MARCH 2007

Sixty-five ways to celebrate the 2007 "Season For Nonviolence."

This calendar suggests ways to celebrate nonviolence locally and to honor two great teachers of nonviolence: M.K. Gandhi, assassinated on January 30, 1948, and M.L.King, assassinated on April 4, 1968.

We focus in this list on local persons, places, events and institutions.

Jan 30-Look up and notice V's of snow geese (or Canada geese, or swans) practicing perfect turn-taking: leaders break the way for those flying back in the V and then others move up into the lead to relieve a leader, again and again. They model a kind of unspoken community sharing of energies and nonhierarchical ordering of group life.

Jan 31-Honor Wilholmina Taggart, as one of the "peace ladies" of Chico: Wilhelmina, Helen Kinnee, and Florence McLane began the peace vigil at Third and Main over forty years ago. You may view a large portrait of Wilhelmina at the Chico Peace & Justice Center.

Feb 1-The Chico Peace and Justice Center is accepting applications for internships for the spring semester. This is good chance to get involved locally in peace and justice issues. The dead line for application is Feb. 5. Stop by the Center for information, 526 Broadway, or call 893-9078.

Feb 2-Donate used crutches, walkers, slings, Bledsoe Boots, Ace bandages, sitzbaths, blood pressure cuffs and the like to the new Shalom Free Clinic, cosponsored by Chico Havurah, a Jewish congregation, and the Congregational Church (United Church of Christ), 1190 E. First Avenue, Chico; call Silona Reyman (894-1821) or Nancy Morgans-Ferguson (518-8422) for information and for suggestions of non-medical sullies as well.

Feb 3-Stand for peace at Third and Main, Saturdays, 12:30-1:30, in memory of Helen Kinnee who, together with Wilhelmina Taggart and Florence McLane, started the Chico Peace Endeavor, and began holding a weekly peace vigil here in downtown Chico.

Feb 4-Stop and read the George Keithley poem inscribed on tiles set onto a stone monument just off the path behind the CARD Center off Vallombrosa Avenue in Chico.

Feb 5-Visit the diversity-affirming mural "Downtown Kaleidoscope," by Jesus Ramirez, at Ringel Park, First St. and Broadway in Chico.

Feb 6-Mayor Andy Holcombe will proclaim the Season For Nonviolence for Chico in the City Council Chambers at the beginning of the City Council meeting at 6:30pm. All who are interested in the Fellowship Of Reconciliation regular meeting following the proclamation will gather in Conference Room #1 instead of at their usual site, The First Baptist Church at 850 Palmetto.

Feb 7-Visit the Bidwell Mansion and learn about Annie Bidwell's Women's Christian Temperance Union work and her friendship with Frances Willard (1787-1870) and Neal Dow (1804-1897). Like many 19th century reformers they understood that drunkenness often led to domestic abuse.

Feb 8-Check out the Paradise Center for Tolerance and Nonviolence web site: pctn.org and Listen to Democracy Now! KZFR Radio, 90.1 FM, 8-9:00 am, Monday-Friday.

Feb 9-The public is invited to hear David Wilson, a member of the Chico Peace and Justice Center, explain the theory and practice of Nonviolent Communication at a " Peace Service" by the Chico Havurah: 7: 00 pm, 1190 East First Avenue, Chico.

Feb 10-Stand with the Saturday peace vigil at Third & Main Sts. in Chico, 12:30-1:30 pm. Feb I I-Stroll Neal Dow Avenue, named by the Bidwells for the 19 th Century Temperance leader and president in 1846 of the World's Temperance Convention.

Feb 12-On Abraham Lincoln's Birthday we might pause to reflect on Chico's Company "A" of the Sixth Regiment of Infantry mustered out at Alcatraz Island May 30, 1864. Our violent Civil War led to the emancipation of the slaves; the nonviolent Civil Rights Movement of a century later sought to assure the right to vote and assemble to all people.

Feb 13-Check out the Fellowship Of Reconciliation website - oldest faith-based peace organization in the world, at forusa.org.

Feb 14-Saint Valentine's Day Send a card to an estranged friend, relative, or neighbor.

Feb 15-Stop by the "Skaters' Gate," artist Eddy Martinez-Hood, at the Humboldt Neighborhood Park, Humboldt Ave.

Feb 16-Stand in line at the Main Post Office on Vallombrosa and note the civility and patience of those who are frustrated by the wait.

Feb 17-Run and walk for health and sports by participating in the Durham Almond Blossom 1K run and 5K (run and walk), a celebration of spring and a fundraiser for the Durham Sports Program; or Stand with the Saturday peace vigil at Third & Main Sts., 12:30-1:30 pm.

