Peace Center Archives

2022

Friday, February 25, 2022 / Joleen Siebert and the Anti-racism Discussion Group

The Impact of a Deep Study of Antiracism

Friday, February 25, 2022 / An Evening with Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny

Time to Stand Up and Choose 

Facilitated by Joleen Siebert and Hope Nisly

Friday, February 4, 2022 / Speaker: Mark Alvis

 The Psychology of Climate Change, How it Affects Us, and What We Can Do About it

"The Most Important Thing" 30 second trailer:  https://youtu.be/1adD1socpPQ 

Friday, January 28, 2022 / Speakers: Ken Wall and Connie Young, Citizen's Climate Lobby

Friday, January 21, 2022 / Speaker: Peter Ashcroft

2021

Friday, December 3, 2021 / Speaker: Jim Lichti

Processing our Past: Scholarly Assessments of Nazism and MCC

Friday, November 19, 2021 / Speaker: Peter Ashcroft

Challenges of a Clean, Reliable, and Affordable Electrical System in the 21st Century

Friday, October 29, 2021 / Speaker: Benjamin Goossen

The Global Mennonite Encounter with Nazism, 1929-1955

Friday, October 8, 2021  / Speakers: Mike Rhodes, Dez Martinez, Bob McCloskey

House Keys, Not Handcuffs: Addressing the homeless issue in Fresno, Reedley and the San Joaquin Valle

Friday, September 10, 2021 / Speaker: Michael Delollis

The Ordeal of Change 2021: Shedding Light and Providing Psychological Insight into the Political Divides Rocking Our Nation

Friday, August 6, 2021 / Speakers: Dan O'Connell and Scott Peters

In the Struggle: Scholars Aand the Fight Against Industrial Agrigbusiness in California

 Friday, July 16, 2021 / Speaker: Don Friesen

The Reedley Peace Center Story: 2003 - present

Friday, June 25, 2021 / Speaker: Lauren Friesen

The Arts as Restorative Justice: From Passive Observance to Social Action

Friday, June 4, 2021 / Performers: Near/Far Theatre

 OverCome: An original show about shame and resilience. 

Friday, May 21, 2021 / Speaker: Carrie Koplinka-Loehr

Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need

Friday, May 7, 2021 / Speaker: Sheri Hostetler

How the Past Has Shaped Our Present Moment: Understanding the Doctrine of Discovery and its Impact on Indigenous People and Creation

Friday, April 16, 2021 / Speaker: Ken Martens Friesen

'The Sun Don’t Always Shine’: Dealing with the Problem of Storing Renewable Energy

Friday, March 26, 2021 / Speaker: Weldon Nisly

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Update

Friday, March 19, 2021 / Speaker: Amanda Nugent Divine, M.S., M.A., LMFT

The Covid-19 Pandemic and Mental Health in the Central Valley

Friday, March 5, 2021 / Speaker: Rev. Karen Crozier, PhD

Fannie Lou Hamer’s Revolutionary Practical Theology

Friday, February 19, 2021 / Speaker: Dr. Robin Linscheid

COVID-19 Update on Fresno County

Friday, February 5, 2021 / Speaker: Reedley Police Chief Joe Garza

Reedley Police Department 2021: An Update and Moving Forward

Friday, January 15, 2021 / Speaker: Dr. Gail Newell

COVID-19 State-wide update 

2020

 Friday, November 13, 2020 / Speakers: Bret Kincaid and Ken Martens Friesen

Reflections on the 2020 election, the legacy of the past four years, and the prognosis of the democratic process and the presidency

Friday, October 9, 2020 / Speakers: Ted Loewen, Jerry Linscheid, Joleen Siebert

What’s on the ballot? And the logistics of voting in the 2020 election

Friday, September 11, 2020 / Speaker: Katherine Smith, West Coast Mennonite Central Committee, Border and Migration Outreach Coordinator

Asylum and Immigration: a history and current policies

Friday, July 24, 2020 / Joleen Siebert and Hope Nisly

2019

2018

Friday, November 23   NO PROGRAM

Friday, March 17, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Felipe Hinojosa, Department of History at Texal A&M. Topic: White Privilege

Friday, March 10, 6:30-8:30 (doors open at 6:30, concert begins at 7:00 pm)
Tom Nielsen in Concert. Admission is free. Donations accepted. This was a benefit concert to raise money for scholarships for the Reedley High School Students for Peace. A silent auction was held in conjunction with the concert to help generate donations for this cause.

Friday, March 3, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Richard Stone and Maria Telesco.  Topic: Houses of Healing. Richard and Maria will speak about their work with this program for prisoner rehabilitation and reentry. 

Sunday, February 26
Speaker: Bonnie Klassen, MCC director for Mexico and Latin America. Topic:  Progressing Toward Peace in Colombia

Thursday, February 23, 7:30  at North Gym 118, CSU Fresno
Speaker: James Lawson. Topic: Nonviolence Then and Now

Sunday, February 19, 6 pm
Speaker: Weldon Nisly. Topic: Re-envisioning Mennonite Peace Ministry.

Friday, February 17, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Weldon Nisly. Topic: How the War on Terrorism became Permanent War and Created ISIS.

Friday, February 10, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Ryan Claassen, Kent State University. Topic: Godless Democrats and Pious Republicans? Party Activists, Party Capture and the 'God Gap' 

Friday, February 3, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Layla Darwish, founder of Free Palestine. Topic: The Middle East Refugee Crisis. Layla will share about her experiences in Lesbos, Greece last summer. 

Friday, January 27, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Leni Reeves, Rafael Anita, and Gerry Bill, participants in the most recent Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba. Topic: Why Cuba?

Inauguration Activities

• Friday, January 20, 5:50 pm Inauguration Day
  Vigil for Preparedness and Unity: A light in the darkness in a time of uncertainty at Pioneer Park on G Street between 8th and 9th Streets. In case it is raining at 5:30 this event will take place at the Fellowship Hall at First Mennonite Church (1208 L Street). In either case the vigil will be followed (at 6:30) by our usual shared meal.

• Saturday, January 21
  • Reedley Peace Center bus to Million Women's March in Los Angeles (bus leaves from RPC parking lot at 5 am - returns at 8 pm
  • Organize for a Better Future, a Peace Fresno event at River Park from 2-4 pm. This is a post-inaugural street demonstration to increase awareness of local organizations working on issues of peace and social justice.

• Sunday, January 22
  Syrian Refugee Potluck Supper at College Community Mennonite Brethren Church in Fresno from 6-8 pm. Nate Yoder will talk about MCC's Syrian Refugee efforts. Kamal Abu-Shamsieh will interview the six Syrian refugee families. This is a Mennonite Peacemaker event.

Sunday, January 15, 6-7 pm
Speakers: Hyun and Natianiel Hur. Topic: Two Korean-American experiences of North Korea 

Friday, January 13, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Will Scott spoke about his farming career and about the 'Drill for Will' 

Friday, January 6, No meeting at the Peace Center 

2016

Two week break for the holiday season.

'In the Struggle' Series is a history of academic scholarship and community engagement in the San Joaquin Valley. This series examines the democratic purposes and civic values of scholars who conducted research and advocated for change as the region's rural agricultural economy consolidated and industrialized. The Valley's highly politicized and intensely adversarial setting offers a backdrop for this unique story. 'In the Struggle' describes the activism of these scholars as they lobbied to enforce existing federal laws, organized underserved communities, led labor strikes, founded community development programs, created non-profit institutions in addition to working as traditional social scientists. This series hosts these scholars (some of them now emeritus professors) to revisit their experiences and tell their stories - a narrative that spans eighty years and work that continues to this day.

In the Struggle, the doctoral dissertation of Daniel O'Connell. If you have trouble with this link, go to the events page of the website of California Institute of Rural Studies (CIRS) and find the link at the bottom of the RPC article on this page.

We sincerely thank all of you who attended and contributed to making this series such a success. And of course, special thanks to Dan O'Connell whose dissertation was the foundation of the series and whose tireless efforts to coordinate and host speakers made this all work. We also specially than Mark Alvis who has faithfully arranged for and brought to fruition the recording and archiving of these programs for posterity.

Video recordings of talks in this series:

• Scott Peters: What is the Role of the Scholar in a Democracy
• Daniel O'Connell: The History of Scholars Defending Democracy in the San Joaquin Valley
• Don Villarejo: Can We Achieve an Ecologically Sound, Economically Viable and Socially Just Agriculture
• Dean MacCannell: The Goldschmidt Re-test: The Struggle to Preserve Acreage Limitations under Reclamation Law
• Isao Fujimoto: Building on the Potential of the Central Valley's Ethnic Diversity
• Trudy Wischemann: Paul Taylor's Baton: Carrying On in the San Joaquin Valley
• Tom Willey: Reflections on a Forty Year Farming Career in California's San Joaquin Valley
• Janaki Jaganath: Dust to Dust
• Jonathan London: Community-Engaged Scholarship: From Rogue Academic to Institutional Actor
• Will Scott: Farming in the Central Valley as an African American Farmer

• Friday, December 16, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Jonathan London, Associate Professor of Human Ecology, UC Davis and Director for the Center of Regional Change.
  Topic: Community-Engaged Scholarship: From Rogue Academic to Institutional Actor.
  London will share stories of his development as a community-engaged scholar as boundary-crosser between the realms of academic, activism, and public policy. He will discuss the dilemmas of building an institutional base to sustain and scale up action research in the university while still retaining the freedom to serve as a critic of these same institutions. The talk will draw examples from his work directing the UC Davis Center for Regional Change and supporting its projects on themes of environmental justice, rural community development, youth well-being, and civic engagement, with a focus on the San Joaquin Valley.

• Friday, December 9, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Janaki Jagannath, Coordinator, Community Alliance for Agroecology.
  Topic: Dust to Dust: Janaki Jagannath will unpack the history of today's disadvantaged unincorporated communities of the San Joaquin Valley, including case studies of communities nested in the vast Westside who lack safe and affordable drinking water. She will uncover lived reality in farmworker settlements that suffer with the acute impacts of socioeconomic and pollution burden and discuss government and civil society's responsibility, in 2016 and beyond, in supporting rural communities' "just transition" to ecological agriculture and a new economy in the countryside.

• Friday, November 18, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Tom Willey, T & D Willey Farms, host of 'Down on the Farm' on KFCF, 'veritable grandfather of organic vegetable production in the Central Valley'.
  Topic: Reflections on a forty-year farming career in California's San Joaquin Valley.

• Friday, November 11, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Sara Ramirez, Community Engaged Scholar & Executive Director of Foodlink for Tulare County.
  Topic: Good Food Changes Lives: Transforming our food system from charity to solidarity.

• Friday, October 28, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Trudy Wischemann, rural advocate and scholar who worked with several of the academics featured in this series (Paul Taylor, Walter Goldschmidt, Dean MacCannell, and Don Villarejo).
  Topic: Paul Taylor's Baton: Carrying On in the San Joaquin Valley.

• Friday, October 21, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Isao Fujimoto, Senior Lecturer and founder of Asian American Studies and the graduate program in Community Development at UC Davis.
  Topic: Dynamic Mosaic: Building on the Potential of the Central Valley's Ethnic Diversity.

• Friday, October 14, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Dean MacCannell, Professor Emeritus, UC Davis and author of the classic, 'The Tourist, A New Theory of the Leisure Class'.
  Topic: The Goldschmidt Re-test: The Struggle to Preserve Acreage Limitations under Reclamation Law.

