Latest IPP News

Free noontime meditation July 2: the Gentleness of Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Practices

2008-07-01T17:08:00.002-04:00

Please note that Terry Taylor will be filling in for Dick Sisto on Wednesday, July 2 for the noontime meditation program at Christ Church Cathedral, 425 South Second Street.

At 12:10 p.m., Terry will lead those present in a brief discussion of "the Gentleness of Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Practices." We will also use those practices for brief periods of time.

Voices from Hiroshima: Powerful visitors from Hiroshima July 11th AND Poster Exhibition on display now at Crane House

2008-07-01T10:56:00.005-04:00

Presenting two separate events
Both events are free and open to the public

Voices from Hiroshima
Nuclear Weapons Abolition: Now or Never

Featuring two outstanding visitors from Hiroshima, Japan

7 p.m. Friday, July 11, 2008

Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church
4936 Brownsboro Road, Louisville Kentucky

Presenters:
Ms. Miyoko Watanabe, Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivor and official witness for the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. She will describe her experience to remind the audience of the effects of atomic and nuclear weapons, and raising a cry of warning about the future.

Steve Leeper, Chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation (the peace & international relations arm of the City of Hiroshima, Japan). He will make a presentation about why the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation believes that nuclear weapons are about to get out of control. Many people believe such weapons will be used in the next year or two, and if we do not make substantial progress toward disarmament in the near future nuclear weaponry will spread throughout the world.

~ ~ ~ AND ~ ~ ~

Voices from Hiroshima: Poster Exhibition

On exhibit through July 11th

9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Monday through Friday

Crane House
1244 South Third Street
Louisville, KY 40203
502-635-2240
Administration@cranehouse.org

Sponsors Include:
The Louisville Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration Committee
Interfaith Paths to Peace · Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church
The Fellowship of Reconciliation · Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation
St. William Catholic Church · The U.N. Association of Louisville · and LEO Weekly

Give Peace a Dance, July 11, 2008

2008-06-23T13:14:00.000-04:00

A swingin’ celebration and silent auction to benefit Peace Education Program

Friday, July 11, 2008
The Clifton Center
8pm-12pm

Sizzle to the salsa, hip-hop to the hits and two-step with the best! Join us on the dance floor for a community celebration of peace building and conflict resolution with Peace Education Program. This family-friendly FUNdraiser will feature a silent auction with a wide variety of items for bidding, dance lessons on the half-hour, a bar and delicious refreshments. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $5 for students. Mark your calendar, tell your friends, and reserve your tickets today!
For more information visit: www.peaceeducationprogram.org

To reserve tickets send checks to:
Peace Education Program
318 W. Kentucky St
Louisville, KY 40203

Peace Education Program trainers have been teaching conflict resolution, peer mediation and prejudice reduction to youth and adults who work with youth for over twenty-six years. We have a network of 155 schools and 67 community sites in Louisville and the surrounding areas.

If you are interested in donating a silent auction item or volunteering, please contact Amy Shelton at 502.589.6583 peaceeducation@iglou.com
Give Peace a Dance 2008
A swingin’ celebration and silent auction to benefit Peace Education Program

Friday, July 11, 2008
The Clifton Center
8pm-12pm

Sizzle to the salsa, hip-hop to the hits and two-step with the best! Join us on the dance floor for a community celebration of peace building and conflict resolution with Peace Education Program. This family-friendly FUNdraiser will feature a silent auction with a wide variety of items for bidding, dance lessons on the half-hour, a bar and delicious refreshments. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, $5 for students. Mark your calendar, tell your friends, and reserve your tickets today!
For more information visit: www.peaceeducationprogram.org

To reserve tickets send checks to:
Peace Education Program
318 W. Kentucky St
Louisville, KY 40203

Peace Education Program trainers have been teaching conflict resolution, peer mediation and prejudice reduction to youth and adults who work with youth for over twenty-six years. We have a network of 155 schools and 67 community sites in Louisville and the surrounding areas.

If you are interested in donating a silent auction item or volunteering, please contact Amy Shelton at 502.589.6583 peaceeducation@iglou.com

Hiroshima Peacemakers to Make Presentation in Louisville on July 11, 2008

2008-06-23T10:29:00.002-04:00

Voices from Hiroshima:
Nuclear Weapons Abolition: Now or Never
Featuring two outstanding visitors from Hiroshima, Japan

7 p.m. Friday, July 11, 2008
Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church
4936 Brownsboro Road, Louisville Kentucky

Free and open to the public

Sponsors Include:
The Louisville Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration Committee
Interfaith Paths to Peace
Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church
The Fellowship of Reconciliation
Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation
St. William Catholic Church
And LEO (The Louisville Eccentric Observer)

Presenters:
Ms. Miyoko Watanabe, Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivor and official witness for the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. She will describe her experience to remind the audience of the effects of atomic and nuclear weapons, and raising a cry of warning about the future.

Steve Leeper, Chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation (the peace & international relations arm of the City of Hiroshima, Japan). He will make a presentation about why the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation believes that nuclear weapons are about to get out of control. Many people believe such weapons will be used in the next year or two, and if we do not make substantial progress toward disarmament in the near future nuclear weaponry will spread throughout the world.

Essay's from IPP's This I Believe" Event on June 4

2008-06-17T15:50:00.000-04:00

DIANNE APRILE, Accomplished Journalist, Author and Educator

This I Believe:

I believe in silence. In its power and its persuasion.
I believe that the act of saying nothing often – no, USUALLY -- speaks louder than words ever could.
Monks know this. From Thich Nnhat Hahn to Thomas Merton to the Dalai Lama, monks know and understand the deeply felt significance of the unspoken.
Poets know it, too. EE Cummings said: Silence is a looking bird. Not a singing bird. A looking bird. A bird observing, noticing, listening, Being. Here. Now.
But so do we ordinary women and men know the profound power of silence. Intuitively, we know it.
Consider the wordless communication between a mother and the newborn at her breast. Or the tacit tete a tete that exists in a hospital room where the dying patient lies in bed and a friend sits, silent, at her side.
I believe in the authority of silence.
What if governments, rather than reacting with statements and decrees and edicts, observed silence – briefly but routinely - at times of crisis? What if we, the citizens, stopped to quietly reflect on the news of the day, rather than jumping into the fray with our rushed judgments and verbal crossfire.
Silence has its own eloquence.
Think of the times you dissolved a disagreement by simply not giving expression to the negative emotions it stirred in you.
I believe silence is a way of affirming life in all its forms and functions. Particularly in a democracy, which - of course - is at its heart a public conversation. But let’s not forget that conversation implies alternating patterns of listening and talking –equal parts silence and speech.
Imagine an election campaign where no one spoke unless they really had something to say. Where silence was imposed for, oh, maybe a calming 5 or 10 minutes after a debate or a speech or a misspoken word -- so we could meditate for a moment on what was spoken (and NOT spoken) before the grumbling hordes of commentators and bloggers burst forth to tell US what WE heard.
Think of the silence in music, when there’s a pause – that empty moment during which a bridge is created between what came before and what is to come. A moment of awareness of the present, with a nod to the past and an ear turned to the future.
Silence, Mary Oliver says, is what gives poetry its rhythm, cadence, music. So too our lives need silence - patches of nothingness, ellipses of emptiness, to inform the drumbeat of our days. And of our duties.
Think of the heroes and movements that have used silence to change the world. Silence, as in the refusal to act in bad faith, as in the refusal to follow orders, as in the refusal to go along with wars and poverty and discrimination and the destruction of the earth.
I believe in silence, in its yearning for wholeness, its desire to close the breach, its urge to unite what’s come asunder.
Silence too often gets a bad rap. It is not apathy. It is not surrender. It is not looking the other way.
Likewise, speaking is not necessarily speaking out. Sometimes words get in the way of reconciliation. They convey noise, not knowledge.
Imagine allowing conflict to settle … and BE settled, rather than engaged and aroused – ratcheted up a level, and a level, and a level. Think of the Dalai Lama’s soundless smile. Gandhi’s quiet walk. Martin Luther King’s dramatic and carefully placed pauses in his stirring orations. Think of the anti-war protests where there were songs and speeches, and think of the ones conducted wholly in silence.
Imagine a nation that listened rather than blogged.
A nation that, in the midst of turmoil, gave itself permission to sit still, to ponder, to NOT move, not speak, not act – until all that was unspoken, all that was hidden or unheard, was given time and space to make its case, to be taken into account.
Imagine that.
“Silence is never really silent,” the composer John Cage said.
This I believe.

****************************************

CAROL BESSE, Co-owner, Carmichaels Bookstores

This I Believe:

I believe in revolution. And revolution is exactly what we need in this country – and we need it now. I am a child of the 60s so I grew up in the midst of a revolution. One of the first things I did when I left home for college was to join every anti-war protest I could find. Never one described as cautious or timid, I loved to be in the midst of a loud and raucous group trying to right a wrong.

And today my friends often hear me ask – sometimes at the top of my voice -- why in the heck aren’t we out marching in the streets today – and tomorrow and every day? And exactly what are we to rebel against? The list is practically endless – the destruction of our environment, the takeover of our government by special interests, the meltdown of our economy, the growing inequity in our society—everywhere that entrenched corporate and political interests have a chokehold on our culture. Insurance companies tell us we can’t have national healthcare, auto and oil industries tell us we can’t have fuel-efficient, clean cars, politicians tell us we can’t have a government uncorrupted by money. But we must have these things.

We need a revolution, but it’s not really a revolution until someone gets hurt. We need some pain, and we need everyone to feel it. Too often the pain is borne by those least able to bear it. $4 a gallon gas is painful, but it may take $10 or $20 a gallon gas before the outrage of the people is loud enough and menacing enough to rock our complacency – we’ve been asleep at the wheel for too long now and the car is out of control headed toward the cliff.

