Death by the Thousands

Jake, Kurt and I loaded up the car this morning and headed out to the School of Americas Watch (SOAW) at Ft Benning in Columbus.

Didn’t know what to expect…I think of the three of us, only Kurt had been there as a participant before.  Jake wanted to see what all the fuss was about and I wanted to get pictures.

For awhile it seemed like it was some type of commercial venture pushed up against the Carnivale in Buenos Aires.  Heck, it cost us $10 just to park and I’m betting the guys we paid the money to didn’t even own the lot that we parked in…capitalism at it’s best I guess.

Well, we forked over the $10 and walked on.  The street leading up to the Main Gate was blocked off and vendors were lined up on both sides of the road.  Really gave everything the air of a street festival.

This is the protest I thought?  Sheesh…what happened to REAL protests like we had in the 60s and 70s?  Where was the marching, the chanting, the in-your-face-taunting?  Someone needs to teach these folks how to protest.

We walked on.  Then I got the first shock.  Standing right infront of me was this man that was painted up with “Study War No More” on him.  You can see a picture of him here.  Wow…this is getting real.  Well, the impact of seeing him there was dulled by more street vendors.  Folks selling t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, hot dogs, coffee and general “stuff”.

Ok, I can deal with it.  I’ll wander around and get some photos and be ready to go.  And I got some cool shots.  I quit counting at 1100 pictures, and you can see more of them at the blog I set up to show them.  Wandered down past the vendors, up infront of the stage and then back down the other side of the street.

And I saw “her”.  And not just “her”, but others dressed like “her”.  Actually, I almost ran into “her” before I saw “her”.  She was standing there as you see her in the picture with this blog.

Damn…this stuff is getting real.  And then the most amazing thing happened.

A procession of all the participants started.  Someone or several someones on the stage started reading off the names and ages of people that have been killed in Latin American countries.  When each name was called off, the folks in the procession would call out “Presente” and hold up a small cross they were carrying.

Slowly, almost imperceptible at first, the vendors slowly hushed.  The crowd become quiet.  All you could hear was the voice of the speaker reading off a name and the procession calling out “Presente”.  This was repeated…again…and again…and again.  My skepticism didn’t matter.

I felt chills first.  And then I felt like someone slugged me in the gut.  This was powerful.  Beyond words…beyond my expectations.  And then it hit me in the face.

Regardless of what a person believes is or is not being taught at the School of Americas, the names being called out were real people who had died real deaths.  Suddenly, instead of being nameless and faceless victims on CNN or in The Washington Post, these were people who had been alive.

They had families that grieved their death.  They had friends that mourned their passing.  One moment they were breathing, talking, maybe laughing or crying and the next moment they were hurled violently into eternity.

Yah…this protest was different than any I remember in the 60s or 70s.  Then we had noise without substance.  Today the protestors had substance without noise.

Slow Food Movement

Pizza

Adam and I are sitting around the office tonight about 6:00.  The phones weren’t ringing, so I didn’t have much to do.  The chocolate was heating up, so there wasn’t much for him to do.  So we were sitting in the office, checking on the latest news about Obama and talking.

 

 

Almost at the same moment, we both realized that we were hungry and we came up with the same thought at the same time…let’s get a pizza. 

So in about three minutes, we figured out what kind of pizza we wanted and where we were going to get it from.  Things stopped being simple.

Adam is reaching for the phone to call Pizza Hut to phone in our order.  Bren, our Program Director, comes into the office…hears the word “pizza”, smiles and lays a $20 bill on the table and tells us if we’ll order a veggie pizza, we can use the change from her $20 to help pay for ours.

Now we have a discussion about which style pizza is best….thin crust? Thick crust?  Two votes for thick – Adam and me; one vote for thin – Bren…but it is her $20.  So a $20 bill trumps two votes any day.  But now, back to the original question…where do we get the pizza?  Adam is comparing prices on the internet…we’re making progress…and Sarah walks in.

“Pizza?  I was just going to the bank and pick up some pizza for dinner”, she said.

Adam and I just looked at each other – we just wanted a pizza.  Nothing fancy, nothing complicated.  Just a pizza.

“Tell you what”, Sarah said. “You call them in and I’ll go pick them up”.

Oh no.  I told her to call in HER order and Adam and I would pick them up.  All we wanted was pizza.  A quick phone call, a run into town and a quick trip back with a $5 Mama Mia Pizza from Pizza Hut.