• Friday, October 7, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Don Villarejo, Agricultural Policies Researcher and founder of CIRS (California Institute for Rural Studies).
  Topic: Can We Achieve an Ecologically Sound, Economically Viable and Socially Just Agriculture?

• Friday, September 30, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Daniel O'Connell, San Joaquin Valley scholar and community advocate.
  Topic: The History of Scholarship Defending Democracy in the San Joaquin Valley.

• Friday, September 23, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Scott Peters, Professor of Development Sociology at Cornell University specializing in Community Development and Public Engagement.
  Topic: What is the Role of Scholars in a Democracy?

Friday, December 2, 7 PM San Joaquin Chorale in the sanctuary of First Mennonite Church

Friday, December 2, No meeting at the Peace Center

Friday, November 25, No meeting at the Peace Center

Friday, November 25, 9 AM-5 PM and Saturday, November 26, 9 AM-4 PM
Sweet Home Ranch Annual Art Show and Holiday Gift Sale, featuring Paul Buxman original paintings and other art and craft. You will also find an abundance of farm crafted foods and gifts from Sweet Home Ranch and neighboring farms, available to taste and purchase. Enjoy the beauty of the farm, the tastes of home, and visit with neighbors and friends.
Address: 4399 Ave. 400 (State Highway 201), Dinuba. From Highway 99 take exit 112 in Kingsburg).

Wednesday, November 9, 7:00-8:30 at Community United Church of Christ, 5550 N Fresno St. in Fresno
Nawal Slemiah of Women in Hebron. Topic: Palestinian Women's Empowerment under Occupation.

Tuesday, November 8, 2:30-4:30 at Fresno Pacific Seminary, BC Lounge, South east corner at Chestnut and Butler Avenues in Fresno
Speaker: Dr. Alex Awad. Topic: Empowering Young Palestinian Christians in the work of non-violent peacemaking. (Event will be held in the BC lounge at the FPU Seminary)

Friday, November 4, 6:30-8:30 Speaker: Jeff Gundy, poet and professor at Bluffton University in Ohio.
Topic: Songs from an Empty Cage.

Thursday October 27, 7 PM
Discussion of the ballot propositions led by Ted Loewen, Jerry Lindscheid, and Duane Ruth-Heffelbower.

Friday, September 16, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Sharat Lin, journalist, writes on global political economy and the Middle East. Topic: Saudi Arabia: Oil, Labor, Migration, Jihadism and War

Friday, September 9, 6-8 PM at Henry Madden Library, CSUFresno
Introduction of the exhibit from Bethel College: Sorting Out Race. Examining racial identity & stereotypes in thrift store donations

Friday, September 2, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Jordan Penner and Jenny Regier, returning Mennonite Central Committee workers in Bolivia. Topic: Evo's Bolivia: The Process of Change in Review

Friday, August 26, No Meeting

Friday, August 19, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Mike Izbicki. Topic: Peacemaking by teaching computer science at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.

Friday, July 29, 6:30-8:30 (Summer Film Series)
Documentary: Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 2007 NR 81 min.
Chronicling the creation of Steinway pianos and the vanishing breed of craftsmen who build them, documentary filmmaker Ben Niles tracks the journey of these beautiful instruments from the factory to great concert halls.

Friday, July 22, 6:30-8:30 (Summer Film Series)
Documentary: Between the Folds 2008 NR 56 min.
Filmmaker Vanessa Gould embarks on an odyssey into the mesmerizing world of modern origami, where artists and scientists use the ancient practice to craft works of delicate beauty and to model cutting-edge mathematical theories.

Tuesday, July 19, 7 P.M at Community United Church of Christ, 5550 N. Fresno St, Fresno
DVD Premiere of Crude Beyond Belief, a documentary about the Kern county oil fields, based on a tour given by Tom Frantz in 2015.

Friday, July 15, 6:30-8:30
Speaker:Elijah Penner, Detention Team Leader, International Committee of the Red Cross in Cambodia

Friday, July 8, 6:30-8:30 (Summer Film Series)
Documentary: I am Big Bird 2015 NR 90 min.
For more than four decades, Caroll Spinney has been the man inside the beloved "Sesame Street" character Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. In this affectionate documentary, Spinney shares the highlights of his unique career.

Friday, July 1 NO MEETING

Friday, June 24, 6:30-8:30 (Summer Film Series)
Documentary: Soundtrack for a Revolution 2009 NR 82 min.
Music was a powerful tool in the American Civil Rights Movement, spreading a message that was difficult for many to hear and serving as an energizing force nonviolent protest. This documentary celebrates that intersection of movement and music.

Friday, June 17, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Gary Johnson, retired professor from Ventura College. Topic: Response and Reaction to Cultural Change in the Sixties.

Friday, June 10, 6:30-8:30 (Summer Film Series)
Documentary: He Named Me Malala 2015 PG-13 87 min.
Vividly portraying the obstacles Pakistani women face in getting an education because of prohibitions by the Taliban, this affecting documentary chronicles the story of Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old who was shot because of her advocacy efforts.

Friday, June 3, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Andrew Fiala, Professor of Philosophy and director of the Ethics Center at Fresno State. Topic: Who Needs Marriage?

Friday, May 27, 6:30-8:30 (Summer Film Series)
Film: The Wanted 18 2015 NR 75 min.
This true tale from the Palestinian intifada of the late 1980's uses animation, re-enactments and interviews to narrate the effort by Palestinian residents to maintain and protect their own herd of milk cows, in defiance of Israeli occupation laws.

Friday, May 20, 6:30-8:30 Reflections: Paul Buxman interviewed member Ethel Harder.

Friday, May 13, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Mark Alvis. Topic: Feeling the Pain of the Earth.

Friday, May 6 No regular meeting.
San Joaquin Chorale Concert in the sanctuary

Friday, April 29, 7 PM at the Big Red Church in Fresno
Speaker: Amy Goodman of Democracy Now
Tickets: $15 in advance; $18 at the door

Friday, April 22, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Mike Rhodes. Topic: Dispatches from the War Zone.

Friday, April 15, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Hansel Kern. Topic: The Story of Kern Family Farm.

Friday, April 8, 6:45-8:45
Speaker: Stefani Booroojian, KSEE24 news anchor. Topic: Remembering the Armenian Genocide.

Friday, April 1 (No meeting)
West Coast MCC Relief on the campus of Fresno Pacific University
Reedley Peace Center will have a booth at which we will sell 'school kits' for students in developing countries.

Friday, March 25, 6:30-8:30
Taize Service

Friday, March 18, 6:30-8
Speaker: Hannah Brandt, editor of Community Alliance. Topic: Save Community Alliance, Save Free Speech in the Central Valley.

Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12
13th Annual Reedley Peace Center Retreat at St. Nicholas Retreat Center
Featured presenter: Alice Daniel of The California Report on NPR

Friday, March 4, 7:00 PM
Blowing the Whistle, a benefit concert featuring singer, songwriter, political satirist, Tom Neilson. This event featured a silent auction. You may sample Tom Neilson's music at his website: www.tomneilsonmusic.com. (Note: There was no meal with this event.)
Admission was free, but your free-will donation supports the Reedley Peace Center Scholarship Fund.

Friday, February 26, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Paul Gilmore, professor of History at Fresno City College. Topic: The History of California's Infrastructure.

Friday, February 19, 6:30-8:30 Length of film: 89 minutes.
Documentary: This Changes Everything. Based on Naomi Klein's recent book by this name, this film is an epic attempt to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change.

Friday, February 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Kelly Mitchinson spoke about The Central Valley Justice Coalition. Topic: Human Trafficking in the Valley.

Friday, February 5, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Michael Delollis. Topic: Psychotherapy, a Spiritual Journey

Friday, January 29, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: John Swenning. Topic: Reedley Peacebuilding Initiative in Kings Canyon Unified School District

Friday, January 22, 5:00-9:00 at BC Lounge at Fresno Pacific Seminary on the southeast corner of Chestnut and Butler Avenues in Fresno

• 6:00 - Keynote Speaker: Rev. Dr. Iva Carruthers Topic: "Remembering and Renewing King's Dream for Peace: Black Lives Matter"
• 7:00 - Peacemaking circle conversations
• 7:45 - Multicultural Panel Presentations on the theme Remembering and Renewing King's Dream for Peace: Black Lives Matter

- Note there was no program at our usual meeting place.

Friday, January 15, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Layla, president of Palestinian Freedom Project. Topic: The Israeli Occupation and My Recent Experiences.

Friday, January 8, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Farousz Radnejad. Topic: Women in Islam

2015

Friday, December 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Brent Auernheimer, Assistant Chair and professor of Computer Science, CSUFresno. Topic: Risk, Security and the Internet.

Friday, December 4, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Ro Linscheid, Admissions and Marketing Director for Sierra View Homes. Topic: Music and Memory: Sierra View Homes' Story.

Friday, November 27 and Saturday November 28
Sweet Home Ranch Annual Art Show and Holiday Gift Sale, featuring Paul Buxman original oil paintings; lithographs and art cards; farm crafted foods and gifts from Sweet Home ranch and neighboring farms. Enjoy the beauty of the farm, the tastes of home, and visits with neighbors and friends.

Friday, November 20, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Cherylyn Smith, is a retired teacher currently teaching part-time at Fresno City College. Topic: Cap and Trade.

Friday, November 13, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Susana de Anda, cofounder and codirector of Community Water Center in Visalia, which addresses the Central Valley's drinking water issues in a comprehensive, sustainable way.

Friday, November 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Duane Ruth Heffelbower, retired teacher, attorney, mediator and peacemaker. Topic: Eyewitness Testimony: The Least Reliable Evidence.

Friday, October 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Tom Frantz, retired teacher, actively working for environmental justice, particularly with regard to valley air and water issues. Topic: Issues surrounding the Delta, Dams, and Dry Wells plus the Conspiracy by the Air District to Harm Public Health.

Friday, October 23, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Josh Peterson, former member and recent graduate from UC Berkeley, shared his honored senior thesis: The Significance of the Wasteland in American Culture.

Friday, October 16, 6:30-8:30
Video presentation of Erica Chenoweth's Campaign Nonviolence keynote address: Why Civil Disobedience Works.

Friday, October 9, 6:30-8:30
Movie: Selma, a chronicle of Martin Luther King's campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965.

Friday, October 2, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Aziza Hasan, executive director of Newground, a Muslim-Jewish partnership for change. Topic: Softening the Heart Through Story. How to unleash the power of story-telling to connect with people across differences and help them see the human sitting across from them.

Friday, September 25, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Pulitzer Prize winner, Diana Marcum. Scenes from California's Dust Bowl.

Friday, September 18, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Alison Weir, American author and journalist. Topic: Israel, Palestine and the US: What Americans Need to Know. Alison discussed the roots of the current violence in Israel-Palestine, distorted media coverage of the region, and why American taxpayers continue to send Israel $10 million per day.

Friday, September 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Leni Reeves. Subject: Cuba and the United States - What has Changed and What Still Needs to Be Done.

Friday, September 4, 6:30-8:30
Inequality For All 2013 PG 88 min.
Discussing numerous issues in clear and accessible language, former U.S. Labor secretary and current UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich makes a compelling case about the serious crises the U.S. faces due to the widening economic gap.

No other meetings in August

Friday, August 7, 6 PM in the lobby of The Terraces, Sierra View Homes
Live streaming of the Campaign Nonviolence National Convention in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Keynote address by Rev. James Lawson, leading strategist for the Civil Rights Movement.

