The Peace and Justice Center

Hi, everyone,

Please forgive the mass message, but all of you who told me, "Just wait until tomorrow," sure have the last cackle. Sitting upright isn't so comfortable right now. 

I'm so glad you came out to celebrate with me. Looking forward to the party really got me through some tough moments in the race. And all the imaginary beers you bought me added up to a very real $137 for the Peace and Justice Center. And I know that others donated, or plan to give, via PayPal or the mail.

Well, really, it was $137.25 but the quarter fell out of my hand and I can't bend over to pick it up right now. 

Thanks again for your support in my running and in all my other crazy dreams,

Shannon "Can You Help Me Get Down These Steps?"

Doyne

National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior Steamtown National Historic Site 150 South Washington Avenue
Scranton, PA 18503-2018

570-340-5200 phone
570-340-5235 fax

Steamtown National Historic Site News Release
November 22, 2010
For Immediate Release
Mark Brennan 570-340-5244

STEAMTOWN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE PLANS EXCURSION TO THE TOBYHANNA ICE HARVEST DEMONSTRATION

SCRANTON, Pa. – As Old Man Winter takes hold of our region, Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pa., will offer a special mid-winter steam excursion to the annual Ice Harvest Demonstration in Tobyhanna, Pa.  On Saturday, January 15, 2011, a historic steam locomotive will travel to the Tobyhanna station, and excursionists will be transported to Mill Pond #1, courtesy of the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority, where historic tools and equipment will be used to gather blocks of ice from the pond.  The replica ice house stores enough ice to last well into the summer months.  The Tobyhanna Ice Harvest excursion is scheduled to depart at 10:00 a.m. and return at approximately 3:00 p.m.  Tickets are $31 – ages 16-61, $26 – ages 62 and older, $20 – ages 6 to 15 years old.  Children to age 5 require a “no charge” ticket.   The $6 daily Park Entrance Fee is included in the ticket cost.   Reservations may be made by phoning (570) 340-5204, 9:15 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. daily (10:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. after January 2, 2011).
 
Steam-powered train excursions are rare in the winter months, and there is always the
chance that the pond may not be frozen.  In that event, tours of the village of Tobyhanna and the Mill Pond #1 ice house and restored 1908 boxcar will be conducted as an alternative. The 1908 Tobyhanna station will be open and light refreshments will be available for sale through the Pocono Mountains Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

Located in downtown Scranton, Pa., Steamtown National Historic Site is open 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. thru December 31, closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Years Day.  Park winter hours are 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. from January 2 – April 9, 2011.  From Interstate 81, exit 185 (Central Scranton Expressway), follow signs to the main entrance at Lackawanna Avenue and Cliff Street.  Additional details regarding interpretive and educational programs and activities, along with weather-related cancellations, may be obtained by calling (570) 340-5200 or by visiting the Steamtown NHS web site at www.nps.gov/stea.
Digital images are available for media releases.

-NPS-

---

Peace Rides in the Sky!

Celebrate the peaceful beauty of the Wyoming Valley from above, with a scenic flight with pilot (and longtime supporter of the Peace and Justice Center) Brad Kurlancheek.

Brad has pledged 100% of your $250 Peace Flight cost to go to the good works of the Peace and Justice Center.

An excellent gift for birthdays, anniversaries, other milestone celebrations and the upcoming holiday season, Brad's 1998 Maule Single Engine airplane accommodates peace passengers in style.

Brad is a licensed FAA certified flight instructor with over 1200 total flight hours, and holds commercial and instrument ratings.  He earned his flight ratings at the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  In the Maule, he's flown from the west coast to east, and from PA to FL and back several times.

Flights will originate at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, PA, where Brad keeps his plane.

To reserve your peace flight,
contact the Peace Center at (570) 823-9977 or peacewb@verizon.net.

On November 10th, the Live Well Luzerne County coalition will launch its Healthy Community Challenge; an initiative focused on improving health and quality of life at the community level using proven strategies and policy change.   The group will challenge conference attendees to plan and implement at least one permanent sustainable change in their community that will improve access to physical activity, healthy food or tobacco avoidance.  Training, mentorship and mini-grants will be available to help municipalities and community groups work together to accomplish these lasting changes in four areas: healthy parks and public places, healthy streets and roadways, healthy community planning and zoning and healthy eating.  

The free half-day Healthy Community Launch is open to anyone who is interested in learning more about making lasting, health enhancing changes in their hometowns: elected municipal officials and decision makers including mayors, council members and supervisors; municipal planning and zoning commission members; borough and city managers; neighborhood organizations and civic groups; PTAs & PTOs, faith organizations; school districts, non-profit agencies, Senior Citizen groups, housing authorities, trail, park and recreation organizations among others.  Launch attendees will be offered the opportunity to apply to participate in the Healthy Community Challenge.  If an applicant group or municipality is chosen they will be assigned a mentor to assist with planning and implementing their project and a mini-grant.  Challenge applicants must attend the launch in order to be eligible to apply to participate in the Challenge.

