RezaRitesRi.com

By Reza Corinne Clifton

This article appeared in the November 2nd edition of The Providence American Newspaper

From left to right: Thomas Duffy, co-founder and President of HoodRich Flight Foundation; Anthony Lugo a graduate of the Met who will be one of the first students; and Michael Clifton, co-founder and Vice President of HoodRich.

PROVIDENCE, RI - Pride, generosity, and love were all palpable on Wednesday evening October 25 when friends, family, and supporters showed up at upscale jazz club, the Hi Hat. It was in support of a newly-incorporated Providence non-profit organization called HoodRich Flight Foundation.

HoodRich is an organization co-founded by Providence residents, Thomas Duffy and Michael Clifton, and Cranston resident, Honorable William C. Clifton of the RI District Court—Michael’s uncle. The three are seeking to provide underprivileged Providence high school students with “the opportunity, resources, direction, and funding to obtain their private pilot’s license.”

The Hi Hat event, which even garnered an appearance by Providence Mayor David Cicilline, was “an effort,” explained the invitation letter, “to thank our current supporters and introduce ourselves to the Rhode Island community”.

Some of these supporters were reflected in the speaking program, which included contributions by Roger Knight of FedEx, Bob Berlyn of Horizon Aviation, and Mary Sylvia Harrison, president and CEO of Rhode Island Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. In an effort to introduce themselves with distinction, music was mixed by mobile DJ Daniel Pantalone of Bashment Sounds, and two vocalists performed a duet—Hope High School sophomore, Stephanie Montilla, and trained gospel singer and after school program coordinator Melissa Francois.

Associate Justice Edward Clifton of the RI Superior Court and Providence, RI’s Mayor David Cicilline

The introduction to HoodRich comes a year after the organization was formally established, in November 2005. They started the non-profit because of the shared concern of all three founders—who are also certified pilots—about “the lack of resources available to young people interested in aviation careers.” Duffy remembers facing this concern himself; it was the only factor which raised doubt in him when he first became interested in flying. Finances did not stop him, though.

Duffy was sixteen or seventeen years old, he recalled in an interview last summer, and had just lost his job at American Power Conversion (APC), when he decided to spend his last APC check to pay for a single lesson. It resulted in the feeling that a career in aviation was where he belonged, he explains.

Duffy had grown up in Warwick two or three minutes from T.F. Green airport, affected by two important influences: fascination with the planes that landed nearby; and the thrill as a five year old when he was first offered the chance to enter the cockpit of a plane during a commercial flight.

Clifton remembers a lot of excitement too.

He was first introduced to flying at a very young age by Judge Clifton, a fact that isn’t necessarily “a concrete memory,” but that “had more to do with the impact on a subconscious level.” This later played out through Clifton’s endless hours engaged in computer and video game flight simulation programs.

Later, at the age of 15, his mother’s best friend offered to take him to an introductory flight lesson. This was the beginning of Clifton’s decision that flying was a “passion [he] would possess” and a road he would definitely take.

Both young men are graduates of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU)—2002 for Clifton and 2003 for Duffy—a school described as a premier University in the “science, practice, and business” and “unique needs of aviation, aerospace, and related industries.”

ERAU is now more than their Alma Mater. In January 2006, University officials “offered a commitment that our students,” outlined the invitation letter, “will be eligible for partial scholarships from this highly regarded aviation university.”

Michael Clifton’s sister, Kelly, to the far right, greeting some of the event’s attendees.

They have other partners too, like the participants in the speaking program—the Crusade, Horizon Aviation, and FedEx—and Times2 Academy. These partnerships are not uniformed; they are unique based up on what the organization does or can provide. Horizon, the only FAA-approved Part 141 flight school in the state, will help with the training based on the highest criteria—FAA standards.

Times2 has agreed to help provide classroom resources, while FedEx has agreed to offer an incentive to students who complete the HoodRich program and earn their private pilot’s license. The support from FedEx is related to one of the primary goals of HoodRich: exposing youth to the diverse types of careers available within the aviation purview.

The HoodRich “alliance” with The Crusade is especially unique. The organization distributes the grant program that has offered the fledgling organization a challenge grant, and it will be from the Crusade’s program that the first eight students in the HoodRich program will come.

Alliances and support have even come from the former Tuskegee Airman and State Representative, the Honorable George S. Lima, who himself has launched the Black Air Foundation—a program that will be offered to a younger set of students.

But Wednesday night was not only about announcing the support of established organizations and schools. The HoodRich event was also about a formal request for help—from individuals like the ones who lined the Hi Hat, and like those committed to ensuring that, as the HoodRich website states, “the sky is still the limit.”

For more information about the HoodRich Flight Foundation, visit www.hoodrichaviation.org or call Thomas Duffy, President of HoodRich, or Michael Clifton, Vice President, at 401-473-1141 or at 401-524-2358.

Reza Corinne Clifton is the first cousin of Michael Clifton, and a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

By Reza Corinne Clifton

Please note: This article appeared in the October 26 NOT November 2nd edition of The Providence American newspaper. It also appeared in the early November edition of the web-based Rhode Island Roads Magazine.

From the play “Falling Up” written by Trista Baldwin. Photo by Vanessa Gilbert.

PROVIDENCE, RI - Two years after its last one, and 604 scripts later, the International Women’s Playwriting Festival at Perishable Theater has returned for its thirteenth year with three new winners–Molly Rice, Trista Baldwin, and Laura Jacqmin. The Providence theater is under new leadership with Artistic Director, Vanessa Gilbert, who assumed the position after eight years at Perishable as Associate Artistic Director; that role included her involvement as producer and director of previous festivals.

With a move that started with her predecessor to “reconfigure” the festival, Gilbert has had the opportunity to revamp it in its 13th year. Therefore, the 13th International Women’s Festival should look different than it has in previous years. Those familiar with the festival, points out Gilbert, will notice that the writers’ works have been spread out to occupy their own weeks. Formerly, all three winners’ works–one act plays–ran sequentially each night. Receiving feedback that the “one-in-three” format was sometimes “difficult,” for example, when having to switch from somber to comedy, Gilbert decided to break them up. This also gave her a chance to look for other women artists “in the community who are doing interesting things in the community.” This twist led performers like band Janus Code, featuring singer-activist Laura Wood, during the first week’s performance; and three young women from AS220’s hip hop group, Rhode Show–Michelle Mancone; Anjel Newman, and Amber Newman–the second week.

The festival began October 12 with a play entitled “Line”, written by Rice and directed by Mark Peckham. Her play ran through Sunday the fifteenth, and was followed by October 19 through 22 performances of the play “Falling Up” by Baldwin. This week, from October 26 through the 29th, the play written by Jacqmin runs. Jacqmin’s play is entitled “Gotham is Safe Again,” and it will be directed by Gilbert herself. The performances of all three plays will happen one more time from Thursday, November 2 through Sunday, November 5. All shows have been or will be at 8:00 except the Sunday ones, which are at 2:00.

