By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

Those who attended last year's Inner Faith Resources Thanksgiving Celebration have memories of one of the Modesto area's most inspirational multi-cultural religious experiences. This year's IFR Inter-religious Thanksgiving Family Celebration offers yet another heartening multi-denominational coming together of Stanislaus County's faith community.

The Church of the Brethren, 2301 Woodland Ave., Modesto, along with IFR, will co-sponsor the gathering Monday November 23 beginning at 7:15 p.m. The evening will focus upon song, dance and words of thankfulness from multi-ethnic and multi-cultural representatives of the diverse Stanislaus County faith community.

Last year's service included East Indian dance, African American spirituals, Baha'i readings, Mormon singing, Jewish words of wisdom, Catholic youth observations, and much more. Those who attend this year will enjoy an equally inspiring and varied experience.

Admission to the evening is free and open to all ages and beliefs. Donations of canned goods will be accepted for the Inter Faith Ministries Food Bank.

ACTION: To obtain further information or learn how your faith community can participate call 577-0864 or 523-1438.

By RICHARD BECKER

Our International Action Center delegation led by Ramsey Clark, the first from the U.S. since the August 20th cruise missile attack, arrived in Khartoum, Sudan on Sept. 18, just as the Clinton-Starr-Congress media spectacle raced toward a crescendo. There was a surreal quality to it: returning to our hotel after visiting the blasted rubble of what had been the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory, we could watch endless CNN speculation on whether the president would be impeached or forced to resign for having an affair.

Everywhere we went in the Sudan we heard the same question: "Why?" Why had the world's superpower launched a surprise attack on a country with the meagerest of resources, destroying its main source of life-saving pharmaceutical drugs?

Pain and anger was universally evident in the voices of the questioners, whether they were government ministers, doctors or shoppers in Khartoum's marketplaces.

Dedicated in 1997, Al-Shifa was the flagship of Sudan's health system. Heads of state and ambassadors from several countries attended opening ceremonies. Far from being a secret "chemical weapons-related facility," as President Clinton described it, Al-Shifa was a frequent stop for visiting dignitaries, and groups of Sudanese schoolchildren.

Now, the edifice of lies constructed by U.S. national security officials seeking to justify an unjustifiable act has crumbled. The factory's U.S. designer, the British technical manager for the plant's construction, and the Jordanian engineer who supervised production, are among those who have testified that it was impossible for Al-Shifa to have been a chemical weapons plant.

The plant had raised the Sudan's self-sufficiency in pharmaceuticals from 3 percent to 50 percent. It was producing 60-90 percent of the country's drugs for treating the seven leading causes of death. The list is topped by malaria and tuberculosis, both of which have resurged in recent years.

Al-Shifa produced all of the country's veterinary medicines. The Sudan's large herds of camels, cattle, goats and sheep -- critical to the food supply - are plagued by treatable infestations of parasites.

It was also an important exporter of human and veterinary drugs to other African and Middle Eastern countries, and was recently contracted by the UN Sanctions Committee to ship medical supplies to Iraq.

The Al-Shifa facility was a packaging plant. It received processed materials, mixing and packaging them as tablets, capsules and syrups. Dr. B.A. Salam, of Sudan's Central Medical Supply, told us that, "this plant did not even have equipment to synthesize milk into cheese." But it enabled the country to obtain critically needed drugs at 20 percent of the purchase cost on the world market.

With a per capita gross national product of about $300, importing replacement pharmaceuticals is impossible. One person was killed and others terribly burned -- one of whom we visited in Khartoum Teaching Hospital -- in the missile attack. In the coming months and years, thousands more will die due to the lack of medicines Al-Shifa would have produced.

The bombing of Al-Shifa was neither a mistake nor an "intelligence failure." It was instead part of an on-going war against the Sudan. U.S. arms are fueling a devastating civil conflict that has made more than 10 percent of the country's 28 million people refugees. U.S. economic sanctions block the acquisition of insulin, sutures, blood derivatives, and countless other medical supplies. This war is largely hidden here, but it is a daily reality for the Sudanese people.

Sanctions, destabilization and war -- these are the same deadly tactics that have been used against Nicaragua, Angola, Cuba, Iraq and other developing countries which have had the audacity to seek an independent path. The objective is to make them bow before the dictates of Washington.

No single act could have been more devastating to the health of the Sudanese people than the destruction of the Al-Shifa plant. We in this country must join the growing international campaign to demand restitution by the U.S. government for this violation of international law and human rights.