The Healthy Community Challenge is supported by a grant from the Healthy Northeast PA Initiative and the Pennsylvania Department of Health in partnership with Live Well Luzerne County and the Wilkes-Barre YMCA’s ACHIEVE initiative.  The event will be held in the Stettler Learning Resource Center on the campus of Wyoming Seminary, Kingston starting at 7:30 am to 12:30 pm on Wednesday, November 10tt,   Space is limited and registration is required.  For more information or to register, call 823-2191 x 140 or email, carol.hussa@wbymca.org.

PRESS RELEASE for immediate release

For more information, contact Skip Mendler, 570-251-3637

“MUSICAL POTLUCK” FEATURES SONGS OF PEACE, 10/17

(HONESDALE)
Local peace group Waynepeace will mark the eighth  anniversary of its founding, and the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, with a “Musical Potluck for Peace.” 
The event will take place beginning at 6 PM on Sunday, October 17, at the Grace Episcopal Church Parish Hall on Church Street in Honesdale.

“We're inviting people to bring food to share, like a regular potluck,” says Waynepeace co-founder Skip Mendler, “but we also want them to bring their favorite songs of peace, along with their voices and instruments.”  Mendler anticipates “a wide mix of music – everything from hymns to punk anthems to folk classics.”

There is no admission charge for the event, but donations will be collected for the Central Asia Institute to help in flood recovery efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
For more information, call 570-251-3637, or visit www.waynepeace.org.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my  wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.  As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself.  I've become my own friend.  I don't chide myself for eating  that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but  looks so avante-garde on my patio.  I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before  they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love .... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful.  But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.  And I  eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car?  But broken  hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.  A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.

So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive.  You care less about what other people think.

I don't question myself anymore, I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become.

I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could  have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day

(if I feel like it).

lifestyles of the rich-in-peacefulness

[The following is written by my beautiful friend Jennifer ~ enjoy]

This is a follow-up to a post I made awhile ago about writing credos.
 
Here’s a list of rules for myself.
 
These are subject to change by the second.
 
Maybe you have a few rules for yourself? Beliefs?

It’s a good idea to write them down occassionally - touch base with yourself, who you are, and see how you’ve changed over the years.

Some Rules for Living/A Credo for March 2009

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.  ~ E.E. Cummings
 
If you feel compelled to hug someone, do it
and put your whole self into that hug.
 
If you feel like punching someone, think about it.  Chances are, you won’t want to later. Maybe.
 
The same is true for shopping impulses –
do you really need that 24 pack of ShamWOWs?
 
Think, then think some more.
 
Turn off your television, your computer,
throw the phone in the hamper under
the stinky towels and think.
 
Allow your thoughts to drift into daydreams.
 
Write down what you dream.
 
When you see someone enjoy creating art,
or reading, cooking, throwing a ball –
encourage them.
 
Do not abuse squirrels, children, the elderly,
geese at the park (even though they will chase you).
 
Wear clothes you feel comfortable in –
they are your socially acceptable skin.

If they aren’t stylish by today’s standards,
good.
 

Forgive yourself. You’ll do better next time.
 
Weave cloth, make paper, assemble a book,
milk a cow, help build a house –
at least once in your lifetime.
 
If crossword puzzles give you headaches,
stop doing them.
 
Make eye contact when someone
is speaking to you.
 
Don’t fake listening.

It will come back to haunt you.

It’s ok if you want to try to glue
ice together – just don’t count on it
making a good house.
 
Count your money. Keep what you need
to pay your bills and eat, then give
the rest away.
 
Get dirt under your fingernails.
 
Witness a birth.
 
Do something that scares you.
 
Lay out on the lawn in the summer at night
with a friend and look at the stars.
 
Write letter of praise and complaint
when they are due.
 
Attend the funeral.
 
Don’t cheat when you’re playing a game.
 
You will lose and you will win
and you should have fun with both.
 
Take walks in February
just to smell the ground thaw.
 
Do the laundry and don’t whine about it.
 
If you’re going to go to the trouble
to bake a birthday cake for someone
you love, make it from scratch.
 
Pay attention to the way
professionals do things –
a locksmith replacing a lock
is just as much a virtuoso
as an opera singer.
 
Talk to the cab driver.
 
Consider your own mortality,
but don’t dwell on it.
 
You have a talent
and a responsibility to find it.
 
Share your ideas!  They are not doing the world any good locked up for safekeeping in the attic of your ego.
 
Travel to a place where you don’t understand the language so you can remember what learning a language is like.
 
Don’t wear sandals or high heels on a hike.
 
Share the flowers from your garden
with your neighbors.
 
Sometimes it’s hard to love your neighbor
especially when they are peeking into
your bedroom window. See Rule #2.
 
Do not develop strange, sentimental
attachments to things like cacti.
 
Get up early and write.
 
Not all of your ideas are original –
you have to learn from others first.
 
Kids say better what adults
struggle over.
 
It is possible to have too many
rules for yourself.
 
It is impossible to have too many chocolate chips.
 
- Jennifer Hill
 
******************