SHAME on the Police

UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters blocking a walkway in the quad on Friday, 11/18/11. (photo: Wayne Tilcock/Davis Enterprise)

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/316-20/8495-qchillingq-uc-davis-video-launches-investigation

This is just so shocking.

I visited Occupy Boston today:
At the back of the space is a well placed rise in the ground that accommodates speakers such as this one who is reading poetry-a daily activity around 3 in the afternoon:

Here are some of the signs I read and a few other shots. I like the statue of Gandhi near the entrance; and the site is excellent, especially as it is directly in front of the Federal Reserve Bank (see below).

 Below: The Federal Reserve Bank stands across the street from the Occupy Boston encampment:

The Beauty of Central Utah

I never tire of the views of Capitol Reef and the Henry Mountains  in the background, seen from the Aqueous Plateau of Boulder Mountain.

Portland's Japanese Garden....

We visited one of the best Japanese gardens in America











and the Portland Zoo:



Mike and I dug into bowls of too many crawfish, a learning experience.



- Posted from my iPad

Injustice in America

The following is quoted from the newsletter of the Brennan Center for Justice of NYU Law School, October 10, 2011:
Anti-Immigrant Laws Keep Documented and Undocumented People Away from Courts and Justice System at Large
Grace Meng, “Immigrant Injustice,”Hill Congress Blog, October 7, 2011

Grace Meng, a researcher in the U.S. program at Human Rights Watch, writes in the Hill’s Congress blog: “I met ‘Sonia,’ a farmworker in upstate New York, in August. She and her husband had managed to scrape together $3,000 for a down payment on a house. After two years of making mortgage payments, they discovered the seller had never transferred the title to them. They are being evicted from the home they thought was their own. What would you do if you were Sonia? Hire a lawyer? Sonia and her husband tried to do just that, but as they started to seek recourse in the legal system, the seller threatened to call immigration. Sonia is an undocumented immigrant. If Sonia were in Alabama, she would be barred from seeking justice in its courts. In addition to other abusive provisions, Alabama’s new immigration law declares that its state courts will not uphold any contracts involving undocumented immigrants. But even outside of Alabama, Sonia essentially lacks access to justice. . . . Legal service providers in Raleigh, North Carolina report that undocumented immigrants face the same problem Sonia did. Since undocumented immigrants cannot get legal title to the cars or mobile homes they buy, sellers often don’t actually transfer the property to the buyers. The Latino Outreach Center in the Blue Ridge Mountains frequently receives reports from day laborers that local homeowners who hired them to rake leaves and do other small jobs have refused to pay them, knowing they can get away with it. Undocumented immigrants have long been afraid of government officials, but that fear is now translating into a fear of the justice system. Immigrants avoid going to court in communities from Fresno to Rochester, even to pay traffic tickets or to help a family member with translation, because Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents like to hang out by the courthouse. In North Carolina, a victim of domestic violence told me she would never again call the police for help after being questioned more about her immigration status than her safety the first time she called. . . . When millions of people are afraid to avail themselves of their rights under the U.S. legal system, the entire system is undermined. The injustice is not only to undocumented immigrants but to U.S. society as a whole.”


- Posted from my iPad

Portland, Oregon area visit

If you like to walk in light rain and fog come visit with us. We enjoyed this view from our host's living room, a bit north of Portland.



If the drizzle, mist and fog are depressing after a time Portland is the capital of micro-brewing.



Darrow Tests the water at Seaside, Oregon:



Lower Multnomah Falls:



Mt. Hood:




-Posted from my iPad

Location:Portland, Oregon

Fwd: The tanks - part 3

Another shot in Escalante country

More About Canyon Country, Utah

Janet, near the entrance to Cohab Canyon, said to have been a place of refuge for some Mormons who sought to practice polygamy and to evade federal agents.


A rather carefully constructed cairn on the way to the "Tanks" in Capitol Gorge.


John at the "Tanks."


So, on to Oregon...

Location:Cohab Canyon, Capitol Reef

Escalante to Capitol Reef

We decided not to camp on this trip, so here we are in the bunkhouse of our Evergreen host in Boulder, Utah.




We hiked to the lovely Lower Calf Creek Falls in the desert near Boulder.


along Calf Creek on the way to the Falls:


In Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.


Pioneer graffiti in Capitol Gorge on the way to the "Tanks."


The pioneers who traveled through this canyon used water from large potholes, now called the "Tanks" high above the canyon floor.


Janet on the way to the "Tanks":


- Posted from my iPad

Location:Salt Lake City

Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal sponsoring Girls' Camps-Will you Help?

