PAGS News

Sadie Forsythe, EC/PAGS '05, will begin work as the Peace Studies Associate in August 2006.

A Regional PAGS Reunion is being planned for late summer or early fall on the West Coast. Stay tuned for more information.

A group of PAGS Faculty, Alumni, and friends will be traveling to Palestine-Israel in late June 2006. The group, led, by former PAGS Director Tony Bing, will visit some of the major religious, historical and cultural sites, while still being politiclaly centered. Considerable time will be spent with persons whose lives have been shaped by decades of conflict and who long for a better future. You can view the itinerary and some of their prep readings at http://www.earlham.edu/~pags/israel-palestine.html.

Old News:

Indianapolis Peace House

IPH_Open_House IPH

The Indianpolis Peace House just recently opened its doors to its first class of students. On Sunday, September 19th there was an Open House and a dedication of a Peace Pole. Below are the remarks of Nelson Bingham, Acting President of Earlham College, who spoke at the dedication.

"It is a joy for Earlham to join with our historic peace church peers in launching the Indianapolis Peace House as a part of the Plowshares Project." As St. Augustine once said, "Peace is a good so great, that even in this earthly and mortal life there is no word we hear with such pleasure, nothing we desire with such zest, or find to be more thoroughly gratifying." And Aquinas wrote that, "Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace."

"Peace has been a concern for the Religious Society of Friends since its inception. A document entitled, "A Declaration from the Harmless and Innocent People of God called Quakers Against All Plotters and Fighters in the World" was sent to the King in England on the 21st day of the 11th month, 1660. That document stated, in part, "Our principle is, and our practices have always been, to seek peace and ensue it, and to follow after righteousness, and the knowledge of God, seeking the Good and Welfare and doing that which tends to the peace of All." Quakers have sought not only to end war, but to remove the occasion for war."

"Peace is not an end state, but a way of l ife, infused with a set of values that includes not only non-violence, bsut justice, respect, equality, and simplicity. Indianapolis Peace House is a vehicle for us to both practice that way of life and promote it in our students, Indianapolis, and the world. This is what we come here today to celebrate."

Nelson Bingham, Acting President, Earlham College

For more information visit www.plowsharesproject.org.

The Plowshares Peace Studies Project recently awarded grants to students doing peace and justice related projects or internships. Following is a summary of those grants.

Total Student Applications: 15
Total Amount Requested: $28,582
Amount Budgeted for this Period: $9,400 (2 projects from last round were canceled)
Total Awarded: $9,370

Fadi Elsalameen - Approved $500
Voice of Arab Youth (VOAY)
An ongoing - 3rd year student
VOAY is the idea of four young Arabs, including EC student Fadi Elsalameen from Palestine It represents their commitment to make a difference in the world: to change the negative perception of Arab youth in the West and to demonstrate the capacity of Arab youth to contribute to the development of their region. This grant will assist Fadi with the traveling that is required to develop this organization.

Supap "Geng" Jitta - Approved $2000
Economic Inequity in Education in Portland, OR
Summer - 3rd year
Portland, OR is one of the fastest growing cities in the US. It attracts a vast number of immigrants and is a very racially divers community. It is also home to people across very different economic backgrounds. Hence, it is a good place to study difference in access to educational opportunities for people from these different social backgrounds. Geng plans to document the availability of educational opportunity and its relations to social economic backgrounds, explain the observed data, and explain patterns of injustice in the availability of educational opportunities. This grant will assist Geng with travel, accommodations and supplies.

Myra Ashley Malishenko - Approved $2000
Wright State U. Ambassador Program to Argentina/Brazil
August - 1st year
This grant will allow Myra to go to Argentina and Brazil to compare their political history of human rights struggle. She will learn about civic activism, study the widespread use of torture and "disappearances" connected with Argentina's "Dirty War", visit famous sites, tour the Rocinha, Rio's largest favela, an area where poor people live bunched together, building their houses out of scrapes, and participate in other related activities.

Jen Malley, Mark Webb, Irena Como - Approved $110
Undergrad Conf. At Butler U. - Presenting
April -
This grant will provide travel funds and registration fees for 3 seniors to present their papers at Butler University's Undergraduate Conference. Jen is presenting her ethnographical research at Birthright in Richmond. Mark is presenting his paper titled, "Language and Culture in the Border Economy: Teaching "Racialized Imaginative Geogrphies." Irena will present "The construction of 'home' and an immigrant identity in a globalizing world".