Well, Sarah’s insistent that we call in the order and then we can go pick it up.  So guess what happened while Adam and Sarah are talking about what kind of pizza Sarah wants and where to get it from…yuppers, you’re right.  Kurt comes in.

“Pizza? I’m in!  What kind are we getting?”

Adam and I look at each other and shrug.  We almost start the whole process over again.   When we get to the point that we’re ready … AGAIN…to call in the order, Kurt realizes that if we order it online then he can get 75 FREE mp3s.  So guess who volunteers to order the pizza. 

Yah…Kurt.

So Kurt sits down at the computer and starts to peck out the order on the keys.  I’m ready to go get the pizza…let Kurt order it and it’ll be ready by the time we get there.

Nooo…Sarah wants to hang around until Kurt has confirmation that the order has been received before we leave….and Kurt has some problems finding the right combination of keys to hit.

Kurt shouts.  He smiles…he finds the right combination of keys to confirm our order.  I head towards the door…

It’s now after 7 o’clock. 

All Adam and I wanted was a cheap $5 Mama Mia Pizza from Pizza Hut.

Think that is the end of the story?  Nope.  Stay tuned for “Slow Food Movement – Part 2”

Country Roads, Tombstones and Autumn

Country Road

I’m walking across the commons today.  I hear a shout.  I look up and it’s Kurt.  He’s standing outside Nichole and Seth’s house with them, Jake and Kaylee.

“Hey, we’re going on a walk through the orchard, want to come?” he asks.

I shrug and say sure.  A walk with a bunch of twenty-somethings through the orchard isn’t my cup of tea.  But I smile and say, “Sure”.  Guess I’m sensitive like that.  So off we go.

And it turned out to be a pleasant way to spend an hour or so.  Some great conversation, some laughter, some solemn moments at a graveyard we found.  It appeared to be abandoned.  Walking along the edge of one of the cottonfields…wondering how in the heck they managed harvesting this stuff before ol’ Eli Whitney came along and invented the cotton gin.

Trying to remember the name of the movie that starred Sally Field where she hired a blind guy and a black guy to help get in the years cotton harvest.  (Terms of Endearment).  Talking about the magicical and forgotten art of dousing.  Strolling down a lonely country road.  Taking some pictures.  Enjoying south Georgia in the autumn.

Turned out to be a nice day.  Not because of me, but inspite ofme.  Seems like alot of other things in life.  When I surrender control and turn it over to God–things turn out alot better and usually are more enjoyable.  Lesson learned.  Let’s just hope I can remember it.

Now maybe next autumn, I can stroll through the woods with a special lady here in Georgia.  She’s a teacher now in the Old State Capitol.  I’d like to see her again and hear her laugh in the trees one more time.

Autumn in Georgia

Forgotten

Kaylee, Kurt, Jake and Seth

God Throws Me Curve Balls

God did it to me again.  He threw me another curve ball.  He did it to me back during the summer and here it is fall, and He’s doing it to me again.

What am I talking about?  He keeps pushing me up against people that I normally wouldn’t hang out with in the outside world.

Remember James?  Exhibit A.  Now there’s Kurt.  God did it to me again.

Let me tell you about Kurt. 

Kurt’s another twenty-something here at the farm.  And we’re about as different as two people can be.  Need a couple examples?  OK, how about these.

He’s a great vegetarian cook.  I’m a Swanson’s TV dinner in the oven at 450 degrees for an hour type person.

He makes these tremendous home-made candles.  Give me a Coleman lantern and I’m happy.

He sees a deer in the garden and thinks Bambi.  I see a deer and I think antlers on the wall in The Mancave.

See?  We’re different.  Nothing wrong with that…we’re just different.

The other day I wrote about my camera being stolen.  Kurt came to me the next day and told me that he had an extra camera and if I’d like to borrow it, I could.  It’s about like my other camera.  Mine had some features his doesn’t.  His has some features mine didn’t.  But for some reason, using his camera for the past several days has somehow made it ok to experiment…and I’ve gotten some great shots.  The two shots with this post were done with his camera.  I took them at The Riverwalk in Albany, Georgia after I finished with an appointment I had.  Came out pretty good…don’t ya think?

So God keeps throwing me curve balls.  I think He does it for His amusement.  I can picture Him and Jesus now.  Sitting around the Throne Room…bored.  God snaps his fingers and fairly shouts — “I know what we can do.  Let’s take a long-haired hippie who cooks vegetarian food, makes candles and has a soft spot for Bambi and push him up against a grizzled ol’ vet who can burp the National Anthem”.