• Richard Becker is the Western Regional Co-Coordinator of the International Action Center, whose National Chairperson is former Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Reprinted with permission.

ACTION For information, call 415-821-6545 or: <www.iacenter.org> Email: iacenter@iacenter.org

Enter the 1999 Peace Essay Contest!

The 1999 Peace Essay Contest will honor the legacies of people and groups, past and present, who have worked for peace, justice, and/or the environment through nonviolent social change.

The contest is open to all fifth through twelfth grade students in Stanislaus County. Prizes range from $25 to $150. Deadline is December 4, 1998.

ACTION: For details contact the Modesto Peace/Life Center for a flyer, 720-l3th Street, P.O. Box 134, Modesto; phone at 529-5750; or email at peaceessaycontest@juno.com

By BETH SIMS

On Sunday, November 1, 1998, two development workers who recently returned from Central America will give a slide show and talk on village water projects in Nicaragua. Laura Power and Errol Comma will speak at 6:30 pm at the College Avenue Congregational Church, Orangeburg and College in Modesto.

Power and Comma work with El Porvenir, a small nonprofit organization based in Sacramento. It sponsors community self-help water and sanitation projects in Nicaragua. Responding to requests from small rural communities, El Porvenir staff work with village residents to enable them to improve their health through cleaning and rehabilitation of existing wells, new hand-dug wells, family latrines, and lavanderos (washing facilities). The organization is also actively engaged in reforestation to preserve the water table in project communities .

Projects are small scale and use appropriate technology. Village residents provide all of the labor on a volunteer basis; El Porvenir provides the materials, transport, and staff support. The communities not only construct the projects themselves, they also take responsibility for their long-term maintenance. A recent evaluation of the sustainability of El Porvenir well projects completed between 1990 and 1994 showed that 17 out of 20 were still functioning in good condition, having been maintained and repaired by the village water committee. To date, El Porvenir has financed and assisted nearly 100 water, latrine and lavandero projects in the provinces of Matagalpa, Boaco, Leon, Managua, and on Ometepe Island.

Power and Comma will also talk about the one-week and two-week work trips which El Porvenir offers to people who want to participate in the construction of a village water project. Small groups of 10 or fewer persons live and work in a rural community and join local families in carrying out a project.

El Porvenir also offers a one-week educational tour in January. The tour members do not construct a project but visit a number of water project communities as well as other places of interest in Nicaragua.

For those interested in current developments in the economic and political life of Nicaragua, Power and Comma will be available to answer questions.

By DON MCMILLAN

Peace activists from across the country converge on Fort Benning, Georgia, the weekend of November 20-22 to call attention to international injustices. They believe the Department of Defense-operated School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning has contributed to many human rights abuses in Latin America.

According to the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) web site, the protest is timed to commemorate an infamous November 16 massacre nine years ago. In this raid, Salvadoran Army troops killed six unarmed Jesuit priests and two of the priests' fellow workers. UN truth commission inquiries cited 26 Salvadoran Army officers for their responsibility in the killings. Nineteen of these cited officers had graduated from the School of the Americas, SOAW reports. SOAW lists many more incidents in which SOA graduates have exercised repressive violence.

Protesters will attempt to enter the school facility, risking arrest for trespassing. In past years, protesters have been arrested, and repeat offenders have served jail sentences.

Father Roy Bourgeois decided to work for the closure of the school after his work with poor people in Latin American parishes was often interrupted by military operations led by SOA graduates. Bourgeois' activism against the school has built formidable momentum, but the school survives to this anniversary of the November 16 El Salvador slaying.

The State of New Jersey called for the school's closure late in 1997. Amnesty International USA also passed a resolution calling for closure. Locally, the Green Party of Stanislaus has joined the fray. (See accompanying resolution.)

Presently, legislation has been introduced to both houses of the U.S. Congress which would mandate the school's closure. California activists wanting the school closed can be grateful that our present senators both cosponsor S. 980. However, such activists in the 18th congressional district (including Stanislaus and Merced Counties) do not have their views reflected by Representative Gary Condit, who is not a cosponsor of H.R. 611, the House version of legislation to close SOA.

Representative Condit's inclination appears to be in support of SOA. In mid-September, Representative Joseph Kennedy offered an amendment to close SOA to appropriations bill H.R. 4569. This Kennedy amendment failed to pass by a mere 11 votes (212-201). Representative Condit voted with the majority.