Sunday, August 2, 6 PM at Mennonite Community Church (Willow and Olive) in Fresno
Mennonite Peacemakers sponsored a seminar on "Peacemaking in an Age of Water Scarcity." The program featured a presentation by Tom Frantz, Kern County farmer, three-term MCC development worker, math teacher and environmentalist. A panel responded to Tom's address and space was given for audience participation.

Friday, July 31, 6:30-8:30
Monsieur Lazhar 2011 PG-13 94 min.
NOTE: FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
When an Algerian immigrant seeking asylum in Montreal takes a job replacing an elementary school teacher who committed suicide, he finds that his own secret, tragic background enables him to help the children deal with their loss.

Friday, July 24, 6:30-8:30
Surviving Progress 2011 NR 86 min.
This bracing documentary considers whether human "progress" stemming from the Industrial Age could be paving the way for civilization's collapse. The film asks a range of thinkers whether the modern world might be headed for a "progress trap."

Friday, July 17, 6:30-8:30
Tim's Vermeer 2013 PG-13 80 min.
Teller, of Penn & Teller fame, directs this absorbing film about Tim Jennison's quest to solve one of art's greatest mysteries. How did Dutch master Johannes Vermeer paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography?

Friday, July 10, 6:30-8:30
Finding Vivian Maier 2013 NR 83 min.
When longtime nanny Vivian Maier died in 2009, she left behind thousands of photo negatives that she'd produced over the years. But the now-famous shutterbug's unique body of work lay in storage until an amateur historian uncovered the trove.

Friday, July 3, No Meeting

Friday, June 26, No Meeting

Friday, June 19, 6:30-8:30
Alive inside: A Story of Music & Memory 2014 NR 78 min.
This moving documentary follows social worker Dan Cohen as he uses music to unlock memory in nursing-home patients with Alzheimer's disease. Aided by well-known neurologist Oliver Sacks. Cohen aims to transform the quality of life for the afflicted.

Friday, June 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Paulette Rubick Johnson. Topic: Balancing the warrior and the yogi. Johnson, author of "Rookie on the Battlefield" discussed what it means to don your armor and face life head on - from openly recognizing your feelings and losses, to challenging authority and taking a stand when you need to.

Friday, June 5, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Maureen Walsh spoke about her two stays in Palestine in 2014.

Friday, May 29, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Noemi Rodriguez-Paredes, Youth of the Year for Boys and Girls Clubs of Fresno County. Noemi told of her experiences as a recent immigrant and the difficulties she has experienced as a young person aspiring for a college education.

Friday, May 22, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dan O'Connell. Topic: Saving Farmland, Growing Cities: Farmland Conservation and Food Security in the Era of Climate Change.

Friday, May 15, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David Gonzalez. Topic: Community Life Garden. A proposal for a community garden for the Reedley-Dinuba-Orange Cove area.

Friday, May 8, 6:30-8:30 Campaign Nonviolence
Speaker: David Hartsough, lifelong peace and justice activist. Topic: Waging Peace, the title of his newly released memoir.

Friday, May 1, 6:30-8:30 Campaign Nonviolence
Speaker: Veena Howard, associate professor of philosophy at CSUFresno. Dr. Howard is a specialist in Religious Studies with an expertise in Asian Religious Traditions and Ghandi. Topic: Gandhi's Journey: from Mohandas to Mahatma.

Friday, April 24, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Glenn and Catherine Bean spoke about their current work in Colorado. Glenn has roots in Reedley and was part of our group for a short time.

Friday, April 17, 6:30-8:30 Campaign Nonviolence
Short video of a TED Talk about the success of nonviolent movements by Erica Chenoweth, followed by an activity that explores some of the great nonviolent movements of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Friday, April 10 and Saturday April 11 (no meeting)
Reedley Peace Center had a school-kit-booth at the Annual West Coast Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale at Fresno Pacific University.

Friday, April 3, 6:30-8:30
Taize Service.

Friday, March 27, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Cindy Hoopes. Topic: Food, Energy, and Vitality. Friday & Saturday, March 20
Peace Center 12th Annual Retreat - Retreat schedule, directions, and other information about the weekend.
Featured speaker: Kristin Stoneking, Executive Director of Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), USA

Friday, March 13, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dolores Weller Topic: Air quality

Friday, March 6, 6:30-8:30 - Campaign Nonviolence
Documentary: Praying the Devil Back to Hell chronicles social unrest in the West African Republic of Liberia, where civil war has torn the nation apart and left hundreds of thousands dead or displaced. The film reconstructs the way this tragedy galvanized a coalition of Christian and Muslim women to rise up and, through nonviolent tactics, put pressure on their government to pursue peace talks, then follows their grassroots moment as it leads to democratic elections and Liberia's first female president.

Friday, February 27 - NO MEETING

Friday, February 20 - In Fresno
Interfaith Scholars Weekend. Speaker: Dr. Miguel De La Torre on "Our Immigration Dilemma".
For schedule and registration: http://interfaithscholar.org/isw-2015/isw-2015-schedule/

Friday, February 13, 6:30-8:30
Speakers Steve and Laura Reed have lived and worked with Central Americans for 35 years. Steve is a minister and Laura is an immigration attorney. They lived in the Mission District of San Francisco and now in Oak Park Sacramento working on immigration and human rights issues.

Friday, February 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Investigative journalist Bill Rempel. Topic: Racing To America. The experiences of 'undesirable immigrants' of a century ago: Russian Mennonites.

Friday, January 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David Cehrs. Topic: Water Issues in the context of the passage of Propostion 1, California's Water Bond

Friday, January 23, 6:00-9:00 Downtown Business Hub located at 1444 Fulton St., Fresno
Martin Luther King Symposium. Speaker Adam Ghali. In 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. asked the American Psychological Association to consider creative maladjustment: the capacity to racism, poverty and violence. At this event we shall explore that still timely prophetic call.

Monday, January 19, 2015 - March and "Mountain of Food" Collection (9:15-10:45 AM)
Location: Fresno City Hall, 2600 Fresno Street, Fresno Marchers assemble at 9:15 AM. March begins at 10:00AM, ending at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium for Commemoration Program. "Mountain of Food" will be collected at Fresno City Hall.
Contact: James Lett III (559) 284-6420 & Enrique Reade 940-2159

Monday, January 19, 2015 - Commemoration Program (10:45-12:00 PM)
Location: Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 2425 Fresno St. Speaker: Delores Huerta, President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and featuring a commemoration program celebrating community diversity and culture.

Saturday, January 17, 2015 - Candlelight Vigil 6:00 PM
Location: Fresno City College, Fountain outside of the Administration Building across from the library, 1101 East University Avenue

Friday, January 16, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Stan Santos. Topic: The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

Friday, January 9, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Simon Carroll spoke about his recent Christian Peacemaker Team interaction with the Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario, Canada.

Friday, January 2, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Celia Concannon, long time resident and public school teacher in Nogales, AZ. Topic: Living and Teaching In a Border Town.

2014

No meetings on Friday, December 19 and 26

Friday, December 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Chucho Mendoza, Chicano and Latin American Studies major at CSUF. Topic: An Undocumented Journey: A perspective from a migrant.

Friday, December 5, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Karen Crozier, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at Fresno Pacific University. Topic: The Voice of a Community for Educational Justice. West Fresno’s 35 year struggle to get a bona-fide neighborhood middle school after the closing of Irwin Junior High School in the late 70s, and West Fresno community advocates' critique of FUSD's hire for African American and Latino Studies.

Friday, November 28 - Saturday, November 29
Sweet Home Ranch Annual Art Show and Holiday Gift Sale, featuring Paul Buxman original oil paintings, lithographs and art cards; farm crafted foods and gifts from Sweet Home ranch and neighboring farms.

Friday, November 21, 6:30-8:30 (Campaign Nonviolence)
Speaker: Paul Gilmore, history instructor at Fresno City College. Topic: Alternatives in the Violent 20thCentury: History Loves War, but What About Non-violence?

Friday, November 14, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dani Lee. Topic: Diet, People & Planet: Did you know that you make over 200 decisions a day about food? Learn how the choices you make on a daily basis impact the planet, the lives of others and your health.

Friday, November 7, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Jack Nolden, former TV news anchor. Topic: Thomas Picketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

Friday, October 31, 6:30-8:30
Town Hall: Jerry Linscheid and Ted Loewen gave an analysis of the ballot propositions.

Friday, October 24, 6:30-8:30 (Campaign Nonviolence)
Speaker: Andrew Fiala, professor of philosophy and director of the Ethics Center at Cal State Fresno. Topic: Peace and Forgiveness.

Friday, October 17, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Barbara Rhine on a book tour for her newly released novel. Tell No Lies is a tale of a black fugitive on the run, a farmworker organizer and a Berkeley feminist, caught in a love triangle during one of the largest UFW marches in history.

Saturday, October 11, 10 AM (Campaign Nonviolence)
Reedley Peace Center had a float in the Fiesta parade to promote our Campaign Nonviolence. The theme of the float: Did You Know...Not all Heroes Carry Guns

Friday, October 10, 6:30-8:30 (Campaign Nonviolence)
Documentary: Bringing Down a Dictator. We continued our focus on nonviolent movements with this documentary of the spectacular defeat of Yugoslavian dictator Slobodan Milosevic by the student movement Otpor (meaning 'resistance').

Friday, October 3, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Sharat Lin, research fellow and former president of the San Jose Peace and Justice Center. Topic: The Art of Protest. This evening included an exhibition of 26 pieces of protest art.

Friday, September 26, 6:30-8:30 (Campaign Nonviolence)
Documentary: A Force More Powerful: Poland - "We've Caught God by the Arm" - the story of the Solidarity movement in Communist Poland (30 minutes). This was followed by a table game "Peace Heroes" that gave players an exposure to 16 notable peacemakers from the 18th through the 20th centuries.

Friday, September 19, 6:30-8:30

Friday, September 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Gary Lasky. Topic: Protecting Ourselves from Fracking and Other Extreme Oil Follies

Friday, September 5, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Kristin Stoneking, Executive Director of FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation)

No programs in August except for:
Friday, August 15, 6:30-8:30
Title: From Clovis to Christian Peacemaker Teams
Join professional percussionist Simon Carroll and Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Executive Director Sarah Thompson for an energizing and interactive discussion of CPT's current work, using acclaimed teacher Joanna Macy's method of sustaining hope and power. Simon will also share about his journey growing up as a non-Christian in Clovis, CA and rediscovering the power of faith-full activism and solidarity through CPT.

Friday, July 25, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Garbage Warrior (2007 - 86 minutes)
Oliver Hodge's award-winning documentary chronicles the life and work of visionary Michael Reynolds, the radical architect-engineer who has been designing and building self-sustaining, eco-friendly homes out of disposable materials for 30 years. Battling opposition from bureaucrats, politicians and big business, Reynolds strives to show the entire world that "Earthship Biotecture" is the key to preserving mankind's future on earth.

Friday, July 18, 6:30-9:00
Special recognition of our five senior graduates.
Movie: Promised Land (2012 - 108 minutes - rated R)
Taking advantage of hard economic times, two salespeople for a natural gas company come to a small town to buy drilling rights from the residents. To their surprise, a local schoolteacher mobilizes a campaign aimed at blocking the company's plans. Rated R for language. Cast: Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, John Krasinski, Hal Holbrook.

