SKUNKS, POTATOES, LEAFLETS, PEACE

We got home last night from Virginia and the conference called "Military Industrial Complex at 50". I'd venture to guess there were up to 150 folks who passed through the event during the course of the weekend. Many great speakers and a good hosting by local activists in Charlottesville. Our host family loaned us their second car so MB and I could come and go as we wished. Some wonderful meals were served including an authentic Afghanistan supper the first night prepared by local Afgan restaurant.

You can see an article about the confab in the local Charlottesville newspaper here

It was fun to be back in the south again - land of growing militarism, grits, and southern drawls (each one distinct in their own way from different parts of the region).

But it felt good to come back to Maine when we landed in Portland. As our plane made its way to the gate I could smell that distinct smell I've come to know in our state - skunks. Just about everywhere you go in Maine, as it gets dark, you are bound to smell a skunk. I turned to MB on the plane and said, "It seems Gov. LePage has just made a visit to the airport." But then as we drove north on I-295 I could smell skunk spray along the highway, so it appears our right-wing governor was just one step ahead of us.

Today I plan to dig up potatoes in our garden and prepare for a busy week with the Bring Our War $$ Home Care-a-Van. In the morning a handful of us head north to University of Maine-Farmington where we will spend the early part of the day talking to and leafleting students. In the afternoon we will stand in the downtown and hold signs and banners and hand out more leaflets about the campaign. Then in the evening we'll attend the David Rovics concert at the university.

We'll spend the night at the home of Veterans for Peace co-founder Doug Rawlings and then head to Belfast the next day where we'll repeat the bannering, leafleting and such on the streets of that community before attending an evening documentary film showing of Kill/Capture (the US military campaign in Afghanistan and targeted raids using classified intelligence, drones, and Special Operations Forces as a tactic) at the public Library at 6:00 pm.

Then on Friday I'll head back north to the Common Ground Fair where the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign will share a table with Maine Veterans for Peace on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. The fair draws tens of thousands of Mainers each year and is a wonderful place to do outreach.