Minutes for the January 13, 2005 Meeting

Present: Zae, Lee, Ed, Kathy, Dustin, Gracie, Bill, Rey, Mary Jo

Old business

1. The minutes were approved as written.

2. Weekend vigils
We agreed that, after a period of trial runs on Saturdays from 1-2 PM at the corner of Grape and Cleveland, we will continue to sponsor the Saturday vigil on a regular, ongoing basis. There is a great deal of traffic and lots of honking (in response to the "honk for peace" signs).

2. Julie Tourtillotte, art faculty member at Saint Mary's, is making a new MPJC banner for use at our vigils. She expects it to be ready in the next couple weeks. Zae agreed to ask her if she would be willing to show us a drawing in advance and if she could incorporate some reflective material.

3. Midwest Peace Summit
Lee reported on the teleconference call with people in the state who are planning the Midwest Peace Summit, to be held Mar. 18-20 at IUPUI and sponsored by IPJ Center. Peace activists and schools within a 3-4 hour radius of Indianapolis have been invited to participate in sessions on Mar. 18 and 19, with a large march on Mar. 20 from IUPUI to The Circle. Lee said that he had taken action on our recommendation of Joe Miller as a speaker at the conference. Another teleconference call is scheduled for Thursday, January 27, at 9:00 pm. This will be a working meeting solely to continue planning the March 20 demo.

4. Progress Reports

a. Speakers Bureau
Zae showed copies of the current line-up of speakers and their topics: Joe Miller, Linda Berdayes, Ed Cohen, Kathy Liggett, Elena Malits, and Paul Mishler, and mentioned other possibilities at Notre Dame. Carla Johnson, writing faculty at Saint Mary's, provided a mock-up of the brochure which she will be putting into Pagemaker. Three suggestions:
1) include some kind of a logo, perhaps a dove, using available clip art;
2) provide a more general topic description for some or all of the speakers (in addition to their specific topics) so that interested groups could "negotiate" the specifics of the presentation;
3) Clearly date the brochure and include a statement that speakers and topics may change; regular updates of the brochure will then be possible and that information will be accessible on the MPJC website.

b. Anti-war pamphlet: Zae reported that a group of Saint Mary's faculty was working on the pamphlet and that they would be meeting next week to decide the format for the information they had gathered. It was suggested that Mar. 18 would be an ideal date for us to have the pamphlet and Zae will convey that.

c. College student groups, breakfast meetings.
Ed had conferred with someone from the Notre Dame Peace Coalition about hosting a late breakfast meeting of peace-oriented college students in the area and then proceeding to the 1 PM Saturday vigil, sometime in the next 3 weeks. There was discussion about the advisability of having it at Notre Dame, and Honker's (near the vigil and a relatively neutral site) was suggested as a good alternative. Ed will call Honker's and inquire how that might be arranged. The dates of Jan. 29 and Feb. 5 are being considered.

New Business

1. Inauguration Day activities
Gracie and Kathy were very interested in facilitating an Inauguration Day event on Thursday, Jan. 20, in the green space opposite the Morris. We discussed possible times, signs, and symbols. Gracie and Kathy will proceed with planning and post the information to the list as soon as details are settled.

2. High School activities
Zae reported that the Clay High School progressive students had had their first meeting. It is likely that they will need some more input from Paul and they will be likely to make use of the Speakers Bureau list once it is ready.

3. Other topics and issues
a. Rey and Dustin are the "Procurement Subcommittee" and will research and consider all issues related to purchasing peace paraphernalia (car magnets, t-shirts) in bulk, for use at the Midwest Peace Summit and elsewhere. They will report back with a recommendation.

b. We exchanged information with a member of the local Libertarian group who attended because of our common interest in ending the war.

4. Next meeting: Tuesday, February 8, at 7PM, at Zae's house, 212 Marquette Avenue. Phone 288-0386.