The young ladies - Michelle Mancone, Amber Newman, and Anjel Newman - from AS220’s Rhode Show. Also present to the left, David Gonzalez, director of the group, and to the right, fellow member David ‘Day Day’ Arkins. (Photo courtesy of RezaRitesRi.com)

In anticipation of this week’s play, I took the opportunity to interview the writer of “Gotham is Safe Again.” Jacqmin is a third-year student at Ohio University in the Masters of Fine Arts program whose background includes co-founding the Yale Playwright’s Festival. Gilbert described Gotham as a “comic story” that takes place at a theme park, that asks how and what we choose to do in the face of tragedy. I asked Jacqmin herself for a little more information about that, and about what her life is like, as an emerging playwright.

(RCC) Tell me a little more about your play. Both in the summary and in talking to Vanessa, your play has been likened to a comic book. Can you tell me a little more about the play or about how a comic book format materialized into a stage-ready format? And what encouraged you to try a concept like this?

(LJ) I started with a concept – a play about a theme park of some kind – and then let the play evolve into something language-based. Each scene has a supertitle; each scene is a little entity unto itself, much like panels in a comic book. The style is again, more focused on language and character – trying to paint a picture with each moment. I’ve always been a comics fan, and though some of my tastes run to the simplistic (I grew up on Archie and Uncle Scrooge, and didn’t discover Batman till much later) it remains in my head.

Plays rely on images, whether it’s stage images or images created through the language. I hope that GOTHAM will be a potent combination of both.

(RCC) Talking to artistic director, Vanessa Gilbert, she indicated that there was about a two-year hiatus between this festival and their last one. One reason she was so ready to hold this year’s was to honor the more than 600 entries that came in. Do you remember how long ago it was that you submitted your manuscript? Had you or have you since submitted “Gotham is Safe Again” to any other festivals or programs? And has it been performed or directed elsewhere?

(LJ) I submitted GOTHAM in October 2005, so I didn’t have to wait too long. I’ve submitted the play to a few other festivals, but nothing has come of it. I stopped after I found out about the production at Perishable – this is the theater I want to be working with!

Aside from a few developmental readings at OU [Ohio University] and beyond, this is the first time I’ll get to see a full production of the play.

(RCC) Do you remember where you were when you got the news that your play had been selected? As a RI native, I don’t think I’m in an objective place to measure or assume anything about your excitement level. How does this honor measure up with others you have or would like to attain, like the Kitchen Dog Theatre’s New Works or the Contemporary American Theater Festival? Is there a cream of the crop, most distinguished playwright’s festival/honor?

(LJ) There is a prevailing school of thought that says every playwright should aim for a New York production, and that regional theaters exist in some strange vacuum where all that gets done are Neil Simon plays. A production is more exciting than a reading any day, and a production with a company that is a good fit with your work is the best possible situation. It’s easy to say that a New York production will get you the most “worthwhile” exposure, but whether that’s true or not depends on the playwright. Eric Coble lives in Cleveland; Adam Rapp lives in New York. Each is a successful playwright; each has different aims.

(RCC) The festival ends in about two weeks. Now I noticed that at least with this festival, you winners have or in your case, are seeking MFA’s. I’m trying to get an idea of what the career trajectory is like, as a playwright. Did you have to go for your MFA? Characteristically, what do the next steps look like after a playwright is recognized as you have been at this festival? And specifically, what do your next steps look like?

(LJ) I went into my MFA right after I graduated college. Looking back at my earlier plays, I feel I got lucky on a number of occasions, and my voice was almost strong enough to carry my work. But not always. Right now, I’m in my final year of the Ohio University MFA, I’m working on three different plays, and I’m yards more confident in my work than I was when I first started.

After a festival like the WPF, all a playwright has to do is keep writing and trying to get their work out there. Also, a playwright has to make ties to the companies that are interested in their stuff! The Public may not be interested in doing the world premiere of your play, but do you really want all that pressure right away? Right now I’m working on a play about the collision of hip-hop culture and the Jewish community, and my thesis play, 10 VIRGINS, which is a play for 5 women, 1 man and 5 puppets that uses fairy tales to explore proper girls’ behavior. I’m excited about the project and keep aiming for a production of my full-length work.

Keep checking back to read the entire interview with playwright, Laura Jacqmin, or Perishable Theatre Artistic Director, Vanessa Gilbert. For more information about the 13th International Women’s Playwriting Festival, visit www.perishable.org.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

by Reza Corinne Clifton

From the play, “Line,” by Molly Rice - another winner of the 13th International Playwriting Festival at Perishable Theater. Photo by Marya Errin Jones

Laura Jacqmin is author of “Gotham is Safe Again,” and one of the winners of this year’s Festival. Read about the festival itself by clicking here.

(RCC) Talking to artistic director, Vanessa Gilbert, she indicated that there was about a two-year hiatus between this festival their last one. One reason she was so ready to hold this year’s was to honor the more than 600 entries that came in. Do you remember how long ago it was that you submitted your manuscript? Had you or have you since submitted “Gotham is Safe Again” to any other festivals or programs? Has it been performed or directed elsewhere?

(LJ) I submitted GOTHAM in October 2005, so I didn’t have to wait too long. I’ve submitted the play to a few other festivals, but nothing has come of it. I stopped after I found out about the production at Perishable – this is the theater I want to be working with! Aside from a few developmental readings at OU and beyond, this is the first time I’ll get to see a full production of the play.

(RCC) Do you remember where you were when you got the news that your play had been selected? As a RI native, I don’t think I’m in an objective place to measure or assume anything about your excitement level. How does this honor measure up with others you have or would like to attain, like the Kitchen Dog Theatre’s New Works or the Contemporary American Theater Festival? Is there a cream of the crop, most distinguished playwright’s festival/honor?

(LJ) There is a prevailing school of thought that says every playwright should aim for a New York production, and that regional theaters exist in some strange vacuum where all that gets done are Neil Simon plays. A production is more exciting than a reading any day, and a production with a company that is a good fit with your work is the best possible situation. It’s easy to say that a New York production will get you the most “worthwhile” exposure, but whether that’s true or not depends on the playwright. Eric Coble lives in Cleveland; Adam Rapp lives in New York. Each is a successful playwright; each has different aims.

(RCC) I was thinking of you as a student still working toward her MFA on the one hand, and as a co-founder of a theatre festival—the Yale Playwrights Festival—on the other, and was thinking about how I’ve been curious about how generations share space, time, and authority. Do you get concerned as both developing playwright and festival co-founder that the permanence of Perishable’s Festival, or other theatre and writing festivals including the one you started at Yale, may in some way be stifling opportunities for younger playwrights or avant-garde playwrights?

(LJ) The festival at Yale started as a gripe that there were no opportunities for undergraduate playwrights at the college level. A lot of people conflate Yale School of Drama and the college in their minds, but the two are almost entirely separate entities. There are typically 1 or 2 playwriting classes offered per semester, but there was a question of where a student’s work would go after class was through. Most plays aren’t ready for full productions, but they are ready for a reading and feedback from pretty prestigious mentors. The festival has hosted Edward Albee, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Tracy Letts, Rolin Jones – the list goes on and on. I’m pleased that the festival continues into its 6th year.

