IAT
NEWSLETTER
January 2006
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"IT'S ABOUT TIME WE BEGIN IT,
TO TURN THE WORLD AROUND . . . "
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ORGANIZATION INFORMATION
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Co-Founder/Former President - Marcelle Orswell
(notmartha2@yahoo.com)
Co-Founder and Secretary -- Theresa Shea (Tree1A@aol.com)
Co-Founder/Webpage Designer-Sandy Clark (tybrenn@comcast.net)
Co-Presidents -- Ann Schnitz (aerie01@comcast.net)
and
Mary Ledford (eagleshorses@yahoo.com)
Web Site -- -- http://home.comcast.net/~tybrenn/iat/
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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
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Dear Friends,
Hello and Happy 2006 to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Mine was quiet and nice – a friend visited from the West Coast for New Year's, and that was great fun.
In speaking to a few of you after the last newsletter was posted, it occurred to me that we can do more to share our ideas about how to protect the environment. Truthfully, it comes down to that phrase we'd all heard John use a hundred times – "conscious choice". We can choose the world we live in with the things we buy or don't buy, the politicians we support, the charities we send our money to, etc., and sometimes, those conscious choices are very simple little things that really take no more than a few seconds of thought but over time, they can make a big difference.
To that end, IAT is launching a new monthly column calling "Conscious Choices – Tips and Tricks for Saving $, Time and the Environment", in which you can share some of your conscious choices with your fellow IATers. Little things like turning off the water while you're brushing your teeth can save hundreds of gallons of water over a year, not to mention the cost savings. I have one for you to inaugurate the column and I hope you'll send in your own conscious choices in the months ahead.
My heart to yours,
Ann
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”
- Margaret Mead.
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FUNDRAISER
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Nothing to report this month
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
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January 23, 2006 - Largo, FL - The Rocky Mountain Memory Show, a "Tribute to John Denver" starring Ron Rich and the Stone Tree Band / Shows at 2:00pm and 7:00pm, Largo Cultural Center / 105 Central Park / Largo, Florida Tickets: $15 (727) 587-6793
February 10 and 11, 2006 - Steamboat Springs, CO * Brad and Kathy Fitch with the Yampa Valley Boys will
present 2 events of concerts featuring the songs of John Denver / The Mountain Theater, Ski Times Square. Info: Steve Jones (970) 879-4746 www.cowboybrad.com
March 4, 2006 - UK - Red Hot Country Show starring Wayne Denton who does a JD Tribute act. Princess Theatre;
The Green, Hunstanton, Norfolk 01485 532252 http://www.princesstheatrehunstanton.co.uk
March 11, 2006 – NJ -- Christopher Westfall (and others) Benefit/Dinner for Survivors and Friends, an organization to support cancer research. Doors open 5:30, tickets $20. For more information,
http://www.freewebs.com/survivorandfriends/relay4lifedinnerconcert.htm
March 24, 2006 - Monterey, California - Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen will share songs and invite you to sing
along at a house concert at 13 Antler Place, Monterey, CA 7:30pm / Judy 831-373-7780 jht@spamarrest.com
http://www.compassrosemusic.com
April 28-30, 2006 - PA Friends of John Denver – Annual Spring Retreat - Bitter Goose Lodge $55 - Deposit of $20 required. Make checks or money orders payable to Susan Spohn / 628 Hemlock Street / Pittsburgh, PA 15202 Info: < spohn@infionline.net >
May 20, 2006 - U.K. - Country Roads Walk - A walk is being planned in Northamptonshire. 10:00am Red Kite Centre, RSPB Barn, Top Lodge in the Rockingham Forest. It is a 4 mile walk. http://lookingforspace.bravehost.com/index.html rockymountain.high@ntlworld.com or 01485 570911
June 17, 2006 - Baltimore, MD * 2nd Bi-Annual "Nightingala" "A Musical Tribute to John Denver" Concert for John Hopkins School of Nursing. / Peabody Conservatory of Music / 1 Mount Vernon Place / Peabody Concert Hall 8:00pm / 6:00 - VIP "Great Chefs" Reception in the Peabody Library * http://www.musicunites.com/Schedule.htm
July 1, 2006 - UK - Country Roads Walk - 6 mile walk in Haworth Yorkshire. 10:00am Meet at the car park at the
Haworth Church and the Bronte Parsonage Museum. http://lookingforspace.bravehost.com/index.html
rockymountain.high@ntlworld.com or 01485 570911
July 2-9, 2006 Cruise Alaska with Jim Curry / "Alaska & Me Cruise" - Jim Curry will perform John Denver's Alaska songs and hits in concert with a full band. 800-826-6732 http://www.cruisemust.com / sales@cruisemust.com
http://www.jimcurrysmusic.com 7 day cruise $50 deposit needed by January.