Katherine Paul and Jill Crum - Approved $160
Living the Vision: Building Bridges from Ideas to Action (conference)
March - Seniors
Katherine and Jill received funds for this Pendle Hill conference where they'll join other young leaders as the come together to learn new skills and empower each other to create a more just society. The will engage in dialogue with present day activists and workers in the Spirit, meet young leaders and visionaries, and share stories with elders in the struggle.

Hillary Richardson - Approved $600
Human Rights Internship w/ Everett Internship Program
Summer - Junior
Hillary's award will help her pay housing while she participates in a 10-week internship in Washington, DC.

Lydia Robbins - Approved $1000
AMIDEAST Internship
Summer - Junior
This grant will assist Lydia with housing costs while she does an internship in Tunisia

Patrick Sheehan-Gaumer et all - Approved $3000
STARC Alliance National Conference
April - Andrew Adams, Gina Bareletti, Sky Cunningham, Greg Elliott, Hannah Holby, Corina Johnson, Laurel Johnson, Maggie Hallowell, Jaime Lederer, and Julie Riethmiller
This group will be able to attend the Students Transforming and Resisting Corporations (STARC) Alliance National Conference in Portland, OR.

 

PAGS alum Andres' Thomas Conteris recently produced a documentary film titled "Hidden in Plain Sight", which sheds light on the nature of U.S. policy in Latin America through the prism of the School of the Americas, the controversial military school that trains Latin soldiers on U.S. ground.

Narrated by Martin Sheen, the documentary features interviews with political thinkers (Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens, Eduardo Galeano), Congresspersons (Barbara Lee, D-CA.), Army officers, victims and social activists (Dianna Ortiz) who tackle the issues of U.S. economic and military policies in Latin America, the war on drugs, and terrorism.

The Plowshares Collaborative recently received an award from Hoosiers Concerned about Gun Violence for bringing Michael Moore to Indianapolis on Oct. 13.

Call for Proposals:
Are you interested in supporting recycling and composting on campus, encouraging students to vote, or reducing military recruitment of poor or underrepresented youth? Competitive grants of up to $3,000 per student are available to expand the educational experience of students in fields such as nonviolence, conflict mediation, economic justice, racial justice, sustainable development, ecological justice, peace and the arts, political and social change, etc. For more information about how to apply, visit http://www.earlham.edu/~pags/student_proposals.html or contact the Plowshares Peace Studies Project Office in LBC 218, x1305, or plowshares@earlham.edu. The next deadline for Plowshares Student Mini-Grant Proposals is Dec. 1

Earlham junior Fadi Elsalameen participated in a panel discussion with Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams and two students from Somalia (Goshen College) and Nepal (Manchester College), on November 10th in Indianapolis. The panel, part of the Spirit & Place Civic Festival, funded in part by Plowshares Peace Studies Collaborative, provided a forum for the students and Williams to discuss the affects of war on children, and to give recommendations on what we can do help protect and heal war's most innocent victims. For more information about other Spirit & Place events (going on through the 19th),visit www.spiritandplace.org. For information about Betty Williams and World Centers of Compassion for Children International, visit www.centersofcompassion.org/.

Colleges help students find socially responsible work - Read the article and see photos of the recent Public Interest and Community Service (PICS) Fair: http://www.plowsharesproject.org/php/news/PICS.php

WECI 95.1 FM has organized a reporter training for this September 12th-14th and will start producing the only free daily news in Richmond (and the only daily news other than the Pal-Item) using the Richmond Community as reporters, producers, editors and anchors. Andrea Seabrook, congressional correspondent for NPR, and Robert Jefferson, KBOO PM News Director will be leading the training, which begins at 7 PM Friday the 12th and continues most of the 13th, and is over by 5pm (or earlier) on the 14th. Meals are included Saturday and Sunday. Anyone interested should contact Amanda Lewis, WECI Business Manager, at lewisam@earlham.edu or 765-983-1246 to hold a space. The workshop is limited to 30 people. Plowshares is co-sponsoring the event.

Miller Farm Students Cultivate Community Supported Agriculture Effort

David Leeper to Direct Earlham's Plowshares Peace Projects

Howard Richards Shares Views in a
Troubled, Hopeful Argentina

Chamber Bestows Distinguished
Community Service Award on Landrum Bolling

faculty_halloween
PAGS faculty members Monteze Snyder, Caroline Higgins (PAGS
Director) and Welling Hall have fun dressing up at Halloween.