Regarding generations, each festival is so different that it’s hard to generalize about the opportunities it generates. Do I feel that some highly regarded festivals are very careful to only work with “emerging” playwrights who are already being produced on the professional level? Certainly. But there are an equal number of festivals that are truly searching for a distinctive voice instead of a recognized name. It has to depend on the strength and potential of the work.

And for every theater company looking for straight, naturalistic plays, there are a handful looking for something a little bit more theatrical, a little bit more stylized. The whole point of going to the theater is to see something live – something alive. If we wanted to see a kitchen sink drama, we could stay home and watch television.

(RCC) Tell me a little more about your play. Both in the summary and in talking to Vanessa, your play has been likened to a comic book. Can you tell me a little more about the play or about how a comic book format materialized into a stage-ready format? And what encouraged you to try a concept like this?

(LJ) I started with a concept – a play about a theme park of some kind – and then let the play evolve into something language-based. Each scene has a supertitle; each scene is a little entity unto itself, much like panels in a comic book. The style is again, more focused on language and character – trying to paint a picture with each moment. I’ve always been a comics fan, and though some of my tastes run to the simplistic (I grew up on Archie and Uncle Scrooge, and didn’t discover Batman till much later) it remains in my head.

Plays rely on images, whether it’s stage images or images created through the language. I hope that GOTHAM will be a potent combination of both.

(RCC) The festival ends in about two weeks. Now I noticed that at least with this festival, you winners have (or are seeking) MFA’s. I’m trying to get an idea of what a playwright’s career trajectory is like. As far as you know, is the MFA the most predictable route for exposure as a playwright? Characteristically, what do the next steps look like after a playwright is recognized as you have been at this festival? And specifically, what do your next steps look like? (Do you have any aspirations to pen a film? Or do you strictly want to keep with theatre? Is there another festival you’ve set your sights on?)

(LJ) It varies from writer to writer. Some absorb craft through osmosis: reading plays, seeing plays. Some want to develop their craft to a point where one is never hindered while writing. A playwright’s voice will always come through for them, but if your craft isn’t at its peak, you start to get blocked. I’ve seen plays undone by simple structural problems – we don’t know which of the many stories we’re supposed to be following, for example. Who are we supposed to care about? What are we expecting (or not expecting) to happen next? If the audience doesn’t have some thread to hold onto, they’re going to get lost. A lost audience isn’t a good thing to have.

A number of writers dismiss the MFA. Some aim for a degree in order to teach. (It’s an interesting conundrum that many playwrights know how to write, but don’t know how to teach. It’s a process thing – if you can’t dissect your own craft, how are you going to teach other people how to write?) Some feel they need some time to just write and build a body of work.

I went into my MFA right after I graduated college. Looking back at my earlier plays, I feel I got lucky on a number of occasions, and my voice was almost strong enough to carry my work. But not always. Right now I’m in my final year of the Ohio University MFA, I’m working on three different plays, and I’m yards more confident in my work than I was when I first started.

After a festival like the WPF, all a playwright has to do is keep writing and trying to get their work out there. Also, a playwright has to make ties to the companies that are interested in their stuff! The Public may not be interested in doing the world premiere of your play, but do you really want all that pressure right away? Right now I’m working on a play about the collision of hip-hop culture and the Jewish community, and my thesis play, 10 VIRGINS, which is a play for 5 women, 1 man and 5 puppets that uses fairy tales to explore proper girls’ behavior. I’m excited about the project and keep aiming for a production of my full-length work.

I used to be interested in writing for film, but it feels like such a different animal. I like theater. I don’t feel writing is a question of getting your Message out to as many different people as possible; art does not ultimately change the world. Hopefully it can change someone’s mind, or make them think. When some unique energy is darting between every person in a live audience – to me, that’s much more exciting than a bunch of people staring at a screen chomping on Twizzlers, and it always will be.

Jacqmin’s play runs the weekend of October 26 through 29 and the weekend of November 2 through November 5 with the works of the other festival winners. Read the post above entitled Comics and Theme Parks at Women’s Playwriting Festival for more information about the 13th International Women’s Playwriting Festival or visit www.perishable.org.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

by Reza Corinne Clifton

From the play “Falling Up” written by 13th International Playwriting Festival winner, Trista Baldwin. Photo by Gilbert.

Vanessa Gilbert is the new Artistic Director of Perishable Theater, and director of one of the Festival’s winning plays, “Gotham is Safe Again” by Laura Jacqmin. Excerpts from the first part of our interview appear in the full article entitled Comics and Theme Parks at Women’s Playwriting Festival. Below is the second part of our interview.

(RCC) Do you ever worry that despite the multiplicity of readers and judges [who decide on the winners of the Women’s Playwriting Festival], that Perishable Theater may in fact still be leaving out some viably talented work representative of a new breed of writers or a new breed of performance?

(VG) Actually I don’t worry about that because the lens through which we look at the WPF scripts is one of innovation. I sometimes worry that I won’t be able to recognize some of the talented writers because we don’t have the resources to fully realize their work, but because Perishable is a Research & Development theatre, new breeds of writers and new breeds of performance are actively sought out for programming the entire year, not just the WPF (Women’s Playwriting Festival). The WPF is where we judge soley on writing, and in that regard, the curating process is relatively straightforward.

(RCC) So this year’s festival runs for two more weekends then it’s finished. What do next steps look like, in terms of Perishable programming or in terms of the next International Women’s Playwriting Festival? Are you planning on holding a festival again next year, or is there more learning and redeveloping planned for the festival? If it is next year, do you have to start preparing now for it? How does that process begin? Are there playwrights with work you’ll begin courting? Or is it just an open call? Are there any RI playwrights with work you will or would like to direct soon?

(VG) So many good questions. The next WPF will happen in 2008. After putting this festival together with close to no resources, I determined that we need 2 years of lead time for fundraising, curating, and general planning in order to keep the festival relevant. While we will continue the one-act play competition, which has introduced Perishable to so many wonderful writers (Quiara Hudes, Alice Tuan, Bridget Carpenter, Carson Kreitzer, Nehassaiu DeGannes, Christine Evans), my plan is to open the festival up to some full-length works that we invite. The one-act play competition will be an open call, but any full-length works will be by invitation only.

I am working with Christine Evans, whose play Weightless, will premiere at Perishable in the spring/summer of 2007. She lives in Providence, even though she is an Australian national. I am also working currently with Norton Massachusetts resident Charlotte Meehan on her play Sweet Disaster, which we are looking to premiere in spring 2008.

(RCC) Can you tell me a little more about the RAPT program (Resident Artists at Perishable Theater), a program you introduced to Perishable; what eligibility is like, for instance, and when you’ll be looking for new residents?