A vigil commemorating the November 16, 1989, murders and showing local support for the annual demonstration at the School of the Americas, will be held at the Federal Building, 12th & I Streets, November 20, 3-6 pm.

ACTION: To consider the case against SOA, visit the SOAW web site at http://www.soaw.org/. Contact Representative Condit: Phones: (209) 527-1914 & (202) 225-6131; Fax: (202) 225-0819; E-mail: rep.condit@mail.house.gov; Postal address: 2245 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515.

October 11, 1998

Whereas School of the Americas graduates have repeatedly been implicated in human rights violations in Latin America and

Whereas the School of Americas has used training manuals which include instruction in administering torture and

Whereas we are United States Citizens taxed to operate this school and

Whereas the Green Party stands for Grassroots Democracy rather than "democracy" imposed militarily by centralized, authoritarian governments and

Whereas the Green Party stands for Nonviolence--negotiating fair resolutions to conflicts while respecting opponents' safety and dignity--and

Whereas the Green Party stands for Global Responsibility--that as citizens we are responsible for the actions of our government abroad--and

Whereas the continued funding of the School of the Americas--regardless of reforms the School claims to have made in adding Human Rights instruction to its curriculum--is not, in our judgment, a sound investment of tax revenue, given that military training does not further our aim of allowing Latin Americans to achieve non-violent, grassroots democracy,

Therefore the Green Party of Stanislaus joins Amnesty International USA, the State of New Jersey, and the School of Americas Watch in calling for the closure of the School of the Americas.

We further call on our elected Congressional representative, Gary Condit and any successors, to cosponsor legislation (currently HR 610) to close the School of the Americas. We commend Senators Boxer and Feinstein for their cosponsorship of S 980, the Senate version of HR 610.

We further invite other California Green Party locals as well as the California State General Assembly of Green Parties to consider likewise calling for the closure of this school.

And we would support any resolutions in the California State Legislature calling for the closure of the School of the Americas.

By MARY BAUCHER

The Eighth Annual Alternative Faire will be Sunday, November 29, from 12:15 to 2:00 p.m., at the Modesto Church of the Brethren, 2301 Woodland Avenue in Modesto. Make a list of your friends and loved ones to whom you wish to give a gift. Whether something tangible or a gift of love which helps someone in our community or world, it will be here. A light luncheon will be served until 1:30.

Among the organizations represented at the Faire will be the Church World Service Blanket Program (purchase a wool blanket for $5 for use by starving and displaced persons); Inter-Faith Ministries (from which many needy in our community receive food and clothing); Heifer Project, International (buy shirts or contribute money to purchase an animal or tree for a hungry family elsewhere in the world); and Habitat for Humanity (build houses WITH families of meager incomes in our community).

Also represented will be The Modesto Peace/Life Center (purchase T-shirts,books, pins, bumper stickers); SERRV International Gift Shop (featuring items made around the world helping artisans be self supporting -- see article, this issue); Trees for Life (helping communities in need reestablish food, fuel and shade trees); UNICEF (selling calendars and cards and receiving contributions to help children victims of malnutrition, disease, poverty, and ignorance); and GAP, the Guatemala Accompaniment Project which places outside observers in villages for three months to one year as an international presence to monitor human rights violations and live with the indigenous people.

All are welcome to come, eat and fellowship while making the holidays truly express love for friends and family and at the same time help alleviate the miseries of others in our community and world. Remember, there will be items you may purchase as well as agencies to which you may make contributions in the name of others.

ACTION: Meet us at the Modesto Church of the Brethren, Sunday, November 29 between 12:15 and 2:00 p.m. (lunch will not be served after 1:30 p.m.), and come prepared to shop!

By MARY BAUCHER

There are many new items in the SERRV International Gift Shop at the Modesto Church of the Brethren, 2301 Woodland Avenue, Room 4. Come any Friday or Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to see candles and candle holders, carvings (especially interesting are the animals or the shapes with an animal inside), baskets of many shapes and colors, jewelry, bookends, Christmas ornaments, crches, a wide selection of angels, rhythm and musical instruments, and soap dishes.A wonderful selection of coffee beans with flavorings and spices tempts the palate.

To view the catalogue and order a quantity of gifts for Christmas giving or incentives for students, call Marye Martinez at 523-0449. Call right now since shipping is taking longer these days. If you would like to make an appointment to see the shop at off-hours please contact Mary at 523-5178. If you wish to have a display of items brought to your club or church meeting, contact Lenore at 522-6497 or Marye at 523-0449.

