Responding to Dr. Tiller's Murder

I have been thinking this week about how we, as people who love justice and love peace, respond to injustice, violence, and tragedy. On Monday, I walked to the clinic where I volunteer, carrying a thank you gift to the people who work there, and I pictured the faces of those I see weekly, with whom I laugh and gossip, and I thought: violence could strike anyone of them. For the first time since I heard of Dr. Tiller’s murder, my anger turned to fear, and I began to cry as I walked.

I volunteer at this clinic because I believe that access to health care is vital. I believe that women’s choices are private, to be made in consultation with a trusted doctor. Unfortunately, health care is not always affordable or available, leading women to clinics like the one where I volunteer to seek well-woman care, pre-natal care, contraception, STD testing, education, and abortion services. These things are legal, and may sometimes be affordable (many clinics charge on a sliding scale, and many clinics refer clients to funds that help to cover the cost of care), but walking into a women’s clinic can be a harrowing experience. Twice a week, outside the clinic where I work, there are people who will follow patients and their companions down the sidewalk, begging patients loudly not to go inside and arguing with those who disagree with them. These patient's private choices and their private health care are preceded by a gauntlet of harassment and confusion. I do the work I do because affordable health care, received in a feeling of safety, should be a right, not a privilege, and because no one should be harassed for seeking reproductive health care. Dr. Tiller, who offered services at his clinic including well-woman care, adoption services, and abortions, was harassed daily, was shot in both arms, had to live under Federal Marshall protection for many years, and had to face not only frequent vandalism but also the burning down of his clinic. He continued his work in the face of all of this because of his conviction that access to necessary, legal procedures was more important than giving in to fear.

Often, in the face of events like the murder of Dr. Tiller on Sunday, we feel impotent, enraged, and deeply grieved, and it is a challenge to react to these events and these feelings with positive steps. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are three major things we can do. The first is to speak out. Too often, the voices of extremism are the only voices heard. In the case of Dr. Tiller’s murder, the first and loudest responses came from those who had previously raged against him. The responses that are repeated throughout the media are often the ones that do not condemn the violence, but instead condemn Dr. Tiller (I am intentionally not repeating these words). Instead of accepting that these are the only voices, we must insist that our own voices be heard. As poets, writers, and artists, we can write about the effects of such events. We can create pieces that indicate the urgent realities of choosing – we can write about our own choices and our own experiences. One way to do this is to visit websites like I Am Dr. Tiller, where abortion providers and pro-choice volunteers share their stories. We can read and preform the works of others, such as the play Words of Choice, created by Cindy Cooper, a long time reproductive rights advocate. Alix Olson, a 2008 Split This Rock featured poet, is a contributing writer to the play. Putting art that speaks to the truth of these experiences into the world is one vital way to fight against violence by promoting understanding.

If you are hesitant to create words of your own, forward the responses of reproductive health providers like Planned Parenthood to your friends and family. If you see this murder being downplayed, or presented as one lone event, or as just one man’s action, write letters to your local media explaining the root causes of intimidation and harassment of women’s health clinics and their staff. If you or your friends and family members are not pro-choice, renounce and refuse to join or support those groups that engage in or tolerate extremism and violent behavior. Voice your support for actions, groups, and legislation that helps to prevent abortion via education and contraception. Finally, ask the Department of Justice and the Obama administration to enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. During the Bush administration, the task force that monitored enforcement of the FACE act was largely inactive. Insist that it be re-activated and that even minor occurrences of vandalism be investigated and procescuted.

Your voice can also be heard with your presence – attend a vigil, light a candle, hold a sign. These things are powerful visual reminders of the numbers of people who will not condone violence for political purposes. Educate yourself about the kinds of services offered by reproductive health clinics in your area, especially ones that may be facing protests. Tell others about these services and why they matter to the community.

Make your presence felt in a second way by volunteering at a local clinic or reproductive health organization. Clinics facing protest often need volunteers to do clinic defense – helping patients gain access in the most peaceful way possible. Clinics are often underfunded, and so they may have other volunteer needs. You can look up your clinic online, but the best way to get the most up to date information on what the clinic needs is to call them. As you respond to injustice by helping ensure that more justice is done, a kind of healing happens. If you can spare a few hours a week, please do (a list of local D.C. vigils and volunteer opportunities, as well as national organizations is at the end of this post).