(VG) RAPT intends to fill a specific void, that of artistic and administrative support for mid-career artists. In Rhode Island, this lack of support can cause talented artists, in the most fertile periods of their careers, to leave the field or to leave Rhode Island. RAPT is being initiated to provide a much-needed forum to assist artists who are developing unique artistic voices and experimenting with new approaches to performance work. PERISHABLE THEATRE believes that artists must be in control of the work that they create. This control goes hand in hand with a responsibility to participate in all phases of their artistic projects from inception through all development stages to full production. RAPT is designed to respond to the ideas and needs of its artists…

RAPT has two primary components: Development and Production. The Development component consists of monthly artistic meetings; ad hoc breakout sessions focused on both artistic and business concerns; and formal and informal work-in-progress showings…The Development component of RAPT also encourages artists to show new work in each stage of development. A number of work-in-progress showings, both public and private, allow members of RAPT to contribute to the growth of their peers…

RAPT also includes hands-on administrative sessions to supplement our already strong artistic development process. We believe that in order for these artists to stay in the field, they must have the necessary skills to function as viable creative enterprises. RAPT offers advice on business issues such as tax preparation, grant writing, project planning, budgeting, marketing and non-profit incorporation.

Two to four projects from the Development component will be selected for the Production component of RAPT each year. Each selected artist participates in all Development activities, but also collaborates with PERISHABLE THEATRE to develop appropriate resources and support for their production. What is key to the Production component is that the integrity and clarity of the artist’s vision be supported…

Each Residency lasts a minimum of one year. At the end of the year, the artist and PERISHABLE THEATRE may mutually decide to extend the residency for up to 3 years. In 2006, residencies began on May 1st. We will be seeking applications for new resident artists in February 2007. Applications will be available the first week of January.

For more information about Perishable Theater and its programming, visit www.perishable.org.

“Gotham is Safe Again” runs the weekend of October 26 through 29 and the weekend of November 2 through November 5 with the works of the other festival winners. Read the post above for the Full Interview with Laura Jacqmin for more information about the playwright or read Comics and Theme Parks at Women’s Playwriting Festival for an article about the 13th International Women’s Playwriting Festival.

by Reza Corinne Clifton

RHODE ISLAND - There are a number of recently posted pieces to the site; therefore I felt compelled to more directly guide you through them. My cousin, Michael Clifton, and his friend and colleague, Thomas Duffy, are finally holding an event to launch their newly incorporated nonprofit; I’ve received word about two opportunities to support important campaigns here in RI for the 2006 elections; the Providence School Board has begun seeking three new candidates; and I finally finished the second half of my coverage of the Jerusalem Women Speak 12 Program.

There is a lot to read, and more to come. Two ways to handle it: scroll up and down on the main page to study which articles might appeal to you and to browse first through the pictures; or click on a link below and go right to the article or section that fits your interest. Don’t forget to leave a comment, if I’ve made a mistake, you’d like to say hi, or you have more information to share with the readers. Keep coming back througout the course of the week to see more photos and articles as they get added. However and whenever you choose to take a peek, I still want to say thanks for your support.

October 25 Event for RI Youth Aviation Program

Join the Tradition: 2 Volunteer Opportunities - 2006 Elections

Providence School Board Seeking Applicants

Partnering for Peace in the Middle East

Here are some other events happening, some of which will be featured later here on RezaRitesRi.com, so keep checking back!

Tuesday, October 24, 7:00 PM at the RI Foundation, One Union Station in Providence - “Coversation with the Women’s Fund of RI: The Direction and Goals of Young Feminists”. For more information or to RSVP, call 401-274-4564 or email mctighe@wfri.org.

Thursday, October 26 at The Mews Tavern, 456 Main St. in Wakefield - a book signing for RI’s newest local author, Susi Franco, and her book “Angels with Stethoscopes.” For more information, visit www.SusiFranco.com.

Thursday, October 26 - Sunday, October 29 AND Thursday, November 2 - Sunday, November 5, 8:00 Thursday-Saturday and 2:00 on Sundays at The Perishable Theatre, 95 Empire St. in Providence - Perishable Theatre presents the remainder of its “13th International Women’s Playwriting Festival. ” For more information, visit www.perishable.org.

Friday, October 27, 5:30-8:30 at TseTse Gallery, 101 Orange St. in Providence - Foresight Science and Technology Inc. will host a fundraiser for the TSETSE Gallery, a providence-based non-profit dedicated to arts outreach and education. The event’s purpose is to build community through art and celebrate the deep connection between art and science. There will be free food, prizes and an open bar. Tickets are $25. For more information, visit www.tsetsegallery.org, call 401-273-4844, ext.11, or email sandra.sipic@foresightst.com.

Friday, October 27 at 7:00 at Toll Gate High School Auditorium, 575 Centerville Road in Warwick - A film screening of the hour-long “BEYOND BEATS AND RHYMES: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs In On Manhood In Hip-Hop Culture” and a discussion afterwards. For more information, contact the sponsoring organization, Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, at 401-467-9940.

Saturday, October 28, 4:00-6:00 PM at One Way Gallery, 140 Boon St. in Narragansett - a book signing for RI’s newest local author, Susi Franco, and her book “Angels with Stethoscopes.” For more information, visit www.SusiFranco.com.

Thursday evening, November 2, at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston - John Hope Settlement House presents its 77th Annual Celebration. Special Honors that night will go to the Hon. George S. Lima, Founder of Black Air Foundation, and Anthony Maione, President & CEO of United Way of Rhode Island.

Do you want to add to or correct this list? As always, feel free to leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you.

-Reza

(HoodRich Flight Foundation cofounders, Michael Clifton and Thomas Duffy.)

PROVIDENCE, RI - You probably haven’t heard of too many programs like HoodRich Flight Foundation, a fact which was recognized by the international flight organization, AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association). Their monthly magazine featured an article in the October 2006 issue about the program and it’s cofounders, RI natives Michael Clifton (my cousin) and Thomas Duffy. You can see the article online (http://flighttraining.aopa.org/ft_magazine/fullstory.cfm?id=5760&issue_title=October) or keep reading to see an invitation and informational letter. But more importantly, get out to their Ocober 25 event or support their innovative program.

Dear Friends:

We are pleased to introduce the HoodRich Flight Foundation, a newly incorporated non-profit dedicated to providing aviation education and training to economically disadvantaged youth in the Providence area. Concerned about the lack of resources available to young people interested in aviation careers, founding members and pilots – Hon. William Clifton, Thomas Duffy and Michael Clifton – established the Foundation in November 2005.

Our focus is to provide the initial education and experiences that will lead towards career opportunities in aviation, a private pilot’s license being one of the milestones. Our expectations of the students include an interest in aviation and a willingness to work diligently to meet established academic goals. A bi-product of participation is that students will gain future oriented life planning skills. Although this program requires extensive time and commitment on the part of the students, it is designed to be at no financial cost to them.

An initial collaboration has been established with The Rhode Island Children’s Crusade, Times2 Academy and Horizon Aviation. Additionally, officials at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University have offered a commitment that our students will be eligible for partial scholarships from this highly regarded aviation university. We are fortunate to have an active and committed Board of Directors and look forward to a successful upcoming initial phase with students.

In an effort to thank our current supporters and introduce ourselves to the Rhode Island community, we are holding an inaugural event. We hope you can join us to hear more details regarding our program.

Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Time: 5:30pm – 8:30pm
Location: The Hi-Hat : 3 Davol Square, Providence, RI

HoodRich has been presented with a challenge grant and we hope that we can count on your support to help us take advantage of this opportunity. We look forward to sharing more details regarding how you can make a difference in expanding opportunities for young people in our community.