There are two things that I am passionate about – books and birds – and both are threatened with extinction if we don’t change our course and change it fast. Reading is what I do to connect with the world outside myself, but it’s also how I learned almost everything I know. We have already begun to see the disastrous effects of the decline in reading and literacy. If people stop reading they are at the mercy of politicians and marketers and corporate hucksters of every sort. An uninformed populace is our greatest danger.

My second great passion is birds – birding is how I connect with the natural world, with my planet, our planet. And I see an even more precipitous decline in the health and viability of our ecosystems than I do in reading. Our environment is nearing a tipping point from which we'll not be able to recover. And if the planet is lost, none of the rest really matters, does it? If the planet is lost, then it seems foolish to speak of half-measures, to take small steps, to talk about going slow. We need a revolution. This I believe.

****************************************

EILEEN BLANTON, Executive Director, Peace Education Program

This I Believe:

When I speak the truth about racism, I heal my broken heart and strengthen my leadership.

I am the daughter of an East Tennessee, Southern Baptist farm boy turned engineer and a New Jersey Irish Catholic nurse. When my father died, my mother did a magnificent job raising us – newborn, 4 and 10 year old. When she returned to work she hired local women to watch us. Unspoken conflict arose in a clash of cultures when these Irish immigrant, working class white and African American women helped raise me and my siblings. As a child, I knew things were not fair. I had no words for the racism and classism that I witnessed.

I am the leader I am today because of the conflicts that arose in our household. I chose to teach conflict resolution skills because I was both terrified of conflict and longed for a return to the diversity I experienced as a child! I have made it my life’s mission to bring people of diverse backgrounds together to build community and problem solve.

When I was five years old I was bedridden for 6 months. The woman who cared for me, Early Mae Horton, carried me from bed to toilet multiple times in the day. She read to me, bathed me, played with me, cajoled, nursed and threatened me to make sure I stayed in bed. Early Mae saved my life. She made it possible for me to heal at home rather than in a hospital. I loved this woman deeply and yet I knew nothing of her life. Later my mother fired Early Mae because of a conflict between them. I never saw her again.

It wasn’t until High School that I realized Early Mae had a life outside her time with me.
Her grandson Walter and I became friends. He knew all about me. I didn’t know he existed. It was then I began to ask:
What gave the right to call her by her first name?
Who took care of her children while she took care of me? My mother was earning about $4,000 a year. How could Early Mae live on the wages my mother could afford to pay?
Why was Walter’s only option out of poverty to join the military?

In the last year of her life, my mom regretted firing Early Mae. Her own family and cultural patterns of handling conflict had worked against her in solving the problem between them.

I wrote this commitment in honor of these two women who changed my life:

To Mom and Ms. Early Mae:

Mother Jones said “don’t mourn, organize”
I say, I will mourn, then organize.
Today I will let my heart break open with the beauty and suffering before me.
Then do whatever it takes to relieve the suffering, dismantle the injustice and celebrate the beauty.
Today I will stay completely human, refusing to numb out and shut down.
I will Sing shout dance walk talk run weep love learn instead.

Like Alice Walker, I believe we are the ones we have been waiting for.
Now is the time. This is the moment .

I will speak my truths with respect.
I will listen to you with an open heart.
I will welcome the tension and hopelessness that comes in conflict before the breakthrough to understanding .
I will go toe to toe with you and not let go until we build that beloved community.
I will love you tenderly as we battle the devils in our own minds and hearts that tell us we cannot have each other.
I will act bravely on behalf of justice, as I stand shaking in my boots.
And Laugh loudly at my audacity in daring to make a difference.
I will be the change we want to see in the world.

****************************************

JEAN EDWARDS, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Louisville chapter

This I Believe:

In reviewing the guidelines offered by Terry Taylor for our remarks tonight, my thoughts focused on one sentence in particular: "Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed." For me, a radical change began to take place when I entered college in 1939. What I believed was shaken to its roots.

Prior to that time, life had seemed rather simple. Church activities, especially youth work, consumed a great deal of my time. During the summers, church camp was very important. Worship by the lake and passionate sermons were impressive. My faith was strengthened. Occasionally the pastor of our church, Dr. Barr, gathered the young people together for a weekend retreat when we discussed issues pertaining to our spiritual growth. My church congregation and my pastor were very warm and caring, providing me with a real sense of security. Our family attended services regularly. The American flag was proudly displayed in the church sanctuary alongside the Christian flag.

During 1939, Hitler began his rampage through Europe, and Great Britain joined forces to stop him. A patriotic fervor pervaded my family life in Nashville, Tennessee where I grew up. My older brother was considering joining the Navy. Students in my church group were being drafted. I often accompanied my mother to the meetings of the "Daughters of the American Revolution." We joined our neighbors in responding to the Red Cross call to roll bandages for the soldiers. The discussion around that table centered on whether the United States should enter the war in Europe.

This was also the topic of conversation in my history class during my first year of college. The students had grown up with the conviction that there would never be another world war. Our parents had convinced us of this. We asked the teacher how it could have happened that we were considering going to war. She summed it up in one sentence which had a profound effect upon me, "We will continue to have wars until the young men refuse to go." She was a Quaker. From experiencing that class, a new way of thinking for me began to take shape.

A similar discussion was making the rounds in our church congregation. This came to a head one Sunday morning when the pastor expressed his opinion during the sermon. He was completely opposed to entering the war. Headlines in the newspaper the next morning were two inches high: "Presbyterian Pastor Preaches Pacifism." A bitter dispute consumed our congregation. It was shocking to hear such mean words coming from church members that had loved and nurtured me. Derogatory letters were written even to the pastor's wife. I wondered if they really believed the "Sermon on the Mount". Finally the pastor left and started a new church on the outskirts of town, and about 300 members went with him.

This account of my experiences in 1939 tells only the beginning of my journey through various wars that have affected me more or less directly, including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Contra War in Nicaragua, the Persian Gulf War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Looking back over these years, THIS IS WHAT I NOW BELIEVE: War Is Never the Answer. Preparation for War is Never the Answer. Dwight Eisenhower said, "You cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war." Yet our nation continues to live by war and weapons. This is our business, our livelihood." But in the words of the prophet Micah, "God has told you what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."

THIS I BELIEVE!

****************************************

NGAWANG GYATSO, Louisville-based Tibetan Monk with Drepung Gomang Institute

This I Believe:

It was daybreak when I opened my eyes. Sunlight was beaming in the room through the window. After a quick wash I was handed a new set of clothes. It was my new look, my new monk robes. I never forget those words of wisdom my teacher told me. He said, like the robes you are about to wear with a bright color, remember your mind and heart should also generate the brightness of love and kindness to all without discrimination. I was 13 when I joined the monastery. Within the years as a monk I have heard and come to know many generous and kind deeds that people have done for the global community. I have tried to contribute my thoughts and actions through different community groups and gatherings. It has been a wonderful experience. But still I always have this question in my mind. Is global peace possible? This thought would gain more momentum when I recall the unrest and violence in several countries. That thought has changed and developed into a positive one with much hopes and aspiration due to a very good human being I met ten months ago. I had newly arrived here from India. Every morning I would take my mala {rosary} and go for a walk to the beautiful Cherokee park. One morning, I could see somebody bending down and trying to pick up something from the ground. In getting closer I saw a lady {maybe in her 70`s} picking up an empty soda can from the street and putting it inside a big trash bag she was carrying on her right hand. When I reached closer I said, ma’am, do you need help? She politely said, no, thank you for your kindness. I once again asked her, are you waiting for the garbage truck? With a long breath{she must have been working since quite sometime} she said no, I am trying to collect and clean the trash which even the garbage truck leaves back. It makes the neighborhood look dirty. She had collected all those beer cans, papers, plastics, and even broken bottles. While talking to her I came to know that she cleans the entire street. I introduced myself as a Buddhist monk. Oh, you know she said, I am a Christian and I also follow the good thoughts shared by H.H. The Dalai Lama. Especially, every morning when I come for this garbage collection, I remember his words of wisdom, “No matter what is going on. No matter what is happening. No matter what is going around you, Never give up! I could see the joy in her face when she said, I feel very happy in doing so and my whole day passes very well after my cleaning. I realized that we don’t have to form big gatherings and wait for someone or the government to act. If we have the motivation and commitment we can serve the community, country and the world in every small and ordinary we can.

****************************************

GARY HEINE, Entrepreneur, Co-owner, Heine Bros. Coffee, and Environmental Activist

This I Believe:

I believe in magic. The magic of this moment, all of us here creating community, inspiring each other. I believe in the magic of this planet flying through space, with six billion individuals flying it alone. But as we reach out to each other, we create the magic of being alive, of family, of friends that care for each other.

I believe in the magic of a great cup of organic, fair trade coffee. When I drink this cup, I help transform the lives of coffee farmers in Guatemala, in Nicaragua, in Ethiopia. I’ve visited schools in Ethiopia that poor coffee farmers built for their tiny village. I saw these schools filled with children. Schools built from the decision that thousands of people here in Louisville make every day to drink fair trade coffee. That’s powerful magic–creating something miraculous from nothing using the power of intention.

I believe in the magic of dreaming, of empowering each other to create the world that we dream together. I believe in the magic of composting. At Heine Brothers’ Coffee, we created Breaking New Grounds, an organization that composts our 70 tons of coffee grounds with other local food waste. We give the compost to our 50,000 magical worms to turn into worm poop, an incredible magical soil for this community that we sell in our stores. With the money we raise, we’ll create an organic farm in one of Louisville’s food deserts.

