Sunday, October 01, 2006

Getting the vote out with Carlos and Melida Arredondo ~ Cindy Sheehan is coming too


South Florida Peace Events

Carlos and Melida Arredondo will be in South Florida. You must go see them, hear their stories about Alex, hear them for yourself.

Also, Cindy Sheehan will be in Coral Gables in a couple of weeks.

May peace be inside all of us,
Cindy


For Immediate Release
09/27/06
Contact: Lori Russell 954-401-1768 or l_russell_20@ hotmail.com

“Getting the Vote Out for Peace” South Florida Tour
Dates set for October 26 - November 4, 2006

Beginning October 26, 2006, a Gold Star father, a Gold Star step mom, a former Florida National Guard specialist / conscientious objector and a Vietnam war resister will be uniting their forces to educate the South Florida voting public on their experiences living with war. The South Florida Peace & Justice Network has planned ten days of public events in Palm Beach , Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The speakers will visit high schools, universities, churches, migrant camps and other public venues. A traveling visual display honoring those killed in the recent conflicts will be featured and driving throughout South Florida .

In 2004 Carlos Arredondo learned that his son, Lcpl. Alexander Arredondo USMC, was killed in action. He is returning to South Florida two years later to speak to students, parents and concerned citizens about his experiences since losing his eldest son in Iraq , his status as a legal resident and the power of voting. Arredondo is known as the Hollywood father who when advised of his son Alex’s death responded out of anguish and grief by setting fire to a US Marine van and himself.

Mélida Arredondo is Carlos’ wife and stepmother to Alexander. When Alex died and Carlos suffered burns on 26% of his body, she had to simultaneously handle both the US and international press, respond to Carlos’ need for medical care despite a lack of medical insurance and also transport the family to Boston, Massachusetts for funeral services. Carlos and Mélida began speaking about the tragedy of becoming a Gold Star Family at the one-year anniversary of Alexander’s death. They have traveled throughout the US speaking in both English and Spanish and have had numerous articles written on them chronicling their work.

Camilo Mejia of Miami , Florida is a former sergeant of the Florida National Guard. Mejia spent six months in combat in Iraq . While on a 2-week furlough to the US , he decided not to return for duty due to the abuse and torture of prisoners. Charged with desertion and sentenced to one year in prison, he turned himself in. During his time in custody Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. Mejia is currently putting the finishing touches on his book, Road from Ramadi, which is forthcoming from New Press, raising his six-year-old daughter and is an active member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. He is featured in the recently released documentary “The Ground Truth.”

Peter Laufer, a Vietnam War resister, is the author of Mission Rejected: US Soldiers Who Say No to Iraq. This book gives a voice to US servicemen and women who refuse to participate in what they believe to be an illegal and immoral war. A former NBC News correspondent, Laufer has won numerous journalism awards such as the George Polk for his reporting on Americans in prison overseas and an Edward R. Murrow award for his study of Vietnam War veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
To book speakers for interviews, contact Lori Russell at 954-401-1768 or at the email listed above.

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Tentative Dates and Times for Appearances Listed Below

10/27 - Air America Radio Show with Jim Difitti, Miami , Florida
10/27 - Tap Tap Haitian Restaurant in Miami Beach , Florida
10/28 - JADA event in North Miami Beach , Florida
10/29 - St. Maurice Catholic Church Event, Dania , Florida - noon - 5 p.m. Pax Christi
10/30 - Taravella High School in Coral Springs 7:40 a.m. - 2:40 p.m.
10/30 - 7 p.m. Freedom from Fear Event - AFSC - Palm Beach , Florida
10/31 - Lake Worth High School , Lake Worth , Florida
10/31 - Church of the Palms, Florida
11/1 - Farm Migrant Camp- Coalition for Farm Workers, Immokalee , Florida
11/2 and 11/3 - St. Thomas University - Miami , Florida
11/2 - University of Miami - Peace Class - Miami , Florida
11/3 - VeYeYo - Little Haiti , Miami , Florida
11/4 - Boca Peace Corner Honk and Wave, Boca Raton , Florida
11/4 - Radio Miami Bolivarian Circle, Miami , Florida

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http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?tab=1&pid=519380&app=appearances
10/16/06 CINDY SHEEHAN PEACE MOM: A MOTHER'S JOURNEY THROUGH HEARTACHE TO ACTIVISM
Coral Gables FL Info

Foreword

I read a poem about a tombstone once. the poet described how the engraved birth date and death date tell about only two brief moments in time of the departed one's history.