A purchase from SERRV helps artisans from 40 developing nations and several economically depressed regions of the United States. Artisans gain self-sufficiency and sell their products for a fair price. So, come visit the SERRV Gift Shop for your Christmas and holiday giving for lovely items that, in turn, help others.

By PHYLLIS HARVEY

When you send a UNICEF card or gift, you are sending a very special message: one that says you are taking an active personal role in helping the world's children by contributing to the United Nations Children's Fund.

UNICEF works in cooperation with the governments of 161 countries and territories to help meet children's needs and protect children's rights. Since 1946 UNICEF's mandate has been to promote the right of every child to health care, education, improved nutrition, safe water and sanitation, as well as protection from exploitation and abuse.

A little goes a long way! For instance: Seven cents provides three Vitamin A capsules for protection against blindness and other health risks from Vitamin A deficiency for one year. Two dollars and thirty five cents provides basic educational supplies for one child.

Over one third of UNICEF's budget comes from the general public. By buying UNICEF cards and gifts and making donations to the US Committee for UNICEF, individuals show their gracious support for UNICEF's efforts.

ACTION: Buy UNICEF Calendars, cards and games at the Alternative Fair, Sunday, November 19, from 12:15 to 2 pm, at the Modesto Church of the Brethren, 230l Woodland Ave.

By BARBARA DENLIS

The message was loud and clear: build it and they will come! This was the message delivered at the Pro Bike, Pro Walk Conference which took place in Santa Barbara, CA on September 8 -12, 1998.

Sponsored by the Bicycle Federation of America and co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers, (WHEW!), the event drew participants from all over the world. The purpose of the week-long conference was to explore ways to build better, more livable communities by incorporating bicycling and walking into the transportation system.

Bicycling is increasing in popularity as a transportation alternative. National polls have found that 17 to 20 percent of adults say they would sometimes bike to work, if safe routes, workplace parking, and changing facilities were provided. According to "Improving California Air Quality Through Increased Bicycling", a report published by the CA Air Resources Board (ARB), 105 million Americans rode a bicycle in 1997, a significant increase over 1991 levels. The ARB concludes that bicycling is important to the health of Californians, and not just to those doing the cycling. Quoting the report:

"About 7 tons per day of smog-forming gases and almost a ton of inhalable particles are spared from the air we breathe due to the current use of bicycles rather than motor vehicles. If Californians were to replace an additional 3 per cent of car and light truck trips with bicycle trips by 2010, a reduction of 2.1 tons per day of smog-forming particles (ROG and NOx) and 0.6 tons per day of inhalable particulates (PM 10) would occur in the San Joaquin Valley alone."

Communities can lead the way in promoting these transportation alternatives by placing a strong emphasis on providing adequate and safe facilities, establishing bicycle and pedestrian-friendly local policies, and creating staffed bicycle /pedestrian programs. With the passage of the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st century (TEA-21), more money than ever is now available to fund safe bicycle and pedestrian facilities and to staff bicycle/pedestrian coordinated programs. To find out more, plan on attending one of the "Bucks for Bikes" workshops coordinated by the Local Government Commission.

ACTION: For more information on the "Bucks for Bikes" workshop, or for copies of the reports mentioned, contact Barbara Denlis at 558-7830, at Stanislaus Area Association of Governments (SAAG).

By MYRTLE OSNER

In talking with Barbara Denlis, she commented that she is hearing more and more from people who want to ride bicycles but find that it is unsafe because of such things as narrow shoulders, lack of bicycle lanes, no way to cross barriers such as canals and the rivers, intense competition from autos and trucks who speed along, often swiping bicycles on the way and acting as if they either don't see you or don't believe that bicycles have the same rights as autos. {Did you readers know that?}

Corridors where many children use the streets to get to school, walking or bicycling or skating, are often unsafe.

Isn't it time to revive the bicycle lobby? We once had a perfectly good bike plan which never was finished.

As far as I know, it took about 10 years to get the bike crossing bridge and its approaches on both sides of Dry Creek into Kewin Park to be installed, to say nothing of the surfaced path from Kewin Park to El Vista. While these are great accomplishments, they don't answer the need for safe passage along public streets.

By NANCY DIMOND

The cooler weather has put me in the mood for soup. A friend in Colorado served this as a first course to a rather large meal, but I like it with just a spinach salad (or other green food for color contrast) and good bread. I think the original recipe came from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook.