I believe in magic. The magic of children, my children: Cleo, Gwen, Sam and Jacob. The magic that they have taught me much more than I them, that they raise me much more, and better, than I raise them. I believe in the magic of speaking what I feel in my heart. Like right now. I believe in the magic of love. I fell in love with my goddess, Valerie, several months ago. Our love has transformed us, healed us, driven us crazy, made us laugh, helped us be more in service to the world, created miracles and miracles.
Life’s magic dreams me to sleep at night, this magic of life helps me come back to the world each morning. I believe in magic.

I believe in the magic of celebration – how food and people and inspiring conversation can transform this moment – this moment right now.

I believe in the magic of love.

****************************************

DAVID HORVATH, Co-chair, Kentuckiana Interfaith Taskforce on Latin America and the Caribbean

This I Believe:

Nearly every parent teacher conference ended with the same message coming home with my mother and father: “Mr. and Mrs. Horvath, David is very intelligent, but he just doesn’t seem to want to learn. And he asks so many impertinent questions and frankly, he’s got an attitude!” And so, year after year, I acted out in my role as the classic underachiever--falling just short of delinquency but leading to many sighs from my long-suffering parents.

It wasn’t until after more than12 years of this broken record that a chain-smoking, bushy browed philosophy professor affirmed that asking questions was not only OK, but an ideal way to learn and a fine way to teach--Socrates you know. And I began to form the most lovely connection with learning in my life--learning like a sponge. Curiosity didn’t kill this cat. So I’m always paying attention now to a world pregnant with meaning—questions begging.

So I believe in asking questions even if they sound impertinent.

Sometimes I question authority with a shaky voice. Sometimes I humbly question wise and brave people I encounter. When I am in a complicated or scary place I ask, “Place, how did you come to be like this? When I am in the presence of people wounded by our world, I ask rhetorically, “Why are these people treated this way?” And I try not to be so foolish as to forget that some questions won’t get answered ever because there are still really big mysteries out there and sometimes I feel I don’t understand one thing about this world--not one thing. For me, praying at its best is asking for a glimmer of meaning for really hard questions.

I also like the question without the question mark, even without the words. Because I believe we learn important things at the most unexpected times. We need to be open to learn from everything including sunsets, relationships, Republicans, rocks, poems, songs, paintings, mean people and even the bad stuff. And we may need to go to places that scare us so that we can ask the questions from the right vantage point. The answers then are relative to where we stand when we ask the questions.

And now I seem to be forgetting the details as fast as I learn the lessons. But no matter, the bigger lessons we learn are cumulative and ultimately connected, like the way creatures build their shells. They grow and the shells grow, keeping them company.

All the original ideas have long been taken, but they are rather fresh and brilliant when I’m ready to learn them, because I’m really getting them for the first time. I read them or hear them or see them and they bring smiles to my face or tears to my eyes today because of who I am today, what I need today and how weak or strong I am today. Or whether it’s a day when I’ll be trying to savor the world or to save it.*

So for all those years the message from the teachers could have been: “Mr. and Mrs. Horvath, your son is always asking questions and everyday he wants to learn about some darned thing or the other…”

*"To Savor the World or Save It" by Richard S. Gilbert

****************************************

JUDGE STEVE MERSHON, Circuit Court Judge and Peace Activist

The guidelines Terry sent me said: (1) tell a story and (2) keep it short. And we all know how easy it is for an attorney to keep it short! But I’ll try. My story will focus on my work during my college years because those years solidified the belief system that was ingrained in me as a child.

To me, it seems that our beliefs evolve from Fate; from the way we play the cards that we were dealt at birth, and from our childhood roots and wings that prepare us for and carry us into adult life. My fate was to have been born with an emotional silver spoon in my mouth and to have been raised in the middle of a large, loving Catholic family. I never suffered or knew of any abuse. I had wonderful experiences as an alter boy and even considered the seminary. But then I met my wife of 36 years and the Catholic seminary was no longer an attractive option.

During college, I worked for several years as a truck driver (Teamsters, Local 89) and for several at Our Lady of Peace Hospital. Interacting with patients at Our Lady of Peace taught me that I could never make a quick judgment about someone; that I never completely had the whole picture within my grasp.

A patient was not just a patient. He was a reflection of his genetic make up and of his family and upbringing. He was his past, present and future – his hopes and dreams, his loves and disappointments, his unreconciled problems and unanswered questions, and his knowledge of what (if anything) he had to go home to.

I learned patience and tolerance. I learned to move slowly, to ask a lot of questions and to be open to unexpected possibilities. And I learned how critically important it is to listen, especially to those with whom we disagree.

I learned that the truth is difficult to discern; that one's eyes are the entrance to one’s soul and that looking into another’s eyes is like looking into a mirror and seeing the common humanity that we all share, seeing that combination of saint & sinner that we all are.

Thus, I believe in the Yogic blessing of Namaste; that that spark of divinity in me recognizes the divine in you.
… So the best summation of what I believe is the old saying: “There, but for the grace of god, go I.”

I believe that there is a grace – call it god or Fate, the Tao, Mother Nature or whatever that power is that deals the cards at birth – and that that grace, which is beyond comprehension, unites us all. But for that grace, any of our circumstances could be drastically different.

So on a fundamental, universal level; I believe that we are all connected and that we are all truly our brother’s keepers. This I believe.
Namaste.

****************************************

LINDA MILLER, Executive Director, Dare to Care Food Bank

This I Believe:

When considering what to share about my beliefs, I kept thinking about how one’s beliefs can change with awareness. When I first became involved with Dare to Care Food Bank, I was not fully aware that many people in the world live each and every day without life’s most basic necessity, and of how their lives are controlled by poverty and hunger. And I became more aware of the face of Hunger in our own community. A Food Bank study showed that almost one third of our clients are children, one in ten are seniors, and one in four families that seek assistance have one adult that is working.

The duty to feed the hungry is reflected in every religious tradition, including the teachings of Christ. Jewish sacred texts teach that God has created a world rich in abundance and meant for all people. Islam affirms almsgiving and fasting as pillars of faith emphasizing the importance of sharing. Buddhists are called to compassion; and Hindus are also expected to share with the hungry. But regardless of religion, I believe that each of us has a moral responsibility to help those in need, and to be advocates for those whose voices are too often not heard. I believe that we cannot win the battle against hunger until we as individual citizens open our hearts and minds to the conditions that cause it. I believe that this moral responsibility also extends to our Government, and that our nation’s social and economic policies need to better address the challenges of poverty and hunger. And I believe that the “human equation” must always be considered in the conduct of our foreign policy as well.

I believe that I enjoy the blessings and abundance of this life, including the satisfaction and pleasure of good, nutritious food, I must remember to be grateful. And above all, that I must never forget those less fortunate than myself. This I Believe.

****************************************

JUDY MUNRO-LEIGHTON, Louisville Peace Action Community

This I Believe:

In August 2002, I knew that the Bush Administration was gearing up for war against Iraq. I believed that this reckless threat to start a unilateral war could not be ignored. I am a history teacher, and I have studied and taught classes on the Vietnam War. I marched in Washington in November 1969 and I knew the drumbeat to invade Iraq was wrong. I was not going to sit idly by and watch another fiasco unfold without a fight. I went to Cincinnati on Oct. 7, 2002, to protest George Bush's most famous -- and infamous -- speech where he used menacing tones to warn about Iraqi WMD and "a mushroom cloud." I did not believe him. I went to work making calls to Congress, organizing meetings, painting signs, and traveling to protest in DC. I even emailed the Pope and asked him to please go to Iraq and stop this madness. To this day, my greatest regret is that I could not prevent the US Invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003.

Despite this set back, I firmly believe that nothing can stop thoughtful, committed individuals who will never give up. My work as a teacher in inner-city schools during the 1970s proved the power of clever, focused, collective action. With Margaret Mead, I believe that the willingness of citizens to stand up and speak out is the only thing that will change the world. Working with the Louisville Peace Action Community (LPAC), I found the support of others who wanted to end Bush's illegal war, which seemed in 2003 to be an impossible task. Today, I can not drive anywhere in Louisville without pointing to busy intersections where our anti-war signs drew taunts and obscenities. I will never forget the red-faced anger, the single finger salutes, and the threats from war supporters. I am proud that I made thousands of signs, stood on corners in every type of weather, and did not give up.

Now, five years after the US Invasion, the argument has shifted. In 2008, it takes no guts to oppose the Iraq War. This change in attitude is reflected at our protests and vigils. Is it America's shame over millions of dead and injured? Maybe it is the eye-popping war costs of $5000 each second of every day. Perhaps America's diminished reputation has soured the majority on Bush's War. Who could have imagined back in 2002 -- when more than 70% clamored for the US invasion -- that the 2008 presidential election will focus not just on plans to end the Iraq War, but more importantly, we will also reconsider the mindset that got us into Iraq in the first place. I believe we are up to this task.

****************************************

KEN NEVITT, Louisville Peace Activist and Attorney

This I Believe:

I believe in peace, love, and understanding.
I believe in the importance of family and friends.
I believe that this too will pass.
I believe that what is good for my neighbor is good for me.
I believe it is important to perform random acts of kindness.
I believe that an appreciation of the arts enhances the quality of one’s life.
I believe that it is better for the world and the individual to be vegetarian.
I believe that there is no magic, except as metaphor.
I believe that the major cause of crime is poverty.
I believe that through education we can move toward eradicating poverty.
I believe in the importance of outward signs of expressions of love and of one’s beliefs.
I believe in mediation, cooperation, and reconciliation.
I believe that we should think globally and act locally.
I believe that a government should provide a safety net for its citizens.
I believe it is more important to consider oneself a citizen of the world rather than a citizen of a particular country.
I believe that violence begets violence.
I believe that capital punishment is wrong.
I believe that war is not the correct answer to any question.
I believe that we have a moral obligation to rebuild Iraq, and to not invade Iran.
I believe that we will be closer to ending war when women make up a greater percentage of politicians at all levels of government in all countries. (Not that all women are kinder and gentler than all men, nor that we should always vote for a woman, but I believe that on average women are more likely when resolving conflict to resort to communication before resorting to violence. My experience with peace and justice groups has shown me that women consistently make up the majority of such groups).
I believe that the HOKEY POKEY may be what it’s all about (so, put your whole body in and shake it all about!)

