Dang! Aaron leaves and the snow returns!

Here's my little boys--Aaron fresh from the shower and Ben with a cough and cold, so the rosy cheeks. They're both growing up and changing--and both such sources of joy for me. Aaron and I had so many laughs and so many cozy moments together during this holiday break. There's a transitional time when he leaves that's a little difficult and sad, though I know he's happy and flourishing in his life in Monterey. Then we all settle into our lives and he and I talk almost daily by cell phone and that makes it much easier for us both.



But sometimes life is so unfair! Aaron left on January 5th, heading north to Whidbey Island, WA, with his dad to see their family. They had a great three days up there and then flew home to California. And as soon as he was out of sight, it started snowing here! After two and a half weeks of him wishing and watching for snow here, and then he misses it by a day!



We had a couple days of pouring snow, huge wet flakes, and little swirls and flurries. Then it stopped and we figured the sun that's been coming out every day would melt the snow away. But no! We've had snow on the ground for five or six days now. It's beautifully picturesque for me, anxiety-producing for Courtney, and hard on our wood supply. The lows at nights have been in the teens and some days (like today) the temperature won't make it to 30.



I know that there appears to be a theme with these pictures. It looks like all we do is stare out the windows at the snow. That's not so. For instance, last Thursday night, January 11th, we joined 75-100 others in the Alternatives To War group and stood on street corners around downtown Corvallis from 4:30-6pm holding signs encouraging the passing motorists to join us in speaking out against any escalation of troops to Iraq. Many of the signs said call your congressional reps and tell them no more funding for this war. And while you're at it: No War With Iran! I felt pretty darned hardy vigiling in the snow! And glad to be doing so. Passivity during times of crisis only make me feel more disheartened--and it seems like we're always in a crisis these past six years. Hmmm......what could change that?




Meanwhile, a lot of great people are doing alot of great things and that's what keeps me out of the dismal state of mind I could easily fall into. Last Saturday I helped staff the information table at a music benefit raising money for the defense fund of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned soldier to refuse to return to Iraq. We packed the house, a downtown cafe called Sunnyside Up, with more that 100 people, everyone LOVED the music and the cause, and we raised $750!

Ehren's court-martial begins on Feb 5th at Ft. Lewis, WA. You can find out more about his case at www.ThankYouLt.org or at www.couragetoresist.org.

In addition, Courtney is helping show a series of four films on Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution at the Wednesday night Corvallis World Forum. He's pairing up with a woman named Aleita from Witness For Peace to introduce the films and lead the discussions afterwards. At the first of the four, which was last Wednesday, they had a good turnout of students (just back for the new semester and not yet overloaded with school work) which makes it all worth while.

I'm part of a study group reading Jimmy Carter's Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. We got the bright idea to invite Mr. Carter to speak at OSU and do a booksigning at the campus bookstore as well as an independent local bookstore. We put out the word to other activist groups in Oregon: would they be interested in hosting him in their communities if an Oregon tour came together? The response was overwhelmingly positive. But then reality reared its ugly head and we began hearing figures anywhere from $35,000-50,000 for his speaking fee. Sooooooooo..... back to the drawing board.

In the meanwhile, if you are one of those people, like myself, who greatly appreciate Mr. Carter's courage to put himself out there in the dangerous world where criticism of Israel's policies is not tolerated, then please join me in sending him letters and postcards of thanks.
You can send them to :

The Carter Center
One Copenhill
453 Freedom Pkwy
Atlanta, GA 30307

I love Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper's comment on all the hoopla over Mr. Carter using the term apartheid when talking about Palestine:

"What is apartheid? It is the forced separation of populations in which one people establishes a regime of permanent and structured domination over another. This is exactly what Israel is doing, from annexing its huge settlement blocs to imprisoning the Palestinians behind 26' concrete walls and electrified fences. I don't even see what the 'controversy' is about. Just go to the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem and open your eyes. It's not just a policy or a response to terrorism or occupation--it is a full-blown, thought-out, intentional system of control and domination. Let's thank Carter for giving us a handle on this thing. Let's stop arguing about the semantics and get on with the job of stopping it."

Here's to opening up dialogue in this country about the dangerous paths we've been hurdling down, and here's to changing direction while we can. Where the U.S. government puts our tax
dollars and its foreign aid is closely watched around the world and it's not making us any friends. Maybe we should be paying more attention to exactly what our government is supporting. Maybe it's time to put the participatory back in democracy!

From the bunny in our backyard, the robin in the holly tree, and the towhees flitting about in the snow and the leaves, from Courtney cooking acorn squash and stoking the fire, and from me at the laptop with my tired little fingers, we say:

Good luck to us all, and we send you our love,

Valori