Volunteer Opportunities - 2006 Elections, RI

RHODE ISLAND - People of color, youth, women and other marginalized groups in this country have a legacy of involvement in politics and struggles for social justice - as inititiators, volunteers, protesters, and unifiers. Consider Martin Luther King, Jr., the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Fannie Lou Hamer of the African-American heritage alone. Two opportunities to get involved today:

Volunteer Opportuniy number 1.

Letter from Events and Volunteer Coordinator, Ivette Luna:

Hello Friends:
Our deadline is approaching fast and we really need folks to help Get out the VOTE come November 7th and the Weekend leading up to ELECTION DAY:) Please note that Voice your Vote is a non-partisan project working to increase voter education, turnout and registration in underrepresented communities. We have a great deal of work ahead of us, and in order to achieve our goals of increasing voter turnout by 20% we need your help.

Below is a schedule of different volunteer opportunities please be sure to let me know which works best for you. Thanks again for assisting in the betterment of our community and democratic system. For more information you can contact me at 463-5368 or via email ivette@oceanstateaction.org and I welcome you to visit our website at www.voiceyourvoteri.org

For Data Entry:
• Mondays-Fridays: from 4-8pm at 99 Bald Hill Rd. Cranston, RI 02920 (right behind Bldg 19 and Syms)
We need folks everyday from now until Nov.7, talking to our neighbors about the importance of getting out to Vote!

• Saturday November 4th, Sunday November 5th, and Monday November 6th: from 9:30am-8:30pm
** anytime you can volunteer, we would love to have you**

• NOVEMBER 7th ALL Day: from 7:30am-9pm
*** any time you can volunteer, we would love to have you**

There are also some light office work i.e.. Mailings, Phone banks, etc.. for details please contact me.

I hope this finds you all well and looking forward to working with you. Also keep in mind that we are working in Central Falls, Woonsocket, Pawtucket, Newport, and East Prov. to be plugged in to these cities please contact me… also you can visit our website for upcoming events and activities. Thanks again and I’ll be sure to contact you starting 10/16 to plug you in for any of our volunteers opportunities.

In Solidarity,
Ivette Luna
Voice your Vote
Events and Volunteer Coordinator
99 Bald Hill Rd.
Cranston, RI 02920
463-5368

Volunteer Opportunity Number 2: For Question 9, a campaign for a $50 million housing bond that will help Rhode Island create more homes that are priced within reach of young families just starting out, hourly wage workers, senior citizens, and other residents struggling with housing costs.

A letter from Organizer, Alex Moore:

Dear Friend,
Would you like to make a huge impact to better the lives of hundreds of families in Rhode Island? You can do so by simply knocking on some doors and making a few phone calls to educate folks about Voting YES on Question 9.

Rhode Island’s housing prices have skyrocketed in the last five years, pricing workers and families out of the market. Question 9 on the November 7 ballot will help change this reality by providing $50 million to create homes that are affordable to the average Rhode Islander — at least doubling the state’s production of affordable houses and apartments. Question 9 will benefit a range of Rhode Islanders, including young families, moderate wage workers, and senior citizens. The homes will remain affordable by law for at least 30 years. To learn more about Question 9, check out “50 Stories, 50 Days, 50 Reasons to Vote Yes on 9” and get the facts about your community at http://www.yeson9ri.org.

I’m currently putting together a Get Out The Vote plan for Question 9 with the Statewide Housing Action Coalition, the RI Coalition for the Homeless, and Voice Your Vote. I need your help in order to ensure that Question 9 passes on November 7th. I’m looking for volunteers on the following:

Friday, November 3rd: Noon - 4:00 pm; 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Saturday, November 4th: Noon - 4:00 pm; 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Sunday, November 5th: Noon - 4:00 pm; 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Monday, November 6th: Noon - 4:00 pm; 4:00 - 8:00 pm

***Tuesday, November 7th (ELECTION DAY): 9:00 am - 1:00 pm; 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm; 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm

We will mainly be doing some door knocking and phone banking. For Students: I’d be happy to talk to any professors to make sure that you get credit towards your class for helping out. Free food, drinks, and fun will be provided. Please let me know when you can volunteer ASAP.

Thanks!!
Alex Moore
Organizer - Voice Your Vote
Statewide Housing Action Coalition
RI Coalition for the Homeless
241-4675

N E W S R E L E A S E
(issued by Karen Southern, Mayor’s Press Secretary, City of Providence; forwarded by Jim Vincent)

RESIDENTS INVITED TO APPLY FOR POSITIONS ON THE
PROVIDENCE SCHOOL BOARD

School Board Nominating Commission seeks applications for three seats that open each year on the Providence School Board

PROVIDENCE - Mayor David N. Cicilline today announced that the Providence School Board Nominating Commission has begun accepting applications to fill three seats on the School Board that will become open in January, 2006.

Any registered voter of the City of Providence may apply for the post and existing School Board members are permitted to re-apply for another term. The six-page application is available on-line at the City’s website, www.providenceri.com, and on the School Department website, www.providenceschools.org. Applications have also been sent out to community groups throughout Providence.

“We’ve worked hard over the past three-and-half years to assemble a highly effective School Board composed of talented and dedicated members from our community,” said Mayor Cicilline. “It’s critically important that we continue that momentum as we work to improve the quality of our children’s education.”

The application asks such questions as: How many school board meetings have you attended in the past year? What are the most critical issues facing the Providence Public School system? What are the strengths and experiences that you will bring to this position?

Applications must be returned by November 1st and a public forum for School Board applicants is scheduled for November 13th. At the conclusion of this process, the Mayor will select three members from a pool of finalists recommended by the Nominating Commission. The new School Board nominees will be subject to City Council approval and will be sworn into office in January, 2006.

Karen Southern
Mayor’s Press Secretary
City of Providence

Part I: Getting Involved

By Reza Corinne Clifton

(Standing from left to right: RIC student Nada Samih and JWS tour participants Ghada Ageel, Rela Mazali, and Shireen Khamis. Kneeling are two other RIC students, from left to right, Jerome Thompson and Marco McWilliams.)

PROVIDENCE, RI - “I hoped for peace through the last decade; now I struggle for the small ideas that I’ve got about peace just to keep them in mind and to keep hope. It gives you one step of hope, but ninety-nine steps of despair.”

“There’ve been moments of hope, although they’ve usually been skeptical on my part. But mostly there’s been a build up of a loss of hope. It’s very, very difficult to deal with, and painful.”

“People in Palestine are starting to lose hope. This huge wall that separates us from the outer world; that puts us in a prison…the young have no window for the outer world, and inside it’s a disaster they live.”

Three quotes. Three women. One bleak picture painted. It was during a stop recently in RI by (in order of the comments above) Ghada Ageel, a Muslim Palestinian who was born as a refugee whose current home is in Gaza; Rela Mazali, a Jewish Israeli who was born in 1948, the year the state of Israel was founded; and Shireen Khamis, a Christian Palestinian whose home and family near Bethlehem have been disrupted by a twenty-five foot wall that surrounds her town and segregates it from centuries old neighboring towns.