****************************************

DJENITA PASIC, Bosnian Muslim Leader, Peace Activist and Attorney

This I Believe:

I believe in not being defined by religion. To me, religion is just like communism - a beautiful, noble idea that we are all created equal, which does not work too well in practice. Do not take me wrong; I am in favor of all the basic premises taught by all religions. But I have a serious problem with how all religions treat “others,” those who do not belong, in practice.

I was born into a Muslim family but I was raised in the communist, or rather socialist, country of Yugoslavia. With no religious practice, nor training in our upbringing, but with plenty of education and communist propaganda, I believed in my country, our way of life, our mutual, intermixed and tolerant religious heritage without ever even thinking it may not last forever. I suffered for the people in Beirut or Jerusalem and their constant wars because I believed we, in Yugoslavia, were different. I believed that we may have found the holy grail of peaceful coexistence and I was very proud of it. But then the war came to our country and this beautiful dream fell apart. All of a sudden we were told that we were different among ourselves, that our religions now defined who we were, and that we no longer had our communist common denominator. All of a sudden I became just another Muslim that could get killed, tortured or raped just because of my religion which I never even practiced! 200,000 dead and one million displaced Bosnian Muslims later - I realized it was time for change. I could no longer bury my head in the sand; I had to accept reality as is. I may have gone through the trauma of war and resettlement not visibly scathed but I know better.

Because of the experience of war in my home country I “became” very much a Muslim but I am also still a “communist” at heart. I know this may be the worst possible combination in the United States but I am no terrorist or anarchist. I am more of an existentialist and a pacifist, happy with my choices. And I want to promote my European, intermixed and tolerant heritage, which is still in the hearts and minds of my family and friends in my home city of Sarajevo.

Because of genocide over Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina I feel compelled and obliged to belong, to defend and represent hundreds of thousands of victims of this incomprehensible war. I believe in giving those victims my voice. My allegiance is with “my” Muslim people but not at the expense of others. I have seen and experienced the holy grail of peaceful coexistence and I will pursue it forever. However, while I am Muslim, I refuse to be defined by religion – this I believe.

****************************************

PAUL PEARSON, Director and Archivist, Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

This I Believe:

I believe that life is a journey, that I am all the time moving forward, though frequently that may not feel to be the case. A journey at times over rough seas; through dark, foreboding forests; down paths that turn out to be dead ends; and even going down one way streets in the wrong direction. Victor Frankl once said that life is like the dentist, we think the worst is yet to come, when in fact it is already over. Sometimes that has certainly felt to be the case on my journey yet, deep down I believe - I know - that I can learn and grow from all these things. Though sometimes, in the midst of it all, this can be hard to cling to.

On that journey music, and the lyrics of songs, have played an important part. And in the dark times music can take on a special meaning and I ask myself at those times “Are there songs for singing when the light has gone dim?” Invariably the answer is “yes.”

On my own personal journey for over twenty-five years I have been accompanied by a fellow journeyer, a journeyer whom I never met – Thomas Merton.

Somehow, accompanied by Merton, I fell in love with monasticism and tried my own vocation, became involved in the areas of social justice, ecumenism and inter-faith dialogue, read many of the same authors he was reading, and many others I’m sure he’d be reading now if he were still alive. Whether my journey would have been the same without him, I don’t know.

My journey is colored by a Benedictine view of life, a belief in hospitality, a belief in balance, a belief in sustainability, a belief in simplicity, a belief in listening, and a belief in prayer.

****************************************

GRACIELA PERRONE, Flamenco Dancer, Choreographer and Artist

This I Believe:

…I am a dreamer. Since I was a little girl, my songs, my drawings, my dance, my tales were all related to dreams, romantic tales… I can see now how much I treasured the dreams of this little girl that lives in me… I carried them all my life, and they helped me to cross the streets of life… this is my tale, this is my dream, this is my life…

I believe in love, in its magic, I open my heart to love... I believe love transforms... I believe in dreams, I believe in the language of the birds, I believe in the waves that sing to me... I believe in legendary people, in their spirit, I believe in history, I believe in the voices of the women and the men that made a difference in this world, voices that resisted time, I believe in transcendence, I believe in what is behind of what the eyes can see. I believe in art. I believe in wonders, in what they tell me, I believe in the awakening of our emotions, I believe in the uniqueness of each human being, I believe in the beauty of each flower, in their own colors, I believe in the roots, where the passion lives, I believe in passion, I believe in the song that made my soul shake, I believe in the power of the words, in the art of its combination, in the hearts that have the sensibility to capture them in a way that will paint unforgettable masterpieces to the ones that are listening, I believe in life, and I know that is passing... I believe in those that don't give up, I believe in peace... I believe in my palette, in the colors I mix, heart bits of my spirit… I believe in music... I believe in the song that still plays in my heart, I believe in tales, in angels, in fairies, that help me to get through… I believe that from the dark we can create the light, I believe in the sun and the colors of the clouds at dawn, I believe in the stars that shine in the sky and remind us of the beauty of the universe...

I believe in miracles, I believe in the laugh of a child, I believe in the wind, in the fire, in the earth and the water,,…..I believe in treasures, I believe we can make a difference, I believe in children and our responsibility to prepare the world for them to dream, I believe in their smile, miracles of love… I believe life passes a little each day and I prefer to wash away my fears and be surrounded by songs, music, dances, dreams... I believe in simple things, the ones that show me the light. I open my heart and my eyes and my arms to life... I believe in people that inspires me everyday with their determination to act... I believe in the drawing of our hearts... where anything is possible... This I Believe.

****************************************

GEORGIA POWERS, Civil Rights Leader and former Kentucky State Senator

This I Believe:

I believe I was created to be and become who I am, born in Jimtown, a segregated community in Springfield. Kentucky. At seventeen months old, a tornado destroyed the two-room cabin my father built, causing my teenage mother and father to move to Louisville. I have been involved in tornado, fire, flood and earthquake but fear has never been part of my life. I was predestined for my life’s journey. Instances of discrimination and segregation led to my desire to be involved in causes for social justice.

I was involved in a civil rights movement with a soul, with many who came, served and passed on, but others took their places.

I was elected to the Kentucky State senate in 1967 as the first woman and first African American. I gained my political experience and education by working for candidates for governor, U.S. Senate, Congress, etc. I was shocked when I was sworn in and saw no other women or African Americans. I knew then that my mission was clear as an advocate for equality for blacks, women, children, disabled, and “voiceless” people. I sponsored and co-sponsored 75 bills which were enacted into law; including the strongest open housing law with enforcement powers, in the south.

I believe genetics, parental presence and guidance taught me to treat everyone with dignity, worthiness and respect which has offered me a great opportunity to live a life of health, a positive attitude, love for people regardless of their status in life and longevity.

I believe my meeting with King Leruo Molotlegi on May14, and 15, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee was not by accident. He is king of Royal Bafokeng, South Africa, a wealthy country who export 70% of platinum in the world. The population is 300,000. I was invited by two friends who have a connection with Kgosi. We had several meals together with his entourage of 6 and my friends. He was gracious and kind by inviting me to ride in his limousine with him.

This proves my point that you can get anything you want, if you help others get what they want.

I chose the road unlikely to succeed, but did.

****************************************

SHEILA PYLE, Owner of the Rudyard Kipling and Community Activist

This I Believe:

I was taught that one should not describe oneself thusly: I am a poet or I am a writer or I am an artist. Those are honoraria that others bestow upon one, not nouns that one should claim for herself. I feel the same way about “Christian”; we are leery today when one describes himself as Christian, partly because we may think, “Yes, and when did you last love your unlovable neighbor, feed the hungry, turn the other cheek?” Or we may listen for the pastor of a so-called Christian megachurch declare that God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish the wicked city of New Orleans for parading scantily-clad and colorfully made-up homosexuals on Mardi Gras or that God sent Hitler to make sure that surviving Jews could make it to the Holy Land, and therefore we should vote Republican. You might be embarrassed to say, “I believe in Christianity.”

My parents were natives of Appalachia, my mother a student of literature and romance languages, my father a civil engineer. They did not believe the load of foolishness the harsh, fundamental mountain churches threatened, and they never sent me to church or Sunday School. They did not forbid me to go, however, and after three nights of attending a revival with a little classmate when I was eight, I announced to them that tomorrow night I was going to go down front at the invitation and tell them I was SAVED, the consequences of not being saved having been described as very dire. “Are you Sure?” they warned. “Oh yes, I’m saved,” I insisted. The next morning they happily announced that tonight we would go on an outing to the drive-in movie, eat plenty of popcorn and ice cream, and I, delighted, forgot about salvation and never thought of it again.

My first job after graduation was teaching at an aristocratic boarding prep school in Winston-Salem , North Carolina, and the faculty were obliged to chaperone the heiresses to their respective churches on Sunday mornings. I accompanied my charges to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, where I found that the congregation alternately stood up and knelt down so regularly, I became headachy and nauseated. But after a few weeks, I grew to love all that praying and singing and loving so much that I wanted to be part of it. I went to the rector and confided in him but insisted I couldn’t say that I Believed a Load of Foolishness.

He lent me a book edited by Paul Tillich called The Christian Answer, several essays by Christian theologians assuring that one does not have to believe a load of foolishness.

