May is National Preservation Month

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn history

Here’s a sample Preservation Month proclamation shown on the web site for the National Trust of Historic Preservation. The hope is that cities, counties and states will sign this proclamation and use it as a basis for publicity based on the 2009 theme: THIS PLACE MATTERS.

Preservation Month Proclamation

Use the following proclamation template to announce National Preservation Month in your community.

WHEREAS, historic preservation is an effective tool for managing growth, revitalizing neighborhoods, fostering local pride and maintaining community character while enhancing livability; and

WHEREAS, historic preservation is relevant for communities across the nation, both urban and rural, and for Americans of all ages, all walks of life and all ethnic backgrounds; and

WHEREAS, it is important to celebrate the role of history in our lives and the contributions made by dedicated individuals in helping to preserve the tangible aspects of the heritage that has shaped us as a people; and

WHEREAS, “This Place Matters” is the theme for National Preservation Month 2009, cosponsored by [name of organization in your state or city] and the National Trust for Historic Preservation

NOW, THEREFORE, I, [governor of your state, mayor of your city], do proclaim May 2009 as National Preservation Month, and call upon the people of [your state or city] to join their fellow citizens across the United States in recognizing and participating in this special observance.

Check here sample programs and ideas for
celebrating the month in your city.

One popular idea is downloading a THIS PLACE MATTERS sign, taking a picture of yourself or your friends in front of a historic structure or area, and then e-mailing the photo to the National Trust. Photographs will be displayed and sites will be posted on a Google map.

Other ideas include tours of historic areas, historic area cleanup, galvanizing the community to save a threatened structure, holding preservation seminars with repair and maintenance ideas for the owners of old homes and businesses, conducting scavenger hunts of various kinds.

In my city last year, we took photographs of small sections of prominent architectural features on historic buildings and put these in a brochure. The object was to identify as many of the buildings as possible based on the snippets in the brochure. Those with the most answers right were eligible for a drawing, the winner to receive a free dinner. Projects like this help draw attention to a town’s older buildings and emphasize that saving is better than tearing town and building new.

Visit me on Facebook!

Jock Stewart Looks at Bailouts

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn issues4 Comments

Mayor: Bailout of ‘Unfortunate Companies’ Not Government Ponzi Scheme

Junction City, April 22, 2009–Tax rally protesters speaking out against the city’s “Help for Unfortunate Companies” program earned a sharp rebuke from Mayor Clark Trail this morning when he said that calling the bailout a Ponzi scheme “dodges the true issues” while creating widespread distrust in the Paternalism in Government (PIG) model.

Implemented by the city council early this year, the PIG bailout program has allocated $7,000,000 in city funds to shore up the unfortunate Badass Hardware Brothers, Tenth National Banking Co of Junction City, and Low RPM Motors at an estimated $1,400 cost per capita.

“I guess I didn’t get the memo,” said Trail “but until my wife explained it to me, I thought Ponzi was that famous producer who made all those movies that needed subtitles.”

The “Ponzi Scheme” battle cry originated at a series of Oink Oink tax protest rallies that swept through the city over the weekend like wildfire running through a sock of stolen money.

Oink Oink organizer Jefferson Rand told protesters that residents were paying more to support the bailout program than they were getting back in the form of tax rebates, stimulus checks and other real benefits.

“That sure sounds like a Ponzi scheme to me,” said Rand.

According to a PIG white paper disseminated by city finance director Cash Poor, “the real issue addressed by the bailout program is based on the philosophy that the placebo effect of taking any prescription at all may save you before the bad medicine in the bottle kills you.”

Jerry Badass expressed concern that his hardware store continues to be unfortunate and that another infusion of bailout money may be required to ensure the company’s survival.

“Ironically, we’re finding that sales are down because those who were planning to shop at our store already spent all of their available cash to bail us out,” Badass said. “How could anyone have predicted that?”

Tenth Banking Company CEO Millie Morgan was jeered by protesters when she explained that her company “strongly disliked” the negative public opinion it was weathering by using the PIG program.

“Since our fiscal analysis was based on the view that our dire straights were caused by ill fortune rather than a failure of management,” said Morgan, “we knew that a business-as-usual approach would soon bankrupt the company. What else could we do but take the money and hope Providence would smile upon us like the old days?”

While flying around the city at a tax payer cost of $2,500 per hour to drum up support for his bailout program, Mayor Trail expressed confidence that sooner or later “something good would happen.”

Copyright (c) 2009 by Morning Satirical News

Book Review: “They Plotted Revenge Against America”

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books3 Comments

THEY PLOTTED REVENGE AGAINST AMERICA THEY PLOTTED REVENGE AGAINST AMERICA by Abe F. March

My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
Terrorism, by definition, operates outside the traditional rules of war. It’s hard to combat because attacks are no longer limited to people wearing military uniforms at well-formed battle lines: they can happen anywhere, at any time, and they may well target people who don’t have any direct knowledge of the peoples and issues involved.

