By Cindy Morris, Marilla Baker, Jyoti Avila, Lauren Rose, at Somerset Middle School, Mrs. Borland's class.

Yolanda Borland's students enter the Peace Essay Contest each year. The 1996 contest fifth and sixth grade topic focused on the story of a victim of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It inspired a school legacy.

Mrs. Borland's class of 1996 read a story called Sadako and the Thousand Cranes . When Sadako was twelve, she was a wonderful runner, but she was diagnosed with leukemia later that year. While she was running in the schoolyard, she collapsed and had to go to the hospital to a section where almost everybody dies. While she was in the hospital, she had opportunities to be brought outside for a little while each day, and this is where she met a boy who was much further along in his disease than she was. Only a short while later, her friend died. Sadako wanted to do something to help herself get well, and one day her best friend came to the hospital with some paper and a folded golden paper crane. There is a legend that says that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, the gods will grant you one wish of health. Sadako said of the cranes, "I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world." She worked diligently on the cranes but folded only 636. Her classmates wanted her to be buried with 1,000 paper cranes, so they finished the remaining ones.

Mrs. Borland's class, was touched by this story, and wanted to do something for world peace. For about two months, they tossed around ideas, and finally came up with a unanimous vote to make a Peace Garden.

About half that year they wrote letters asking permission to start a garden. Mr. Holtz, the principal, let them begin using a fenced off plot of land. The class was ecstatic, until they discovered it was a wasteland full of blocks of cement, broken pipes, and trash! Not even weeds grew there! The class worked hard that year, succeeding in clearing away most of the junk, planting a few plants, and hauling water to them in buckets. None of the plants survived over the summer. For the past three years, Mrs. Borland's class has worked hard in the garden, and now there are plants that have survived one or two years.

This year, we have done many things to support the Peace Garden. During the Math-Blast finals, Peace Gardeners helped with drinks and food. We then went to Morris Nursery and bought many plants with the money we had earned, came back to school, and planted. them. At Open House we made dozens and dozens of cookies, and led tours to show everyone our beautiful garden.

In the Peace Garden we have many vegetables and fruits growing. Each plot has at least one vegetable plant in it, mostly tomatoes. We originally had many strawberry plants. Burchell Nursery donated 5 fruit trees, and we received 5 more. We then planted all of the trees in many different plots. Duartes donated 5 grapevines. We are going to plant them and make an arch across the entrance, so we can hold lessons in the shade.

During the summer, students come in and water so that our garden stays looking beautiful. Our garden is very gorgeous. It has many varieties of flowers, trees, vegetables and shrubs, and all of them give it character. We are all proud to say that the Peace Garden is ours.

When our class works in the Peace Garden, it seems that all of our fights and misunderstandings are forgotten. When we work with the plants and soil, there seems to be a sense of unity, and everyone is willing to work together. One example of when we needed this unity was when the back section of garden needed to be sealed off and we had to transplant a huge fern. We had five people working on digging up the fern, and we got it up, but not without breaking a shovel. Another member of the Peace Gardeners lent us a shovel. Finally we got it up and transplanted. Many people think that while working in the Peace Garden, all that we are learning is how to garden, and not any skills needed for life, but actually we are. When we are in the Peace Garden we work with many other people, and we learn how to get along with others, and how to listen to other people's ideas, and not concentrate on only our own.

The Peace Garden seems like just a garden, (with a few weeds here and there) to people who don't know about it or the meaning behind it, but in a way it is a metaphor for life. In a way, life is like a garden. You can plant seeds of knowledge, some flourish, some don't. Everyone has beautiful skills or flowers in them, but life is not perfect. Each of us has our share of hardships, which can be anywhere from the intensity of losing a loved one, to something as simple as not getting an "A" on a test. Each of these hardships can be represented by a weed. We may have many weeds in a spot where life was hard, and some spots may have no weeds, when life was easy. Each good asset we have needs to be taken care of and nurtured, just like flowers, vines, bushes and trees. If you listen very closely towards the middle of October on the eve of Sadako's death, you can hear the plants whisper softly into the wind, "This is our cry, this is our prayer, peace in the world."

Teacher's Note: It has been an awesome experience watching this dream come alive and continue to blossom and grow as each year's planning and hard work adds to the beauty and creativity of the previous years' accomplishments. My deepest respect and thanks goes to all the students who have made our peace Garden not only possible, but successful. It took a lot of hands, a lot of heart and our district's support to make this a reality. In doing so you have left a piece of yourself and a meaningful legacy for all those who follow in your footsteps.

Thank you for this gift.

Mrs. Borland

Reader's Note: We welcome your help in putting in our winter garden. We need help establishing a pathway and designing and constructing a shady grape arbor so we can hold classes in our Peace Garden during hot months.

ACTION: If you can help, please contact: Yolanda Borland, Somerset Middle School, 574-5300.

By MONIQUE KAMILLE

At the conclusion of Peace Camp 1999, youth ages 11 to 18 discussed opinions about the war in Kosovo. They expressed interest in preserving freedom and protecting innocents from danger, but were unsure that this was what the U.S. was doing by waging war in Kosovo.

As a way of exploring and expressing our understanding of the crisis we pored over newspaper articles and economics and political science textbooks gathering words, phrases and concepts that might help us on our quest for meaning. The result was a poignant Reader's Theatre presented at the conclusion to Camp. Youths involved were Tom Hoberg, Nick Altman, Brian Hoberg, Larissa Saarloos, Sarah Adamcik, and Aaron.