Friday July 11, No meeting

Friday, July 4, No meeting

Friday, June 27, No meeting

Friday, June 20, 6:30-9:00
Documentary: A Fierce Green Fire (2012 - 101 minutes)
This engaging documentary profiles the evolution of environmental movements over the past five decades, from early efforts at conservation and protests against pollution to the radical tactics of Greenpeace and concerns over global climate change.

Documentary: Bully (2011 - 99 minutes)
Exploring the subject of school bullying from a personal angle, this eye-opening documentary tracks the stories of five different families whose children are struggling to defend themselves on a near-daily basis.

Friday, June 13, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Heist: Who Stole the American Dream. (2011 - 90 minutes)
Who stole the American Dream and strategically shrunk the middle class? Filmmakers Frances Causey and Donald Goldmacher point the finger at money-hungry corporations, which they say helped plan the biggest heist in U.S. history.

Friday, June 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Melissa Hofstetter. Topic: The Pasadena Gun Buyback Campaign.

Friday, May 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Stan Santos. Topic: Local Efforts to Stop the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Friday, May 23, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Vic Bedoian. Topic: The Importance of Independent Journalism.

Friday, May 16, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: member and writer, Steve Penner read Judge Arlene Dortman's Courtroom, and other short works.

Saturday, May 10, 8:30-3:30 at Forum Hall, Social Science Bldg., Fresno City College
Water Conference 2014, The Central Valley Water Consortium. This was a free event.

Tuesday, May 6, 7 PM at the Terraces, Sierra View Homes
Steering Committee meeting

Friday, May 9, 6:30-8:30
Documentary:Dirty Wars. Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill is pulled into an unexpected journey as he chases down the hidden truth behind America's expanding covert wars.

Friday May 2, 5:00 - Reedley Peace Center car pooled to the CSU Fresno Satellite Student Union for this program.
Documentary: Free Angela & All the Political Prisoners (2012). Speaker: Dr. Angela Davis.
Free Angela is a gripping historic account of the events that catapulted a young University of California philosophy professor into a controversial political icon in the turbulent late 1960's. Filled with elements of intrigue, suspense and conspiracies, the film delivers by empowering and inspiring diverse international audiences with its message of hope and redemption.

Friday, April 25, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Richard Stone spoke about his recent book, Hidden in Plain Sight

Friday, April 18, 6:30-8:30
Foreign exchange student Emina Mulic with the assistance of Reedley High School's Students for Peace club staged a World Hunger Banquet as the Peace Center meal. This was followed by a Taize Service.

Friday, April 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: John Saina, CSUF graduate student from Kenya. Topic: Using Technology for Peace in Developing Countries

Friday and Saturday, April 4 and 5 (Note: No program)
West Coast MCC Relief Sale

Friday, March 28, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Nancy Waidtlow. Topic: Dakota EcoGarden: An Experiment in Housing the Homeless.

Friday and Saturday, March 21 and 22
Eleventh Annual Retreat at St. Nicholas Ranch. Theme: Story.
Featured preseters: Beth and George Gage screened their recent documentary Bidder 70, the story of student environmentalist Tim DeChristopher who monkey-wrenched the 2008 fraudulent BLM Oil and Gas Lease Auction by bidding $1.8 million to save 22,000 acres of pristine Utah wilderness with no intention to pay or drill.

Friday, March 14, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: DJ Reimer and fellow Fresno Pacific team members told about their recent Harvard Model United Nations experience.

Friday, March 7, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Sasan Fayazmanesh spoke about his recent book Containing Iran: Obama's Policy of 'Tough Diplomacy'

Friday, February 28, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Mike Izbicki. A graduate of the US Naval Academy and nuclear submarine officer, Izbicki received a conscientious objector discharge from the Navy in 2011 on the basis of his new understanding of Jesus' way of peace. Friday, February 21, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Steve Goossen, peace center member, showed a video interview of a Jewish settler, Ardie Geldman, of Efat, from his recent trip to Palestine in October 2013.

Friday, February 14, 6:30-8:30
Program: The Life and Artistry of Jemmy Bluestein.

Friday, February 7, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Rev. John Dear is an American Catholic priest, Christian pacifist, author and lecturer. He has been arrested over 75 times in acts of civil disobedience against war, injustice and nuclear weapons. Topic: this is a stop on the tour for his new book, The Nonviolent Life.

Friday, January 31, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Matt Espinoza-Watson, instructor in the Chicano-Latino Studies Program at Fresno City College. Topic: Chicano History in Fresno County.

Friday, January 24, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: John Lindsay-Poland is the co-director of the FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation) Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean. Topic: Colombia: US Policy and Human Rights.

Friday, January 17
Speaker: Bret Kincaid, Associate Professor of Politica; Science at Fresno Pacific University. Topic: The US and the Middle East: Recent History and US policy.

Friday, January 10
Speaker: Ken Friesen, Associate Professor of History and Political Science at Fresno Pacific University. Topic: The US and the Middle East: Recent History and US policy.

Friday, January 3, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Stan and Marilyn George. Topic: The Living Church in the Holy Land. Hope for the people of the in the Holy Land can emerge when Christians and US citizens engage our leaders and call on them to implement a peace rooted in justice and respect for both Palestinians and Israelis.

2013

Fridays, December 20 and 27
No meeting Friday, December 13, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David S. McCabe, Coordinator of Teacher Preparation Program, Pasadena City College. Topic: Combating Human Trafficking: A Teachers Journey from Cause to Fiction.

Friday, December 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Paul Buxman, painter, farmer and leader of Reedley Peace Center. Topic: A Painted Autobiography.

Friday, November 29 - Saturday, November 30
Sweet Home Ranch Annual Art Show and Holiday Gift Sale, featuring Paul Buxman original oil paintings, lithographs and art cards; farm crafted foods and gifts from Sweet Home ranch and neighboring farms.

Friday, November 22, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Weaving Life: The Life and Death of Peacemaker Dan Terry. This is a documentary about the life of American Dan Terry and his family who spent over 30 years devoted to the people, the culture, and the landscapes of Afghanistan. In 2010, Terry was among 10 humanitarian aid workers assassinated in Afghanistan.

Friday, November 15, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Michael Delollis. Topic: Forgiveness in Psychotherapy.

Friday, November 8, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: The World According to Monsanto, a 2008 film investigating the corporate practices around the world of the multinational corporation. It is based on three years of world-wide research by French journalist Marie-Monique Robin.

Friday, November 1, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Paul Gilmore, history instructor at Fresno City College. Topic: "The Myths and The Reality of the American Revolution: Why We Should Care About Both."

Friday, October 25, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Adam Schrag, Assistant Professor of Communications at Fresno Pacific University. Topic: The Aesthetics of War in the Drone Era.

Friday, October 18, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Gihan Abou Zeid is deeply involved in issues of women's participation in political and economic institutions and violence against women, in Egypt and the whole Arab world, and an active participant in observor in public actions the last 2 years in Egypt.

Friday, October 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Alfred Habegger, biographer. Topic: Anna Leonowens went to Bangkok in the 1860s to teach the many children of the King of Siam (Thailand). Born in India to a mixed-race mother, she claimed pure British descent after moving to the U.S., where she also told a number of misleading stories about the king and how she helped put an end to Siamese slavery. These stories were revived in the post-World War II era, most famously in Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1951 musical, The King and I, which offered an inspiring but naive and historically inaccurate vision of how democracy gets spread. Two questions will be addressed: what was Leonowens' life actually like, and why did her stories have such an impact on Americans?

Friday, October 4, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Tom Frantz. Topic: Fracking in the San Joaquin Valley.

Friday, September 27, 6:30-8:30
DVD of speech by Richard Wolff: Capitalism Hits the Fan. Economics Professor Richard Wolff lays out in macro terms the contours of the present crisis of US capitalism.

Friday, September 20, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Suzanne York, Institution of Population Studies. Topic: People's Rights. Planet's Rights: Holistic Approaches to a Sustainable Population.

Friday, September 13
No Meeting

Friday, September 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Pam Whalen is Lead Central Valley Regional Organizer for the ACLU. She spoke about the local implementation of prison realignment and the case for alternatives to incarceration especially for nonviolent, non-serious non sexual offenders. She focused on the need to increase mental health and drug treatment for this group. She also spoke about other drivers of the over incarceration boom such as the incarceration of pre-trial individuals and the use of local jails to house suspected undocumented folks..

Friday, August 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Tim Z. Hernandez told the story of the people behind Woody Guthrie's 'Deportees' - 28 farm laborers killed in the 1948 plane crash on the West Side.

Friday, July 26, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Bag It
With a humorous tone, Suzan Beraza's documentary follows average guy Jeb Berrier as he embarks on a personal quest to figure out where plastic bags come from, why they're so ubiquitous and where they end up after they're thrown away.

Friday, July 19, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune
Fiercely devoted to championing peace and social justice, folk singer Phil Ochs rose to fame at the height of the 1960s protest movements, yet his incisive lyrics and resonant melodies remain relevant for audiences today. This film tells his story. With comments by Joan Baez, Tom Hayden, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens and others.

Friday, July 12, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: God Grew Tired Of Us
After raising themselves in the desert along with thousands of other "lost boys," Sudanese refugees John, Daniel and Panther have found their way to America, where they experience electricity, running water and supermarkets for the first time.

Saturday, July 6 7:30-9:00
Drama: My Name is Rachel Corrie, a one person play edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, was be performed by Bethel College student Renee Reimer. University student Rachel Corrie served with International Solidarity Movement in the Gaza Strip in 2003. She was killed by an armored Caterpillar bulldozer while she protested the destruction of a Palestinian house by the Israeli Defense Force. The script is based on Corrie's diary and emails.

Friday, June 28
No meeting

Friday, June 21, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man
The 2013 Oscar winner for Best Documentary tells the incredible story of Rodriguez, the greatest '70's rock icon who never was. After being discovered In a Detroit bar, Rodriguez's sound struck two renowned producers and they signed a recording deal. But when the album bombed, the singer disappeared into obscurity. A bootlegged recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero.

Friday, June 14, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Steve Penner. Topic: Borders, Immigration, and the Migrant Trail Walk. Steve just returned from participating in this tenth annual walk from Nogales, Mexico to Tuscon, Arizona.

Friday, June 7, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Mike Beavers, new President of FFCF and Rych Withers, Executive Director. Topic: KFCF and Free Speech Radio.

Friday, May 31, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Gosia Wozniacka, Associated Press journalist. Topic: The Story of an Immigrant.

Friday, May 24, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Farooz Rather, Topic: Letters from Kashmir.

Friday, May 17, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Gilbert Foster, founder and director of the non-profit When I Grow Up.

Friday, May 10, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Son of the Olive Merchant: In Search of the Armenian Genocide.

Friday, May 3, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David Roy. Topic: The Shame of It All: Violence in our Culture of Disrespect.

Friday, April 26, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: DJ Reimer, Students for Peace president, told about his recent participation in the leadership conference at Washington DC.

Friday, April 19, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Jim Cochran and Larry Yee. Topic: The Food Commons. A model for actualizing the food revolution in communities everywhere by creating the physical financial and organizational infrastructure necessary for thriving regional food systems.

Friday, April 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Tom Quinn, private investigator and prison advocate. Topic: Against PTSD.

Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6
West Coast Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale at the campus of Fresno Pacific University. Reedley Peace Center had a 'School Kit' booth at the sale on both days.