July 15-22, 2006 Princess Cruise to Alaska with Christopher Westfall http://www.newbeginningtour.com
It will feature a lot of sing-a-longs, including many favorites sung by John Denver. 732-282-3108
http://www.chriswestfall.com
Weekends - Every Friday & Saturday - Branson, MO * "John Denver Lives" - Dinner 5:00pm & performance 5:30pm-6:30pm $24.95 Hillbilly Inn & Dinner Theatre / Hillbilly Inn Motel / 1166 West Highway 76 / Branson, MO 65616 info@hillbillyinn.com * 1-800-535-0739 www.johndenverlives.com * rodphil549@aol.com
(thanks to Emily Parris and the Rocky Mountain High newsletter for many of these dates; thanks too, to Karen Tupek for keeping us up to date with Mack Bailey’s schedule, Judy Therrien for information on Chris Westfall’s engagements, and Deb Sanderson for news of events in California)
REMINDER::: The John Denver Memorial Peace Cloth is available for all JD-related events. Please email peaceclothinfo@yahoogroups.com for more information, or see our website at www.johndenverpeacecloth.com
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LETTERS & POETRY
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The Berks County division of the Pennsylvania Friends of John Denver is looking for help with their highway cleanups. Please email Judith Gabriel at judithgabriel@comcast.net for the pickup dates
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From Kelly Robison (kellsofrhymney@comcast.net) --
Fifty Ways to Promote Peace
1. Be a media guerilla. Use e-mail, fax, photocopies, and newsletters to broadcast the message of peace. Spread empowering information.
2. Attend a peace rally. Check out United For Peace & Justice or Peace.Protest.net to find out about marches for peace around the country.
3. Host a peace speaker at an event in your community or at your workplace.
4. Get to know your neighbors. It’s hard to reclaim peace without a sense of community.
5. Make friends with someone of another race, ethnicity, age, ability, or sexual orientation. Appreciating and embracing diversity helps to promote peace.
6. Take an adventure to neighborhoods of your town or country that are ethnically focused to appreciate diverse cultures. Cross-cultural understanding is key to building peace.
7. Travel to learn. Get first-hand experience in how things happen in other places and bring home questions about how you do things at home.
8. Drive with patience and tolerance. Keep the peace on our streets and highways.
9. Listen more. Really listen, without giving unsolicited advice. The validation of being heard is often more important than solving the problem.
10. Learn to say I’m sorry. Learn to mean it. Learn when to say it and use it. These two simple words can prevent violence and save relationships.
11. Be helpful. Random acts of kindness can create more peaceful communities.
12. Spend time with a youngster. This can often remind us of the meaning of a peaceful world.
13. Practice the art of patience. Be careful not to rush to judgment or action.
14. Start peace conversations. Talking peace, and listening, are critical for a vibrant democracy.
15. Involve yourself in community parent workshops and family groups that help parents protect, nurture, and support their children.
16. Peace begins at home. Monitor, nurture, support, and involve your children and family in keeping peace.
17. Explore your prejudices. Find out what’s behind them, how they started, & how they influence your thoughts and actions.
18. Write a peace song. Peace songs are great tools for organizing and inspiring people.
19. Use music, art, stories, and drama to explore themes of peace and nonviolence.
20. Broadcast a peace message using a peace flag, poster, badge, t-shirt, or bumper sticker.
21. If you own a gun, keep it unloaded and locked up. Store the bullets in a separate place and hide the key safely away from children.
