:45 p.m. Adam will talk about very important proposed legislation related to clean water, particularly as it relates to the use of fracking/injection well water and the food we eat!
April 29: Blackstone and Nees, 1-4 p.m.
People’s Climate March. A collaborative rally for Mother Earth. Make a sign to carry, showing that you support environmental protection. Contact Connie at 559-225-2547.
For more information on Earth Week activities, call 559-313-7674. Every day is Earth Day!
PASTORS FOR PEACE CARAVAN TO CUBA FRESNO EVENT
Tuesday, April 25, at 6:30 p.m. , Wesley United Methodist Church, 1343 E. Barstow (between First and Cedar). Potluck supper; free and open to the public. Come hear Manolo De Los Santos, who works in the Pastors for Peace program coordinating solidarity, community organizing, and political education projects in Haiti, Cuba, and Central America. In the last decade he has co-led numerous delegations and caravans to Cuba in civil disobedience of the US blockade. Manolo lives in Cuba, where he is finishing his dissertation at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Matanzas. For more information contact Leni V. Reeves, lenivreeves@gmail.com, or Gerry Bill, gerry.bill@gmail.com.
DAKOTA ECOGARDEN UPDATE
See Dakota EcoGarden Facebook page or www.ecovillagefresno if you are unfamiliar with the Dakota EcoGarden transitional housing effort.
Lots of work has been done to fight back the weeds to prepare garden beds to get ready for spring planting and for the March 18 potluck/open house. If you missed the open house, watch for the next one. If you aren’t on a list to be notified and want to be, please contact Nancy Waidtlow, nancywaidtlow@gmail.com.
The work continues on the second Art Dyson designed eco shelter – it’s unique and takes lots of experimentation to figure it all out. Unfortunately the bamboo did not bend the way we needed it to, but PVC pipe worked very nicely. And we may use spray-on foam for the outer covering.
Residents are going through lots of changes. We love it when there is progress to be celebrated. But my main point has to be that the Dakota EcoGarden model of transitional housing is a good, inexpensive, green solution to homelessness; but it is only a model, housing only twelve people, and leaving hundreds (at least) of our brothers and sisters and children still just trying to survive. This is one problem we can’t blame on Trump. And while a better economy, providing more jobs with better pay and more affordable housing, would actually solve most of the problem, we must insist that our local governmental agencies do a better job of providing emergency and transitional housing in the meantime.
Our main need at the EcoGarden right now is people to help with gardening work. We have had a few volunteers, and the Edison High School Key Club, thirteen strong, came and turned a lot of weeds into compost, but we burned out the motor of our weed-whacker so we’re looking for another and would also love to have some folks come by and take out their frustrations on some very determined weeds. (Same email as above.)
All are invited to come by and visit at 2231 West Dakota Ave., 93705. Gerry Bill or Nancy Waidtlow will meet you there if you call or email first (559 224-1738 for Nancy).
1984
Tuesday, April 4, 5:30 p.m., Artè Americas
On April 4, 2017, over 160 art houses and movie theatres across the country in 148 cities and in 42 states, plus five locations in Canada and one in England, will be participating collectively in a NATIONAL EVENT DAY screening of the 80’s movie 1984 starring John Hurt, who, sadly, died recently. This date was chosen because it’s the day George Orwell’s protagonist Winston Smith begins rebelling against his oppressive government by keeping a forbidden diary. It is extremely important to support the National Endowment for the Arts and see any attempt to scuttle that program as an attack on free speech and creative expression through entertainment. This event provides a chance for us to join with communities around the country to show our unity and have our voices heard.
Orwell’s novel begins with the sentence, “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
Fresno will join venues across the US in screening 1984 at Artè Americas at 5:30 p.m. on April 4.
Sponsors include: Artè Americas, CSUF CineCulture, CMAC, Fresno Filmworks, Sarah Minasyan, MD and Jason Marengo, MD, Fresno WILPF and Fresno Center for Nonviolence.
Post-screening discussants will be:
CATHERINE CAMPBELL, Civil Rights Attorney and Fresno Filmworks Advisory Board Member
PETER MACDONALD, Dean of Madden Library at CSUF.
DOUGLAS FRALEIGH, CSUF Communication Department Chair and Freedom of Speech Scholar.
More info at: www.unitedstateofcinema.com
REPORT FROM KARLA AGUILAR, WILPF INTERN
I have found that interning with WILPF has been such an amazing experience the past two semesters. This semester has been rewarding because I am able to engage with the community about social issues that affect us. I have attended several demonstrations throughout Fresno concerning Women’s Rights, Anti-Muslim Ban, and at Nunes’s office. The power of the people’s voice all at once supporting each other is something I am glad to experience.
This semester I have had the opportunity of working with the WILPF Library Committee. These women are such passionate women to give back to children. We recently donated books for the children at the Malaga Community Center. I loved seeing the expressions of the children getting new books and I am happy that we take the time to engage with them by helping them with their homework.
I am a Social Work major at Fresno State, so the different things that WILPF participates in connect with the values of my passion. Tabling at CineCulture, letting the community know of Tzu Chi Medical Services, and fighting against social injustice is what I am glad to be a part of.
TAX DAY 2017 IS TUESDAY, APRIL 18
Take a one- or two-hour shift engaging with taxpayers outside the post office on Griffith Way on Tax Day 2017. Provide information about how our tax money is spent, and distribute copies of the Community Alliance. To volunteer contact Joan Poss, ilsasso2003@yahoo.com.