Ageel, Mazali, and Khamis are the featured speakers of the twelfth program, Jerusalem Women Speak (JWS): Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision. JWS is a national speaking tour organized by Partners for Peace, a Washington D.C.-based, United Nations-registered nongovernmental organization (NGO) with a 501(c)(3) tax status. Partners for Peace was founded in 1998 “to educate the American public about key issues in the effort to secure peace and justice among Palestinians and Israelis.”

In addition to the speaking tour, Partners for Peace has also engaged in researching and monitoring accusations of torture, interrogation and imprisonment without due process of law, and other “human rights abuses by Israel against American citizens of Arab origin.” They have also been intentional, persistent and successful at garnering media attention. Explains Partners for Peace Program Coordinator, Jacob Pace:

“The work for Partners for Peace is unique in the effort we make to reach mainstream communities and the mainstream media,” he begins, “The tours have been featured in The Washington Post, on Chicago Public Radio, Democracy Now!, CNN International, C-Span and much more.”

Nevertheless, the JWS tour program was developed early in the existence of the NGO, remaining a mainstay of their programming according to the Partners for Peace website:

“We initiated the ‘Jerusalem Women Speak: three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision’ project in January 1998 by bringing three women from Jerusalem, one Muslim, one Jewish and one Christian, to speak in 10 cities nationwide about their fears, hopes and frustrations in the midst of this ongoing conflict.”

Depending on with whom you speak, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—or Arab-Israeli conflict to which it is also referred—is simple.

The State of Israel was created in Palestine to return land to the Jews, people who inhabited it centuries Before Christ. The post-World War II climate in Europe and worldwide at the time—1948—was anti-Semitic; thus recognition came from the United Nations to parcel the land of Palestine for a safe haven for Jews. Palestine was already inhabited, though. A majority of its residents practiced Islam, but some were Jewish as well as Christian. The struggle to obtain, secure, release and share land and nationhood ensued.

Unfortunately, the situation is not this simple in a world where to participate in the global economy there has to be those with resources and those without; where religion is equated with values of good or evil; where military victories not generations of land use signal landownership for some and exodus for others; and where military ability and strength is influenced by outside perpetrators.

Worse still, Ageel, Mazali, and Khamis share during a private interview on October 9 in front of a Whole Foods Grocery Store in Providence and at a tour stop on October 10 at Rhode Island College (RIC), this is the situation invading each and every part of life not just for soldiers or armed fighters, but for children, grandmothers, uncles, farmers, teachers…everyone.

Besides stops throughout Washington, D.C. and Maryland, JWS12 targeted New England for its three week tour. Their stop at RIC was sponsored by RIC Students for Justice in Palestine (RICSJP), one member of which is herself a descendant of Palestinian Refugees forced to leave in 1948. One RI stop was sponsored by the Social Justice Committee of the Channing Memorial Church.

Cafes, community centers, and restaurants provided other venues, but the majority of stops were at houses of worship and universities—like Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and University of Vermont in Burlington. Their last day in New England is Sunday, October 22, and they’ll have two stops:Keene Unitarian Universalist Church in Keene New Hampshire sponsored by the church’s Social Action Council, New Hampshire Peace Action, the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee, and Tikkun of Southern Vermont.

The second stop is at First Parish Church in Beverly Massachusetts sponsored by North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Cape Ann Forum, Merrimac Valley People for Peace, First Universalist Church of Essex, Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport, and North Shore Progressives.

Then, the tour ends on Tuesday the 24th. On Monday and Tuesday, they return back to Washington, D.C., with a stop Monday morning at American University and Tuesday morning with a Capitol Hill Briefing.

Pace also arranged a number of media stops along the way, all in the hopes of getting the message out; a message that, as mentioned above, conveys the difficulty of maintaining hope in a region that has been riddled with military conflict for the past half-century. The stories of Ageel, Mazali, and Khamis are as powerfully stirring as they are shockingly foreign to American ears. In “Partnering for Peace in the Middle East Part II,” to be completed and posted soon, I will provide a fragment of what each woman had to say, about her home; her everyday life; and her struggle to keep faith that the world will eventually intervene in a just and peace-seeking way.

But what else can you do? On its website, Partners for Peace outlines ways American citizens can advocate and contribute to peace and justice, a challenge that all three of the participants again and again called on Americans to face. Here are a few of those suggestions, in no particular order:

1. “Create a community group”—or support one, like any of the ones mentioned above that sponsored one of the tour stops.

2. “Be a media advocate,” by writing letters to the editor “to promote balanced coverage in your local newspaper and [to] positively influence the public discourse.”; by calling the editor “when a story they carry is inaccurate or includes gross generalizations about the situation in Palestine/Israel.”; or by engaging independent media who “may also be eager to engage” in activism.

3. “Watch Washington” by calling or writing your political representatives at their Washington offices and at their local offices, or by getting involved in local election campaigns. A quick peek at the websites of some of RI’s candidates and elected officials—Patrick Kennedy, Lincoln Chafee, Jim Langevin, and Sheldon Whitehouse—reveals “strong” support of aid for Israel and disagreement with the International Court of Justice’s decision against Israel’s controversial security fence; condemnation of the recently elected Palestinian Hamas government; the lauding of “Israel’s terrorism fighting techniques”; and no mention at all.

4. Explore Divestment options, a strategy that was employed to oppose the old South African Apartheid regime. It involves boycotting and campaigning against “corporations making a profit” from oppression, or those that are “complicit with human rights abuses.” Activists part of the Caterpillar [divestment] Campaign put pressure on the Caterpillar Corporation “to stop it’s sale of bulldozers to Israel…”, for they have been used to demolish “thousands of Palestinian homes.”

5. “Visit Israel/Palestine” with organizations like Interfaith Peace-Builders, which “organizes an average of six trips a year which take US citizens to see the facts on the ground and meet with representatives of the nonviolent peace movement in Palestine/Israel.”

For more information about Partners for Peace, or to keep reading their recommendations on how to get involved, visit www.partnersforpeace.org and look for the section marked “what can I do.”

For two places on the web to find quick reads about Israel/Palestine, search for “Israel” at www.encarta.msn.com or visit the “Israel/Palestinian Territories” under “Country Profile” on the BBC website or visit www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/803257.stm.

For more information about RIC Students for Justice in Palestine (RICSJP), visit www2.ric.edu/unitycenter. For more information about the other RI organizations that hosted tour stops, visit www.channingchurch.org for information about Channing Memorial Church.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.

Part II: Meet Three of your Partners

By Reza Corinne Clifton

(Panelists of JWS12, Ghada Ageel, Shireen Khamis, and Rela Mazali.)

PROVIDENCE, RI - I met three incredible women recently: Ghada Ageel, a Muslim Palestinian who was born as a refugee whose current home is in Gaza; Rela Mazali, a Jewish Israeli who was born in 1948, the year the state of Israel was founded; and Shireen Khamis, a Christian Palestinian whose home and family near Bethlehem have been disrupted by a twenty-five foot wall that surrounds her town and segregates it from centuries old neighboring towns.

