Connections needs you!!

This month we say goodbye to two of our stalwart staff. Nancy Dimond, who has been writing our recipes ever since she landed in Modesto, is moving to Maryland with her husband and new baby. Nancy also was a skilled editor.

We need people who are willing to do either of those jobs. Several people could write recipes, but an editor is something else. Attending editorial sessions twice a month for an hour or two, plus doing the actual editing is what's required. We'll teach you.

Hardee Miller is not leaving town, but needs to let go of his delivery route. Once a month for a couple of hours is all it takes. Most of the route is downtown and has to be delivered when places are open.

Thanks to both of these dedicated volunteers. We hope there are others out there who would like to get in on the fun of putting a paper together once a month. No kidding, we laugh a lot together! It's work, but it's also fun!

Peace Essay Contest 2000

The Peace Essay Contest for the Year 2000 offers students an opportunity to share their hopes, dreams, and concrete ideas for creating . . . .

It's great seeing Peace Essay Contest flyers up on classroom walls around the county!

The 15th annual contest is open to all fifth-twelfth grade students in Stanislaus County. Click here for info/registration

Prize money, t-shirts, recognition.

Deadline: December 3, 1999.

Awards Reception: March 10, 2000.

This is a project of the Modesto Peace/Life Center, co-sponsored by the Modesto Junior College Literature and Language Arts Department.

The 1999 Peace Essay Contest received 814 qualifying entries.

Yes, we could use help! There's lots of computer inputting, mailings, and errands between the deadline and awards reception. And this month there's the Harvest Supper.

The Harvest Supper, October 23rd, is a fundraiser for the contest. Volunteers needed for the pie-baking session on Friday, and for preparing salad bar goodies, serving, and cleaning up after the supper on Saturday. There's a job for everyone.

A special thanks to the Stanislaus Connections mailing crew for stuffing flyers in those thousands of newspapers last month! Plus those essay committee members and their friends and relatives who prepared the teachers' mailing.

Peace Essay Contest 2000 Committee: Margaret Barker, Indira Clark, Judith Cochran Pirkle, Pam Franklin, Elaine Gorman, Deborah Roberts, and Sandy Sample.

ACTION: For more information or flyers or to volunteer to help with contest and/or Harvest Supper, phone the Center at 529-5750 or email: peaceessay@juno.com

Who are the Women In Black?

Women In Black stand in silent vigil to protest war, rape as a tool of war, ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses all over the world. We are silent because mere words cannot express the tragedy that wars and hatred bring. We refuse to add to the cacophony of empty statements that are spoken with the best intentions yet may be erased or go unheard under the sound of a passing ambulance or a bomb exploding nearby.

Our silence is visible. We invite women to stand with us, reflect about themselves and women who have been raped, tortured or killed in concentration camps, women who have disappeared, whose loved ones have disappeared or have been killed, whose homes have been demolished. We wear black as a symbol to mourn for all victims of war, to mourn the destruction of people, nature and the fabric of life.

Women in Black is an international peace network. WIB is not an organization, but a means of mobilization and a formula for action. WIB vigils were started in Israel in 1988 by women protesting against Israel’s Occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Women in Black has developed in the United States, England, Italy, Spain, and in Yugoslavia, where women in Belgrade have stood in weekly vigils for peace and tolerance since 1991. WIB New York have been standing in solidarity with the women of Belgrade since 1993.

For information, please visit our website at http://balkansnet.org/women or call 212 560 0905.

Where in the world is Stanislaus Connections?

For those with subscriptions, you probably don't care, but be aware that somebody out there is picking up the majority of the 3000 copies that we print each month. If you have friends that want to read it, maybe they'll get hooked and subscribe later (we can always hope!)

So here's where to go to get a sample: (Partial list)

DOWNTOWN: Box in front of the library kept filled all month (now out on the sidewalk); Condit's office, SCAP office, The Carrot health foods, Gypsy clothing (14th St) Women's Center, The Brighter Side,

Along J St.: Tresetti's, J St Cafe, Beads of Contentment, Deva Cafe, State Theatre, Chamber of Commerce, Warden's Office, Great Valley Center, (l3th St), Harvest Moon.

Other downtown locations you might not expect: Sweetwater Diner, St Stan's, Catholic Charities, McHenry Museum.

Eastside of Town: Raley's Century Center, Richland Market at Yosemite and Claus.

North: Great Valley Museum, MJC at the Student Center, Tutoring Center in the Champion Bldg (Tully Rd.).

Out McHenry: Bagel Express, Bei Jing restaurant, Caffe Espresso, Wherehouse (both stores), the YMCA, Raley's on Tully.

Westside: Richland Market on Carpenter, King-Kennedy Center.

Oakdale: The library, Cafe Bliss.

Waterford: The library.

Ceres: Richland Market Max's Cafe, Custom Hair on Whitmore, Library.

Turlock : The library, Bagel Junction, El Jardin, Coffee Plus, House of Java, Cal State Social Sciences, Radio Station, Computer Lab, sometimes in Student Center.