However, there are some ideas in which one must believe. One must consider at least a threefold idea of God: (1) Creation—the universe, trees and flowers and birds and oceans and the whole damn thing; (2) Humankind—our brothers and sisters past, present, and future, of all colors and sorts and conditions; (3) The Divine Spirit—the holy blissful love that unifies and inspires and works for the happiness of all the above. Well, I can believe that. I can love that whether it’s true or not.

****************************************

DENTON RANDALL, Louisville Radio Personality (who has served for the last 8 years on the staff of Dare to Care Food Bank and will soon be starting a new position with Elderserve)

This I Believe:

I believe that laughter, genuine laughter, what the great humorist Peter Ustinov called “the most civilized music on earth,” is as essential to human existence as water or oxygen or protein.

Laughter of any and every kind, from the gentle chortle, to the roaring, makes-your-side ache belly laugh. The gasp of self-consciousness at an off color story. The groan after a sour pun. The bemused grin from a witty turn of a phrase. The double-back-on-itself amusement at Ireland’s greatest literary gift, the Limerick. And yes, the embarrassed, involuntary explosion of mirth that comes after Groucho outwits some society swell or Buster Keaton slips on a banana peel, or Curly takes one right in the kisser.

The laugh that eases a long and weary day. The laugh that provides a moments relief from the horrors of the world. The laugh that helps a friend thru a troubling time. As a verse attributed to the Koran reads; “He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh.”

In my own, probably vain, attempt to secure Paradise, let me share with you my absolute all-time favorite pun. This one is predicated on the knowledge that humorists, that much-maligned occupational group, were once referred to as “wags.” The humorist, S.J. Perleman, returned from a visit to Hong Kong, where he noted that the local working girls regularly accosted him in the lobby of his hotel, and remarked that it was a case of... “the tail dogging the wag.”

So laugh loudly and regularly. Savor your laughter. Share it with others. Do not suppress your laughter, or reject it as undignified or uncool. Remember the words of John F. Kennedy; “Only 3 things are real: God, human folly and laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension, so we must do what we can with the third.”

****************************************

KIM SUMMERS-BATES, U.S. Department of Peace Campaign, Kentucky State Coordinator

This I Believe: “The Power of Tears and Making Way for Miracles”

I believe in the power of tears; the choice to truly feel and embrace the sadness for awhile. I believe by experiencing the authenticity of our grief, we can only then truly transform it at its roots. When we touch the tender core of our sadness, it can then be transformed into a miracle!

For as long as I can remember, I, Kimberly from Florida have wanted to be a mother. However, because of the trauma of my childhood and the time required to heal from it and because of the time it took me to honor it, I was in my late 30’s before I pro-actively tried to conceive. I was 37 before I felt ready to parent a child. Because of my age, fertility was an issue. I remember the agonizing months of hormone injections in my stomach and the months of progesterone induced rage that nearly destroyed my relationship. I remember the 6 doctor assisted inseminations with no success. I was angry! Damn angry, at the time it took me to heal from childhood abuse. Just plain damn angry at God! Or was it anger?

At one point, a well intended spiritual advisor told me that I wasn’t getting pregnant, because I didn’t believe I could.

Well this sent me into a tailspin of absolute grief and tears. Tears that revealed themselves as perfect! I was no longer stuck in ‘whiny’ or ‘angry’; I surrendered to tears. My heart cracked open and I cried a river. The fact was my body wasn’t getting pregnant. I prayed the prayer, “This or something better.” In my depths of sadness I recall looking to the sky and shaking with an uncontrollable quake, “All I want is a ‘Little Kimberly’!”

In my last attempt to conceive, my partner and I simultaneously proceeded with the international adoption process.

The adoption of baby Emmanuel flowed like a steady stream. On the way to my birthday celebration, we received a call informing us that our son from Guatemala would be coming home in approximately 5 – 6 months. What a birthday gift! A sign from God that this was the “highest way” for me to become a mother? Perhaps?

Well, baby “Manny” brought us such immense joy, we soon began the adoption proceedings again. My heart remembered the longings for a “Little Kimberly”, so this time we requested a baby girl. And after a few months wait, we received a phone call from the adoption agency. The placement specialist spoke of a baby girl that was born just 3 days prior. We were told that a picture would be sent to us on-line by 4:00 that day. We could then decide after seeing the picture if we wanted to accept the placement. Before hanging up my partner asked, “By the way, what is the child’s name?”

“Kimberli” the woman replied. “The birth mother named her Kimberli.”
“Did you say Kimberli?”
“I did”, the woman responded.

Without hesitation and no longer needing to see a picture, we knew a miracle had been birthed. We knew this was our “Little Kimberli.” This is what happens when a heart is cracked wide open. I became more convinced that my tears of sorrow paved the way for tears of joy.

As if we needed anymore affirmation, later we were sent “Little Kimberli’s” birth certificate. In my elementary knowledge of Spanish, I made out the word “Madre”. Mother: Florida’. The birthmother’s name was Florida’. I exclaimed, “I am from Florida too! Kimberly from Florida’”

God winked!

I believe in the power of authentically expressing grief and tears. I believe that what surfaces as anger is often deep sadness at its core. And most importantly I believe that when we meet the grief with integrity and cry, we make way for our grandest joys. Walking through the pain and not naming it anger, I am able to see with new eyes. As I heal my pain, my soul is better equipped to heal the pain of the world and create miracles!

****************************************

MANDY ZOELLER, Philosophy Major, University of Louisville

This I Believe:

The face of my savior is the face of a young girl I met in Haiti when I was fifteen years old. Her eyes were warm and wide-set above a shy, genuine smile, her head crowned with springy dark braids that glistened in the tropical sun. I knew her for only a few days. I cannot remember her name, but I will never forget her shining face, nor the way her voice stirred me as she whispered my name in her beautiful lilting Creole, calling me to a moment of transcendence that revealed to me the deepest truth I’ve come to understand in my short life. As we gazed into one another’s eyes, the barriers of division put in place by the world melted away: we were neither white nor black, poor nor rich, young nor old. We spoke not the same language, except that poetry that now danced between us, the wordless expression of commonality, of shared humanity, of belonging to the world and to one another. She smiled at me, and I smiled back, knowing that we both understood. In that moment, I felt that I could sense every heartbeat on the planet, every pulsation of every creature in the air and the sea, each breath of every tree, the stars swirling in the cosmos. I would feel this way almost exactly a year later as I hugged a homeless man at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter right down the street as he cried that he couldn’t express the gratitude he felt knowing that someone saw him as more than a bum, a nobody. I sensed this as I fed a paraplegic man at Active Day two summers ago and he grasped my hand, looked into my eyes and said, “You are a very beautiful girl,” and I realized he saw his own beauty reflected in our simple act of taking time to be present to one another. I am liberated in the same way as I sit quietly under a canopy of trees or dig my feet into the sand and gaze out across the ocean, recognizing that I and my sisters and brothers of every species belong to this earth, and it is all one.
This I believe: we are here for one another. Dissimilarity is an illusion. We must come to grasp our unity through short lives lived in a world into which we are seemingly born apart; it is our deepest and greatest spiritual challenge. Thomas Merton once said, “In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything.” I am ever grateful for the gift my Haiti-sister and savior gave to me: a life of ever-present redemption through relationship, a life lived in reverence of the oneness that connects us all.

Buddha's Birthday Celebration on Sunday, May 25, 2008 from 2-4 pm

2008-05-16T14:35:00.001-04:00

A special invitation to you from IPP Board member Thich Hang Dat:
In this month of May, on the Sunday, May 25 of Memorial Day weekend, our Buddhist monastery in Corydon is having a special Buddha’s Birthday celebration between the hours of 2:00-4:00 P.M. We would like to invite you and your family members to join us.

Every year more than 600 million Buddhists around the world celebrate the Buddha’s Birthday in May, as of the Christian observes Christmas in December. Namely, we celebrate and remember the Buddha, who has taught us the principles of loving-kindness, compassion, harmony, forgiveness, etc. These great teachings help us to bring the peace and happiness within ourselves and others. Therefore, following that tradition and spirit, at our Buddhist monastery, we will hold the Buddha’s Birthday celebration on Sunday, May 25 between the hours of 2:00-4:00 P.M. Especially, we will have the refreshment and the Buddhist Youth Performance afterward.

We hope you and your family members are able to participate in this special celebration at our monastery in Corydon. We are looking forward to see you and your family soon.

Rev. Thich Hang Dat.

IPP "This I Believe" Fundraising Event at Rudyard Kipling June 4, 2008 at 7:30-9:30 p.m.

2008-05-15T17:13:00.003-04:00

Dear Friend of IPP,

I hope you will join IPP for a truly extraordinary event from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at the Rudyard Kipling Restaurant. Please see thedetails about the event below. You may call us at 214-7322 (or just e-mal back) to reserve your $10 tickets (at a discount rate!) today.

On that evening we will partner with our friends at “This I Believe” (based here in Louisville ) for a very special fundraiser for IPP. We have invited more than a dozen outstanding citizens from the Louisville Metro area to share with us their personal statements of belief. They will craft those statements in the style of the “This I Believe” radio spots created by pioneering broadcaster Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s and recently returned to the air by Louisville ’s Dan Gediman. Dan will serve as MC for the program.

The evening will also include musical responses to the “This I Believe” statements by Jazz master and Zen teacher Dick Sisto. If you are present you will be eligible for one of the door prizes donated by a number of socially responsible local businesses!

Why have we chosen to do a fundraising event built on the “This I Believe” concept?

Please let me answer that question with IPP’s own “This I Believe” statement. In a word, we are hosting this event because the sharing of beliefs is at the core of IPP’s mission to bring people of different religions together for events that spark dialogue. We bring those people together for lectures, films, art exhibits, meditation sessions, musical events, pilgrimages, and interfaith services because we believe that these gatherings foster the kind of dialogue that helps people from very different walks of life understand each other better. The result of that enhanced understanding is a more peaceful community, nation and world.

