"Coffee Talks" with SOA REsister, LeAnne Clausen. - Rockford
rockford peace & justice
action
committee
phone (815) 964-7111, email:
peaceman50@aol.com
Coffee Talks
“A Peaceful Jailbird
Sings”
WHEN:Monday, May 12, 2008,
7pm.
WHERE: Unitarian Universalist Church, Rockford,
4848 Turner Street, three blocks north and east of State
& Alpine
Le Anne Clausen, just released from jail for protesting
the School of Americas, will share stories of serving time, her trip to Ft.
Benning GA, and her peace excursion to Iran. Why does she do
it?
She says:
I'm in Chicago and was on the
December 2007 delegation to Iran. I'm spending 30 days at McHenry County Jail
for civil disobedience at the School of the Americas. I love Rockford--we did a
church service trip rehabbing an apartment building near Zion Lutheran, and my
aunt lives out there. I think she forwarded on one of my letters to the Rock
River Times last week. It generated some pretty interesting 'hate mail' for my
peace work :) Otherwise, I'm a mild-mannered seminary student working for peace
on the South Side of Chicago. Anyway, when I get out next month (May 3) I will
come and talk to you.
Le Anne Clausen (on the left) with fellow protestor and jailbird Gus
Roody, who was also sentenced to 30 days, (photo by Jack Speer). Both are
presently serving time in McHenry County Jail.
Her bio:
Le Anne Clausen, 29,
is serving time in jail this month in McHenry Co, IL for civil disobedience at
the U.S. Army School of the Americas. Originally from Mason City, IA, she
became active in social justice issues in high school and college. After
graduation from Wartburg College (Waverly, IA) she spent four years in the
Middle East as a human rights worker, primarily with the Christian Peacemaker
Teams in Israel/Palestine and Iraq. She has also traveled with human rights and
peacemaking programs to Afghanistan, Iran, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the
U.S./Mexico border.
Clausen received her
MA in Christian-Muslim relations in 2006 and is completing her Masters in
Divinity degree at Chicago Theological Seminary. She is a candidate for
ordination in the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), and founder of SeminaryAction,
the Center for Faith and Peacemaking, and GlobalServe Co-op --all programs
designed to help students, young adults, and new religious leaders cooperate
across faith backgrounds in ending violence and restoring the communities in
which we live. Her first book, Before Abu Ghraib: A Human Rights Worker's
Journal, is pending. You can also read her blog, www.young-activist.blogspot.com, which includes letters sent
from jail.
Coffee Talks are free and open to the public
and presented monthly throughout the city.
Rockford Peace & Justice Action Committee
sponsors the Coffee Talks, with an assist from Rockford Urban Ministries, the
Social Justice Committee of the UU Church, and friends of George LaForrest,
Peter Reilly, Betty Johnson, David Liddell, and Reverands Kent Walker and John
Breck.
For more information, please call Stanley
Campbell, director of Rockford Urban Ministries, at 815) 964-7111.
|
||
Submitted by wnpj on Mon, 04/28/2008 - 10:44am.