Advocating for the Homeless: Lorenza Andrade Smith

Wednesday, Dec. 7th - 'Advocating for Systemic Change' by Lorenza Andrade Smith - 1-2pm, Ridenour Room, Dauch College of Business & Economics, Ashland University.

Lorenza Andrade Smith took a leave of absence from her church and conference duties and renounced all of her possessions, including her home, her car and her salary.  She chose to become homeless to fight for the homeless.

Hear her amazing journey on Wednesday, December 7th, from 1-2pm in the Ridenour Room, Dauch College of Business & Economics on Ashland University's main campus.  This presentation is FREE and open to the public.
At age 42, Smith has already led several lives: that of a U.S. Air Force cadet, a housewife and mother, and the pastor of a United Methodist congregation in San Antonio. Contrary to her short stature and soft-spoken nature, Smith now leads the life of an outspoken advocate with a penchant for protest and latched onto politically charged social movements gaining her national attention.  Smith sold all her possessions, rejected her church salary and benefits (which she estimates at around $45,000 a year), and traded her bed for benches, park grass, and parking-lot asphalt. This life has become her newest protest on behalf of the poor and marginalized, she says, a fight for "systemic change."

Over the last few months, Smith has moved between shelters, local rallies, the U.S./Mexico border, jail cells, and meetings with local faith leaders at a frantic pace. "Really, the goal of this is to be in community with those who do not have a voice. ... I'm learning from them, this isn't charity."

In photo above, the Rev. Lorenza Andrade-Smith (right) visits with Jody, a homeless man who is taking shelter inside a box culvert beneath a busy street in El Paso, Texas. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

This program is being underwritten by the Department of Foreign Language, Department of Religion and the Ashland Center for Nonviolence at Ashland University.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Circle Process Workshops

IMPORTANT! SAVE THE DATES! Circle Process Workshops:

Saturday, November 19, 10 - 12:30 -- Hawkins-Conard Conference Rooms A/D
Using Circles to Build Community
Using Circles to teach Content
...
Saturday, December 3, 10 - 12:30 -- Hawkins-Conard Conference Rooms A/D
Implementing Circles Where There Is No Understanding of Circles
Bringing Restorative Justice to a Punitive Justice Setting

Please join us, and invite others who you think would be interested!

If you are attending one or both sessions, please RSVP at RJ-AU@ashland.edu. See you there! 

A 'Thank You' from Bob Votruba and Bogart

 Hello John,

Hope this note finds you well and that your summer is giving you somewhat of a break from the rigors of the school year. I wish to thank you for the interest and promotion of One Million Acts of Kindness. I am currently on an 8,400 mile bicycle ride, with the Kindness Bus following close behind. I am riding and driving both. Please continue to spread my mission's message to any and all and have them visit the website to learn of the seven month long Kindness Bicycle Tour.


Many thanks,

Bob Votruba and Bogart, too!!


For more information on Bob, Bogart, and One Million Acts of Kindness, visit http://www.onemillionactsofkindness.com/

*Image taken from http://www.onemillionactsofkindness.com/about/

Upcoming ACN Event News

Thurs., Nov. 9^th & Fri., Nov. 10^th – Craft tables will be set up in the Hawkins-Conrad Student Center featuring gift quality Nicaraguan handy crafts for sale from 8am-8pm.  These crafts come from the Center for Development in Central America (CDCA), a non-profit organization seeking to address human needs created by poverty in the Western Hemisphere’s second poorest nation by helping communities become self-sufficient, sustainable, democratic entities; by working with Nicaraguan communities to help them realize their own goals, rather than bringing in “ready-made solutions.”

Tues., Nov. 15^th  – Video presentation of ‘Christmas Truce’, 7:30pm in the Ridenour Room, Dauch College of Business & Economics.  The Christmas truce was a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas of 1914, during the First World War.  You can learn more about this time in history here.  This is a ‘Third Tuesday Program’.

