A piece of communal paradise in Baltimore

This weekend three of my dearest friends and I camped one night in a Baltimore graveyard. The St. Peter's Graveyard was abandoned by the church in the late 60s, but it was rescued by the community of nonviolent resistance, Jonah House. The great Liz MacAllister, and her late great husband Phil Berrigan founded Jonah House together more than 30 years ago. The place is simply a piece of paradise in the middle of an inner city. The paradise is created not by the wonderful setting of the graveyard and the woods over-growing one side of the property, nor of the bountiful apple and plum trees on the property. The paradise that has been created by Jonah House is their community. I was truly touched by the warm reception and absolute inclusion we received from Liz (who always makes an impression on me), Susan Crane, Joe, and Sisters Ardeth and Carol (of the Colorado Ploughshares action). Eta and Mike were away on their honeymoon still. Soon after arriving, Susan gave us a tour of the house, including a beautiful garden room with goldfish and a compost toilet and the basement food pantry where they gather food for distribution to the poor throughout their neighborhood.

We spent a good part of the afternoon touring the graveyard. It is sad to realize that the church was simply going to leave this old graveyard to be forgotten. I saw many tombstones dating from the 1870s, and as late as the early 1960s. We also got to meet the many guinea hens, hair sheep, the two nubian goats (known from protests at the White House) Paul and Silas, and the two peaceful and elegant black llamas Naomi and Micah. We observed Naomi leading the herd around the property (minus the guinea hens who appeared to have their own nomadic community), and David began painting the animals. Liz later remarked that he had captured much of the gregarious Silas' personality.

The community is incredibly spiritual and welcoming, and after a game of "community Scrabble" with Liz and Susan, we retired for the evening. Luckily the rain had reduced the temperature. Eve was in one tent, Malachy and I shared another tent. And David was generously offered a room in the house.

Sunday we woke and walked a bit around the property before Jonah House's larger faith community arrived for their Sunday Worship. It was an incredibly welcoming service, although clearly Christian in orientation, it was very welcoming of other faith traditions -- emphasizing that we all had something extremely valuable to share and contribute. Sister Ardeth lead us in our worship, and she used some fascinating scripture passages to discuss concepts of exclusion and inclusion. We all shared our own experiences of being excluded, so we could always remember to make attempts to include others in the future.

We ended our visit with watching the film "Conviction," which was a documentary of Carol and Ardeth's (and one other Dominican Sister) Ploughshares Action in 2002. Ardeth and an Irish woman who played guitar during the service chatted with us a bit after the film as we readied for our departure. This documentary was truly inspiring. Eve and Malachy told me later their initial reactions were a readiness to hammer on missile silos. I thought to myself, maybe someday when I am retired I'll join this tradition started by Phil Berrigan himself; I bowed my head the last time I passed his grave on the property.

All of us agreed that we'll all remember our first visit to Jonah House. And I look forward to our next visit.

Guantanamo put on trial -- May 27th

In eight days, Eve Tetaz, a 76-year old retired D.C. public schoolteacher, will enter a courthouse in Washington, D.C. and engage in the legal debate over the fate of America's detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The name of Noor Muhammad has never appeared in an American criminal court. On May 27th, Tetaz will change that. On that day, she will appear at the Washington, D.C. Superior Court as Noor Muhammad. Tetaz was arrested, along with 78 others, at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 11, 2008, protesting the denial of habeas rights to and the torture of inmates at Guantanamo. Like her fellow protestors, Tetaz took the name of an inmate during her arrest. ( See the January 13 Washington Post article "Activists Pose as Guantanamo Prisoners" ) Tetaz says she felt compelled to participate in the protest at the Supreme Court because detainees are being tortured at Guantanamo. "Torture is a terrible crime and sin against humanity," she said. Thirty-four

Sheehan to challenge Pelosi

I was there the day about three weeks ago when Cindy announced she was running against Pelosi. It was outside of Rep. John Conyers'office. I think change is in the air, and all politics is local. The San Fran area is perhaps the most staunchly progressive in the whole country. Tomorrow morning I will be dropping a check for Cindy's campaign in the mail. Peace activist seeks SF-area House seat Associated Press report Citing her son as inspiration, a tearful Cindy Sheehan announced her candidacy Thursday for the U.S. House of Representatives. The anti-war activist, a former resident of Vacaville, said she will run as an independent against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco in Congress since 1987. "The country is ripe for a change," said Sheehan, who spoke at a news conference in San Francisco, with her slain son's photograph attached to the podium. "It's going to start right here and right now." Sheehan's 24-year-old son

William Thomas Dies

William Thomas, dedicated peace and anti-nuke activist, passed away Friday morning at home. He was co-pilot of the 24-hour seven-day a week vigil at the White House for 27 years. He is survived by his wife Ellen and vigil co-pilot Concepcion. I remember Thomas from my high school years years early in on his vigil. Millions of people from hundred of countries visited Thomas as he kept vigiling, warning them of the dangers of nuclear holocaust and the ravages of war. He will be greatly missed by the peace and justice movement. An excerpt from an article in The Washington Post by David Montgomery, published a couple years ago: WASHINGTON — William Thomas first introduced fanny to brick on the White House sidewalk on June 3, 1981. His sign said, "Wanted: Wisdom and Honesty." He's been there ever since, still squatting, still wanting. A few months after he began, he was joined by Concepcion Picciotto, who has remained similarly steadfast. War is not over, but the peace protest

Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

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