Iraqi Student Project

This past week, during the holiday period after Christmas and over the new year, a group of young Iraqis gathered at the headquarters of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Upper Nyack, New York. They were all university students attending U.S. colleges, whose schooling was organized by the Iraqi Student Project -- an initiative modeled on FOR's Bosnian Student Project from the 1990s. An article in today's Journal News, the newspaper of New York's Rockland & Westchester Counties, profiles the hope of these young people as they seek a better future than that seen amidst the war they left behind.

Several great news stories from the past few days have FOR connections. No less a media source than The New York Times finally gave the anti-war community its due this weekend, profiling several of FOR's key allies in the movement -- including United for Peace & Justice, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and CodePink -- in its almost-alliterative piece "American Antiwar Movement Plans an Autumn Campaign Against Policies on Afghanistan."

Happy birthday, Pete Seeger! Yesterday was the legendary songwriter's 90th birthday, and a massive concert attended by 15,000 admirers was held in his honor this weekend in NYC to raise needed funds for the Hudson River Clearwater that Pete helped found almost 40 years ago. I grew up alongside the Hudson, regularly attending strawberry, pumpkin, and shad festivals hosted by the Clearwater, with free music provided by Seeger, other members of The Weavers, and plenty of other folk and bluegrass artists. One of my earliest childhood memories is of splitting a peanut butter & jelly sandwich with Pete Seeger, since my parents had told me he liked PB&J just as much as I did!

IVAW Denver march 8/27/08: Photo: Rocky Mountain NewsSeptember is just hours away. The new school year is just around the corner (or has already begun, for some), and the attention of the country is turned to the presidential race, during this brief weekend "respite" between the Democratic and Republican national conventions.