More than a year in Corvallis: Our lives are good

When we arrived in Corvallis more than a year ago, it was a different world. It was pre-Ben. Now he's a fully mobile one-year-old, navigating himself through life quickly and with great agility. His zest for life and his laughter are contagious. When he's not completely exhausting us, he's energizing us. Courtney and I often say to each other, Ben's either making us younger or doing us in. Oh, well. I think all three generations feel lucky to have each other.

Ben's first birthday party was a grand success. Lots of Maya and Eder's friends came, and Eder's family came all the way from Monterey. It was beautiful warm weather in the early evening. Their backyard was full of lawn chairs, beer and bbq, family and friends. Ben was a gracious host--ripped open the presents with just a little help from his mom and Mimi (that's me!) But Aaron wasn't here, so we'll have another party, and another round of ice cream and cake with him.

The meeting of two formidable characters. Who will rule the roost?




And two handsome dudes. This set-up works for a certain amount of time, though not for long, because 25 lbs gets heavy pretty quickly. But Courtney is amazing in that he can get the dishes washed, laundry hung, mail brought in, gardens watered--and all the while Ben is safely contained.




I think they like each other.




Peeking around from behind Mimi's skirt.

So what else have we been up to besides Ben and kitties?

I continue to help with the monthly music benefits we call Second Saturdays. In May we had two bands, C2M and Free Range Chix, and funds raised went to the Oregon chapter of Military Families Speak Out. One of the mothers from MFSO, Adele, spoke for a few minutes about what the group does and how the monies would be spent. Then the rest of the evening I watched as people from the audience came up to her, each with their own story about a family member either in Iraq now or just back. The conversations were intense and personal and heartfelt. I could feel the emotions across the room.

After the benefit was over and we were cleaning up Adele and I began to talk. She told me some days all she can do is cry--just from the weight and sorrow and suffering that she is part of--because she listens to families' stories all the time. I couldn't sleep that night, and just laid in bed, wiped out from just the little bit I heard and felt during the evening. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a child of mine in a war zone, and not know from day to day if they were going to survive, or how that survival was going to look.

In June we had a solo guitarist named Rhino Madness and then a student band called Critical Mass. The beneficiary was the Corvallis Counter-Recruitment Committee. It was a different kind of evening than the other Second Saturdays, much more rowdy, and with people dancing. Everyone said they had lots of fun. I just helped with set-up and then left to spend the evening with Courtney, because he was leaving for Morro Bay the next morning. His dad was scheduled to have surgery, and Courtney was going to be with him while he was recovering. But, as it turned out, his dad had a cold and the surgery was postponed. The purpose of the trip shifted, and Courtney just got to spend a few days with his dad, and then home he came. Hooray! The kitties and I survived, but just barely.

Also I've been working in the deli at the Co-op, First Alternative, first as an owner-worker, so just two hour per week support shifts. But more recently I've moved up the ladder to a paid-sub position. So I can take shifts that they offer me or turn them down, according to what else I've got going on. Ideally I'll work a couple shifts per week and take care of Ben 2-3 days a week.

The Co-op is in its 37th year. I think it may be the oldest co-op in the country, or at least one of the oldest. There's two locations--the larger and original South Store and the smaller, neighborhood North Store. Between the two stores, there's 115 employees, 64 owner-workers, a volunteer board of directors, and over 6,000 owners.

At first I couldn't figure out why it was so different working in the Co-op deli than other jobs I've had. It seemed amazing to me how self-directed everyone I worked with seemed. No manager telling the employees what to do. Everyone took responsibility for whatever they saw needed to be done. It finally dawned on me that the employees are also owners. Duhhhhhhh, that's why they all act like it's their own business--it is.

I think that all ties in with the following quote I saved from an online article, by Frances Fox Piven, titled Time for Progressives to Grow Up: "We've lived so long under the spell of hierarchy..... that only recently have we awakened to see not only that 'regular' citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crisis cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high."

And speaking of big problems, June 10th marked the fortieth anniversary of the Israelis occupation of the Palestinian Territories. If you'd take a moment to think about what the last 40 years of your life would have been like --living under military occupation, without freedom of movement, often time under curfew for days at a time, probably unemployed or unable to reach your employment, probably unable to reach your school. Thanks for taking the time to ponder that. The Palestinians have had lots of time to ponder how their lives might have been different...but aren't.

