East Bay, CA, and Beyond. . .

Since we last posted, we've been visiting with great folks, exploring the SF Bay Area, and Ellen's been recuperating from a twisted, scraped ankle, having overlooked a 3-inch step when headed out to the van for the night shortly after arriving in Oakland. It's okay now, and we're all very ready to hit the road again, despite the exquisite kindness of our hostess in Oakland, artist Ruby Pearl.

Meanwhile we've met with great people like Marylia Kelley of Tri-Valley Cares ( http://www.trivalleycares.org/ ), who keeps a close eye on the Lawrence Livermore National Labs, and the folks on the "Trinity to Trident Interfaith Peace Walk for a Nuclear-Free Future In Respect For Mother Earth" when they stopped in Livermore, California for a demonstration at the gate of LLNL last week. (Ellen and Jay had spent time with another crew of peace walkers during the "Walk For A New Spring" earlier this year.)

Also we met with the Bay Area chapter of United for Peace and Justice, and with Jackie Cabasso of Western States Legal Foundation ( http://www.wslfweb.org/ ) and Abolition 2000 ( http://www.abolition2000.org ), who are all calling for a massive demonstration at the UN Non-Proliferation Treaty Review in New York in May, 2010, to call for global nuclear disarmament as required by Article VI of the NPT. Jackie is also U.S. contact for the Mayors For Peace Campaign, and asks us to ask you to ask YOUR mayor to become a Mayor For Peace! She informs us that there is a campaign to bring the legality of nuclear weapons to the World Court once again. (The World Court ruled in 1996 that the USE of nuclear weapons is illegal; hopefully they will now rule that the POSSESSION of nuclear weapons is illegal.)

Here's our confirmed schedule at the moment:

Monday, July 27, San Luis Obispo, CA, 7 pm (contact Liz Apfelberg (WILPF), 805-783-2383)
August 6 - Hiroshima Day - Phoenix, AZ - 7 pm, Fair Trade Cafe, 1020 N. 1st (contact Liz AZ (Code Pink), 480-236-0051)
August 7 - Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Quaker House - contact Liz AZ (Code Pink)
August 8 - Tucson, AZ - 7 pm, Reid Park at 22nd (Cancer Survivors' corner)
August 9 - Tuscon, AZ - Film - "The Strangest Dream" - Tuscon Public Library
August 13-16 - Albuquerque, NM - "Think Outside The Bomb" Youth Conference
August 22 - Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA (11:30 pm) (contact MacGregor Eddy (WILPF), macgregoreddy@gmail.com)
August 26 - Berkeley, CA - 7 pm, Redwood Gardens (contact Cynthia Johnson, cyn1234@sbcglobal.net)
August 28 - San Jose, CA - 7-9 pm, Peace & Justice Ctr. 48 S. 7th St. (contact Shirley Lin (WILPF), sanjoseraginggrannies@yahoo.com)

From there we'll be headed to Ashland and Portland, Oregon, Seattle and Hanford, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and then home to DC and North Carolina.

We hope to see you on the road, or in the streets!


Ellen, Jay, Steve, and Troy
and, of course, our Peace Dog, Sophia