Here are the details:
Interfaith Paths to Peace
“This I Believe” Fundraising Event
(all proceeds benefit Interfaith Paths to Peace)

Hosted by Dan Gediman
Creator of the modern “This I Believe” Radio Series
with Music by Jazz artist Dick Sisto

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
7:30- 9:30 p.m.
The Rudyard Kipling Restaurant
422 West Oak Street, Louisville, KY

What is “This I Believe?”
This I Believe is an international project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values that guide their daily lives. These short statements of belief, written by people from all walks of life, are archived at www.ThisIBelieve.org and are featured on public radio in the United States and Canada , as well as in regular broadcasts on NPR. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow. For more information visit www.ThisIBelieve.org.

Those scheduled to read short “This I Believe” essays include:
Dianne Aprile, Accomplished journalist, author and educator
Carol Besse, Co-owner, Carmichaels Bookstores
Eileen Blanton, Executive Director, Peace Education Program
Jean Edwards, Louisville-chapter, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Ngawang Gyatso, Louisville-based Tibetan monk with
Drepung Gomang Institute
Gary Heine, Entrepreneur and Environmental Activist
David Horvath, Co-Chair, Kentuckiana Interfaith Taskforce
on Latin America and the Caribbean
Steve Mershon, Circuit Court Judge
Linda Miller, Executive Director, Dare to Care Food Bank
Judy Munro-Leighton, Louisville Peace Action Community
Ken Nevitt, Louisville Peace Activist
Djenita Pasik, Bosnian Muslim leader
Paul Pearson, Director and Archivist, Thomas Merton Center
at Bellarmine University
Graciela Perrone, Flamenco dancer and artist
Georgia Powers, Civil Rights Leader and former Kentucky Senator
Ken and Sheila Pyle, Owners of the Rudyard Kipling and
community activists
Denton Randall, Louisville radio personality
Dick Sisto, Jazz musician and Zen teacher
Kim Summers-Bates, U.S. Department of Peace Campaign
Kentucky State Coordinator

Door prizes provided by Drepung Gomang Institute, Carmichaels Bookstores, Heine Bros. Coffee and Wild and Woolly Video

Tickets $9 in advance and $10 at the door

For more information call 214-7322 or visit www.InterfaithPathsToPeace.org

I look forward to seeing you on the 4th…and I hope you will bring your friends and family!

Terry

Two Great Events--Matthieu Ricard June 13-14 and Tsoknyi Rinpoche Oct. 15-19, 2008

2008-05-15T16:33:00.002-04:00

We Are Already One
… Discovering Our True Nature
Presented by — The Pundarika Foundation, The Story Avenue Center, Fons Vitae Publishing
Joined by — The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living, The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, The Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship, Interfaith Paths to Peace, The Center for Interfaith Relations

Matthieu Ricard
Be the Change You Wantto See in the World
June 13 - 14, 2008
Friday, June 13th @ 7 pmPublic Talk and Photographic Essay at Gardencourt
Saturday, June 14th @ 11am - 5pmFilm screening, followed by a retreat at Law’s Lodge

Mattheiu Ricard was a close disciple and personal secretary to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and is the French interpreter for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Ricard holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Institut Pasteur, but left a promising career in cellular genetics 35 years ago to study Buddhism in the Himalayas and become a monk.

Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Dzogchen — The Great Perfection
October 15 - 19, 2008
Wednesday, October 15th @ 7 pmPublic Talk and Introduction at Gardencourt
Thursday, October 16th - 19thRetreat at Laws Lodge

Venerable Tsoknyi Rinpoche was born into an unbroken father-to-son lineage of realized Dzogchen masters. Rinpoche was recognized as a Tulku (an incarnate lama) at the age of eight by the 16th Karmapa. When he was thirteen, he was brought to Khamagar Monastery at Tashi Jong in India, where he was taught by renowned masters Chatral Rinpoche, Khamtrul Rinpoche, his own father Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

To learn more about these events and registration information, more details may be found at PYUS.com/client/fv/2008b.html. For questions and registration, please contact the Fons Vitae coordinator at gracious007@aol.com.

Come and see.That is what I teach.
— The Buddha

More about the sponsors —
Pundarika Foundation’s primary mission is to support the teaching activities and humanitarian work of Tsoknyi Rinpoche by keeping alive the wisdom of the Dharma, sustaining practitioners who preserve the teachings of the Buddha as a vital tradition, and helping people experience inner peace to better face the challenges of modern life with compassion and sanity. www.pundarika.org
The Story Avenue Center is deeply inspired by Tibetan Buddhism and the life of Thomas Merton. The Center is committed to providing opportunities for contemplative teachings and practices in an effort to encourage a deeper connection to our altruistic Self, allowing us to experience our true, loving, kind and open nature.
Fons Vitae, a non-profit, refereed, academic press is devoted to making available works from the world’s great spiritual traditions which could be of true use to a person of any faith seeking Wholeness or Holiness. Fons Vitae publishes authentic texts and videos/DVDs from the five major spiritual traditions which are also used throughout the world in college and university classes. Its academic board includes renowned scholars of the world’s religions. www.fonsvitae.com
The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living is dedicated to awakening interest in contemplative living through the works of Thomas Merton to promote Merton’s vision for a just and peaceful world. The Institute also has its own retreat center, Bethany Spring. www.mertoninstitute.org
The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University is the official repository of Merton’s literary estate which includes over thirteen hundred photographs and nine hundred drawings in addition to his writings. The Center archives over fifty thousand Merton-related materials. www.merton.org
The Dilgo Khyentse Fellowship—Shechen is dedicated to the teachings and charitable works of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. www.shechen.org
The Center for Interfaith Relations (CIR)— “Many Faiths, One Heart, Common Action.” CIR produces year-round programming that fosters understanding, cooperation, and action among all faith traditions, bringing interfaith beliefs and values to civic life in our local and global. www.interfaithrelations.org
Interfaith Paths to Peace works with faith communities and others with parallel interests to educate, advocate, coordinate and empower the larger community in support of peace, human rights, and justice through interfaith dialogue. www.interfaithpathstopeace.org

Memorial Day Service at Christ Church Cathedral May 26, 2008 at 11:00 a.m.

2008-05-15T15:54:00.001-04:00

Please add this to your calendar and join us for a truly unique event. I know of no other Memorial Day service that honors the memory of civilians along with the military who have died in wars.

24th Annual Memorial Day Interfaith Service

Honoring All Who Have Died in Wars
(Civilians as well as Military)

11 a.m. Monday, May 26, 2008
Reception to Follow

Christ Church Cathedral
421 South Second Street
Louisville, Kentucky

Sponsored by Interfaith Paths to Peace

Including
Music by Sam and Nancy Harris and Harry Pickens

Chant from Rumi by Masoud and Shahab Farrokhi

Interpretive Dance Performed by Michael Callahan, Youth Performing Arts School

The Words of Abraham Lincoln Read by William Bradford

Litany of Battles Read by Mitzi Friedlander

With Candle Lighting for the Fallen and Prayers for Peace

For more information call 214-7322 or visit www.InterfaithPathsToPeace.org

Free Noontime Yoga with Richard Sisto, Wed., May 7, 2008

2008-05-05T13:29:00.000-04:00

Please plan to join us at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday, May 7th for our FREE monthly noontime meditation program with Richard Sisto. The topic for this month's program is "Speaking of Zen" The monthly meditation program takes place at Christ Church Cathedral, 425 South Second Street in Louisville

Israel Independence Day Celebration Sunday, May 18, 2009

2008-05-05T13:25:00.002-04:00

ISRAEL INDEPENDENCE DAY IS CAUSE FOR COMMUNITY CELEBRATION

The Louisville Jewish community’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel (Yom HaAtzmaut) on Sunday, May 18, promises to be spectacular!

The day begins with an 11 a.m. Ride with Israel@60 bike trip – participants can choose between a 19.48-mile (symbolizing 1948, the year Israel was founded) or 3.8 mile bike/walk that starts near the drivers license facility at Bowman Field and ends at the Jewish Community Center (JCC), 3600 Dutchmans Lane. The bike/walk is part of an international event that will precede a Yom HaAtzmaut Family Festival at the JCC beginning at 12:30 p.m.The JCC will be transformed into the State of Israel for the day and visitors will receive maps to guide them from place to place. There will be lots of Israeli food and music and Ha Tizmoret, a band from Lexington, will be performing as people gather at the Center. A technology booth will highlight Israel’s high tech achievements and there will be a shuk (a shopping area) where Hebrew t-shirts can be purchased and jewelry can be made. Children visiting the Dead Sea area will be able to make bottled sand sculptures.The entire experience will be interactive and visitors will be taking a piece of Israel with them when they go. At a model of the Kotel (the Western Wall), there will be space for individuals to leave notes that will be taken to the real Wall with the community’s next Israel mission. Activities will include face painting, a camel ride, a photo booth and more.

The Yom HaAtzmaut Israel Family Festival and Ride with Israel@60 are sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation. Dafna Schurr is chair of the Israel@ 60 Committee. Matthew Karr and Rabbi Stanley Miles are co-chairing the Ride with Israel@60 portion of the day.

For further information contact: Alexandra Shklar (502) 451-8840) or (614) 581-0187 Shiela Steinman Wallace (502) 618-5311

The Yoga of Sound with Russill Paul, May 16 & 17, 2008 (3 events)

2008-05-05T13:15:00.003-04:00

IPP is pleased to be one of the sponsors of these events. Please see info about Russill Paul below.

