MLK Commemoration features activist, physician, Dr. Mae Jemison

By JAMES COSTELLO

The Ninth Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration will feature the first women of color into space, activist, physician, scientist, teacher, Mae Jemison, M.D. on Saturday, January 25, 2003 at the Modesto Junior College gym, 7 p.m., sponsored by the Modesto Peace/Life Center, City of Modesto, King-Kennedy Memorial Center, and Modesto Junior College.

Dr. Jemison served as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut for six years. As the science mission specialist on the STS-47 Spacelab J flight, a US/Japan joint mission, she conducted experiments in life sciences, material sciences, and was a co-investigator of the Bone Cell Research experiment. Dr. Jemison resigned from NASA in March 1993. 

Dr. Jemison founded The Jemison Group, Inc. to focus on the beneficial integration of science and technology into our everyday lives. Company projects have included consulting on the design and implementation of solar thermal electricity generation systems for developing countries and remote areas and the use of satellite-based telecommunications to facilitate health care delivery in West Africa. 

Join us for this yearly event in remembering Martin Luther King and hear Dr. Jemison’s inspirational message. More information will appear in our January Stanislaus Connections.

Through a child’s eyes

By MYRTLE OSNER

There is no more permanent gift than a good book. Some are worth reading over and over, passed down through the family or given away to other children. And so the gift keeps on giving.

One suggestion is Journey to Topaz, by Yoshiko Uchida.  The story  is “a child’s view of Japanese-Americans’ W.W.II internment," according to the Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock.

Playwright Jeanette Farr has converted the story into a one person play with the only character being a young girl.  Performances of the play were held in November through the Turlock City Arts Commission and local schools.

“Sixty years ago, in the fearful days following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States government made a decision to uproot nearly 120,000 Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast and forcibly relocate them to hastily converted horse stables and fairgrounds around the state,”  according to the Carnegie Arts Center. “In her children’s novel Journey to Topaz, the late Berkeley author Yoshiko Uchida tells the internment story through the eyes of an eleven year old girl whose world is shaken first by the Pearl Harbor attack and then by her government’s orders."

"The voice of the storyteller does a lot for the story,” says Farr, a former Turlock resident.  “In the book, there’s an innocence, with no preconceived notions and no judgments. Its an important story to tell right now. In the wake of September 11, there is such a lack of trust. People are putting up those walls."

The play is part of Stages of Discovery, Sierra Repertory Theatre’s program which offers schools and other groups an affordable way to bring a professional performer into classrooms to bring to life important historical or literary figures and explore challenging issues.

ACTION:  Schools interested in booking campus performances should call SRT Education Director Jan Mangili, (209) 532-0502.

The Gifts that Keep on Giving

By MYRTLE OSNER

Do you know someone who “has everything”? Instead of giving them some more stuff that they really don’t need or want, there are  “alternative giving” choices.

Friends and relatives can be honored by giving to an organization which carries out work on your behalf.  (See Karen Lee’s article on the Modesto Peace/Life Center on page 2.)

A number of organizations offer the opportunity to “shop” for alternative gifts at fairs. Locally the Modesto Church of the Brethren Modesto will host its annual alternative fair on  December 1st.

It may be that the person you wish to honor is concerned about the welfare of children in our society. Locally we have several ways to contribute. All I have listed are non-profit, needing charitable giving, though often government funding is necessary for their survival. Some examples:

Children’s’ Crisis Center P.O. Box 1062, Modesto CA. 95363. These are the only shelters for abused, neglected, and at-risk children in Stanislaus County. A new shelter has recently opened in Oakdale, along with the one in Modesto. Often used by law enforcement, social workers and concerned citizens for 20 years.

Haven Women’s Refuge: 619 13th St., Modesto 95354. Provides a safe house for abused women and children, crisis intervention, an emergency response team, and follow up counseling.

Interfaith Ministries, a non-denominational center for emergency food and clothing, 120 Kerr Ave., Modesto 95354, and Modesto Gospel Mission, 1400 Yosemite, are two different agencies to help the hungry.

Nationally, don’t forget the Children’s Defense Fund, founded by Marian Wright Edelman. Advocating for the needs of children for health care, safety, and the problems caused by “welfare reform” is a different way of meeting the needs of children and family. Political advocacy is needed on every level of government: 25 E. St., Washington, D.C. 20001.

Heifer Project International P.O. Box 8058. Little Rock, AR., 72203-8058. Well-known around here through its Western center in Ceres, HPI is famous for its “living gifts”. Worldwide, as well as locally, animals are provided to families who in turn pass on the animal’s first born to another family in need. Truly “the gift that keeps on giving,” thus multiplying the ability to feed people.

The Modesto Peace/Life Center has worked with the following two organizations on Middle East issues and their relief efforts:

Voices in the Wilderness: 1460 West Carmen Ave., Chicago, IL 60640

Middle East Children’s Alliance: 905 Parker St. Berkeley, CA. 94710

There are many other agencies which all are involved helping people help themselves. Oxfam America, The American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), Bread for the World, Witness for Peace, and UNICEF.  

It all comes down to one word: RESPECT 
By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

"If respect was taught in preschool, I wouldn't be out here talking," insists Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, the murder victim of a hate crime in Laramie, Wyoming in October 1998 after being brutally beaten and left to die because he was gay.

Mrs. Shepard, who started the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband, Dennis following the tragedy, spoke on the "Legacy of Matthew Shepard" during a recent Beyond Tolerance presentation at Modesto Junior College as part of the school's National Coming Out Day awareness programs.

A self described private person who claims not to be a trained speaker, Mrs. Shepard laments, "I'm not invited to speak to groups who really need to hear this." Yet she demonstrates through her wit, wisdom and candor her ability "to show the other side the perspective of a mom who lost her son due to anti-gay hate." She sees this as her challenge to "educate in the purest form of the word."

Through her many speaking and media engagements this mom, who has been so cruelly cast into the spotlight, works tirelessly to carry on Matthew's legacy by embracing the causes he championed: gay and lesbian equality and the prevention of future hate crimes.

Citing polls that say 70% of the population supports gay issues, Mrs. Shepard challenged a filled to capacity audience to let legislators know how they feel, reminding her listeners "silence gives permission to let hate language continue."

She feels the message must reach Washington where the legislation has to be passed to safeguard the rights of all individuals. Jokingly she adds, "The flaw in my argument is it's just too logical for Washington to understand."

"If everyone in the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered) community united," she asserts, "we'd be the strongest PAC (political action committee) in the world."

Explaining that "hate is universal," she goes on to say, "I don't believe any group was put on this planet to be ostracized". We are here to love and share and grow and be with everyone."

Statistics show hate crimes are committed against those perceived to be gay even more than those who actually are.

In the very conservative state of Wyoming she jokingly referred to herself as the state's token democrat. "It is hard to teach about diversity where there isn't any," she continues, but as a result of the attention brought to the state of Wyoming by Matthew's horrific death, she says people "can't sit on the fence anymore." They "pretty much have to say if [they're] for or against gay rights."