On a lighter note, I can't remember where I found this quote, but I love it: "I get up every morning determined both to change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning the day difficult." --E. B. White (1899-1985)

And this one, borrowed from my dear sister's blog, http://doojies.blogspot.com/, by Maya Angelou:
"I did what I could. When I knew better, I did better."

May we all grow to know better, and to do better. Thanks, as always, for reading our blog. I have had a hard time keeping up with making regular entries, but am vowing to write one or two each month. But meanwhile, Courtney has started his own, so please check it out at
http://surfingthewillamette.blogspot.com/.

Good luck to us all,

Valori

Kinky plus five

So now you can see what we've been doing in our spare time. Luckily Kinky has taken care of the nursing part, but there's plenty more to do with five little ones about the house (six, with Ben). The kittens were born one week before Jeff arrived. When we told him the good news, on the way home from his talk at the Library, we noticed he didn't share our enthusiam. It was only later that we heard he's allergic to cats. Oops.




Courtney was the midwife and remains Kinky's favorite human to relate to.



Though we were initially quite distraught to learn our little teenage kitty was pregnant (another case of children having children), and it has at times been a total pain in the butt, overall we have had lots of laughs and plenty of fun with these guys. AND it will be grand to find homes for these little wide-mouthed creatures (that not only eat eat eat, but also mew mew mew). The logistics of moving mama cat, kittens and Ben from one holding pen to another, keeping everybody safe and separate, get a little complicated sometimes.




But, really, how danged precious can new life forms be?




If you ever need to get five kittens to all sit perfectly still with their eyes real wide, just turn on the vacuum cleaner.




So if I may be sappy and sentimental for a moment, I'd like to reflect on "new lives" (inspired by the new li'l furballs running underfoot).

When Courtney and I moved to Corvallis, it meant, as my beloved friend Valorie pointed out, a chance for us to live our lives differently. I had, during the last five years in Monterey, suffered from chronic health issues, and very much needed a change. So we both took this opportunity seriously, and I'm happy to report that we've made good changes, and there's surely more to come. Leaving friends and family down south has continued to be a point of sadness for us. That will probably not change--our connections to ones we love in California are very deep. But in our daily lives, I think we both feel satisfied and settled and incredibly grateful for what we have here.

And it feels like we are surrounded by "new-ness"--Ben's new life, Maya and Eder's new lives as parents, my mom's new life without my dad. Now Aaron and his dad Eric are moving from Monterey (the last of my family living on the Peninsula). Aaron's life of his friends and school community at the International School of Monterey, of living at the Rosedale Inn, where he's lived since he was a toddler, will soon be behind him. Enormous changes are ahead for him, besides the usual upheaval of being a pre-teen. The plan is that he and his dad will be moving to Eugene, which is only 45 minutes south of here, so that would be an incredible gift for us all. Please keep your fingers crossed, say prayers, chant, whatever might help bring that about.

Speaking of which, I'll end with a reading recommendation. I'm very much enjoying a book titled Rule Your World: Ancient Strategies For Modern Life, by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He is the son of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who was, in the Tibetan Buddhist world, a warrior king, and credited with bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. The book is about how to keep a stable and happy mind, one of kindness and gratitude, in the midst of upheaval and stress and the strains of modern life. The key, he reveals, is shifting the preoccupation we have with "what about me? What do I need or want?" to "what can I give? How can I serve?"

In that spirit, may we each, in our own way, cultivate compassion for others and confidence in our own goodness. And as our dear buddy Kerry says before we eat: May all be fed. May all be healed. May all be loved.

Thanks for reading this, and there will be more soon,

Valori

Hi Everyone!

It has been a hectic last few weeks. Courtney and I re-frame by saying our lives are rich and full. After Jeff Halper came and went, I had hoped for a reprieve, but there's been none so far. Suddenly it's June and I see it's been since late April when I last blogged. How on earth could time go so fast?! There's so much to tell.

For now I'll begin by posting these two photos below of our dinner and time with Jeff on the afternoon of May 4th, before he spoke in public that evening at the Corvallis Library. We had about 115 people there for his talk. It lasted much longer than planned because people had so many questions and Jeff was willing to keep going. We raised $800 that night and another $500 at a fundraising/houseparty for him the next morning. So in many ways, including financially, it was a successful weekend. For the three weeks before, all I did was plan, plan, plan. So when it was over, whew......