Curried squash and mushroom soup

2 medium butternut squash
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon butter or oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 medium cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
dash of cayenne pepper

Cut the squash in half. Lay the squash in a baking dish, cut side up and pour water in dish around squash. Bake at 375F until squash is soft. Scoop out 3 cups of squash and puree in blender until smooth. Put this and orange juice in soup kettle.

In another pan saute butter, onion, garlic and spices until onions are very soft. Add mushrooms, cover and cook about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add onion/mushroom mixture to squash and heat through. Add cayenne to taste.

By COLLEEN A. BACA

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. African Cradle Inc., headquartered in Modesto, is a non-profit adoption facilitator placing orphaned and abandoned Ethiopian children with loving families in the US. African Cradle, Inc., relys solely on donations.

The Children's Center in Addis Ababa, has about 60 children at any given time, waiting to come home to their families in the US, and waiting for their future families to choose them. Forty-eight children were settled last year, some in this area.

Supplies are low. All kinds of baby's and children's items are needed, including clothes, books and toys, as well as cash for medical costs. The immediate goal is to ship things in time for for Christmas.

Many children come to the center weak and emaciated. The care they receive often makes the difference between life and death. Despite some rough backgrounds, they are remarkably happy, well adjusted and friendly children, with love to give to their new families. African Cradle, Inc., has also worked with the sisters of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, placing children they have referred.

The founder of African Cradle, Inc., Amber Stime-Kassa, MSW, is herself an Ethiopian adoptee. Her passion for the project is inspiring. The staff include an M.D., an RN, child care workers and others. The directors hope to expand services by opening a medical clinic, a school and by offering counseling in birth control and prevention of HIV infection, thus serving the needs of the Ethiopian community. The only American program of its kind, African Cradle, Inc., is nurturing a brighter future for Ethiopian Children.

ACTION: Consider a tax deductible contribution to African Cradle, Inc., 509 13th St., Suite 5, Modesto, CA 95354. Phone: 209.575.1980, Web: info@africancradle.com. And, thank you.

By FRED X

Seven days in Cuba, shortened by one for a hurricane and one to nurse a back traumatized by a fall in a slippery shower, spawn no new insights into how US blockades damage Cuba.

We saw a bifurcated society in an ostensibly one-class socialist wonderland, the rich subsidizing the poor, as maybe they should. Cubans earn remarkably little - one said an equivalent of $20 (US) a month, but fill many needs for equally little - rents, food, clothes, museum fees for pennies. Aliens pay in US dollars, the accepted medium of exchange, what Cubans pay in pesos, about 1/20th as much.

We saw pushy peddlers, pushier beggars, and posh restaurants costing $100+ - five months' pay - for two people. Across from our "hotel" was an attractively furnished "paladar," a home restaurant run by a Cuban who prepared superb meals for $8 a head. He said the regime encourages such free enterprise as long as he doesn't exceed 12 clients. An inspector finding 13 would shut it down. We found similar taxis - "need a ride to the Hemingway mansion? Se–or Gomez in the next block will take you for $5" - and heard of private lodgings which could not have been worse than ours.

We found an "Americanized" population, laid back and informal, a racial blend who know who they are. Mexicans reject their Spanish AND their Indian roots; not Cubans. Clad largely in beachwear (maybe all they can afford), they like Americans, and did not blame us for the atrocity of nearly four decades of economic blockade. They follow US sports on TV (no doubt via pirated satellite signals) and prefer baseball while Mexicans like soccer.

The economy seems artificial; maybe based in unreality. But with normal relations, including US medicines and consumer goods, Cuba would be more American than Puerto Rico. Cubanos see their revolucion differently: Mary sees a lack of enthusiasm, a matter of factness 40 years after the US puppet Batista was ousted, not like the enthusiasm for "Free Grenada" we saw in 1983. I noted many Cuban flags, a sense of being beholden to no one, Cuban (and visiting) noses thumbed at Helms, Burton et al. No matter what follows Fidel, I don't see Cubanos knuckling under again. They have a Karl Marx Theater, faith and unity billboards, Jose Marti airports and monuments, but are not hysterical about it.

The blockade is a petulant piece of one-ups-manship the US invoked when Cuba nationalized some assets our corporations stole earlier, a step totally in keeping with international law if proper compensation is paid. Ottawa told Canadians who complained to go back and negotiate; they did, and were paid well. We reduced Cuban sugar imports, and thus pushed Castro into the Soviet orbit.