Friday, May 16, 7 pm
The Yoga of Sound: An Evening with Russill Paul
Unity of Louisville, 757 South Brook
$10 *To register, call 896-0172 or go to Brown Paper Tickets online
*For more information visit www.RussillPaul.com

Saturday, May 17, 10 am-4 pm
A Day of Sacred Chant and Movement with Russill Paul
Unity of Louisville, 757 South Brook
$50 ($30 for Seniors and Students with ID)
*To register, call 896-0172 or go to Brown Paper Tickets online
*For more information visit www.RussillPaul.com

Saturday, May 17, 8 pm
Sacred Celebration with Russill Paul
Unity of Louisville, 757 South Brook
Donations welcome; no registration required

Russill Paul is author of the ground-breaking literary work The Yoga of Sound: Tapping the Hidden Power of Music and Chant (New World Library) and the music producer of several acclaimed chant CDs through The Relaxation Company, NY.

He trained simultaneously as a monk and yogi under the direction of the renowned sage and mystic, Bede Griffiths, in South India for close to five years and has taught in gradutate and post-graduate spirituality programs for 17 consecutive years. He presents his work on sonic mysticism at prestigious retreat and learning centers nationwide.

Spiritual Training and Education (23 years)A native of Chennai, South India , Russill Paul took to playing stringed instruments from the early age of four and began professional music in his teens. Although he was born and brought up in a Christian family, he developed a keen interest in Indian spirituality in childhood that has guided him into the present day.

In 1984, he underwent a powerful spiritual transition that motivated him to begin living the unusual combination of a Benedictine monk and yogi under the direction of Dom Bede Griffiths, a pioneering Benedictine monk and revered sage who directed Shantivanam, a Christian monastery that expressed itself through the spiritual and yogic culture of India .
During the five years he spent as a monk, Russill Paul immersed himself in the sacred culture and spirituality of India 's esteemed heritage, studying traditional Sanskrit chanting and South Indian classical music as well as yoga, meditation, philosophy and cosmology. In addition to his training at the monastery, Russill was initiated into the sacred learning of Sanskrit and Indian music in several ancient temple cities of South India enabling him to develop the tools related to his lifework: The Yoga of Sound.

Professor in Eastern Spirituality (15 years)Russill Paul taught in the Master's of Liberal Arts spirituality program at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland , CA, from 1992 - 1996; in the Masters of Liberal Arts program at Naropa University's Oakland, CA, campus from 1998 to 2006; in the Doctor of Ministry program at the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, CA, from 1996 to 2006; and has served on the faculty of Wisdom University in San Francisco , CA .since 2006.

Russill has presented his work at prominent academic institutions, such as: Western Michigan State University and The Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, MI; Illinois Benedictine College in Lisle, IL; The California Institute of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA; and the Chicago Graduate Institute of Clinical Psychology in Chicago, IL, to name a few.

Nationally renowned workshop and retreat facilitator (18 years)

Russill Paul has been presenting workshops and retreats throughout North America at leading-edge institutions such as The Esalen Institute in Big Sur , CA , the Omega Institute of Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck , NY , Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lennox , MA , and Hollyhock in Cortes Island , British Columbia , Canada .

He has also been featured as a presenter at prestigious conferences, such as: The Parliament of the World's Religions that convened in Chicago in 1993 and in Barcelona in 2004, New Age Journal's Body and Soul Conference in San Francisco, The International Sound Colloquiums in Colorado, Omega Institute's Awakening the Soul in NYC, The Christian Meditation Center's John Main Seminars in Toronto, Canada and San Francisco, U.S.A., and the Synthesis Dialogs at the Norbulinka Institute in Dharmasala, India, residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Music Industry Professional: Recording Artist and Record Producer (20 years)Russill Paul has been involved with the music industry for over two decades, recording movie sound tracks under well known music directors in South India as well as recording and producing a wide selection of his own world class recordings in the United States that are distibuted worldwide.He is presently associated with The Relaxation Company in New York , a leading publisher of healing music products, and New World Libary, a highly respected press in Novato , CA . He was formerly associated with Rising Son International, Arlo Guthrie's record label in Massachusetts .

Russill has recorded with numerous world class musicians including famed rock band Night Ranger's lead guitarist Brad Gillis, Indian sarangi maestro Ramesh Misra, and Tori Amos' bassist John Evans.

Concert Performer (27 years)

Russill Paul has performed his unique style of music at many prestigious concert venues such as the premier European classical music venue Propstei Sankt Gerold in Austria, Chicago's Grant Part and Medinah Temple, The Sports Auditorium in Sheffield, England, and the Music Academy in Chennai, India.

He has also performed on several occasions for His Holiness the Dalai Lama in India as well as in America and has shared the stage with music greats such as the legendary American folk-singer Arlo Guthrie and British rocker Arthur Brown.

Article about IPP Board member Rev. Thich Hang Dat "Buddhism 101: Spreading the word"

2008-05-05T12:53:00.002-04:00

By Susan Orr Saturday, April 26, 2008

Buddhist monk Thich Hang Dat teaches an introductory class on Buddhism at the University of Southern Indiana. Thirty-two students are enrolled in this semester's class. Dat, originally from Vietnam, runs monasteries in Corydon, Ind., and Louisville, Ky.
On an April evening at the University of Southern Indiana, classes are taking place in rooms around campus.
In a classroom in the basement of Rice Library, some 30 students are listening as a monk in a brown robe explains the fundamentals of Buddhism.

Thich Hang Dat teaches about reincarnation and the cycle of Samsara to students in his introductory class on Buddhism.
Tonight's lesson includes an explanation of karma. Thich Hang Dat's words, spoken with a strong Vietnamese accent, are often both simple and profound.
Buddhism describes a number of types of karma, but in essence karma means this: All actions have consequences.
If you lie to people, Dat says, you'll be mistrusted. If you treat others badly, you'll be disliked.
"If we want to look into the future, look at what we are doing now," Dat tells the group.
Buddhism Events
Buddhist monk Thich Hang Dat plans to teach Buddhism again at the University of Southern Indiana next fall. Dates and other details have not yet been set, but three classes are planned: Introduction to Buddhism 1, Introduction to Buddhism 2 and Meditation 101. The noncredit courses are part of USI's Extended Services program. Call 464-1989 or (800) 467-8600.
Mindful Heart Buddha Sangha, 600 N. Weinbach Ave., Suite 960, holds meditation sessions at noon Wednesdays, 4 p.m. Saturdays, and 6 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays. Sessions are open to visitors, including beginners.
Mindful Heart also offers occasional introductory and intermediate classes on Buddhism. Classes are planned for next fall and winter, with dates to be announced.
The Sangha will have a retreat June 9-13 at Kordes Center in Ferdinand, Ind., with Buddhist monk Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. Cost is $400 for a double room, $475 for a single room. Participants should have meditation experience. Registration deadline: May 15.
To register or for details, call 434-6643 or visit www.mindfulheartbuddhasangha.com
"When we have the proper understanding of karma, we would be careful of what we say, careful of what we do."
Buddhism was founded in the sixth century B.C. by an Indian man born as Siddhartha Gautama (later known as the Buddha). Buddhism teaches that life involves suffering, but one can overcome suffering by letting go of attachments and following the Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right concentration and right mindfulness.
As a Buddhist, Dat is part of a tiny minority in the United States: According to The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's recently released U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, only 0.7 percent of American adults self-identify as Buddhists.
But Dat is making his presence known in this region.
He lives at Ten Thousand Buddhas Summit Monastery, a Buddhist center he founded in Corydon, Ind., several years ago. He's also teaching introductory Buddhism classes at four schools this semester: USI, Indiana University-Southeast in New Albany, and Bellarmine University and the University of Louisville's Shelby Campus, both in Louisville, Ky.
Dat's path to Southern Indiana included a lot of stops along the way.
He came to the United States as a teenager in the 1980s, and in 1990 he graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. After that he moved to Ukiah, Calif., where he earned a master's degree in Buddhist studies from Dharma Realm Buddhist University and became a monk.
He then studied in India and Los Angeles, but found the hubbub of urban life didn't agree with him.
"I am not a city monk," Dat said.
Intending to establish a monastery in a more rural area, he checked out upstate South Carolina at the invitation of someone he knew. He spent a few months there and looked at more than 100 properties, but didn't find what he was looking for.
"The energy was not matching, so I could not stay there," he said.
Other people he knew suggested he look in the Kentucky/Indiana area. He came, liked what he saw, and purchased 80 acres in Corydon in 2001.
His monastery hosts weekly meditation sessions, monthly retreats and special celebrations several times a year. In March 2006, Dat opened a satellite center in Louisville which offers after-school programming, food relief and other activities.
This is the second time Dat has taught the class at USI. At 32 students, this semester's enrollment is more than double that of the first class.
Most of the students in this semester's class, Dat said, had some previous knowledge of Buddhism.
But he could not say whether interest in Buddhism is growing in this area.
"I hope so. I don't know. I don't know how to make that kind of judgment," Dat said.
Students in the noncredit course said they were drawn to the class for a variety of reasons.
Alan and Marie-Paule Marty of Newburgh became interested in Buddhism through their travels to Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Borneo and Japan.
"We have suitcases full of literature, and it's usually filled with so many foreign terms that you kind of get bogged down," Alan Marty said.
Alan Marty, who attends the Unitarian Universalist Church of Evansville, said he sees similarities between Buddhism and Christian teachings. Both, he said, teach followers to treat others with kindness.
"There's all these parallels with Christianity and the moral life," he said.
Beth Franklin of Newburgh said she signed up for the class because she is a spiritual seeker.
"I don't believe there's just one way. I sort of believe it all, in a way," she said.
Franklin also holds a master's degree in counseling and has participated in 12-step recovery programs. Buddhism, she said, shares some ideas with both psychology and with addiction recovery. All three, she said, emphasize focusing on the present and being responsible for one's thoughts and actions.
"I think that's probably why Buddhism, at least on the surface," appeals to me," she said.
"I'm thrilled the classes are offered."