This is the arena of Abe F. March’s chilling novel “They Plotted Revenge Against America.” The novel is chilling, not because it’s filled with larger than life James Bond daring-do in faraway trouble spots. Quite the contrary: this novel takes place on American soil as survivors of the American attack on Baghdad blend in to mainstream America to personally extract revenge against everyday citizens.

“They Plotted Revenge Against America” is a plausible, sobering, intricate and effectively plotted story about a group of well-trained, well-coordinated teams who slip into the U.S. with forged papers and then painstakingly work through a plan that will infect food and water supplies with a deadly virus.

These team members are not the gun-wielding, grenade-throwing stereotypical terrorists we see in most TV shows and movies. They are everyday people who have suffered personal loss and who want to fight back. Once their mission is complete, they plan–if possible–to go back to their normal lives. As the mission unfolds, they alternate between excitement and doubt while trying to avoid detection, and in the process, they discover while blending into community life, that Americans are not the monsters they expected.

Since the overall mission leader is a double agent working for Israel’s Mossad, group members must not only avoid Homeland Security and other U.S. law enforcement agencies, but the highly effective Israel intelligence agency as well. This subplot is a nice touch in a book that suggests we’re more vulnerable than we suspect.

View all my reviews.

Another Novel Makes the Rounds

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, fiction2 Comments

I knew when I completed GARDEN OF HEAVEN in March, 2008, that a 240,000-word novel by a relative unknown would be a hard sell. Nonetheless, I will continue trying to sell it.

However, I’m turning my immediate attention on a 60,000-word novel called JOCK STEWART AND THE MISSING SEA OF FIRE that began making the rounds this week. Those of you who have chanced by my Morning Satirical News weblog have already met the main character: he bills himself as a hard-boiled reporter for the Junction City Star-Gazer of the kind seen in Hollywood’s noir movies of the 1940s and 1950s.

Whereas “Morning Satirical News” takes a gallows-humor look at real issues, the novel finds Jock–and some of the recurring fictional characters from the blog–trying to track down who stole the Mayor’s prized racehorse Sea of Fire and who killed the Star-Gazer publisher’s prized girl friend Bambi Hill.

I’m classifying the book as humor. Now, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that a prospective publisher also thinks it’s funny.

Preparation + Certainty

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn beliefs, enlightenment, heropath2 Comments

“Stand still – the trees ahead and bushes beside you are not lost.Wherever you are is called “here”… the forest knows where you are. You must let it find you.” – David Wagonner

Dreams, like the natural world, often look romantic and beautiful and easy to traverse at a distance. But sooner or later, you must make a start. As an Eagle Scout, I am a long time believer in the both the citizenship and the woodcraft preparation one receives in such programs.

Whether you’re walking alone into the wilderness or stepping into a new career or a new project, real-world preparation gives you the luxury of spontaneity. If you lose your matches, you’ll still be able to make fire; if you lose your trail, your compass and the landmarks you see will help you find where you are on the map.

Certainty comes through this preparation as well as the faith in oneself that where you are is where you must be. Listening to the environment, noting the signs, learning from the trail, and attending to the voice inside your head that is only audible when you sit in relaxed silence, all provide constant beacons that will help you know where you are within yourself and within the natural world.

Crossing the threshold into the unknown quite often brings doubts, for here the poetry of the journey may seem to be falling away and leaving you wet and hungry and mired in realities that test you and frighten you and bring about despair.

These tests are proof you are going where you are supposed to go. Expect them, for they are the stepping stones to success, a path you will best be able to follow if you have faith in what you have learned in preparation and have faith in what that learning has made of you.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Malcolm R. Campbell

Reconnecting Children with Nature

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn conservation, ecology, Glacier National Park5 Comments

WEST GLACIER, MONT. – The education staff at Glacier will offer a free workshop for professionals and others who work with children focused on how to get children outside and engaged with nature. The full-day session will be held on Saturday, April 18 at the West Glacier Community Building from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The workshop is geared toward adults who work with youth in various capacities. Topics to be covered include how to encourage youth to spend time outdoors and fun activities that connect children with nature.

A large portion of the day will be spent outdoors, so participants should come prepared to be outside, regardless of the weather. Lunch and a variety of information resources will be provided.

This workshop is made possible through a grant from the Glacier National Park Fund. Thanks to this generous financial support, all workshop participants will receive a free annual park pass, valid for unlimited visits to Glacier National Park for 12 months plus a copy of Richard Lou’s book ‘Last Child in the Woods – Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.’

“More and more children and adults are becoming disconnected from the natural world. Glacier National Park is hosting this workshop to support goals of the National Park Service Children in Nature effort: To reconnect our youth and their families with the land, create a new generation of stewards, and improve the physical and mental health of our Nation,” noted Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright.

Availability is limited to the first 40 registrants. The registration deadline is Tuesday, April 14. Contact Debby Mensch at debby_mensch@nps.gov or 406-888-7935 to register and/or to ask questions.

