Postcard from Berkeley

Greetings from Berkeley, CA, to all our friends in Walpole, MA. It has been quite the process getting out here, and dealing with all the things that it took to make it out here. What can I say, but that the Peace and Justice Group gave us the support and friendship needed to be able to make a huge leap. The Group even allowed us to re-connect to our real estate agent, who sold our house in exactly one day.

Our first weekend in Berkeley takes us down to MLK Way and the Civic Center -- there is a Peace Wall made of tiles:





This is also our first trip to the weekend Farmer's Market -- lots of fresh, organic veggies, fruits, and other things grown from the Earth.



Thanks for everything, guys. We will miss the vigils and the immediate company, but you are all always welcome in Berkeley, as I think anyone who loves peace always would be.

Peacewalk Press Release

One World Peace Walk
August 4, 2007

Local peace groups and religious organizations are sponsoring the One World Peace Walk on Saturday, August 4, 2007 calling on our government to take bold steps to bring peace to the Middle East. The purpose of the walk is to give people the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to peace in their personal lives, their community, and their world. The walk is from Norwood to Walpole and has been an annual event since it was started in 2004 in Wrentham. Walkers will carry a small replica of the Sherborn Peace Abbey stone memorializing the “Unknown Civilians Killed in Wars.” The original stone, weighing 2 tons, has been carried to representative sites including Arlington National Cemetery, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima. Sponsors of the walk include the Walpole Peace and Justice Group, Blessed Sacrament Social Action Committee, and the United Church in Walpole Outreach Committee.

The walk will be held rain or shine. Walkers will convene at the Norwood Common at 1:45 PM for a 2:00 Opening Ceremony. The walk will proceed 4.6 miles along Route 1A to the Walpole Common. Walkers may want to park their cars in Walpole and take the MBTA Bus to Norwood Center. Buses leave in front of the Walpole police station at 1:10 and 1:40 PM. Water and a mid-way rest stop will be provided for walkers as well as a support car. The walk will end at approximately 4:30 with a closing ceremony, prayers, refreshments, and a group sing led by local musicians. Members of the public are invited to participate in the walk and the closing ceremonies.

For more information, contact walpole_peace@verizon.net.

Adam Sacks - Democracy in the US

Walpole Talk on the State of Democracy in the United States - Tuesday, June 5, 7:30 PM at Walpole Library

Despite all of the extraordinary efforts of people’s movements since the founding of the United States of America, democracy is as fragile as ever. After decades of environmentalism the destruction of nature is accelerating, oil and resource wars are more dangerous than ever, and the gap between the world’s rich and poor is a deepening abyss.

Why do powerful wealthy interests and influential government officials, woefully outnumbered by the rest of us, always prevail in the end (with occasional relatively minor concessions)? What is it that we don’t know about changing the system, changing the culture, that we need to know in order to create a peaceful and livable world?

The Walpole Peace and Justice Group would like to invite you to come to hear Adam Sacks speak to these questions on June 5th at 7:30 pm at the Walpole Public Library. Adam is the director of the Center for Democracy and the Constitution. A non-profit located in Lexington, Mass. He is currently developing a think tank to explore how to change the current paradigm so that people around the world can survive the 21st century.

For the Walpole Peace and Justice Group

Paul Peckham