Ageel, Mazali, and Khamis are the featured speakers of the twelfth “Jerusalem Women Speak: Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision.” JWS is a national speaking tour organized by Partners for Peace, a Washington D.C.-based, United Nations-registered nongovernmental organization (NGO) with a 501(c)(3) tax status. Partners for Peace was founded in 1998 “to educate the American public about key issues in the effort to secure peace and justice among Palestinians and Israelis.”

A three week-long speaking tour, Partners for Peace Program Coordinator Jacob Pace also arranged a number of media stops along the way, all in the hopes of getting the message out; a message which conveys the difficulty of maintaining hope in a region that has been riddled with military conflict for the past half-century. The stories of Ageel, Mazali, and Khamis are as powerfully stirring as they are shockingly foreign to American ears. Here, in Partnering for Peace in the Middle East, Part II, I have provided a fragment of what each woman had to say, about her home; her everyday life; and her struggle to keep faith that the world will eventually intervene in a just and peace-seeking way.

Ghada Ageel, a Muslim Palestinian, age 35
Ghada Ageel’s story “starts in 1948,” she will tell you, when her grandmother’s family was expelled from their home in Beit Daras; it was part of Palestine, but it became part of Israel. Like her parents, Ageel was born in a refugee camp—Khan Younis—in the southern Gaza Strip. Explains Ageel in her own words:

“The refugee-hood was passed through my grandmother, to my father, and my father passed it to me; and now I pass it on to the fourth generation—to my kids.

Usually you get punished because you did something. I was punished before I was born.”

Ageel’s childhood was full of reminders of her status, as a refugee with restrictions placed on her by Israel. “What is refugee camp? It’s a place with misery and poverty and nothing but despair. We’re very close to the beaches and the Mediterranean; it’s very beautiful. I was deprived of enjoying [it] because of these…Israeli illegal settlers who followed us in 1967.”

Ageel and her father shared aspirations of her becoming a doctor, but these were interrupted by the consequences of what is known as the first Intifada or Palestinian uprising. “I’m in high school. I’m waiting for University. Before reaching University…in 1987, 1988, the universities are declared closed by Israel.”

Nevertheless, Ageel was not deterred from individually working for peace. Upon the reopening of universities, she began studying the Hebrew language in Israel, to correspond with the peace process that emerged in the early 1990’s referred to as the Oslo Accords. Ageel explains:

“I go to Israel to study Hebrew language because it’s the peace process—a new era. We have to learn the language of dialogue because [19]48-94,” she approximates, is “around 50 years.”

But the process ultimately fell apart, and contrary to earlier peace accords and United Nations policy, Jewish settlers continued to move into areas denoted as Palestinian territories while the Israeli army continued militarizing Palestinian borders.

As a matter of fact, the borders of Gaza—Ageel’s current home—were so restricted by the Israeli military as of August, that trying to return back home after doing scholarly work in England for her Doctorate in Middle East Politics from the United Kingdom’s University of Exeter, she was denied from entering. “Lucky for Partners for Peace” she says ironically, for with the borders closed, she probably would not have been able to leave for the tour had she been in Gaza instead of England.

Ageel shared other information about how the current infrastructure supports—or really obstructs—the work of peace in Gaza:

“Ten years ago, there [were] demonstrations for peace; activism with Israelis; inviting Israeli delegations; [and] going to Israeli Universities. Now, because politics [have] put [up] these barriers, Rela cannot go to Gaza; I cannot go to Israel…There is no environment even to conduct these kinds of activities—peace activities that could bring people together or make the distance a little bit closer.”

It is information delivered like this, that considers and presents the implications of policy on civilians and families, that makes the Partners for Peace program, and the participation of Ageel and other women so important. “I speak up on behalf of ordinary Palestinians. Usually, the guns are speaking and the media is speaking and a foreigner or correspondent is covering my story or a politician is covering my story. Rarely there is opportunity for ordinary people to talk.”

Ghada makes it clear, though, that like a falling currency, the significance of her here in the US talking to American citizens and to the media may be losing its value with the people there where she lives.

“…for the people in my refugee camp…they view it with hope, though it’s very small hope. Other people and groups…joke about the tour or laugh about it because they’ve lost hope of USAid and their policies and the International Community, United Nations, International Law, Human Rights.

“I could face this group if this tour had been before July 2006, but after the [Israel-] Lebanon War…”

Besides a student pursuing her doctorate, Ageel works as an academic counselor for a US Agency for International Development (USAID) organization called The Academy for Educational Development.

Rela Mazali, a Jewish Israeli, age 58
Rela Mazali was born in 1948, “into the dream,” she explains, referring to the successful political movement that saw Jews “return” to their historic land. “My mom came from the U.S. She was an activist; was a Zionist-socialist activist, and she chose to leave Kansas City to go to Palestine and do what she thought was establishing a just, egalitarian national homeland.”

All of the women reveal information that is new; they also fearlessly broach topics that might be referred euphemistically as elephants in the room. Early in our conversation, in talking about her mother’s journey, Mazali reveals one:

“Going there, she thought like many of the people who chose to go there from the West, that it was more or less empty; more or less unsettled.” Mazali compares the magnitude of this assumption to the magnitude of assumptions that influenced the American doctrine, Manifest Destiny. She continues with what she calls “another familiar” or similar “narrative” to the American one, saying “And there was also a belief that the Westerners were going there among other things in order to bring process.”

Mazali herself now works with young people in Israel involved in varying degrees of draft resistance, a population Mazali indicates is “really substantial in Jewish-Israeli society.” For her, working with these youth is a great part of why she is still able to maintain “a real sense of energy and hope.” Underexposed, she insists, is “Intentional draft avoidance of the kind that was practiced here on a broader scale in [the war with] Vietnam.”

Her path toward working for anti-militarization and peace was not a direct one. “For many years, I was unable to see what was right before my eyes,” she explains, referring in part to her own military service in a non-combat unit in 1967.

At her post, she was exposed to communications sent from the Israeli military to UN forces that were monitoring the Israeli-Syrian border. “I knew very well that this story [that Israel was reporting] about tractors going out to plow the field and Syrians shelling them just because they were plowing their fields peacefully was not the real story, because the tractors went out to specific parts of what was called ‘No Man’s Land,’ in order to establish presence there—and it was disputed territory.”

Mazali was not yet moved, though. She explains: “So I realized that the narrative we were getting wasn’t what was happening but I still accepted that this was necessary probably; that somebody knew that they were doing.”

Like Ageel—and Khamis—Mazali is now much more critical of and concerned with the broadcasted narratives. She explained one area of her concern at a presentation at RI College, in response to an audience member’s censure of Ageel for using a map that does show changes to the area following the recent departure of Jewish settlers:

“I think that there is a lot of misperception around that, because it’s true that the illegal settlements have been evacuated. There were 7000 settlers in all of Gaza that were evacuated. But Israel controls the whole periphery.”

Mazali is able to cite more information, too. “The military, the Israeli military is all around the Gaza Strip, and pretty often…inside the strip. Incursions into the strip both with helicopters and tanks and foot soldiers and planes happen all the time.”