Looking Outward Rather Than Inward

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn beliefs, enlightenment3 Comments

“All life is individual life, in which alone, the ultimate meaning is to be found.” — Carl Jung

People often look outward at their neighborhoods, cities, states and nations as though such groupings of people are entities or personalities in and of themselves.

As tempting as this view may be, it lends itself to blaming what cannot be blamed–as though the nation acted independently of the will of those who live there. So, too, does it provide an easy scapegoat to all who believe they’re not playing a role in the place where they live through silence or action or apathy.

Everything is the responsibility of us all as we tend to ourselves and share with our fellow men.

Book Review: The Fall of Rome

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books2 Comments

The Fall of Rome (Wild West Romance) The Fall of Rome by Beth Ciotta

My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
“The Fall of Rome” is a hilarious conclusion to the trilogy Ciotta slung into our consciousness with “Romancing the West” in 2006, then followed up with “Lasso the Moon” in 2007. Reading Ciotta’s fast-moving books with fast-draw, fast romancing characters on all sides of the law has been rather like getting caught in a stampede. Too bad it’s over. But if it has to be over, the shenanigans that begin in Gila Gulch, Arizona Territory (1878) wonderfully tie together a passel of characters and plot lines that go way back to the first book. The good, the bad and the ugly get what they’re dreaming about and/or what they deserve. The sprawling Garrett family and its friends within the covert Peace Maker Alliance bring to Arizona the best qualities of characters played by Gary Cooper, John Wayne, and Glenn Ford along with a dash of the funniest people from “Saturday Night Live.” Needless to say, when a nasty guy like Bulls-eye Brady and a dime-novel hero like Rome Garrett both set their attentions on the same woman, one Kat Simmons of card-shark fame, there will be plenty of fireworks and a paddock full of surprises. Non-stop action with a lot of laughs per page.

View all my reviews.

ICT Launches New Political Prisoner Site

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Tibet2 Comments

from the International Campaign for Tibet

Missingvoices.net, a new ICT website about Tibetan political prisoners, was recently launched by ICT-Germany.

The new English language site is in support of Tibetans who have been imprisoned or who have “disappeared” in the course of the violent crackdown on overwhelmingly peaceful protests in Tibet since March 2008.

ICT is working to lobby world governments to take up the cases of prisoners, and we try to help families of prisoners, who have lost a loved one and are sometimes their only wage earner. Please help us remember and support the thousands of peace-loving, brave Tibetans who have risked their freedom and their livelihoods to support the Dalai Lama, their ancient culture and the human rights of others in their communities.

One of the unique features of Missingvoices.net is that visitors can upload a video statement of support for detained Tibetan political prisoners. Last week, along with the release of our new report, A Great Mountain Burned by Fire: China’s Crackdown in Tibet, ICT published a list of more than 600 Tibetans who we believe have been sentenced, detained or who “disappeared” in total disregard to basic human rights.

Visitors to Missingvoices.net can also learn more about prison conditions in Tibet and sign a petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao. They can also watch powerful testimonies of former Tibetan political prisoners.

We will continue to add new content to Missingvoices.net in the months ahead as ICT redoubles its efforts to secure humane treatment and the release of political prisoners on our watch list. I hope you will take a moment to visit Missingvoices.net soon.

In solidarity,

John Ackerly
President

Book Review: ‘Saara’s Passage’ by Karen Autio

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books4 Comments

Saara's Passage
Saara's Passage
Two days before her twelfth birthday, Saara Mäki became one of only four children to survive the May 1914 sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland in Karen Autio’s acclaimed debut novel “Second Watch.” (2005) Now, the beautifully written “Saara’s Passage” picks up the story during the months after her ordeal in the dark, cold waters of the St. Lawrence River.

Saara, who is suffering through graphic nightmares about the tragic end of the family’s dream trip to see her grandparents in Finland, faces the disruption of her schoolgirl world as a new ordeal appears: her Aunt Marja has been stricken with tuberculosis, and Marja’s baby Sanni needs a caretaker during Marja’s lengthy stay in the TB sanatorium.

Times are difficult as Canada begins sending troops off to fight in World War I. Can Saara’s uncle, father and mother–who are desperately trying to earn a living–take on childcare duties? Or, can Saara step in and become an adult over night and look after the child and also do the associated housework?

When the Empress of Ireland sank, 68% of the passengers died. Saara wondered why she was spared. During the early 1900s, 45% of those with TB died. Aunt Marja may never come home, and if she does, she will probably be too contagious and weak to care for her baby. Saara is asking herself if she survived for Marja and Sanni.

Saara faces a new passage, one of heartbreak and loss and purpose. This rich, wonderfully detailed historical novel opens a wide window into the world of Canada’s Finnish immigrants almost 100 years ago. Facing challenges of their own, today’s young readers (primarily from 9 to 12) will discover in “Saara’s Passage,” a timeless story that remains inspiring and relevant for all generations.