One penalty we gringos thus must pay: We must take cash, US greenbacks. (Change may come in Cuban coins, appreciated souvenirs.) Our credit cards and travelers' checks don't work, because US financial institutions don't make good on them. Other tourists don't face such hassles.

Fidel seems hugely likable, an hombre simpatico. Now 70+, he is an ex-lawyer and student body president, given to garrulousness. In a live snippet on TV, two reporters stopped him for a sound bite in a weather lab as hurricane Georges neared. Fingers waggling, eyes sparkling, he harangued like a Cuban uncle about threats to agriculture but socialism-will-rebuild; the camera simply couldn't cut away. It may be all mirrors and smoke, but I saw not an evil bone in his body.

Sprawling Havana is incredibly shabby. Few buildings, downtown or in the pretty art deco '30's-'50s neighborhood that housed our hotel and many embassies, have been painted or repaired since Fidel's minions marched in from Oriente Province on New Year's Day 1959. There's just no money, even if the government offers some aid. Away from the beach front, slums are huge, and appalling.

From the outside, store shelves look barren. There are some new Japanese, Swedish, etc. cars, but the most popular models in Havana are Ladas and Moskviches, "people's" cars of the old Evil Empire. US Buicks and Cadillacs are 40+ years old. Parked in front of our hotel - it ran! - was a 1949 Studebaker. (In the windshield of an equally aged van I saw a digest of articles from the Soviet press, dated January 1982.) They somehow keep running, although the sight of two or more heads under a hoods of cars by the side of the road is more common than street signs.

All these observations sadly were subjective, left meaningless by a "tour" (sold by San Miguel's own VJ agency, whose sign had intrigued us). I came prepared to enthuse over Cuba, to enjoy everything La Revolucion had to offer, but this tour was an unmitigated failure.

I realize that a $299 "deal" can't mean Riviera or Copacabana lodging. That $299 had, however, risen to $386 by the time taxes and visas were added. Paying a "covered" $20 Havana airport tax a second time put it over $400. But hostelry norms anywhere in the world include hot water and a toilet seat.

The Icemar had neither. The Icemar was noisy, with banging and clanging all hours, clunky, wheezing generators, bright lights outside our rooms. We got a chance at lukewarm bath water dribbling through a clogged, rusty shower by accepting a move across the street to that seatless toilet. We never saw a washcloth. We got a bath mat only after my unfortunate tumble. Our friends (both retired) were forced to move twice, once to a third floor. There are no elevators in Cuba. The "included" breakfasts were essentially inedible: sweet, sugary juices, cheese sandwiches on stale bread, eggs apparently fried in recycled petroleum; all were served amid thick flies.

We had told the travel agent that we cared about meeting people. We never came close. We cared about cultural offerings. A man came to sell us a city bus tour on our first day and a cabaret show (later canceled in fear of the hurricane) for our last, but otherwise we were completely left on our own to ascertain what museums might interest us. At no time did anyone on a hotel staff of uniformly uninformed people have a clue as to where we could learn about anything going on in the national capital.

On the Saturday afternoon before our 6 a.m. Sunday departure from Havana (leave the hotel at 3 a.m.) the Cuban agency informed us that the Mexican agency never sent half its fees to Cuba and the four of us would have to find $700 more among us before we could leave. Sorry, no checks or credit cards. Nothing but cash. We screamed only briefly as we contemplated ending our days in Cuba with no consulate to help. That situation cleared up anticlimatically: with a deadline just hours off, Mexico finally DID think to send the balance of the money. Most of it. We might be held for more at the airport, but who wanted to get up at 3 a.m. to collect it? It was enough that our last day was as ruined as our first.

By NORMAN SOLOMON

Creators Syndicate

Top politicians are eager to let us know that they believe in computers.

"One of the goals should be to replace all textbooks with a PC," House Speaker Newt Gingrich said a few days ago at a computer trade show in Atlanta. "I would hope within five years they would have no more textbooks."

Meanwhile, Al Gore repeated his pledge "to put computers in every classroom and library, giving every child the tools to succeed." The vice president is insisting on a tight deadline: the year 2000.

Imagine -- no more textbooks, just plenty of computers. What an advanced society! Of course, millions of American school kids will still be malnourished due to poverty, but they'll get to sit at computer terminals.

By now, one of the civic rituals of government officials and journalists is to keep extolling the latest computer technologies as indicators of a glorious future. It's part of a huge fixation on form over content. Whatever else happens, rest assured that the computers will run on time.