PLUS Jeff stayed with us! Major thrill for me because he is such a hero in my eyes. It was fun to be able to spend some time with him away from the crowds of people wanting to talk with him, tell him their stories, hear his opinions on this or that. I could see how exhausting it must be to be a celebrity, even if it's just in the human rights realm. He maintained through it all a very approachable attitude, extended himself to everyone who wanted to talk, was warm and funny and very kind. A true warrior, in the best sense of the term.




Below is an article I wrote for the June issue of the Oregon PeaceWorker. It's exactly as it appeared in the paper. That should keep you all busy while I cook up the next blog enty.

Much love,

Valori

COUNTDOWN TO APARTHEID:

A public talk by Jeff Halper in Corvallis May 4, 2007

By Valori George

When Jeff Halper, co-founder and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), describes the demolition of a Palestinian home, he speaks from first-hand experience. Jeff and others in ICAHD physically resist the demolitions--actions that call for immense courage--sitting in front of bulldozers and confronting Israeli soldiers.

The demolition of homes is not a new phenomenon in Israel, but began in 1948 when 400+ Palestinian villages were destroyed, to prevent refugees from returning and take the land for the new state of Israel. Since 1967, more than 18,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished in the Occupied Territories.

As an Anthropologist and one of the Israeli peace movement’s most vocal opponents to the Occupation, Jeff observes, on a very personal level, the enormous implications of a family losing their home. Often times only the mother and children are home when the soldiers and bulldozer arrive—in the worst cases, giving only 15 minutes notice, in the best cases, a couple of hours. In Arab culture a son can’t even marry until he has a home for his bride.

Under international law, house demolitions are illegal, a fact of which ICAHD repeatedly reminds Israeli officials. And, as an act of political resistance to the Occupation, ICAHD, using the labor of Israeli, Palestinian and international volunteers, rebuilds a home every summer in the village of Anata, outside of Jerusalem. Focusing on the injustice of house demolitions gives ICAHD a platform for talking about the broader context of injustices inherent to the Occupation.

In the Arab world, the Occupation is seen, Jeff emphasizes, as an American-Israeli occupation. It’s not just the use of American Apache helicopters and missiles, but also the common knowledge that the Israeli government could not sustain its occupation one month without the support of the U.S. In fact, Jeff observes that Israel portrays itself as a small America—a white, western, European country in dark and dangerous Arab lands.

Over forty years of occupation, as the conflict has assumed global significance, so has the role of international civil society. The Israeli government is not afraid of sanctions, because US government wouldn’t let that happen, but fears being seen as a major violator of human rights. Jeff advocates for reframing the conflict from one of Jewish victims of Arab terrorism to one of universal human rights—basic rights that apply to all, including those living under military occupation. Accordingly, all humans deserve full participation in their society (including economic participation), the right to be secure in their homes, to have freedom of movement.

Under the Occupation, Palestinians are systematically denied those rights. Through closures imposed since 1993 the Israeli government has actively de-developed the Occupied Territories—cutting off farmers from their orchards, confiscating the richest agricultural land, uprooting over 1 million olive and fruit trees, denying Palestinians engagement in commerce. Today 70% of Palestinians live on less than $2/day.

Through a Matrix of Control, as Jeff calls it, the Israeli government effectively restricts any freedom of movement for Palestinians. A maze of more than 600 checkpoints and blockades makes each Palestinian village an island, cut off from neighboring villages, a virtual prison. Additionally the new Separation Barrier, the 26-foot high concrete wall currently under construction, winds deep into Palestinian territory (not following the Green Line, but expropriating tens of thousands of acres from Palestinians), and further imprisons entire populations.

Today 60% of Palestinians are under the age of 18. What are their prospects?
Where is their hope? Jeff sees hope in the power of the international civil society.

We are at a critical point. Can we afford to allow a modern state to institute an apartheid system, a separation of populations in which one is permanently and completely dominant over the other? We said “no” to South African apartheid; what are the consequences if we, the international community, fail to say “no” to Israel?

Israel and the US are nation states and therefore subject to international law. The implications of allowing them to disregard international law and human rights are too dire—for the Palestinians, and for us all.

[Jeff Halper discusses possible solutions—one state, two states, or regional confederation—in his book Obstacles to Peace: A Re-framing of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Also, the 40^th anniversary of the Occupation will be marked by a rally/teach-in/lobby day on June 10^th and 11^th in Washington, DC, sponsored by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice.]

Valori George is an anti-war activist living in Corvallis and working with the Corvallis-Albany Friends of Middle East Peace. She can be contacted at valgal@riseup.net.