Friday, March 29, 6:30-8:30
Taize service: Search, Ponder, and Pray

Friday and Saturday, March 22 and 23
Tenth Annual Reedley Peace Center Retreat at St. Nicholas Retreat Grounds

Friday, March 15, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Bernadette Sanchez, Counselor and Joe Arruda, Learning Director, spoke about some of the new behavior modification programs at Reedley High School.

Friday, March 8, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Dick and Karen Peterson (members of Reedley Peace Center) and Steve Ratzlaff (formerly) spoke about War Tax Resistance.

Friday, March 1, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Hyun and Sue Hur, Founders and leaders of ReconciliAsian, a peace center in Los Angeles. Topic: Reconciliation Work in a Korean Context.

Friday, February 22, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: A conversation with Vida Samiian, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, CSU Fresno.

Friday, February 15, 6:30-8:30
Terezin: Music of the Holocaust for Violin/Violoncello Duo. Dieter Wulfhorst and Susan Doering (members of the music faculty at Fresno Pacific University) played compositions by Zikmund Schul and Gideon Klein who were interned at the Terezin (Theresienstadt) concentration camp. The life, suffering, and death in the Terezin camp was portrayed using music, poetry, and visual art.

Friday, February 8, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Tom Willey, CSA farmer (T&D Willey Farms), passionate advocate for responsible farming and eating. Topic: Everyone Who Eats Is a Farmer.

Friday, February 1, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Harvest of Empire is a feature-length documentary that examines the direct connection between the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America and the immigration crisis we face today. Based on the book by Juan Gonzalez, this documentary looks at the role US military actions and corporate interests played in triggering waves of immigration from Latin America.

Friday, January 25, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Paul Gilmore, professor of history at Fresno City College. Topic: Commemorating King - Holidays, History and the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.

Friday, January 18, 6:30-8:30
Topic: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, a recorded speech by Michelle Alexander was screened.

Friday, January 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Marcus Ruiz Evans. Topic: California Next Century, the title of Evans' recent book, explores the possibility of California becoming its own country.

Friday, January 4, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Charles 'Chip' Ashley, a local environmentalist gave a talk and slide show on Biochar as a renewable source of energy, a soil amendment to revive carbon depleted soils, and as a way to combat climate change through a simple means of carbon sequestration.

2012

Friday, December 28 (No meeting)

Friday, December 21, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Lauren White, co-founder of the non-profit Live a Life of Love. Lauren is a product of the Kings Canyon Unified School District and a former student of some of us. Live a Life of Love sells clothing that are ethically made, organic, eco-friendly, and 100% of the profit goes to causes such as helping victims of human trafficking and the homeless.

Friday, December 14, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Nancy Hinds, founder of Hinds Hospice

Friday, December 7, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Welcome to Hebron with film-maker Terje Carlsson who introduced the film and replied to questions after the screening. Welcome to Hebron was filmed during more than three years on location in Hebron, West Bank. 17 year-old Leila Sarsour is the main character of the film. Leila is a student at the Al-Qurtaba school, a Palestinian girl's school surrounded by Israeli military installations and settlements. The film shows how the occupation affects everyday life in Palestine. Leila and her classmates are regularly attacked and harassed by Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Friday, November 30, 6:30-8:30
Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, a speech by Chris Hedges was screened

Friday, November 16, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Radley Reep. As we prepare in anticipation of CEMEX appeal of the decision on Jesse Morrow Mountain, Radley will share his understanding of how the County of Fresno processes applications for development - especially with regard to environmental assessments.

Friday, November 9, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Catherine Campbell What is civil disobedience and what happens to you if you civilly disobey the law?

Friday, November 2, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Ruth Dahlquist, Instructor of Biology at Fresno Pacific University. Topic: Genetically Modified Organisms and Proposition 37, the GMO mandatory labeling initiative.

Friday, October 26, 6:30-8:30
Town Hall. Members Ted Loewen and Jerry Linscheid will present the ballot initiatives that will appear on the November ballot.

Friday, October 19, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Maria Telesco. Topic: Capital punishment and proposition 34, the initiative to end the death penalty.

Friday, October 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Peter Lumsdaine.
Topic: Long-time friend and activist, Peter spoke about the upcoming statewide strategy meeting/conference for the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October, the Vandenberg trial and campaign, along with the escalating Middle East war.

Friday, October 5, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Michael Becker, Instructor at CSUFresno. Topic: Occupy is Anarchism (and vice versa)

Thursday, September 27, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David Barsamian, founder and director of Alternative Radio. Topic: Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism, the title of his recent book with Economist Richard Wolff

Friday, September 21, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Paul Gilmore, Professor of History at Fresno City College. Topic: Which Side are You On: Being for Labor When Labor's Flat on its Back

Friday, September 14, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Body of War. Body of War is an intimate and transformational feature documentary about the true face of war today. It is Tomas Young's coming home story as he evolves into a new person, coming to terms with his disability and finding his own unique and passionate voice against the war. A film by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue

Friday, September 7, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Chris Breedlove, pastor of the College Community Congregation Church in Fresno. Topic: Moving Boulders: Affecting Social Justice Change.

No Peace Center meetings in August.

Summer Documentary/Movie Series

• Friday, July 27, 6:30-8:30
  Two short documentaries:
  The proposal to mine Jesse Morrow Mountain is a local example of the exploitation of nature that brings shame to our nation. Jesse Morrow Mountain: In a fight to save its life is a film by Terry Easley that documents why. The Mono Lake Story showcases the Mono Basin's natural beauty through all four seasons and tells the story of the Mono Lake Committee's work to preserve and restore this special place for future generations.

• Friday, July 20, 6:30-8:30
  Documentary: The Horse Whisperer. Buck Brannaman, inspiration for "The Horse Whisperer," is revealed as a complex figure in this Sundance Audience Award winner for Best Documentary by Cindy Meehl. The master horseman reveals details of his troubled childhood and his dawning awareness of new ways that humans and horses might work with one another. As Buck learns more about horses, he finds that the ways we communicate with our animal companions offer lessons on how we relate to fellow human beings.

• Friday, July 13, 6:30-8:30
  Documentary: Mad Hot Ballroom Ballroom dancing goes from lame to cool for a group of New York City students in this insightful documentary, which follows a group of 11-year-olds as they learn to dance old-school styles including the merengue, rumba, tango, foxtrot and swing. Candid interviews capture the kids' initial reluctance at learning ballroom dance and their transformation into serious competitors determined to win a citywide competition.

• Friday, July 6, 6:30-8:30
  Documentary: Farmageddon Americans' right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action.

• Friday, June 29, 6:30-8:30 (No meeting)

• Friday, June 22, 6:30-8:30 (The screening of this two hour documentary will begin at 6:45.)
  Documenatary: Temple Grandin. This is an award winning documentary of an autistic woman, Temple Grandin, who has become one of the top scientists in the humane livestock handling industry.

Friday, June 15, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Lela Folkers. Topic: Cuba - Has our Embargo Worked? Impressions from a people-to-people visit.

Friday, June 8, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Lance Zimmerman. Topic: Attitudes about conflict resolution styles and intimate partner conflicts: What contributes to a just and peaceful home?

Friday, June 1, 6:30-8:30 PM
Speaker: John Clements. School Transportation and the Electric Bus

Saturday, May 26, 6 PM
20th Anniversary Celebration of Fresno Center for Nonviolence at Unitarian Universalist Church, 2672 E Alluvial, Clovis. Dinner followed by speaker Christian Parenti, topic: Climate Change and the Political Economy of Violence.

Friday, May 25, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Steve Penner. Rock On: Songs of Peace and Justice

Friday, May 18, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Andrew Fiala, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Ethics Center at Cal State Fresno. Topic: The Peace Movement in Israel.

Friday, May 11, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Ryan and Holly Snyder Thompson, MCC workers from Syria spoke about the country from which they have just returned.

Friday, May 4, 5:30-6:30: Left from Peace Center parking lot at 4:30
Road Trip to Bravo Lake Botannical Gardens in Woodlake

Friday, April 27, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Robin Linscheid Janzen. Topic: Health Care for the Under-served

Friday, April 20, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Jonni and Angela Pettit. Topic: Being Transexual and Being in a Marriage With a Transexual

Friday, April 13 (no meeting)
Reedley Peace Center was active at the West Coast Mennonite Central Committee Sale on Friday evening and Saturday. Fresno Pacific University

Friday, April 6, 6:30-8:30
Taize Service

Friday, March 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Ellie Bluestein.Topic: WILPF, The Raging Grannies, and Striving for Justice

Friday, March 23 (4 PM) through Saturday, March 24 (9 PM)
Ninth Annual Reedley Peace Center Retreat at St. Nicholas Retreat
Featured Speakers: Lorin and Laksana Peters, recently returned from a peace building mission to Thailand.

Friday, March 16, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Jesse Epp-Fransen, Legislative Assistant and Communications Coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office. Topic: The 2012 Farm Bill

Friday, March 9, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Dr. Rich Young and Dr. Pat Cassen, former NASA scientists. Topic: Global Warming: What's Happening, Why, and So What?

Friday, March 2, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Karen Crozier. Topic: The New Jim Crow

Friday, February 24, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Kevin Hall, Director of Central Air Quality Coalition

Thursday, February 23, 7 PM at Peters Auditorium on CSUF campus
Speaker: Ilan Pappe, Israeli Historian. Topic: Arab Spring and the Palestine-Israel "Peace Process"
Reedley Peace Center was a co-sponsor of this event.

Friday, February 17, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Members Kevin and Shannon Parkinson told about their two year Peace Corps assignment in Honduras.

Friday, February 10, 6:30-8:30
Documenatry: Israel vs. Israel, with film producer, Terje Carlsson. To many of their fellow Israelis, they are traitors. They are attacked, arrested and demonized. Yet Israelis like Yehuda Shaul, leader of Breaking the Silence and Jonathan Pollak from Anarchists Against the Wall continue to struggle for a more peaceful Middle East. They believe that they can save their state by putting an end to the military occupation. But the Israeli peace movement has lost momentum in recent years. There is widespread apathy in Israel against ending the Occupation, especially after the withdrawal from Gaza. 'Israel vs Israel' takes a fresh look at one of the leading tensions in Israeli society. http://www.israelvsisraelmovie.com/

Friday, February 3, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Gene Otto spoke about the impending decision by Fresno County on the proposed CEMEX mining operation on Jesse Morrow Mountain.

Friday, January 27, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Graciela Martinez, Visalia activist, spoke about Immigrant issues.

Friday, January 20, 6:30-8:30
Video-tape: Martin Luther King, Jr. speech: I Have Been to the Mountaintop. This was the speech delivered in Memphis to the Memphis sanitation workers the day before King was assassinated.

Friday, January 13, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: The Economics of Happiness features a chorus of voices from six continents calling for systemic economic change. The documentary describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance - and, far from the old institutions of power, they're starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm - an economics of localization.

Friday, January 13, 4:45-6:15
OCCUPY Reedley. Our third Occupy event - another Bank Walk.

Friday, January 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Elijah Penner spoke about his work with Red Cross in Cambodia

2011

Friday, December 30
No Meeting

Friday, December 23
No Meeting

Friday, December 16, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Manuel Jimenez, 2011 winner of the California Peace Prize honoring the unsung heroes of violence prevention. Jimenez spoke about his project called Woodlake Pride, a volunteer youth group that plants and maintains 10 acres of orchards, vineyards, and vegetables at the Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens.

Friday, December 9, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Sherri Wiedenhofer, director of West Coast Mennonite Central Committee and members of the Reedley Police Department. Topic: Community Based Restorative Justice: Reedey Peacebuilding Initiative.