Various forms of computer verbiage have become so prominent in the mass culture that we're in danger of suffocating from techno-babble. Endless talk about software, innovations in cyberspace, market-share battles and the like are apt to displace less digital concerns.

With such an abundance of time, intellect and emotion focused on computer technology, it may take a real stretch of imagination to recall that all the gigabytes in the world are less important than human memory.

Constant and profuse, the media coverage of computer- related stories doesn't do much to explore some basic questions. For instance: What are the cumulative effects on the people at all those computer keyboards? How can we evaluate the content of the words and images being processed and transmitted? What perspectives never make it to the vast majority of screens?

The most insidious thing about digital hype is its tacit disdain for nature. The conceit of much of the computer world is that, in effect, nature is little more than a set of raw materials -- to be transformed and repackaged as a commodity, then marketed by clever cyber-entrepreneurs.

Dazzled by amazing technical achievements, we're invited into a silicon vortex of simulation. The more that reality is "virtual," the more it becomes a self-parody that is proud of itself. But the wonders of a walk in the forest cannot be replicated away from trees.

In the years ahead, many youngsters will probably discover Aldous Huxley's novel "Brave New World" on CD-ROM. No doubt, the special effects will enhance the impact. Words alone would pale before the multimedia experience.

Captivated by the quantum leaps of computers into almost every realm of life, we're liable to be unduly impressed by the glories of a computerized -- and very corporatized -- status quo.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center tells us that 20 percent of Americans are now using the Internet as a news source at least once a week -- a rate that has tripled in the last two years. If you think that's a good thing, take a close look at the featured offerings of America Online, the country's dominant link to cyberspace.

Most of what's offered on America Online is the same kind of junk we get from more traditional mass-media outlets. On AOL, the marketplace of ideas is more like a shopping mall of notions.

Although some independent journalists and other creative souls have made laudable use of the World Wide Web, the overall direction of the Internet is being driven by capital -- lots of it. But with a big enough hard drive and suitably advanced software, we can fancy ourselves to be -- in the words of Wired magazine -- "digital revolutionaries."

"People can be induced to swallow anything," the dramatist Jean Moliere wrote more than 300 years ago, "provided it is sufficiently seasoned with praise." In 1998, the consuming mania for the computer flatters us with inclusion in its miraculous operations.

THE RESPONSES:

Computers are in our lives already and are here to stay. However, I think we should consider them as part of our lives, not our whole life. I would not like to see computers take over things I like to read. I enjoy getting my news from reading a newspaper and I love to read books. What a bore it would be to take a laptop computer on a vacation instead of a good book to read. I also am concerned about the millions of people who have no access to computers. This more and more divides people into groups. There is a current science fiction writer who, in a short story, tells about people who sit at their computers more and more. Then wires sprout from their heads and they become the computer. I would not like to see this happen.

Most educators realize the value that computers hold for our students, such as quick access to and manipulation of information, the ability to work on a project with someone in another city, state, or country, and their graphic and kinesthetic attraction. Kids love computers, and it is foolish to try to inhibit their curiosity, even if we adults have computer phobia.

It aslo seems foolish to me to think that computers will eliminate textbooks, or even teachers. The thought of seeing classrooms of kids staring at monitors and typing is pretty chilling. Television and video games have already reduced direct communication between people.

Computers will not teach young people how to think critically, solve problems, work cooperatively, appreciate art, care for the environment, or make sound ethical decisions. Guidance from family, friends, teachers, and others in the community will never be replaced by a computer.

Computers are necessary. I have one in my room and as a production tool, it saves me a great deal of time. As an educational tool it is also important, but it is not a book. It does not imagine for you; it limits imagination to the programmer's vision. I also have a TV in my room.

The Chrysler school in New Jersey raised its scores and attendance [without computers] before securing an $8 million technology grant to place a computer in every classroom and in each of its student's homes I have books over 30 years old that are still valid and still usable. Have you seen any thirty-year-old computers lately? Computers are wonderful but they are not going to replace teachers or other humans.

The assets and liabilities of the computer depend on the person sitting in front of it. Like any other medium or tool, the computer can distract us from our lives. Television, movies and books can also be used as a chronic escape from stress in daily living. Addictive and defensive use of any medium is possible.

Moderation is not the only factor to consider. The quality of use varies with the discrimination of the user. People invested in edification will find a world of useful information at their fingertips. Those interested in pornography will find trash. The same can be said for any library.

The computer can be a wonderful means of communication. Its immediacy can save precious time and its global network can bring more understanding and unity in the world. It should not be condemned because there is also a potential of misuse. The Internet gives us an almost infinite number of options. What we choose to do with them is the deciding factor. Taking away that freedom is not the answer.