Feb 1 8-Chinese New Year (#4705, Year of the Pig), a good day to visit the Chinese Temple in Oroville, 1500 Broderick or the restoration of the Chico Temple in the Chico Museum, 141 Salem, Chico.

Feb 19-Presidents' Day: A perfect date to celebrate Chico's Martin Luther King Statue and Street Dedication to be held at Community Park, Chico, at 1;00 pm to 3:30 pm. Dr. King was a champion and agent of peace and justice for all, and the achievement of this statue and street dedication, an instance of peaceful, nonviolent collaboration by many.

Feb 20-Volunteer to help in one of the Community Collaborative for Youth (CCY) programs, like the Beyond Violence Alliance workshops. Call Diane at 342-NO4 for more information.

Feb 21-Drive over the hump to Durham and savor the almond blossoms in the orchards, or bike or walk Bidwell Park where the wild plums will be in bloom on the North Drive while overhead the geese fly high and cranes "gargle" as they circle.

Feb 22-Stroll Frances Willard Avenue, named for the 19th Century Temperance and Suffrage pioneer and 1879 president of the WCTU (Women's Christian Temperance Union), also a peace activist and friend of Annie Bidwell.

Feb 23-Meditate near the Peace Pole at Trinity Methodist Church, Fifth and Flume Sts. one of many in Chico.

Feb 24-Think of Florence McLane who protested the Titan missile sites near Chico in the 1950s along with Wilheimina Taggart and Helen Kinnee, all three women honored by the Peace bench at Third and Main, and stand with the Peace Vigil at Third & Main Sts., 12:30-1:30 pm.

Feb 25-Learn of Chico's many and diverse faith communities devoted to Peace and Justice for all (Christians, Muslims, Jews, Bahais, Buddhists and others) from their representatives and tables of information at Chico's Religion Fair, at Trinity United Methodist Church, 285 East Fifth Street, Chico.

Feb 26-Stop by the Neal Dow School playground on Neal Dow between Dean Way and East Fifth at about 10: 10 am when the children are all out at recess and notice the many ways they manage to share and resolve disputes nonviolently.

Feb 27-Stroll the path along the south side of Big Chico Creek across from the golf course and enjoy the amazing, dripping fern wall of Maidenhair and other ferns as well as chocolate lilies, buttercups, California saxifrage, and pipevine blooms.

Feb 28-Talk to your child's teacher about how children are taught about alternatives to violence in the classroom and school.

Mar 1-Honor Coleen Jarvis, former Council person, advocate of "safe living environments for parents and children" and leader with other Chicoans in bringing into existence "a variety of homeless prevention programs and activities" at The Esplanade House, 181 East Shasta Avenue.

Mar 2-Visit the Stonewall Alliance to learn about the Young Adults Social, a group for young adults " 18 to twenty-something who identify as "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered" or who question sexual identity." YAS meets Wednesday evenings, 7-9, each week at the Alliance Center, 341 Broadway. Call Bennett at 893-3336 for information.

Mar 3-Stand in support of the Peace Vigil at Third and Main Streets, Chico, and notice that most drive-by Chicoans treat the Peace Vigil participants at Third and Main with respect or with indifference. Overt hostility is quite unusual.

Mar 4-Hear poet David Smith-Ferri present "Battlefields without Borders: A post report back from the war in Iraq," at 12:30 pm in the Unitarian Fellowship of Chico, 1289 Filbert Avenue, Chico. For more information contact Cindy Littman at lit@dcn.org.

Mar 5-Participate in a yoga class or other meditation practice in a quiet place of your own choosing.

Mar 6-Attend a meeting of the North Valley Fellowship Of Reconciliation (F.O.R.), on the first Tuesday of each month, 7-9 pm, at the First Baptist Church at 850 Palmetto Avenue, Chico. F.O.R. is the nation's oldest Peace organization, dating from 1914, and begun by an English Quaker and the Kaiser's Lutheran pastor who shook hands and promised, even as WWI began, to remain in fellowship.

Mar 7-Stop by the new Chico Rotary Plaza linking up the Boys & Girls Clubs of the North Valley, "a Positive Place for All Kids," both ages 6 to 12 (East building) and 13 to 18 (West building), at 601 Wall Street, Chico.

Mar 8-Visit the "Our Hands" monument, artist Donna Billick, in the Municipal Plaza, today, on International Women's Day.

Mar 9-Drive into The Esplanade House complex at 181 East Shasta Avenue and relish the clean, landscaped courtyard and enjoy watching the children play together in safety.

Mar 10-Bring a child or grandchild or neighbor child along with you to stand in Peace as part of the 40-year-old Chico Peace Vigil. Children seem especially to enjoy holding up their own handmade signs for Peace.