Referencing the same segregation that Ageel noted, Mazali continues revealing a deeper narrative: “Nobody can get into Gaza or go out of Gaza without Israeli permission. Nobody is registered in the census in Gaza. All of the control of information of who belongs in Gaza and who doesn’t belong in Gaza; who is allowed in and who isn’t is in the hands of the Israelis. It has not been passed to the Palestinians.”

Mazali has noticed a general misperception if not “bias” at how reports are disseminated about Jewish Settlers and Palestinian land. “There has been an enormous amount of building in the settlements in the West Bank. We are talking about the Palestinians living on twenty-percent of the land of historical Palestine, and on that land there is accelerated illegal settlement…and the wall which does not follow the border, but goes inside the West Bank, snaking back and forth in order to protect settlements by and large.”

She is also very preoccupied with the penetration of violence and militarization into every sector of Israeli society. Her organization, New Profile, has documented the use of imagery of young soldiers in conflict for all kinds of marketing—political slogans, beer advertisements, and boxer shorts commercials to name just a few. She also sees the exaltation of the military and war as factors that skew how Israeli society promotes the teaching of the Holocaust. In response to an audience member who criticizes the panelists for not mentioning the Holocaust, this is what Mazali had to say:

“I feel that it is very painful to me to see how in Israel the Holocaust is exploited; literally exploited in order to instill in generation after generation of young people a sense that if we do not use military force, we will be annihilated.

“The children that study the Holocaust in high school are often very directly connected to their very immediate inscription [into the army],” and, she goes on to say, “The Holocaust in many Israeli schools is taught as a national catastrophe, which it is, but not as a universal catastrophe which needs to be averted in any place that it may take place by means which do not include military action.”

Mazali is concerned that “turning the use of the military into the only answer to it”—the Holocaust—cheapens it; moreover, she is afraid that Israeli society and people are suffering by this militaristic sense of priority. She cites twenty-five percent as the number of people in Israel under the poverty line, and one-third as that number of children. She has a firm belief in the connection between the ongoing conflict and Israel’s—and America’s—roles in the aggressions:

“By resisting peace and investing increasing amounts of money—both Israeli and American money—in armament and war and reconstruction after self-destruction, [Israel] is widening the gaps between rich and poor really fast and really dangerously.”

Shireen Khamis (Age 23), a Christian Palestinian
Like the other two panelists, Shireen Khamis is very concerned with the question of accuracy and depth in reporting about Israel/Palestine, and how these form the perceptions of the international community. As a matter of fact, one of the first comments she made upon starting her presentation at RIC was “We are the reality and nothing but the reality in Palestine. And if we are not credible enough, go and check the alternative media. Not the American media, but the alternative media…”

For Khamis, reality has been shaped by living in Beit Jala, a town close to one of the holiest areas in the world—“five minutes from Bethlehem,” she describes, and “ten minutes from Jerusalem.” Despite the sanctity of the place, according to Khamis, “This lovely city is nothing but a prison [now] where the population, the citizens, the Palestininian citizens—Christians and Muslims—live on thirteen percent of the original land because eighty-seven percent of the area of Bethlehem was confiscated.”

Despite the frustrations of Khamis and her neighbors and the objections of some members of the International Community, Israel does not seem to be done pursuing land. Khamis explains:

“…[A]lthough 87 percent was confiscated, the Israeli government just wanted more land! It confiscated the Northern part of Bethlehem because…it’s a religious place for Jews. So they made this military zone.” Khamis is very clear about the core of her frustrations as she continues. “No, it’s not important those families that lived there. So they put this great huge wall between the neighbors, between the man and his garden, between the woman and her son.”

Also like Ageel and Mazali, Khamis is hyperaware of and disheartened by the military zone she describes. Taking her role seriously as the youth in the group, she reflects on the effects of these zones and military checkpoints on young Palestinians. She talks about what it is like as a student, describing the journey to school as the first challenge a student faces, and citing statistics to support her claims:

“We have to stop by the checkpoints that the Israeli military created to wait for hours and hours under the heat of the sun, or [in] the rain, so as…to go to our schools [and] universities. More than 225,000 students have to pass through the checkpoints before going to school, and more than 9,300 teachers have to pass through these checkpoints.”

Besides statistics, Khamis relied on photos at her RIC presentation to convey the facts. In the case of the checkpoints, she shows the picture of a group of terrified students and a teacher surrounded by the drawn guns of young, Israeli soldiers. “This is how they are faced,” she recounts, “by the Israeli soldier; how they are humiliated and horrified.” Turning to another photo, she shows how “they couldn’t go to their school, so they had to take the lesson on the ground of the checkpoint.”

Khamis also has photos and stories about women who have given birth at checkpoints, an offense a member of the RIC audience insists, must be a human rights abuse. Pointing to the sheer number of checkpoints in the West Bank alone—500 she cites—Khamis shares that she believes they can be for no other purpose but to “harass and humiliate” Palestinians. She also challenges the Israeli explanation of security, and touches on the disdain for the illegal Jewish settlers mentioned by both Ageel and Mazali:

“But if you want to protect your people, why do you put them inside the Palestinian areas, between me and my neighbor; between me and my school? Why do you put them between us? No, they are just to…make their [Palestinians] days and nights dark, and not only their nights.”

Discussing the Israeli policies of closure and curfews, she continues to spend a majority of the time talking about the numerous effects on youth. “More than two-thirds of Palestinian children are under the poverty line, which is two dollars a day. They are forced to work, to get some money to survive,” she explains, drawing on her work interviewing women and youth for a documentary project with TAM, an organization seeking to empower Palestinian women through media and training.

She has more accounts, related specifically to the implications of the Israeli army’s activities on growing up Palestinian. “They can’t sleep at night,” she shares, and “they can’t study” because of the Israeli airplanes flying and “bombarding” over their school. She also recounts her own, not-too-distant experience as a high school student studying to “the sound of bombarding,” knowing she remembers, “that they are bombarding my grandmother’s house.”

Particularly in her ability to talk about the experiences of youth, Khamis—like Ageel and Mazali—are afraid of the apathy in the U.S. and world community, but secure all the same in the significance of their stories and in their ability to talk to the American citizenry. After numerous accounts dripping with desperation, she looks concertedly at the audience and speaks articulately and faultlessly: “I decided to come to raise my voice and to tell the American people that you are part of this war; you are part of this conflict.”

Persistent about the point, she rephrases it many times, finally capturing it as “When you hear our…presentation, you become responsible because now you know the truth.”

A statement that may just echo in your ears as it has in mine.

On a pamphlet created by Partners for Peace assembled to provide a “Web Resources Guide,” the organizations of Rela Mazali and Ghada Ageel have been listed. Mazali’s New Profile is at www.newprofile.org, and Ageel’s Academy for Educational Development is at www.aed.org.

For more information about Partners for Peace, visit www.partnersforpeace.org, or call 202-863-2951. Or read Partnering for Peace in the Middle East Part I for a list of other organizations or ways to become involved.

Reza Corinne Clifton is a community organizer for high school reform at RI Children’s Crusade for Higher Education. She is also a freelance writer who is regularly published in several RI-area publications. Her articles can be seen at www.RezaRitesRi.com and she can be reached by emailing rezaclif@aol.com.