"It is not rational conviction but the acceptance of a creed which is required to justify a particular plan.

"The bombs struck next to the hospital complex and near the market,

Kosovo, N.A.T.O. Iraq

"bringing death and destruction, peppering the streets of Serbia's third largest city with shrapnel and littering the courtyards with yellow bomb casings."

military budgets..Yugoslavia..deepening the scars of hatred

"In a street leading from the market, dismembered bodies in pools of blood were strewn among carrots and other vegetables."

Nation....U.S.....Peacekeepers

"There are no economic or social questions that are not political questions because their solutions depend exclusively upon who wields coercive power."

"Everyone says we need to get involved in Kosovo.

War is wrong.

"We need to get the Serbs to stop killing ethnic Albanians."

Actions of war are wrong.

"The only way to reach Milosevic is by teaching him a lesson the hard way."

Never shall we acquire a world in which bloodshed diminishes if we keep agreeing to military actions.

"We've got to bomb them until they realize that violence is not the answer."

How will acts of violence eradicate acts of violence?

"People like Milosevic don't listen to reason."

How can you fight fire with fire?

"Bombing will stop the violence and hatred."

Bombing will produce what it is supposed to prevent.

"In the interest of humankind, we must do something. Bombing will work to solve the problem."

Bombing in Kosovo is wrong.

"What else can we do? Perhaps there are other solutions."

Actions of war are wrong.

"there will be NO MORE WARS;

"that guns will be illegal;

"that lies, corruption and ignorance cease forever;

"that communication can be used more to resolve problems;

"that everyone will get along and not fight."

Things that we worry about: pollution, global warming, getting drafted, and that the world will never unify itself into groups that can coexist peacefully; that pretty soon unresolved problems will result in world wars; that the United States will be bombed.

By MYRTLE OSNER

Norman Solomon has been contributing his columns to Stanislaus Connections almost since its inception. It seemed fitting that he come to Peace Camp so we could meet him. His theme as guest speaker was the corruption of the media by money and power.

Peace Camp this year was small in numbers and about 50/50 children and adults. Yet those who were there thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and went home with ideas to put into practice.

Everyone pitched in and did the work with a willing spirit. It was the seventeenth year we've met at Peaceful Pines, in the Sierra Nevada on Clark Fork of the Stanislaus River, at the camp run by the Church of the Brethren. Once again Deborah Roberts' food was wonderful. Tim Smart's moonwalk and nature stroll gave new definitions to such activities. Don and Judy Kropp have danced through the decades teaching international and folk dances. The intergenerational dances at camp are a treat; Scott Gifford was back to lead us all in music.

Zeroing in on the immense power of a few individuals and corporations who own a wide spectrum of media outlets from newspapers to radio to television to newsmagazines, Solomon stated that the few owners have a monopoly on the media, mentioning Rupert Murdoch, Time-Warner, General Electric, and other Wall Street firms.

"Priorities are not about journalism," said Solomon. "Biases cannot be admitted, namely profits." He went on to say that one of the most important agendas that cannot be admitted is that the military-industrial complex also owns the communication industry. A further type of monopoly is that in many communities, only one newspaper is alive and well.

Norman Solomon specializes in media criticism, and mentioned FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting as his backup. He distributes through Creators Syndicate. Now living in Point Reyes, Solomon lived for years in Oakland, observing many media and writing a weekly column as well as appearing on talk shows for about 130 radio stations.

Often, reporters feel as if they are writing on the "back of advertising." [Pick up any newspaper except Connections

of course, and you'll see this is true] Newspaper owners look at the bottom line. Advertising is very profitable. This does skew reporting, even though, when you ask, you will be told that advertising departments and editorial departments do not affect each other. Ads that appear are as important as the articles. As an example of this, Solomon pointed out that many ads are actually exploitation of young people. (It made me want to go home and count the number of ads aimed at youth and children--those are the ones I throw away without looking at them. They are what make our paper so heavy every day and use up untold amounts of trees.)

Another telling criticism was of the "Fleecing of America" programs. Solomon notes that the reporters are always after the public sector, but never mention the enormous tax breaks that corporations get. Draw your own conclusions.

On the theme of war reporting: The media use euphemisms to describe war, such as "collateral damage", which do not show the real suffering of people. Reporters create an unreal world that disconnects what is being done from what we pay in taxes.

The "labor" view is not in any paper. Viewpoints come through a "business" lens for the most part.

About the Internet, Solomon says we "have cyberstars in our eyes." There's a romanticism about the Internet . The more we have computers, the less critical we are. It should be just the opposite, he thinks. There is very little criticism of what goes on the Internet, and no attempt to provide accuracy. Solomon believes that America On Line (AOL) is giving us what we can already get in the print media. There are some good websites, but the problem one has to know about a site in order to find it.

Solomon, of course, gave ideas for how to respond; probably all of us have written letters to the editor, which are widely read.

Like any activism, do your research, educate, raise issues, communicate with the powers that be. Look at it as a long-term process. If we choose to focus on the alternative independent media, remember that we can't do one or the other. We must use the avenues of the mainstream also. Listen to "All things considered" on public radio, and if you don't hear what you want reported, call and demand they cover the issues you want.

ACTION: to find websites: www.FAIR.org or www.Pacifica.org