Mar 11-Celebrate our unity within diversity at Chico's Celebration of Abraham Annual Dinner, 4:30-7:00 pm at Faith Lutheran Church, 667 East First Avenue, Chico. The evening will bring together Jews, Christians and Muslims (and anyone else interested in knowing their neighbors) to explore common roots, music, the breaking of bread with members of other faith communities.

Mar 12-Donate supplies or equipment to A Theatre On The Inside-Out, programs to create theatrical productions around themes of "bullying, teen suicide, drug and alcohol use and abuse," etc. Call 895-0245 for more information.

Mar 13-Visit the hand-cast plaster sculpture "Rub A Dub Dub, We're All In The Global Tub" on the third floor of the Chico Municipal Center.

Mar 14-On the second Wednesday of each month the Chico Area Interfaith Council meets over brown bag lunch at the First Baptist Church, 850 Palmetto, 11:45-1:00 pm to share concerns and insight relative to peace and justice at home and abroad. All are welcome.

Mar 15-Get away from "it all" with a hike into upper Bidwell Park to look for bluebirds and black phoebes and to seek out spring flowers: buttercups, goldfields, bush lupine, seep-spring monkey-flowers, manroot, glossy leaved poison-oak, dutchman's pipe and popcorn flowers.

Mar 16-Note telephone numbers for help with Domestic Violence: toll free numbers: 1 (800) 895-8476 and 1 (800) 537-2238.

Mar 17-Check out the Boys & Girls Club of Paradise, 6241 Skyway.

Mar 18-With a smaller person, 7 or under, visit the "Circle of Friends" In Bidwell Park's Caper Acres, an assemblage of bricks with names and dates on them memorializing children, parents, and grandparents from Chico or with ties back here.

Mar 19-Pause privately in mindfulness of the onset of war in Iraq, 2003, in memory of all those Americans and Iraqis and others killed and wounded there, and in awareness of those gathering in Chico and else where in sadness and anger.

Mar 20-Spring arrives at 8:07 pm. At the end of the day take time out to enjoy the blooming of the Empress trees, redbuds, lilacs and dogwoods and to "rest in the grace of the world," as the poet Wendell Berry advises in his poem, "The Peace Of Wild Things."

Mar 21-Attend the City Council meeting (6:30 pm, 1st and 3rd Tues.) and observe the ways our civic leaders model nonviolent debate and dispute.

Mar 22-Relish the spring as pipevine swallowtail butterflies "off banks of noon, Leap, plashless, as they swim" (Emily Dickinson, "A bird came down the walk7).

Mar 23-Note telephone numbers for help with Children's Services: California Youth Crisis of California 1(800) 843-5200.

Mar 24-Support Big Brothers, Big Sisters to help Chico youths, offices at 358 East 6th Street; tel.: 343-8407.

Mar 25-Visit the T.E.A.M. Chapman Center at 1010 Cleveland to learn about the "community-based organization working to improve wellness, build cross-cultural ties and foster economic development and educational opportunities for the members of the multicultural Chapman/Mulberry neighborhood." Call 891-5322 for more information.

Mar 26-Walk with your dog or human friend through Bidwell Park where the California Blackberries are in bloom and Red-shouldered Hawks nest atop a creek-side sycamore near the redwood grove.

Mar 27-Remember Harlen Adams for whom a theater on campus is named and who in honoring his gay son started the Chico branch of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).

Mar 28-Visit the emotionally riveting and healing display of thousands of paper cranes hung inside the door and along the halls of the Enloe Cancer Center at 265 Cohasset. This display of cranes folded by Chicoans was inspired by the Hiroshima child who set out to fold one thousand paper cranes as a healing act, but died of radiation poisoning before she finished.

Mar 29-Get down with the "Let's Rock" statue, artist Eddy Martinez-Hood, third floor lobby Chico Municipal Center.

Mar 30-Volunteer to serve at the Jesus Center.

Mar 31-Eat a bag lunch under the Peace Pole at Wildwood Park, Manzanita and Wildwood, and celebrate the state holiday honoring Cesar Chavez, an apostle of nonviolence in the manner of Dr. King and M.K. Gandhi. Chavez later, as they had earlier, led a nation-wide movement for social justice.

Apr 1-Note telephone numbers for help with Elder Abuse: 1 (800) 664-1133.

Apr 2-Visit the redwood Peace Tree at the main entrance to Trinity Hall on the CSU Chico campus (a war club is buried under the roots).

Apr 3-Check out the Torres Community Shelter to see what we can do to support them (101 Silver Dollar Way).

Apr 4- Stop by the "In Memory" Sculpture, "In Memory of the Sister City Affiliation of Tamsui Taipei Taiwan R.O.C. and Chico California USK by Wen-Der Lee, Mayor of Tamsui, 19, July, 1986, on the third floor of the Chico Municipal Center.

Produced by the North Valley Fellowship Of Reconciliation