According to the poet, the living happens in the dash between the dates.

This book is the story of Casey Austin Sheehan.

May 29, 1979-April 4, 2004.

This book is about Casey's dash. About his short but meaningful life and how it has inspired his mom to a lifelong quest for peace and justice, and how Casey's dash has inspired thousands of people to give meaning and fulfillment to their dashes.

This is also a story about my dash.

Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan
July 10, 1957-TBD

This book is the heartbreaking story of how my son Casey inspired me to give my dash meaning and to make him as proud of my life as I always was of his.

Casey started screaming the minute his head popped out of my birth canal at 1:01 a.m. on May 29, 1979. Looking back with hindsight, I know he didn't want to enter this "vale of tears," but he had to. He had a mission.

On May 29, 1979, I gave birth to my son. My darling boy. The old soul with the wise eyes that could penetrate my soul from the time those eyes opened.

I gave physical birth to Casey on that glorious day in May. On April 4, 2004, Casey died. He was killed in Iraq in an ambush by the al Sadr resistance fighters. He died going to rescue his buddies. He was shot in the back of the head while he was riding in the rear of a trailer in Sadr City, Baghdad.

I didn't know it then, but I know it now. When Casey died in that back alley of Baghdad, five days after he arrived "in country," he gave spiritual birth to his real mom. The real mom who was hiding behind her ignorance, faith, marriage, family, and comfort began to emerge on April 4.

As I lay in a crumpled heap screaming on the evening of April 4 after the merchants of death and doom came to my house to tell me my son was dead, something snapped. Something had to. No one can take that kind of physical and psychic pain without snapping.

The angels didn't take me that day. I now know as I was screaming "No, no, no! Not Casey, oh God, no!" over and over again, I made a choice and an agreement with the universe.

I had to decide something in my heart and soul. Would I stay here and fall into a depression of grief and regret? Would I voluntarily leave and join Casey through suicide? Or would I stay and fight? At that moment, my soul chose to stay and fight.

How else can I explain the source of strength and courage that has poured into me and through me beginning with the awful moment I learned that he had been prematurely taken from me and our family?

Casey's life was and has been a source of that courage and strength.

This book is a celebration of Casey's extraordinary life.

This book is also an odyssey of one mom's journey from a place of pure pain to one of pain that is also infused with joy and hope.

This book is a story of one mom's journey from being a "normal" mom to one who went to the seat of power and challenged the king and triumphed and who meets and is lauded by heads of state and also vilified and hated by other heads of state and much of the American media.

This book is a story of one mom's journey from believing that her son was a "war hero" to believing that her son died as a victim of the war machine.

This is a book of one mom's journey from ignorance of history (even though, ironically, she majored in history) to being an active participant in making history and having an effect on social change.

This is a book of one mom's journey from trusting her leaders even when they so brazenly take our country to bogus war, to one of pacifism and nonviolence at all costs.

I hope you enjoy my book because, above all, this is a book about my journey from being an apathetic consumer of physical comforts and the American way to being an activist who struggles against physical comforts and the American way for violence and the military-industrial complex.

This book is also the love story between Casey and me and our love for humankind and peace. How our lives became intertwined with some amazing and good people, but how we also became enmeshed in the dark world of some very bad people.

This is my story of how one person can, should, and must make a difference. This is the incredible story of how I went from being Mom to four to being the "Peace Mom" to thousands.

The journey is in the dash.

I hope Casey's story and my story inspire you to expand your dash and infuse it with meaning, laughter, dancing, hope, love, and, most of all, life.


Copyright © 2006 by Cindy Sheehan

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