The Agape Center fills many functions at Ghost Ranch.
It served as the central location for the 2010 Peacemaking Seminar.
Here people worship and learn,
gather and fellowship,
and sometimes just sit on the porch and watch the view.
Music often fills the Center and makes the rafters sing.
10 August 2008
Filed under Ghost Ranch Views, Photo
Today’s letter in the Amnesty International’s Write for Rights Global Write-a-thon went to U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. It included the broad request that detainees at Guantanamo and the detention facility at Bagram in Afghanistan should either be charged and tried in U.S. federal court or be released to countries where their human rights will be respected.
It specifically asked that the U.S. government either either charge and fairly try Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer in U.S. federal court, or release him to the United Kingdom (UK), as the UK government has requested.
Shaker Aamer, a former UK resident, has been held without charge at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for nearly 10 years. The UK government has repeatedly requested that he be returned to the United Kingdom, where his wife and four children live. February 2012 will mark the tenth anniversary of his detention without charge at Guantanamo.
Aamer may be guilty; he may be innocent. In either case, he has the right to be charged and tried. If the U.S. is not prepared to do that – after almost 10 years – he should be released.
Indefinite detention is a human rights violation.
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Learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights framework.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Human Rights
Letter three in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights Global Write-a-thon went last night to the President of Sri Lanka. It focused on Ragihar Manoharan. Ragihar was one of five students killed by security forces in the city of Trincomalee on January 2, 2006. The letter asks the President to tell his family the truth about what happened to their son. Amnesty International reports that a commission of inquiry examined the killing of Ragihar Manoharan. My letter and the Amnesty International Campaign ask for the release of the commission’s report.
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Find resources for the Write-a-thon, including sample letters to adapt.
Learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights framework.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Human Rights
A new dimension of this blog will launch tomorrow. Two new categories will appear: Ghost Ranch Images and Ghost Ranch People.
Each post will contain a picture taken (by me) at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico and an alphabetical reference. They may include a reflection on the image and/or a few notes on the context of the image. Dates will appear although they may only be a year or a month and year at first. This will become easier and more precise with better record keeping of future photographic endeavors at the ranch.
Posts will appear in general alphabetical order, starting with the letter “a” (as learned on Sesame Street) and working forward. Posts will vary between the two categories. Eventually multiple posts will appear for each letter in each category. Some will prove more of a challenge than others. All will, hopefully, testify to the power of place.
In the movie Field of Dreams, Burt Lancaster’s character, Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham, reflects on the power of place. Speaking of his home in Chisholm, Minnesota, Graham says:
This is my most special place in the world, Ray. Once a place touches you like this, the wind never blows so cold again. You feel for it like it was your child.
Ghost Ranch touches me. Even as my family entered the grounds in 1993, I recognized the ranch as a place that nurtures and nourishes me. It did so then. It does so now – wherever I find myself.
I offer my photos and words as a humble homage to a play that plays an important role in my life and in the lives of so many others. For me, they serve to recall memories and process experiences and dream of what may be. I look forward to hearing if they speak to you.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Ghost Ranch People, Ghost Ranch Views, Movie, Photo
Time . . .
time . . .
time . . .
time flies . . .
time crawls . . .
time flows . . .
time stalls . . .
time . . .
time . . .
time . . .
5 December 2011
DL 6056
The door closes, the jet-way withdraws,
the plane backs away from
the gate.
Clearing the gate, the pilot turns
the plane; it enters
the runway.
Taxiing down the runway,
the plan pulls to one side
and waits
for the word to be given.
5 December 2011
DL 180
Letter two in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights Global Write-a-thon was written and sent today. Today’s letter went to the President of Cameroon on behalf of Jean-Claude Roger Mbede.
Amnesty International reports that Mr. Mbede is serving three years in prison on charges of homosexuality based on his perceived sexual orientation. My letter asks for his immediate and unconditional release. It further calls the President of Cameroon to ensure the safety of Mr. Mbede in prison. Finally it urges the President of Cameroon to work for the repeal of the section of the country’s Penal Code under which Mr. Mbede has been imprisoned.
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Filed under Human Rights
For several days in a row last week, I passed this food truck last week as I walked to work. It brought back fond memories of the International Peace Convocation in Jamaica – jerk chicken for lunch and dinner; tiny hot dogs in sweet and sour sauce for breakfast.
Finally the day came when I left Grand Central Station with a plan to stop at the food truck for lunch.
Of course, that was the day that the truck apparently parked elsewhere.
Timing might not be everything, but it sure is a lot.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Photo
I sent my first letter in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights Global Write-a-thon today. I wrote to the President of Azerbaijan on behalf of Jabbar Savalan.
Here is how Amnesty describes Jabbar’s situation:
Hours after posting a Facebook message calling for protests against the government, Jabbar Savalan told his family that he was being followed. The next evening, police brought him to a police station, where they “discovered” marijuana in his outer coat pocket. Questioning him without a lawyer for two days, police reportedly hit and intimidated him to make him sign a confession. Jabbar Savalan maintained that he does not use drugs and that the marijuana was planted on him. Authorities in Azerbaijan have a history of using trumped-up drug charges to jail those seen as critical of the government. Amnesty International believes the charges against Jabbar were fabricated, and considers him a prisoner of conscience.
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Find resources for the Write-a-thon, including sample letters to adapt.
Learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international human rights framework.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Human Rights
Along the Graybeard Trail 