Sisters of Perpetual Organizing

One of Maya's birthday gifts from me (she turned 26 on December 5th) was a day trip of her choice. Only stipulation was she had to take it with me. She decided she wanted to go to the coast. We have a favorite little breakfast cafe in Newport (one hour due west) that's right across from the harbor and serves yummy fruit crepes.



Well, we took Maya's birthday trip a couple of weeks ago and, wouldn't you know it, the favorite cafe was closed. So we decided to go to Nye Beach, at the other end of Newport and the harbor, and found this cute little place named Cafe Stephanie. Since my sister Kissy's real name is Stephanie, we figured that was a sign from God and we should eat there. And lo and behold they had fruit crepes. Life is good.

We walked around Nye Beach after we ate and down to the water. We could see the Lighthouse just north of us and decided to head over there and look for shells on the beach beneath the Lighthouse. But by the time we drove there the next dose of winter rains and wind had hit and so we sat and watched the storm from the cozy comfort of Maya's Jeep.

And then drove north to Depoe Bay in search of chai. Turns out that there was no chai in Depoe Bay. Lots of places were closed because of winter storms and no business. But we found a couple of fun gifts for Maya (and one for me), headed south for Newport and a Starbucks, then home to Corvallis. A fun time was had by all. I don't think we stopped talking once all day. I'm in the process of writing stories from my life, and of course Maya's memory is better than mine, so there were lots of episodes she reminded me of ("remember my babysitter who used to wear a loin cloth? remember when I was 12 and you taught me how to drive in the campground in Wyoming?" and on and on).

That day began a busy week for us. On Thursday Courtney went to a Town Hall Meeting called by Senator Ron Wyden. And you know how handsome and photogenic he is (Courtney, not Ron), plus he was sitting on the front row, so his picture appeared the next day in the local paper, the Gazette-Times.

Then on Friday, January 11th, protests were staged all over the country (and maybe around the world) marking the anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. So Courtney attended the local protest which was staged at the "Quad" on campus. The sentiments of all sane people, respectful of human rights, could be summed up in the simple statement from UN Human Rights Commission: "Immediately close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and either release its inmates or bring them before an impartial tribunal."

And then on Saturday, January 12th, the small group of us (all women) who have been organizing the Second Saturday benefit concerts celebrated our one year anniversary. I named our group the Sisters of Perpetual Organizing. Hence the title of this blog entry. These are women who, if you needed something righteous done, they're the ones you'd call. I'm oh so happy to have landed in this gang.

We are a smooth running little operation, with no overhead. Laurie and Bobbi have the connections with the musicians, who donate their time. The Sunnyside Up Cafe donates the use of their great space. Troubadour Music provides the sound equipment at no charge. Leah creates the fliers and prints them off. Bobbi's husband photographs the musicians for the paper and Bobbi makes the publicity happen. Gretchen and I send out emails, post fliers and staff the table.

By the end of the night of the 12th we had raised $835 for the Oregon PeaceWorks of Salem (and their paper, the PeaceWorker, which gets distributed all over Oregon). Hooray! It's a win-win-win-win situation. We raise money for a good cause (a different one each month); we have a full house of happy people listening to great music for $5/person and supporting a good cause; the restaurant does a booming business and the musicians get publicity, adoration and new fans.



Speaking of fans, here's one of mine and I'm certainly one of his. It just gets more and more fun with this guy. Maya called me the other day when it was snowing and said that Ben was searching all over their house for something. Finally he found it--Maya's cell phone--and brought it to her and said "Mimi--no!" while pointing outside. He wanted her to call me and tell me it was snowing! He knows I love the snow. (Notice he did not want to call Courtney and talk about the snow--Courtney does not have the same enthusiasm that I do about snow.)




Speaking of Courtney, here's a photo of the last of Courtney's winter squash crop. It got us half way through January. Not bad. And they have been great tasting and very beautiful squashes. Before we know it spring will be here and we'll be starting another garden. Hard to think that's ever going to happen during these rainy/snowy/icy weeks, but.....




Here's proof that we do have some sun, even in the winter. I caught 30 minutes of Vitamin D the other day before the sun set over the hills and it felt glorious.





And here's one of Sasha kitty and her cat butler Courtney. This girl likes to go in and out the sliding glass door more times than you would believe. Courtney has to stay pretty close to home
just to let her in and out, in and out. But you see here that she lets him get some rest by the wood stove. Winter is not all bad.

One last thing, I'll give a quick book report. Just finished reading Overcoming Zionism: Creating A Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine, by Joel Kovel. The dedication of the book is to "Rachel Corrie, may her name live in glory". Kovel is Jewish-American, was a candidate for the Green Party nominee for US President in 2000, and is currently the editor-in-chief of Capitalism Nature Socialism.

I think of all the books I've read in the past couple of years, trying to understand the Middle East conflict, this has been the most helpful so far. It's extremely fascinating on many levels, but Kovel's humor certainly adds to the readability. Some of my favorite chapter titles: The Unnatural History of a Bad Idea, Facts On the Ground: Making the Desert Desolate, and Palesreal: A Secular and Universal Democracy for Israel/Palestine. All I can say is: read it.

That's it for now. More soon. Thanks for reading this and taking an interest in our lives here in Corvallis. Please write us, stay in touch, and enjoy whatever winter you are in,

Valori