22. Find your own inner peace. Set aside a few minutes or more each day of quiet, peaceful time.
23. Join a study circle. Self-education is a fast track to empowerment toward peace.
24. Attend an educational series on non-violence. Look up peace & justice organizations in your state at United For Peace & Justice and call them for information on educational series.
25. Stay tuned to what’s going on in the world through newsletters, periodicals, newspapers, radio, TV, and online.
26. Educate yourself about the violence threatening kids in your community and nationwide. Help bring safety and peace to kids at Children’s Defense Fund and End Abuse.
27. Learn another language. Being able to communicate in a foreign language helps you participate in diverse cultures.
28. Help bring peace to the environment by reducing your carbon load emissions. Learn what you can do at our global warming campaign site at www.onesweetwhirled.org.
29. Learn how to fight fairly. Fight to resolve differences, not to win.
30. Register people to vote. One reason the political game’s gone sour is that too few of us play. Find out more at Rock The Vote or Project Vote Smart.
31. Become a volunteer on a peace project. Check out Peace Brigades International, Seeds of Peace, and the Peace Corps.
32. Volunteer at your local battered women’s shelter. Learn about the importance of non-violent conflict resolution.
33. Sign-up as a member of a peace organization like Global Exchange, United For Peace & Justice, or Peace Response.
34. Call a radio talk show. The good ones are often the town meetings of the airwaves.
35. Write letters and articles in support of peace and non-violence to the editors of your local media. Published, they can change minds, and even unpublished they can impact the media.
36. Sign a peace pledge. A good place to start is www.peacepledge.org.
37. Adopt a politician. Write a monthly letter to your Representative, Senator, or President on peace-related issues.
38. Take social action to support specific legislative peace initiatives. Try the Waging Peace site to get started.
39. Vote. Voting is your hard-earned right and your official voice. For information about the democratic voting process, visit the Federal Election Commission or the Center for Voting and Democracy.
40. Support organizations and/or campaigns that fight for basic human rights for all people. Social justice promotes peace. For a start, visit Global Exchange or Amnesty International.
41. Run for elective office. Be a voice for non-violent conflict resolution, reasoned sanity, and balance.
42. Learn about nuclear weapons from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Sign an appeal to end the nuclear threat. Visit the Nuclear Threat Reduction Campaign and WagingPeace.org.
43. Take part in online advocacy for peace. Some good sites to get started are 20/20 Vision and The Interfaith Alliance.
44. Write to your own government; write to a foreign government. Let them know you care about what they do and hold them to the same standards for peaceful conflict resolution.
45. Call your City Council and attend the next meeting. It’s often through the strength of a group that changes are made and community is built.
46. Encourage peace projects for school classrooms. You can find some great ideas at CelebratingPeace.com and UNESCO.
47. Teach young people skills for non-violent conflict resolution. Learn about some great strategies from the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program or www.Images-Education.org for teachers, classrooms, parents, and students.
48. Teach young people about peace. Let your behavior reflect the values you want them to espouse.
49. Support your community’s efforts to create jobs and training opportunities for kids that help them become productive, contributing adults.
50. Dig deep. Oftentimes, reaching peaceful resolution means understanding what’s at the root of a problem rather than what’s most apparent on the surface.
(These are great, Kelly – we'll share more of them in other categories in the future – AS)
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CONSCIOUS CHOICES – TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SAVING $, TIME AND THE ENVIRONMENT
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Paper or Plastic?
This can be a confusing choice because while both have their advantages, they also both have disadvantages – have a look at this -- http://www.ilea.org/lcas/franklin1990.html
Here's what I do with them --
Paper
How many of you shop at Trader Joe's or a similar grocery store around the world where they preferentially pack your order in brown paper shopping bags? These are sturdy, pristine bags with a handle that can be used again and again. Well, how about keeping a few in your car and taking them in with you when you return to the store on your next shopping trip? This way, your bags get re-used for their intended purpose. Granted, this may be only a very small drop in the bucket compared to all the people who buy their groceries and throw the bags away every time they shop. But perhaps one day, someone sees the bags in your cart as you walk around the store and thinks to him or herself, "You know, that's a really good idea"....