Recently, we met a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal who is doing some excellent work helping people at a major hospital in Dakar and at a high school in a suburb of Dakar to establish and build gardens adjacent to the institutional buildings. There are some images of those gardens in our recent posts. Since our return home, he has written to us about another project that he and other Peace Corps volunteers are undertaking, camps for girls. He writes:

"Peace Corps volunteers in Senegal have started to develop annual, week long girls' camps in different regions. The camps range in age groups, but generally are designed to give females a safe, open space to discuss crucial gender issues (that they might not be able to elsewhere), learn about the environment, health-related issues, the importance of education, etc, and, of course, to have fun. This year the Dakar region is hosting the second annual girls' camp the first week in October. A number of volunteers in the Dakar region are participating, using our combined knowledge of Health/Environment Education, Small Enterprise development, and Agriculture. I'll be helping out with a few of the environmental sessions, basically helping spread the work about moringa and showing the usefulness of bottles and such as alternative containers. We're all set to go, save for a bit of fund raising."

So, Janet and I contributed a few bucks and we are hoping that some of our Breaking Away blog readers might wish to do the same. If you wish to view the girls' camp project on the Peace Corps site and consider making a donation, which is tax deductible, please visit:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-178
 
Excerpt from the PC website:
"...Our main objective with this camp is to help these young women see the importance of school and how it benefits both themselves and their family lives; in short, creating the perfect work/life balance...."

And for more information and updates, please let us know. John and Janet

Intercultural Dimensions announces its next Crossing Cultures Senegal program

Crossing Cultures Senegal-January 2013

Intercultural Dimensions, Inc. (a 501(c)(3) educational organization) offers a stimulating travel and educational program focused on the French-speaking Republic of Senegal, West Africa. The program dates for the 2013 Crossing Cultures Senegal program are January 2 to January 18. It will be ID's 22^nd program to Senegal. Escape the cold and experience the real story of Senegal.

Led by two former U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, this well-established cultural immersion program appeals to people in and out of academia. It works well for those who want to experience family life and community projects in rural areas of this diverse nation and for

those with special interests in dance and music training, teaching, literature, environment, medicine, government, NGOs, agriculture, language and health projects.

The Crossing Cultures Senegal group (three leaders and three participants) is small allowing the leaders to tailor activities to the participants' interests. Many professors, teachers and students of French have been past participants.

 

Reasonable cost. Extended stays for volunteer work or field study can be facilitated. This program is an eye-opener. For some it can be a stepping stone to their future; for others it can be an enrichment of the work they are already doing. Start now and apply early. 

Deadline for applications is September 15, 2012.

Please visit ID's website for more information and to apply to participate in the next program:

Please click here:www.interculturaldimensions.org 

John Hand and Janet Ghattas

Route 95 in Utah-One of the Best

If ever you get a chance to drive from Blanding to Hanksville, Utah, take the time to do so-it is one great drive. Not only is the scenery fabulous as viewed from your vehicle but along the way, there are a number of great short hikes where you will find beauty and fascinating ruins and relics of the past inhabitants.

                                  Here, we see the route 95 bridge across the Colorado River.

                                           Anasazi ruin in Butler Wash, an easy hike from Route 95

                                               Pottery shards in a canyon close to Route 95

Therapeutic art and gardening at a hospital in Dakar

We visited a therapeutic art workshop and two gardens at Fann Hospital in Dakar. The patients are enthusiastic about these additions to their medical treatment.

" Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?" Jack Kerouac

The price of gold

In my lifetime the value of this coin, about the size of a dime has risen from about $4 to about $350 today. Much of that astonishing increase has occurred in the past decade.

Looking Back...

Chief Rising Sun, entertained at my birthday party in 1944. He participated in my father's production of The Sun Dance at the Broadway Theater in New York City in April, 1938. This opera was co-composed by Zitkala-Sa and William Hanson. I still have a Ute drum used in the production of the opera. My father sang the role of Ohiya in the 1914 production at Brigham Young University.

Chief Rising Sun

I guess you could say that my birthday parties have been going downhill ever since. 

Utah-Arizona - a few favorite shots

 (above) Cottonwood Canyon Road, east of Bryce Canyon, Utah

 The Betatakin Ruin, Navajo National Monument, Arizona

 A view of Keet Seel, Navajo National Monument, AZ, a spectacular, well preserved Anasazi ruin and an interesting hike.

 Grinding stones at Keet Seel

 Lower Calf Creek Falls, a nice place to cool off and have a picnic in Escalante country

 Hell's Backbone, an exciting scenic drive in the Escalante region

 Desert Storm in central Utah

The Grand Gallery, Horseshoe Unit, Canyonlands National Park-a fantastic panel of pictographs and petroglyphs said one of the finest examples of "Anasazi" art so far discovered. The hike to this fairly remote location is fun and interesting.