Friday, December 2, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Loretta Willems, Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, read her essay, Identity.

Friday, December 2, 4:45-6:15 PM
Occupy Reedley event: Big Bank Walk. Met in Pioneer Park on G Street between 8th and 9th streets. We walked to the major banks in our town: CitiBank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank and Chase Bank. This was be a completely lawful non-threatening educational effort to demonstrate to ourselves and to all others, including local business people and bank employees that "we (all) are the 99%" with the civic power to overcome the problems we face.

Friday, November 25 - No regular meeting.
Sweet Home Ranch Annual Art Show and Holiday Gift Sale, featuring Paul Buxman original oil paintings, lithographs and art cards; farm crafted foods and gifts from Sweet Home rancha and neighboring farms.

Friday, November 18, 6:30-8:30
Member Hope Nisly read 'Cousins,' the work she recently presented on Valley Writers Read.

Friday, November 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Lynn MacMichael, lifelong peace and justice activist, will tell her story. Lynn's story includes working in the Parlier-Reedley area during the UFW grape-boycotts, and her recent as a peace-maker in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

Sunday, November 6, 2-5 PM
Reception for photography exhibit by Joe Halpen, long time peace center member.

Friday, November 4, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Bill Rempel, author and investigative journalist, will speak about his recent book At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel. Book signing to follow the program.

Friday, October 28, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dr. Manzar Foroohar, Professor of Modern Latin America, Modern Middle East, Political Economy at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Topic: Revolution or Mobarakism without Mobarak?

Saturday, October 22 - Special Fall Event held at the home of Bob Riding, 4735 N. Malvern (one block east of Academy, off Shaw Ave.)
An Evening of Natural Energy
4:30 Riding house and grounds open
6:00 Buffet dinner by CPA Gourmet, Mike Terpening
7:00 Presentation: Bob Riding. "Net Zero & Me"
8:00 Concert by Lance Canales and the Flood

Friday, October 14, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Maureen Walsh will tell of her recent participation with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Palestine.

A series of programs on valley land and water usage -

• Friday, October 7, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Daniel O'Connell, Associate Director of Sequoia Riverlands Trust. Topic: Towards a Spiritual Land Ethic.
  
  
• Friday, September 30, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Gordon Nipp, Vice Chair of the Kern-Kaweah Chapter of the Sierra Club. Topic: Litigation as a Tool for Citizen Involvement.
  
  
• Friday, September 23, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: David Cehrs, Vice President of the Kings River Conservation District, will explore the potential environmental ramifications of the proposed Carmelita aggregate mining operation on the Kings River north of Reedley.
  
  
• Friday, September 16, 6:30-8:30
  Speaker: Lloyd Carter, former UPI and Fresno Bee reporter, has been writing about California water issues for more than 35 years. He is President of the California Save Our Streams Council.
  
  

Friday, September 9, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Doug Noll, author, teacher, and nationally recognized mediator and peacemaker. Topic: Elusive Peace: How Modern Diplomatic Strategies Could Better Resolve World Conflicts. How does one mediate peace in the face of evil? His book, Elusive Peace, penetrates the headlines and takes a critical look at peace negotiations through the eyes of a professional mediator and peacemaker.

Friday, September 2, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: A Crushing Love: Chicanas, Motherhood and Activism. (58 minutes)
This documentary honors the achievements of five activist Latinas - labor organizer/farm worker leader Dolores Huerta, author/educator Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez, writer/playwright/educator Cherrie Moraga, civil rights advocate Alicia Escalante, and historian/writer Martha Cotera - and considers how these single mothers managed to be parents and effect broad-based social change at the same time.

Friday, August 26, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Wasteland (99 minutes)
Renowned artist Vik Muniz embarks on one of the most inspired collaborations of his career, joining creative forces with Brazilian catadores -- garbage pickers who mine treasure from the trash heaps of Rio de Janeiro's Jardim Gramacho landfill. In this Oscar-nominated documentary, the catadores prove to be unique and surprising individuals in their own right, waxing philosophic as they impart a valuable lesson about what society discards.

Friday, August 19, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Kimberly Medendorp and Randy Christopher. Topic: The Pasadena Peace and Justice Academy. The Academy is a four year old school for 6th through 10th grade students (eventually through 12th grades). Kimberly and Randy are Co-Executive Directors. This innovative school is sponsored by the Pasadena Mennonite Church, however it serves a diverse community with a strong academic curriculum that is religious only insofar as it prepares students to be peacemakers and to strive for justice for all.

Friday, August 12, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: The Singing Revolution (97 minutes)
James and Maureen Castle Tusty's moving documentary recounts Estonia's fight for independence from Soviet occupation, telling the remarkable story of the hundreds of thousands of protestors who gathered in public to voice their dissent through song. After 50 years of rule by the oppressive Soviet regime, the people of Estonia gave life to a grassroots movement for change by staging passionate rallies and singing forbidden patriotic songs.

Friday, August 5, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Paper Clips (82 minutes) Whitwell Middle School in rural Tennessee is the setting for this documentary about an extraordinary experiment in Holocaust education. Struggling to grasp the concept of 6 million Holocaust victims, the students decide to collect 6 million paper clips to better understand the enormity of the calamity. The film details how the students met Holocaust survivors from around the world and how the experience transformed them and their community.

Friday, July 29, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: MicroCosmos 75 min
Employing unique microscopic cameras and powerful specialized microphones, this highly praised French documentary is a fascinating look at the seldom-explored world of insects and other minute creatures as they go about their daily lives. With footage of ladybugs feasting and snails mating to a mystical score by composer Bruno Coulais, the film won five Cesar Awards, including Best Cinematography and Best Music.

Friday, July 22, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: A Man Named Pearl (77 min) Angered by white residents' racist comments that he wouldn't "keep up his yard," Pearl Fryar teaches himself topiary sculpture and becomes the first African American in his Bishopville, S.C., neighborhood to win the coveted "yard of the month" award. This acclaimed documentary traces Fryar's inspiring story, as he grows into a legendary horticulturist, welcoming thousands of tourists eager to catch a glimpse of his stunning works of art.

Friday, July 15, 6:30-9:00
Documentary: Inside Job (120 minutes) This documentary presents in comprehensive detail the pervasive and deep-rooted corruption that led to the global economic meltdown of 2008. Through unflinching interviews with key financial insiders, politicos, journalists and academics, Ferguson paints a galling portrait of an unfettered financial system run amok -- without accountability.

Friday, July 8, 6:30-9:00
Documentary: Seeing Red (100 min.)
About 400 known and unknown American communists were interviewed during this five-year documentary project. As secretaries, factory workers, farmers, and intellectuals discuss the past, their insights provide both humor and pathos, but most of all, the interviewees emerge as human beings whose main interest has remained in lowering the gap between the haves and have nots. The documentary notes that as a result of leftist agitation, the United States adopted programs like Social Security and unemployment insurance faster than otherwise -- programs that were once labeled communist.

Friday, July 1, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Cats of Mirikitani (73 min.) Filmmaker Linda Hattendorf becomes an integral part of the action in this heartfelt documentary about her efforts to help aging Japanese-American artist Jimmy Mirikitani get off the streets of New York City and make peace with his complicated past. As she and Jimmy sift for long-lost relatives and even revisit the internment camp where he was forced to spend several years during World War II, Hattendorf hauls her camera along to capture every moment.

Friday, June 24, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Babies (79 min.) Documentary filmmaker Thomas Balmes charts the simultaneous early development of four babies from different parts of the world, illustrating what makes human life unique, similar and precious wherever it occurs. Training his camera on newborns Hattie from San Francisco, Ponijao from Namibia, Bayarjargal from Mongolia and Mari from Tokyo, Balmes captures everything from first screaming breaths to first steps.

Friday, June 17, 6:30-8:30
Reedley Peace Center Self Assessment and Goal Setting. We are approaching the end of nine years of existence. We encourage all persons who consider themselves part of Reedley Peace Center to participate in this review of who we are and of what we would like to become. What is and what should be the role of the Peace Center in your life? in the local community? in the global community?

Friday, June 10, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Omar and Pete (60 min.) Emmy-winning producer, director and writer Tod Lending helms this intimate portrait of Omar and Pete, longtime friends and habitual criminals who've spent most of their lives behind bars. After their latest release from prison, each prepares to rejoin society, with mixed results. But can they leave their bad habits behind for good?

Friday, June 3, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Jim Haber and Mary Lou Anderson, (both from Nevada Desert Experience) have just returned from a Voices for Creative Nonviolence delegation that met with Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers in support of the AYPV campaign "I Wish to Live Without Wars." Nevada Desert Experience advocates against the use of nuclear weapons and unmanned drones in warfare.

Friday, May 27, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Pedro Ramirez, Student Body President at CSUF will tell his story and speak of his advocacy for the DREAM Act.Pedro will be introduced by fellow student, former Reedley High Students for Peace president, Natalie Bachicha.

Friday, May 20, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Blanca Managi/Maoki Katsura. Kidnapped: A World War II story you didn't hear about in school. Mrs. Katsura, a member of our community for over 55 years, will tell how her family came to live in the United States: during World War II, the US government kidnapped and interned over 2,000 Japanese Latin Americans to be used for hostage exchange with Japan. At the age of 13, Mrs. Katsura and her family were forcibly uprooted, taken from Peru and interned in a Department of Justice camp in Crystal City, Texas. Her program will include a 27 minute video "Hidden Internment".

Friday, May 13, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David Roy. Living in an America I No Longer Recognize. As a Christian and an American Citizen, I am feeling increasingly alienated from both church and nation: Where have our values gone? Can we hope to find ways to bring them back to the center of our faith and our politics?

Friday, May 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Mark Arax. The Valley, a Land of Paradox: #1 in Milk and Meth, #1 in Farm Bounty and Hunger.

Friday, April 29, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Elsburg and the Pentagon Papers

Friday, April 22, 6:30-8:30
Good Friday Taize Service. A Service of Reflectioin, Song and Prayer for Ourselves, our Neighbors and Our World

Friday, April 15, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Bill Rempel, journalist and author. Topic: The State of Investigative Journalism

Friday, April 15, 12-1:30 in front of Reedley branch of Bank of America, 9th and G Street
Action/Vigil to protest BofA's (and many major corporations) non-payment of Federal Income Tax (in 2009 and 2010)

Friday, April 8, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Edie Jessup, Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program. Topic: San Joaquin Valley Menu. The great potential of agriculture in our Valley to solve issues like hunger, obesity, environment, economy, and equity.

Friday, April 1, No meeting.
West Coast Mennonite Central Committee Relief Sale

Friday, March 25 - Sunday, March 27
Eighth Annual Peace Center Retreat at St. Nicholas Retreat Grounds in the foothills near Dunlap. The retreat began with dinner on Friday and concluded with breakfast on Sunday. Featured speaker: Micah White a contributing editor at Adbusters, spoke on the theme: Rejuvenating Activism: Fresh Tactics, New Targets.

For more information including the Retreat Schedule and pictures from previous retreats, see 2011 Retreat Information (500 kbyte pdf file).

Friday, March 18, 6:30-8:30
DVD of a speech given in November 2010, by Chris Hedges on The Death of the Liberal Class.

Friday, March 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Larry Dunn. Topic: Discovering Forgiveness. Forgiveness is a topic of significant, and increasing, interest. What are the issues, questions, challenges? Using the latest research (and some humor), Dunn identified some of the key aspects of forgiveness and explored some of the processes and problems that emerge from the many understandings and practices of human beings in response to wrongdoing.