ADDITIONAL EVENTS OF INTEREST

 

Ends tomorrow! Oct. 11 – Nov. 8^th -  

Women, War & Peace, a five-part PBS special, premieres

Oct. 11, 2011. The series continues on Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. through Nov. 8.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/features/women-war-peace-series-preview/

If you want to know more about the series… click here.

Weds., Nov. 9^th - Screening of the 2010 French film “Of Gods and Men” – 8:00pm in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium.

N.Y. Times review:     http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/movies/25gods.html

Movie Trailer:   http://www.sonyclassics.com/ofgodsandmen/

**JERZY NOWAK of Virginia Tech speaking in Ohio!**

Tues., Nov. 15^th – Wooster - "Aftermath of the Virginia Tech’s Tragedy: Student Responses and Development of Student-Centered Academic Opportunities” by Jerzy Nowak, Ph.D. of Virginia Tech, 1:00 pm in Fisher 123 on the OARDC Campus.  More information on Jerzy Nowak can be found here.

Tues., Nov. 15^th  - Wooster - “April 16, 2007 Tragedy at Virginia Tech: Memories and Reflections” , 7:00pm at the Westminster Church . More information on Jerzy Nowak can be found here.

 Tues., Nov. 15^th  -  “Dead Man Walking: The Journey Continues" -- by Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ, at St. Martin of Tours Church.  Sr. Helen wrote the book, "Dead Man Walking," upon which the famous movie is based.   Sr. Helen will also be signing her books for purchase after her talk.  

Weds., Nov. 16^th – COLUMBUS - "Aftermath of the Virginia Tech’s Tragedy: Student Responses and Development of Student-Centered Academic Opportunities” by Jerzy Nowak, Ph.D. of Virginia Tech , 3:00pm (time may vary slightly) in the Mershon Center Atrium at The Ohio State University in Columbus.  More information on Jerzy Nowak can be found 

here

 

Speaker Challenges Ohioans to Act Out Their Values

Did you miss Bridget Moix’s presentation ‘Peace is Possible: Shifting from War Making to War Prevention’?  View the presentation now. Learn more about Bridget and the Friends Committee on National Legislation here.

Moix discussed the process of implementing peace on a global level.  She believes it is possible for peace to be the first option in a conflict situation, rather than having nations immediately default to a state of conflict.  Peace becomes a viable option when it is encouraged through specific peaceful tactics.  The military tools in our diplomatic tool box are over developed, and we have only recently begun to develop the peace making tools. 

Strategies to support peace making over war preparation will lead to a more secure global environment that reinforces human rights and offers security to all.  Peaceful prevention is a fairly recent movement, but one that will be essential as the global climate continues to change and global resources become more limited.  Moix encouraged attendees to take action!

Moix leads the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program and has worked for over twelve years on peace and conflict issues within the U.S. and international policy arenas. She began her career with FCNL as an intern in 1996 and worked as a Legislative Secretary from 2002-2006. She returned to FCNL in September 2008. 

Previously she worked with Oxfam America as a policy adviser on Sudan (2005), the Quaker United Nations Office in New York under a New Voices fellowship (2000-2002), the World Policy Institute’s Arms Trade Resource Center (1998-2000), the Quaker Peace Center in Cape Town, South Africa (1999), and as an intern with the American Friends Service Committee during college. She returned to Washington, DC after spending over two years in Mexico City where she directed the Casa de los Amigos, a small Quaker peace and hospitality center.

Moix holds a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University, where she focused her studies on human security and international conflict resolution. She received her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Nonfiction Writing from Ohio Wesleyan in 1996.

If you have any questions about this presentation or how you can become involved in lobbying for a cause, please visit the Ashland Center for Nonviolence in Bixler Hall 116 on the Ashland University main campus or email us acn@ashland.edu for more information.



*Images used with permission - Friends Committee on National Legislation, http://www.fcnl.org