PERSONAL NEWS #50
On Wednesday, March 9th, I briefly attended the NYC Chapter Dept of Peace meetup at Bonobo's [vegan restaurant]. Nibbled on these tasty honey flavor truffles, that just melts in your mouth. Yummers! Ellen, Joe and Maria were also there. We talked about many topics before I had to split. Always a pleasure hanging out with DoP and Kucitizen folk.

On Thursday, March 10th, the NYC Chapter Dept of Peace had its monthly board meeting. This time it was held at Karen's office in a nice, cozy conference room near Bryant Park. Those in attendance were Marie, Joe, Carol, Karen, Liz, Dawn, Kevin, Ellen and I. One of the highlights of the evening was the "Election of Officers" and I was elected Board Secretary. [Yippee!] After the election process Karen brought out champagne to celebrate and Joe brought cookies. We accomplished much with our agenda and committees. Plus, we decided on where we'd hold "Peace Vigil" on March 19th. [That date is 2nd Anniversary of the corrupt US government invasion and occupation of Iraq. Bushie Regime is filled with repressive, immoral, greedy liars.] I had suggested upper Westside of Central Park and Kevin added that we should do the two hour event at Lennon's memorial [ie: Strawberry Fields]. Everyone agreed on the plan and time frame. Overall a most productive evening spent with warm hearted, like-minded individuals.

On Saturday, March 12th, I headed up to Yonkers Ferret Shelter to do volunteer work. Which I enjoy very much and even find it to be abit therapeutic. In some areas [during the night and early morning] received abit of snow, though none showed up in Brooklyn. [Seems to be winters last hurrah.] On the train ride up to Yonkers I happily read a Sharpe book by Cornwell. Arrived at shelter to find a 30-something couple with Joanne checking out the adoptable furkids. Out of the 25 ferrets, she had about 16 adoptees out for inspection. I've never seen so many out at one time and found it quite amusing. After much consideration and asking of questions, the couple decided on two handsome males and one small adorable female. The couple did have 4 ferrets at home, but recently had to euthanize one that was very sickly. The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning ferret ears, clipping paw nails, brushing fur and general socializing. Joanne told me that dear Fuzzbutt died shortly after my last visit. Poor little fella, he was always such a good fuzzy. After tea break and conversation with Joanne I filled up all the water bottles, changed poopy trays and mopped the floors. Another happy, productive day!

The next day, on March 13th, I joined other NYC Chapter Dept of Peace members in tabling at the Marianne Williamson lecture/event at Covenant House. We handed out many flyers, along with postcards. [NYC DoP members on hand were Joe, Maria, Liz, Karen, Carol, Ellen & I.] Some of the highlights of Marianne's lecture were ... Myth of Objective Reality, lift the veil to experience paradise, God did not put the veil there but our own thinking is the culprit, spiritualism to help depression and focus on what was done right not the negative. She quoted a German physicist ... "Every point in universe is equal". Plus, she stressed that "God dwells within you. The light is within." These events always bring in about 700+ people. Lots of good vibes & our DoP group got an honorable mention. Before leaving our group got to spend about 5 to 10 minutes conversing with Marianne. She had much praise for ALL the DoP campaign groups throughout the US. Afterwards a few of us went out to dinner at a really good Thai place on West 23rd Street that Carol knew about. Wonderful food, plus fun and fascinating conversation. Great way to cap off a terrific weekend.

On Monday, March 14th, I enjoyed dining out with Peter and Nadine. [Whom I know through NYC Friends of Kucinich & Democracy for America. Actually, they both got me interested in DFA.] Their both terrific, intelligent, down-to-earth folk. I met up with Nadine at her place of employment, which is not far from my office. We took the subway to meet Peter at the restaurant in the east village. Totally funky restaurant in the east village called "Caravan of Dreams". [On East 6th Street near 1st Avenue.] I highly recommend this restaurant to those who are vegetarian, vegan and also enjoy organic plus kosher food. We had fun talking about lots of current topics and our respective jobs. I also invited them to join NYC Dept of Peace during our vigil on 19th.

On Wednesday, March 16th, was the monthly NYC DoP conference call at 9pm. We didn't stay on for long ... there was myself and three other NYC DoP members [ie: Joe, Maria & Kevin] on the call. Guess folk must have been getting ready for St Patrick’s Day celebrations, which was the next day. In fact, that was one of the topics of discussion. Kevin was all set to play the Leprechaun. Other topics touched on during the 40 minute call were ... budgeting funds, contacting NY State congressional team leaders, Ministries of Peace are being formulated in Canada/UK, Humanities Team, Global Renaissance Alliances and the books called "Conversations with God". If you wish to take part in these calls and are interested in DoP, go to http://www.nyc-dop.com

On Saturday, March 19th, while others throughout NYC and the USA, plus the world were holding rallies, protests and marches on the second anniversary of the US invasion/occupation of Iraq. NYC Dept of Peace members held a Peace Vigil in Central Park from 3pm to 5pm. [Weather was a nice, sunny spring day. Amen!] We chose Strawberry Fields on the upper Westside, near the late John Lennon’s home [ie: the Dakota]. This area usually gets lots of pedestrian traffic from locals and tourists. So it was a shoe-in we'd always have 20+ there at any given time. I arrived at the location at 2:45pm to find that Carol and Karen were present. Also, a musician [portable keyboard] and singer came with Carol to provide most of the musical entertainment. My bad for not remembering their names, but trust me, their songs were inspirational. As other DoP members showed up, we discussed our strategy for the next two hours, plus set up around half of the Lennon memorial. [I took photos & should have them to display online by early next week.]

The main objective of our Peace Vigil, as so wonderfully put by Carol our Chapters chairperson:

"In the spirit of remembrance and protest we will share silent reflection, inspirational readings and music of various traditions. This event is FREE and ALL are welcome. It is our offering of peace, love and healing to all who are harmed by war; civilian and soldier alike."

DoP members who were in attendance ... Joe, Maria, Kevin, Liz, Ellen, Carol, Karen and myself. Kevin's wife and two adorable little girls were there, as were Liz's hubby and their two playful little boys. Also, Liz's sister and her daughter were on hand. Maria's friend Kelly was there to be supportive. I also invited some friends and acquaintances. So happy that Max, Cielito, Thomas [his girlfriend Kim], Peter & Nadine showed up. Ellen’s friend Kenny also showed up. The two hour agenda basically consisted of song, inspirational readings, poetry and handing out of flyers. Three cops strolled through halfway through our event. They didn't stop long enough and figured we weren't a threat to society. It was a wonderfully peaceful event. The evening before I made cookies [ie: chocolate chip & Grape Nuts vegan bars] to share with friends and DoP members. Nothing was left by end of the event. Plus, we sold two t-shirts and answered inquiries of many individuals. Afterwards I joined Liz [hubby & boys], her sister and Kevin [wife & girls] in going out to dinner at a place called JOSIES on Amsterdam Avenue. It was an entertaining meal with five active children. The food was good, though abit pricey. Kevin, his wife and I got to talking about Pearl Jam. Their actually big U2 fans, but have also been to several Pearl Jam gigs. [Many of their political views mirror our own.] I need to send Kevin my list of CD boots.

More "personal news" coming down the turnpike, so stay tuned amigos.