Friday, March 4, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Bill Simon and Anthony Yrigollen. Topic: The American Civil Liberties Union: What is the ACLU and what does the Fresno chapter of ACLU do?

Friday, February 25, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Member Ruth Buxman, formerly a pastor, nurse, Christian Peacemaker team member, and currently involved with husband, Paul, in sustainable farming, shared the story of her personal journey.

Tuesday, February 22, 6:30
Steering committee meeting focused on projects and actions.

Friday, February 18, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Ken Martens Friesen, political science faculty member at Fresno Pacific University, political science faculty member at Fresno Pacific University, recently returned from a sabbatical in India. Topic: India's future: the energy and ethical questions around its growth and globalization.

Friday, February 11, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Peter Lumsdaine. Peter is founder and current head of ARROWS,
Alliance to Resist Robotic Warfare & Society. Peter's talk challenged the use of robotic technology in warfare.

Friday, February 4, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Peter Ashcroft. Peter worked with the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, DC, lobbying for climate legislation. Peter discussed the science, the policy, and the politics of climate change.

Friday January 28, 6:30-8:30
Member Hope Nisly will read her narrative nonfiction With Normal in My Rearview Mirror. This is an account of the author's visit with her son who is in prison in another state. The journey takes her on a visit across the plains and into uncomfortable settings, where she meets people and experiences situations that most would consider undesirable. In the end, the new experience becomes just that - another new experience - with unexpected pleasures along the way, pleasures that overshadow the pain. This is a journey that articulates questions about how we define what is 'normal' and what is 'good' in our lives. This is the work that Hope read on Valley Writers Read early summer 2010.

Friday, January 21, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David Franz. David holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Virginia. His doctoral work focused on the place of business in American culture. He currently works for the City of Shafter as Director of the Shafter Schools Project. Topic: The Moral Life of Corporations

Friday, January 14-Monday, January 17, Greater Fresno Martin Luther King Jr. Events.
Friday, January 14, 2011 (12:00 PM - 1:00PM - Garlanding Ceremony - Fresno County Courthouse Park (at MLK Bust), 1100 Van Ness Ave. Opening Ceremony. Please bring flowers.
Monday, January 17, 2011 (9 am - 10:30 am) March.
Assemble at St.John's Cathedral at 9 am. March begins at 10 am.
Schedule of events and march route.

Friday, January 14, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Rachel Boldt. Topic: Haiti, One Year After the Earthquake

Friday, January 7, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Eric Habben. Topic: Building Homes with SIPS (Structurally Insulated Panel Systems)

2010

Friday, December 17, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Little Town of Bethlehem. Little Town of Bethlehem is a groundbreaking new documentary that shares the gripping story of three men - a Palestinian Muslim, a Palestinian Christian, and an Israeli Jew - born into violence and willing to risk everything to bring an end to violence in their lifetime.

Friday, December 10, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Jim Lichti, historian and teacher. Topic: The History of Modern Israel

Friday, December 3, 6:30-8:30
An Evening With John Dofflemyer. Dofflemyer is a Cowboy Poet and peace advocate who lives in the Kaweah River watershed. He shared his award-winning poetry with us.

Friday and Saturday, November 26 and 27
Annual Sweet Home Ranch Open House hosted by Paul and Ruth Buxman and friends. Event Flyer including directions (pdf file)

Friday, November 19, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Lynn MacMichael, longtime peace and justice activist from the bay area. Lynn has visited Israel / Palestine numerous times. Topic: What are the Prospects for Peace in Israel/Palestine?

Friday, November 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dr. Manzar Foroohar, professor of history at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, spoke about her experience in the Occupied West Bank and explained the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement. Dr. Foroohar suggests that you visit the website of the divestment campaign: http://www.israeldivestmentcampaign.org/

Friday, November 5, 6:30-9:00 PM through Sunday, November 7, 10:30 AM
Nonviolence: Engaging Conflict Creatively. Explore nonviolent living with us in this weekend workshop. We will learn, practice, and experiment with nonviolent options for our lives and for a sustainable, just and peaceful world. This workshop is ideal for advocacy organizations, citizen action leagues, campus networks, faith communities, and any group seeking to work together to create a society committed to justice, democracy, peace, sustainability and equality. This is a Pace e Bene workshop with facilitators Peter Ediger and Vanessa Brake. The Friday evening program will be preceded by the usual 6:30 meal.
Schedule:
Friday: 6:30 potluck dinner
             7-9 pm program
Saturday: 8 am breakfast
             9-12 am program
             12-1:30 pm lunch
             1:30-5:00 pm program
             5 pm dinner
             6:30-8:30 pm program
Sunday: 9-10 am program

Friday, October 29, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Ron Schmidt, professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach. Topic: Undocumented Immigration: Moral and Political Dilemmas. How can we best respond morally and politically to the dilemmas presented by undocumented immigration when (on the one hand) we are called to believe in the moral equality of all human beings, yet (on the other hand) we also live in a world divided into nation-states with legal and political boundaries?

Friday, October 22, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Member Doug Page, formerly a union attorney and currently an active blogger and writer about the US economy and other policy. Topic: Truth vs. Fiction in Economics

Saturday, October 16 Hors d'oeuvres at 6:30; show at 7pm at the Cedar View Winery Patio, 1384 S Frankwood Ave. north of Reedley
Reedley Peace Center sponsored An Evening with Cerro Negro in benefit of the Save Jesse Morrow Mountain campaign and the Reedley Peace Center. Cerro Negro is a Fresno based trio whose style is based on a unique coupling of traditional elements of Flamenco guitar - like using hand-techniques instead of a pick - with an exotic Caribbean percussion blend of Congas, Cajon, Djembe, Clave, Palmas and passionate vocals.

Friday, October 8 **** No meeting due to the following event ****
October 7th - 9th (Thursday - Saturday) Middle East Conference at CSU Fresno

Friday, October 1, 6:30-9:00 Carpool from Reedley Peace Center at 5:30
Tour of Organic Pastures with Mark McAffee, followed by a screening of Farmageddon.

Friday, September 24, 6:30-8:30
Robert Fisk and David Barsamian: Middle East Fantasies and Myths

Friday, September 17, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: William C. Rempel, investigative journalist will speak about his book, Delusions of a Dictator: The Mind of Marcos As Revealed in His Secret Diaries.

Friday, September 24, 6:30-8:30
Robert Fisk and David Barsamian: Middle East Fantasies and Myths

Friday, September 10, 6:30 Car-pool from Reedley to Islamic Cultural Center in Fresno
Reedley Peace Center joined an interfaith event at the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno. The Eid Carnival scheduled at the conclusion of Ramadan was recently canceled by ICCF due to the recent increase in the levels of hostilities against Islam and Muslims following the proposal to construct an Islamic Center in lower Manhattan, and to deprive extremists from the opportunity to claim that American Muslims are celebrating 9/11. Instead ICCF held a community gathering on Friday 9/10 at 7:30 PM. We joined Muslims celebrating Eid Al-Fitr in affirming their rights to religious freedom, free of any intimidation.

Friday, September 3, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Miriam Cardenas, Immigration Associate with West Coast Mennonite Central Committee will lead a workshop on Emerging Immigration Issues: Legal Implications for both undocumented resident and those that employ and/or assist them. Miriam will present a plan which includes some very tangible ways that legal residents can partner with undocumented residents to help allay some of their fears about deportation.

Friday, August 27, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dr. Bob Bowman, retired Lt.Col. in the US Air Force, Director of the Department of Defense's Star Wars program under presidents Ford and Carter. His Ph.D. is in aeronautics and nuclear engineering. He has run for political office, been a college professor, and has given thousands of talks across the US and Europe. Journalist Robert Scheer called Dr. Bowman "probably the best public speaker in the country today." Topic: A New Vision for America.

Friday, August 20, 6:30-8:30
Movie: Music Within. After losing his hearing as a soldier during the Vietnam War, Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston) returns to America, where he falls in with an unlikely circle of friends and finds a new calling as a spokesman for the disabled. His activist efforts eventually lead to the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This inspiring and entertaining true story won the Audience Award at the 2007 AFI Dallas International Film Festival.

Friday, August 13, 6:30-8:30
Movie: Tuesdays with Morrie. When Mitch Albom (Hank Azaria) learns his beloved professor, Morrie Schwartz (Jack Lemmon), is dying with Lou Gehrig's Disease, he reconnects with his mentor and learns from him all over again -- but this time, they're studying life. Mitch might be a successful sports columnist and television host, but that doesn't mean he's aced his priorities. This made-for-television movie is based on the real-life Albom's best-selling book.

Friday, August 6 , 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Playing For Change: Peace Through Music. A story of hope, struggle, perseverance and joy. Directors Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls, along with the Playing For Change team, traveled the globe with a single minded passion to connect the world through music. They filmed and recorded more than 100 musicians. Each captured performance creates a new mix in which essentially the artists are all performing together, albeit hundreds or thousands of miles apart. Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is the story of this unparalleled international collaboration, and the remarkable power of music.

Friday, July 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Stan Bohn, member of Fellowship of Reconciliation and NAACP during the Civil Rights movement, Christian Peacemaker team member, long-time war-tax resister, Mennonite Central Committee worker in Jamaica, peace activist from Vietnam to the present, will reflect on his journey.

Friday, July 23, 6:30-8:30
Movie: The Gods Must Be Crazy. Three vignettes highlight the surreal in this 1980 classic comedy written and directed by Jamie Uys. Among the three, the one about a Coke bottle falling out of the heavens and becoming a one-of-a-kind object coveted by everyone in a small African village is a cult favorite. The bottle creates such dissension that its finder, N!xau, decides the gods must've been crazy to give such a gift, so he sets out to drop it off the edge of the world.

Friday, July 16, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Joan and Leroy Willems, MCC workers in Sudan. Topic: Coming Home: Sudan. A 22-year civil war, which ended in 2005, left southern Sudan as one of the most impoverished regions in the world. People who fled during the war are returning home to find little infrastructure, such as schools or health care, to accommodate a growing population.

Friday, July 9, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: In the Light of Reverence. This film tells the stories of three communities and places they care for: the Lakota at Devils Tower in Wyoming, the Hopi in the Four Courners area of the Southwest, and the Wintu at Mt. Shasta in California. These are all places of extraordinary beauty, and impassioned controversy, as Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist with very different ideas about how the land should be used. For American Indians, the land is sacred and akin to the world's greatest cathedrals. For others, the land should be used for industry and recreation. In the Light of Reverence explores these issues from both sides of the debate by giving voice to the diverse people who utilize sacred places.

Friday, July 2, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: The Orange Revolution. This documentary is a combination of archival footage and film shot by director Steve York. It tells the story of the 2004 presidential campaign in the Ukraine, the election stolen by a corrupt establishment, the hard fought nonviolent campaign by the people of the Ukraine demanding justice from their government, and the final victory of Viktor Yushchenko.

Friday, June 25, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Michael Moore's Capitalism, A Love Story

Friday, June 18, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Young@Heart. Coldplay, the Clash and Jimi Hendrix will never sound the same once you've heard the Young@Heart chorus, a group of Massachusetts senior citizens who thrill audiences worldwide with their unusual -- and unusually poignant -- covers of rock songs. Stephen Walker's humane and heartwarming documentary, which premiered at Sundance in 2008, follows the elderly ensemble as they prepare their latest show for public performances.