I agree with many of the viewpoints in the Solomon article. Students spend enough time in front of screens already (watching TV and playing video games), and the computer provides one more opportunity to do more of the same. It can never replace a textbook or novel, because using one's imagination to create images and process material is immeasurably valuable.

As I sat in front of my computer reading this article "online", my son was seated at the kitchen table behind me, reading today's newspaper. I think a key word in all of this discussion is "balance". Yes, we have three computers in our household, and we use them for a variety of different purposes. However, we have not allowed them to replace the printed word. Computers are simply another tool for students to use; they still need to read and think on their own.

The essay depends on either/or presentations, especially the implication that we can have screens and techno-babble or good, old-fashioned text generated from human memory, forgetting that Plato argued against writing, our fundamental technology, as a scourge that would destroy memory. For me, the key issue is a claim that the mania for computers is part of a huge fixation on form over content so much so that in the years ahead, many youngsters will probably discover Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World on CD-ROM. No doubt, the special effects will enhance the impact. Words alone would pale before the multimedia experience. This kind of questioning relates to any sort of shift in media; should we feel guilty to read the Odyssey rather than hear it. In fact many of the claims and questions could serve as fill-in-the-blank statements: What are the cumulative effects on the people at all those [books]? How can we evaluate the content of the words and images [in books]? What perspectives never make it to the vast majority of [books]? These are excellent questions Solomon raises, but does the computer really have any stronger link to malnutrition and abuse of nature than do books?

From the point of view of a writing instructor, there are three other important statements to make here.

First, text is not disappearing; the usually low cost of email and electronic chatting as compared to long-distance telephone calls, the full computer labs with students processing away, and the volume of communication on the internet all testify that computers bring about the generation of more written text than students and others would be likely to produce without screens and instantaneous written communication. Second, while the quality of that text may be in question, most email, news, and advertising correspondence is written to a specific audience, with a specific purpose, and for a specific use--a situation that instructors labor, often in vain, to create for students. (Audience, purpose, and use are also a good triad of perspectives from which to judge the quality of texts we may surf to on the internet.)

Finally, and I think most important, the computer craze is transforming the written page into a TV screen that the user can control, employing writing, images, graphics, animation, sounds. This is not form over content; it is a reminder that form is content, content that should be judged the way we judge any information we mull. Whether words alone would pale before the multi-media experience is an important question that should be asked seriously, just as we have asked whether the written word pales before the spoken word. While form over content may sound frightening, we can look back once more to the Greeks whose most successful rhetoricians well knew the power of emotional appeals, and the appeal of a speaker's appearance, to O.J. Simpson's lawyers who drew on emotion to shape a court decision, and to the screens that bombard us daily with appeals to emotion, often through the use of pulsating, colorful images that somehow urge us to buy. To grant the right of argument making to emotional, image-laden appeals is difficult for text-bound dinosaurs, such as myself, to do. Yet, if we wish to serve our students, especially in thinking critically about all forms of text, we would do well to help them examine how they can deploy and deflect the new capabilities that computers provide.

In response to the Solomon article, I find once again the emergence of polarity. No technology is all good or evil; it is simply a tool. In so far as it connects us better, opening our vision to a wider world, putting resources at our fingertips which were beyond our reach, it is a tool of human growth. If it replaces human interaction, it is counterproductive. If it COMPLETELY replaces time spent in communion with Mother Earth, it is counterproductive. A friend of mine who raves about computers ruining education keeps forgetting that in order to use email and resources, you still have to READ THEM. It is just another medium, and as such can be used or abused. Use it well and wisely -- and not exclusively.

Sierra Club program: backpacking and pack goats

Hear two fascinating women tell of their adventures with pack goats in the wilderness.

A slide/lecture program will feature Lisa Taylor and Claudia Carlson's hikes in the Emigrant, Hoover, and Iceberg wildernesses. The owners of High Sierra Goat Packing will share their extensive knowledge of hiking with goats and their deep respect for the wilderness areas.

Both women started goat packing after a backpacking trip into their favorite Sierra lake with their two pet goats. They came to the conclusion that goats would be able to carry a load into areas their horses couldn't reach. Six years and 30 goats later the two now own and operate the successful High Sierra Goat Packing company in Columbia, California. HS GP is the first commercial goat packing company operating under a Forest Service special use permit in California.

An omitted credit: We goofed