Plastic
Let's face it – we all make garbage. Read this for a little Garbage 101 --http://www.scdhec.gov/eqc/lwm/recycle/forms/new_fyis/garb_101.pdf
Everyday household garbage – foodwastes, etc. – has to be packaged somehow for disposal, right? And if you believe Hefty and their competitors, one of our society's biggest problems is making trash bags tough enough. All the commercials always show overstuffed bags that explode and create a mess. Here's a thought. Use those plastic shopping bags you get from the supermarket as trash bags. They're coming home with you anyway, right? You might as well make use of them, rather than throw them away, and if you don't overstuff them, they don't break like Hefty would lead you to believe. Just make sure it's free of holes and once it's full, tie the handles into a knot and voila! Instant nice, neat trash.
Just don't tell Hefty.
Here's someone else who reuses bags (Judy Therrien [jht@spamarrest.com])–
My Conscious Choice: For quite a few years now, every time I go into the grocery store, I bring my old brown bags. I have found I can re-use one brown bag about 40 times. I save cereal box liners, for food waste that can not be recycled. Plastic bags try hard to get reused, and if they can’t, THEN they are recycled. So next time, you head out for that shopping trip, bring your own bags. They have done this in Europe for decades, and here, people can make that conscious choice, too. Judy in Monterey
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WEBSITES OF INTEREST
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None this month
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FOR SALE
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Peace Cloth Items!
Don't forget to check out www.johndenverpeacecloth.com (Peace Cloth Store) for exclusive John Denver items. All proceeds benefit The John Denver Memorial Peace Cloth. We now have a shopping cart to make your purchases easier!
Also -- if you shop online, please visit our virtual mall: www.johndenverpeacecloth.onecause.com -- every sale at a store in the mall returns a donation to the Cloth. The Peace Cloth now has eScrip -- please see our website for more information.
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If you're looking for something special for a special someone, come check out what Wildlife Creations
(http://www.geocities.com/wldlifecreation) has to offer!! We have many items relating to John Denver and other items that would make fantastic gifts for people you know and love! Or gift someone who is hard to buy for, something that they will talk about for years! From keychains, snowglobes, t-shirts, potpourri jars and more!!! We're sure you'll find something! And remember, whenever you purchase from Wildlife Creations, you're not only giving a gift to someone you know, but to the Windstar Foundation and also the National Wildlife Federation, in John's memory, for wolf education as all proceeds are given to them. Wildlife Creations is now offering a feature product.
Checkout the website for this month's offering! For more information, you can email us at
wldlifecreation@wildmail.com.
In this healing time...
Thank you for helping to make the world
a better place in which to live,
Diana and Susan
Wildlife Creations
http://www.geocities.com/wldlifecreation
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From Sherry Cook <backhomagain@yahoo.com>
*UPDATE*
Hello friends!
I will still donate a portion of my Mary Kaye proceeds to Windstar, so please contact me directly through my e-mail from now on (backhomagain@yahoo.com).
Peace and joy,
Sherry :)
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ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
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Here's a link to all sorts of interesting publications from Defenders of Wildlife --
http://www.defenders.org/publications/
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NEWSLETTER NEWS
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If you would like to submit articles, news items, stories, poetry, or any other pertinent information to IT'S ABOUT TIME, please e-mail any of the IAT staff. The submission deadline for the next edition is February 19, 2006. Please be sure to include any contact information so that members can e-mail or snail-mail for further details.
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The contents of this newsletter are entirely at the discretion of the "It's About Time" staff. Contributions, as always, are welcomed, although inclusion is not guaranteed. All contributed material may be subject to editing for content and length.
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". . . IT'S ABOUT TIME WE START TO LIVE
IT,
THE FAMILY OF MAN,
IT'S ABOUT TIME
AND IT'S ABOUT CHANGES . . .
AND IT'S ABOUT TIME."
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