Friday, June 11, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: 30 DAYS: "A border-patrolling minuteman" moves in with an undocumented Mexican family. What better way to give people a crash course in empathy than to have them inhabit somebody else's life for 30 days? That's exactly what Super Size Me director and star Morgan Spurlock does on this popular FX Network show.

Friday, June 4, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Doug Page. Topic: Private Banking and Money Creation: A human institution that siphons away our wealth and voting power.

Friday, May 28, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Tom Moradian, adjunct English teacher at Reedley College. Topic: Ancient and Modern Heresies

Friday, May 21, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Chris Kapheim, Water Commissioner with Alta Irrigation District spoke about issues related to the availability of potable water in Tulare County, particularly in its unincorporated communities.

Friday, May 14, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dr. Pamela Iwasaki, family practitioner. Topic: Health Care Reform: A Conversation.

Friday, May 7, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Bruce Bickham spoke about the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Rehabilitation: The Hype, the Reality, the Cost.

Friday, April 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Mark McAffee, owner of Organic Pastures, a valley producer of raw milk. Topic: Share the Secret: How the immune system benefits from the use of raw milk and a whole nutritious diet.

Friday, April 23, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Holly Hight of Bread for the World

Friday, April 16, 6:30-8:30
Terrence Rynne spoke about his book, Gandhi and Jesus: The Saving Power of Nonviolence. Dr. Rynne's book offers good insights into the life and teaching of Mohandas Gandhi, how Gandhi helps us refocus on the central role of nonviolence in Jesus life and teaching, and, in fact, how 'salvation' can be understood in the light of nonviolence.

Terrence J. Rynne PH.D. is currently a teacher of peace studies at Marquette University and the Co-President of the Sally and Terry Rynne Foundation dedicated to peace and the empowerment of women. In 2007, the Foundation funded the launch of the Marquette University Center for Peacemaking. Dr. Rynne was formerly President of the Rynne Marketing Group, a successful health care marketing consulting firm. He received his MBA in marketing and health care administration from Northwestern University and his doctorate in theology from Marquette University.

Dr. Rynne is author of Gandhi and Jesus: The Saving Power of Nonviolence (Orbis Books). His talk at Reedley Peace Center was based on this book.

Gandhi and Jesus explores how the life an teaching of Mohandas Gandhi have prompted a fresh appreciation of Jesus and his message of nonviolence.

The program

Friday, April 9
No meeting because of the Mennonite Central Committee West Coast Relief Sale

Friday, April 2, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: James Lichti, history teacher at Miliken High School in Los Angeles and Historian with the Shoah Foundation. Topic: Pacifist Denominations in Nazi Germany

Friday evening, March 26 - Sunday morning, March 28
Seventh Annual Peace Center Retreat at St. Nicholas Retreat Grounds in the foothills near Dunlap. The retreat began with dinner on Friday and concluded with breakfast on Sunday. Theme: Sustainable Living with featured presenter, Mark Alvis.

Friday, March 19, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dr. Akira Tajiri, Reedley optometrist, spoke about his foundation, Precision Vision Enhancement, whose mission is to provide free prescription eyeglasses to the world's needy.

Friday, March 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Mike Rhodes, editor of the Community Alliance, spoke of his work advocating for the homeless in Fresno.

Friday, March 2, 6:30-8:30
Movie: Gandhi (Part 2)

Friday, February 26, 6:30-8:30
Movie: Gandhi (Part 1). We viewed the 1982 film by Richard Atenborough with Ben Kingsley as Gandhi.

Friday, February 19, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Member Joe Halpen told his story. "What a Long Strange Trip it's Been"

Friday, February 12, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Shoroq Hijazeen, exchange worker from Jordan. Topic: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Friday, February 5, 6:30-8:30
Documentary: Fresh celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Friday, January 29, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Dave Koehler Executive Director of San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust spoke about water issues related to the San Joaquin river.

Links to additional information about the San Joaquin River:

• Website of the Partnership
• Website of the USBR San Joaquin River Restoration Program

Friday, January 22, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Victoria Benavides presented her honors project at UC Berkeley, Pedagogy for Empowerment.
The demographics of California have changed drastically so that students of Mexican descent are now in the majority. We must adopt culturally sensitive and appropriate multicultural curriculum grounded in Chicana/Latina Studies as a source of empowerment for our Mexican and Mexican American youth. This project highlights work done in Reedley and Orange Cove.

Victoria's Thesis Overview

Friday, January 15, 6:30-8:30
Open Mic Night - the program included

• A powerpoint presentation with images of the Peace Center people and events
• An overview of Rob Hopkins' The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience
• Some humor
• A Facebook overview
• A book review
• A set of short readings
• A bit of group singing

Friday, January 8, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Robb Davis, Topic: Food Systems and the World Food Crisis.
Robb is director of health initiatives at Freedom From Hunger, an organization that combines microfinance, education and health protection to help poor women in Africa, Asia, and Latin America achieve a sustainable, self-help end to hunger.

Robb's presentation (6 Mbyte PDF - does not include the video clips)

The 4 video clips can be found at

Ellul.mp4
Food_Inc.mov
Medium.m4v
Rosecrantz_Testimony.mov

Five of the books that Robb referenced in his talk are:

• The Presence of the Kingdom by Jacques Ellul
• Being Consumed by William T. Cavanaugh
• A High Price for Abundant Living by Henry Rempel
• Money and Power by Jacques Ellul
• Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein

Friday, January 1  NO MEETING

2009

Friday, December 25  NO MEETING

Friday, December 18, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Eleanor Nickel; Topic: Slave Narratives: How Does a Pacifist Respond?
Eleanor is the English Program Director at Fresno Pacific University. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, American slaves who had escaped to the North wrote bestselling narratives of their painful experiences in bondage.  Former slaves such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs made compelling arguments for aggression against the Confederacy and rejoiced when the Civil War finally destroyed the slave system.  How does someone, who believes war is wrong, respond to those so horribly victimized by an evil regime that they are begging for war?

Sunday, December 13, 8 PM
Beginning of The People Speak on the History Channel. See David Zirin article.

Saturday, December 12, 8:00 PM
Reedley Peace Center night at the River City Theatre Company's production of 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.'

Friday, December 11   NO MEETING

Friday, December 11 4:30-6 PM
Witness against the escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Corner of Reed and Manning under the Reedley College marquee.

Sunday, December 6
A three-month study (9:30-10:30 each Sunday morning) of Terrence Rynne's "Gandhi and Jesus: The Saving Power of Nonviolence" began.  You are invited to join the study in the Education wing of First Mennonite Church.

Saturday, December 5, 8:30 AM-5 PM
VORP Mediator Training for the Reedley Police Department restorative justice program was held upstairs at the Mennonite Central Committee Building, 1010 G Street in Reedley. The training was well attended and very interesting. Mediators will meet on the evening of January 7 to hear about the things that will be unique to the Reedley program. Thanks to all Peace Center members who are part of this.

Friday, December 4, 6:30-8:30
Member Hope Nisly is a writer of creative nonfiction. She has read her works numerous times on Valley Public Radio's 'Valley Writers Read'. Hope gave an encore presentation of Bella Vista, her most recent work on that program.

Friday, November 27, 9 AM-5 PM and Saturday, November 28, 9 AM-4 PM
Sweet Home Ranch Annual Art Show and Holiday Gift Sale, featured Paul Buxman original oil paintings, lithographs and art cards; farm crafted foods and gifts from Sweet Home ranch and neighboring farms; and tractor pulled hay rides for kids and adults.
For more information see the White Friday article from the November 25, 2009 Reedley Exponent.

Friday, November 20,
5-6 PM Vigil to Save Jesse Morrow Mountain at the corner of Manning and Reed, under the Reedley College marquee
6:30-8:30
Family Panel on Homosexuality.  Several of our members shared their stories - the joys and difficulties they experienced from the perspective of families with gay / lesbian family members.

Resources

• LGBT Support Organizations
• Brethren Mennonite Council for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Interests
• PFLAG: Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays

• Books/Documents
• "HUMAN SEXUALITY in the CHRISTIAN LIFE - A Working Document for Study and Dialogue".
  A study on sexuality mandated by the General Conference Mennonite Church Triennial Sessions in 1980 and by the Mennonite Church General Assembly in 1981.
• "From Wounded Hearts: Faith Stories Of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender People And Those Who Love Them" - Roberta Showalter Kreider (Editor)

• Other

Statements of Mennonite Conferences, Boards, and Committees on Homosexuality (1985-2004)Sunday, November 15, 6 PM at the Mennonite Brethern Biblical Seminary (corner of Chestnut / Butler in Fresno)
Health Care Forum by Mennonite Peacemakers.  Speakers: Duane Oswald from Avanti Health, Dr. Roger Fast, and Tammy Alexander, MCC Washington DC office legislative associate. Steve Penner was moderator. Event Photos.

Sunday, November 15, 9:30-10:30 AM
Tammy Alexander, MCC Washington office legislative assistant, spoke and answered questions during the Sunday School hour in the Fellowship Hall. In her MCC work in Washington Tammy monitors legislation on health care, the environment and immigration.

Materials Tammy distributed:

• "Immigration Policy Principles" - http://washington.mcc.org/system/files/immigration_principles.pdf
• "Immigration 2009" - http://www.nae.net/resolutions/347-immigration-2009
• "Sen. Schumer's Seven Points for Comprehensive Immigration Reform" - June 2009
• "Gutierrez Outlines Core Principles for a New Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill", Press Release, October 13, 2009 - http://luisgutierrez.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1399
• "Healthcare Policy Principles" - http://peace.mennolink.org/resources/healthcare/principles.pdf

Other related links:

• washingtonmemo.org - Up-to-date policy news
• washingtonmemo.org/newsletter - Published quarterly
• washington.mcc.org/advocate/alerts - Legislative Action Alerts
• washington.mcc.org - Online Issue Pages

Friday, November 13, 6:30-8:30
Speakers: Leydisvel Freire Peña and Tanya Cole of Witness for Peace, spoke about the debilitating effects of US embargo on Cuba and US restrictions on travel to and from Cuba.

Friday, November 6, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: David Barsamian, founder and director of Alternative Radio.  Topic: Obama's Expanding Wars: Afghanistan and Pakistan

Alternative Radio Books

Individual Books by David Barsamian

• Targeting Iran by David Barsmaian
• What We Say Goes by Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian
• Original Zinn by Howard Zinn and David Barsamian
• The Decline and Fall of Public Broadcasting by David Barsamian

Monday, November 2 7-8:30  Special Event
Rhoda Janzen read and spoke about her recently published memoir, "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress".
The same week her husband of 15 years ditches her for a guy he met on Gay.com, a partially inebriated teenage driver smacks her VW Beetle head-on. Marriage over, body bruised, life upside-down, Rhoda does what any sensible 43-year-old would do: She goes home.

But hers is not just any home. It's a Mennonite home, the scene of her painfully uncool childhood and the bosom of her family: handsome but grouchy Dad, plain but cheerful Mom. Drinking, smoking, and slumber parties are nixed; potlucks, prune soup, and public prayer are embraced. Having long ago left the faith behind, Rhoda is surprised when the conservative community welcomes her back with open arms and offbeat advice. She discovers that this safe, sheltered world is the perfect place to come to terms with her failed marriage and the choices that both freed and entrapped her.

Friday, October 30, 6:30-8:30
Speaker: Peter McLaren, professor of Urban Schooling at UCLA School of Education and Information Studies.  Topic: Education at a Time of Crisis