National Action Day calling for establishment of U.S. Dept. of Peace May 9, 2008

2008-05-05T12:39:00.002-04:00

"Peace Wants a Piece of the Pie"(ie:the federal budget)
Be part of our National Action Day calling for the establishment of the U.S.Department of Peace!
** Meet on May 9th 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m at 757 S. Brook St. in Louisville, Kentucky

Come with us and deliver pies to leaders of Kentucky including the offices of Congressman John Yarmuth and Senator Mitch McConnell. We will also deliver pies to Louisville leaders such as Mayor Jerry Abramson, Police Chief Robert White and various Louisville Metro Council members. We know that this can be a very effective way to build relationships and have our voices heard. "We the People" say that Peace-building is to be a national priority and organizing principle of this great country of ours! Did you know that well over 55% of our country's federal budget dollars goes towards Defense?Of that 3-4% for Diplomacy (State Dept.) and that's been cutand only .5% towards Development (rebuilding efforts after a country has been attacked)Surely Peace can have a Piece of the Pie! ~We the people say it's time to invest in the science of conflict resolution and peace-building in a serious and sophisticated way.~We the people say the establishment of the "U.S.Department of Peace" is an idea whose time has come!~We the people say that "Peace Wants a Piece of the Pie!" Mark your calendars for May 9th at 9:30 a.m. and look for "mapping out our day" details to follow. In the spirit of peace and cooperation,Kim Kim Summers-Bates"U.S. Department of Peace" campaignState Coordinator of Kentucky(502)472-1772www.KyDoPeace.org

"The Sound of Serenity" Concert by Harry Pickens, Sun. 4/27/08

2008-04-23T10:42:00.003-04:00

Please join Harry Pickens this Sunday 4/27/08, for a special concert - 'THE SOUND OF SERENITY'

James Lees Presbyterian Church
1741 Frankfort Avenue (at William Street)
from 730 to 830 PM.

A musical hour of relaxation, rest, and renewal. If you attended my previous contemplative concerts, please come back this Sunday and bring a friend. If you’ve not yet experienced the deep relaxation and serenity of this music, I hope to see you on Sunday. The purpose of this evening’s gathering is to tap the power of music to help you slow down, relax, and deepen your conscious connection with the source of Peace within. Concert sponsored by the Center for Faith and Action. Free admission (donations will be accepted to support the Center’s work). For more information, please contact Glenda Hodges-Cook at oneglenda@yahoo.com or telephone 896-0172.

Harry's new CD, The Shadow Of Your Smile, has received dozens of rave reviews from listeners for its calming, relaxing yet intricate beauty. Check them out at www.cdbaby.com/cd/pickenstrio

Free Noontime Yoga, Wed. 4/23/08 at Christ Church Cathedral

2008-04-23T10:39:00.001-04:00

Please join us Wednesday April 23, at 12:10 at Christ Church Cathedral for free yoga. The yoga program is free (donations welcome) and will be led by Alex Cleveland.

Alex will lead us in exploring ways that the practice of yoga brings peace. Alex is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher, who has taught for the past 10 years.

For more information about the yoga program, e-mail Alex at clevelandalex@yahoo.com,.

Persian Food, Film and Discussion Event, Sat. 4/26

2008-04-22T12:37:00.002-04:00

Featuring
Mr. Rostam Pourzal
President of Campaign Against Sanctions
and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII)

to speak on how Normal Relations with Iran Are Within Reach

and “BAM 6.6”
a documentary about a U.S. couple rescued in Iran

Saturday, April 26 at 6:00 p.m.

Christ Church Cathedral
425 S. Second Street , Louisville , KY

Free but donations for the food welcome

About “BAM 6.6”

In 2003 an earthquake of 6.6 magnitudes struck the city of Bam in Iran , killing and injuring tens of thousands of residents and two American tourists. The massive tremor destroyed nearly all of the beautiful ancient city of Silk Road fame. But it failed to shake the local tradition of hospitality to travelers. Relying on interviews that shatter common stereotypes, the hour-long Bam 6.6 follows the experiences of Adele Freedman, a Jewish New Yorker who was on vacation in Bam with her fiancé, Tobb Dell'Oro, when the earthquake struck. Adele, who had to face Tobb's tragic death alone halfway around the world, found unexpected comfort when the Iranians around her reached out spontaneously and made her recovery a priority. Previous screenings have included the 2007 UN Association Film Festival and the Washington National Cathedral.

Interfaith Paths to Peace sponsors monthly “Pizza & A Movie” events
on the last Saturday of each month. Please visit our website at www.InterfaithPathsToPeace.org or call 502-214-7322 for more information.

Interfaith Coffee House at 4th Ave. United Methodist Church, Thursday April 17th

2008-04-14T16:57:00.003-04:00

Time: 6:30-8:30
Church is located at Fourth Avenue and St. Catherine

Performers will include:

Canfei Yona
(The Wings of the Dove) is a voice of original Jewish music in Louisville, KY. It brings together the talents of four singers, Tucker Thomas, Matthew Karr, Fran Englander and Shiela Steinman Wallace, and pianist Michael Megahan to share Wallace’s creations. Much of the music is derived from Reform Jewish liturgical texts, both Hebrew and English, and it often weaves the two languages together to help those who do not speak Hebrew understand the message.

John Gage
Louisville's own folk musician and peacemaker

Anthony Redfeather Nava,
Native American Musician and Story Teller

African Quaker refugees from Burundi

Peaceful Skies Picnic...Rain or Shine!

2008-04-12T00:05:00.000-04:00

Plus Chanting by our Tibetan Monks and a sale of their Tibetan ware

Come rain or shine; if it rains, we move inside!

Music and poetry by

ThePerkinsBrothers.com (featuring Elvis and Meatloaf) Performing at noon and at the conclusion of the picnic
Misha Feigin, Reading Poetry at 1 p.m.
Anthony Redfeatheer Nava, Performing Music at 1:30
the Louisville the Contra Dance Band, Performing Music at 2:15
Reminisce, Performing Music at 3:15 p.m.
The Tibetan monks will appear throughout the day!

Join us Saturday, Rain or shine for this year's Peaceful Skies picnic--an alternative to the military flyovers on the riverfront during Thunder Over Louisville; The first ten families to arrive will each receive a free kite.

There will be:
Kitemaking
Paper airplane making
Kite flying (weather permitting)
Art Activities
Music
And lots more!
BRING A T-SHIRT TO DECORATE FOR OUR PEACE T-SHIRT DECORATION CONTEST.

Here are the details about the picnic:

“PEACEFUL SKIES OVER LOUISVILLE ” PICNIC on Thunder Day
Offered as Alternative to Military Flyovers

Noon to 4:00 pm Saturday, April 12, 2008
RAIN OR SHINE

The Americana Community Center Soccer Field
4801 Southside Drive in Louisville
DIRECTIONS BELOW
Free kites for the first ten families to arrive!

A coalition of local religious and peace groups will offer a free picnic in Louisville’s South End from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 12 as an alternative to the military plane flyovers that are part of Thunder Over Louisville air show on the riverfront. The Picnic will take place in the field adjacent to the Americana Center at 4801 Southside Drive. The picnic will proceed rain or shine. If it is raining, the activities will move indoors at the Americana Center. The picnic is open to the public and will feature music and peaceful activities for the whole family.

Those attending are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets, lunch or a snack. (No alcohol). Bottled water will be provided courtesy of Rainbow Blossom. Picnicers are also invited to bring guitars, sing songs, and give short speeches for peace.

Activities:
The activities will include paper airplane and kite making (under the direction of volunteers from the Kentucky Art Therapy Association), kite flying, chalk drawing, a t-shirt decoration contest with a grand prize for the best “peacemaking” t-shirt. The first ten families to arrive will each receive a free kite.

For the t-shirt decoration contest, picnickers are asked to bring a t-shirt to decorate. Decoration supplies will be provided. Grand prize for the t-shirt contest is a beautiful, three-dimensional butterfly kite provided by St. William Catholic Church. The kite is a “fair trade” product purchased from the Just Creations store in Louisville.

Music:

The Picnic will feature music by Anthony Redfeather Nava (Native American Musician and Storyteller), ThePerkinsBrothers featuring Elvis and Meatloaf, Misha Feigin, Reminisce, and the Louisville the Contra Dance Band

The Peaceful Skies Picnic is Sponsored by the Peaceful Skies Coalition:

Louisville Friends Meeting (Quakers), Jeff Streeet Baptist Community at Liberty, Mission Outreach committee of First Unitarian Church , Peace and Compassion Buddha Circle, Central Presbyterian Church, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Kentucky Interfaith Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean, Clifton Unitarian Church, Louisville Peace Action Community, Interfaith Paths to Peace, Students United for Peace and Justice, Pax Christi, American Veterans Against the War, Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Kentucky Art Therapy Association, Peace and Social Justice committee of St. Williams Catholic Church, the Fairness Campaign, Rainbow Blossom Natural Foods Markets, U.S. Department of Peace-Louisville, Drepung Gomang Institute, Louisville Peace Chavurah, Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville The Center for Faith and Action; the Board of Kentucky Refugee Ministries, Louisville Telegrams.com; Social Justice committee of Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church, ThePerkinsBrothers.com featuring Elvis and Meatloaf.

Directions to the Americana Center
:
Take I-264 (Watterson Expressway) West to the Third Street Exit. From exit, turn left onto Third Street . Continue on Third Street to the intersection of Woodlawn Avenue and Third Street . At this stoplight, turn left onto Woodlawn. At the four way intersection, turn right onto Second Street . The street will "Y"; stay to the left and this will turn into Southside Drive . The Americana Community Center will be immediately on your left - former Holy Family Academy building.