The third way to respond to injustice is by donating, or speaking with your money. Donating is not just for those with disposable income – every dollar counts. I have heard fundraisers speak of the emotional power present in the one dollar pledge that comes from a poor student. There is no donation that is too small, and there are many places you can donate, including Medical Students for Choice, The George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund, Planned Parenthood, and the DC Abortion Fund (for an abortion fund in your state, check out the National Network of Abortion Funds list). Remember, some of these organizations have trouble funding themselves with grants because it is politically challenging to fund a group with the word “abortion” in the name. They rely solely on donations.

After tragic and unjust events, there will always be questions and the search to place blame. There will always be a feeling of uncertainty about how to react. Speaking out, volunteering, and donating are three powerful ways to respond to any event that affects our lives, not just to this one. I encourage you to look into the organizations below and to look into organizations that support causes that are also close to your heart. Our voices and our presence are the tools we always have – use them.

More Information:
George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund Mailing Address:
National Network of Abortion Funds
ATTN: George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund
42 Seaverns Ave.
Boston, MA 02130
http://www.nnaf.org/tiller.html

Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force

National Abortion Federation's list of ways to get involved

Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice's Tiller Memorial

NARAL Pro-Choice America

Feministing.com's list of upcoming vigils for Dr. Tiller.

Feel free to respond in the comments with any other resources, or with links to poems or other works.

Katherine Howell is the Blog Goddess for Split This Rock Poetry Festival; she lives and writes in Washington, D.C.

Review of Naomi Ayala's latest book, This Side of Early

This Side of Early, Naomi Ayala's second book of poems, opens with a series of personal, or apparently personal, poems chronically the life of a young girl. In “Cutter,” the speaker marvels at a bat that has been sliced nearly in half with a machete. The lines ending the poem – “I studied the furry gash,/unfettered, and circled bone - /that day that death was first,/small and quick like my body.” – demonstrate Naomi’s focus on rhythm and the strength of language, as well as her ability to examine even a fraught moment for insight into the relationships and consequences that make up life. The poem deals with the wonder of life and death, as well as fear, family, and pride.

These themes are particularly poignant in light of the December 2007 death of Alexander “Sandy” Taylor, co-founder of Curbstone Press, publisher of both of Naomi’s books (her first is Wild Animals on the Moon, 1997). In a 2006 interview with New Pages , Taylor suggests that Curbstone grew out of two impulses: a desire to find “a way to contribute to the awareness of poetry” and involvement in “human rights organizations and solidarity movements and anti-racist movements.” The two, he goes on to say in the interview, are inseparable – “[t]he hunger for justice is every bit a part of our experience as love or death.”

In reading This Side of Early, I can see this philosophy clearly through the poems. Tightly woven and visually powerful, the poems that follow carry through the skill and insight promised in “Cutter.” With Naomi’s native Spanish used throughout (carefully contextualized and translated in a glossary in back), This Side of Early journeys through the stories and locations that make up the life the poems hold in such wonder.

The speakers of these poems do not simply observe, however; they engage in a kind of observation that engages with the darker, hidden sides of truth. The poems “In Adams Morgan, Two Years of Neighborhood-Wide Reconstruction Come to a Halt for the Night” and “Front Church Steps” give voice to the easily overlooked downsides of gentrification and modern, market-driven life.

This keen eye for the ignored aspects of the world around us marks This Side of Early with a sense of justice marked with a love for language and image. In Naomi’s poems, the world is a thousand small moments waiting to be teased out, each one a different truth worthy of speaking. The final poem in the book, “Crickets,” provides a powerful coda to those moments, as the speaker images life after death singing with the insects: “I want to go where it is I go/and come back singing, always, somehow.” The journey through This Side of Early ends with joy, but the stops along the path remind us that joy is not the only experience worth examination.

Buy this book online at Curbstone or at Teaching for Change

Buy this book in DC at Busboys and Poets Bookstore at 14th and V NW. All proceeds from the sale of the book at Busboys (both online and in store) go to Teaching for Change.

Katherine Howell is the Blog Goddess for Split This Rock Poetry Festival; she lives and writes in Washington, D.C.

Show of support and Vigil for Dr. Tiller

On Monday, June 1st, many of us who work for reproductive justice will be wearing white armbands to honor Dr. Tiller, who was murdered today, and to show our support for reproductive rights.

Monday evening, at 6:30, there will be a vigil in Lafayette park, in front of the White House. Please come and show that you will not accept acts of violence and terror as a part of political discourse and that peace is a choice that you will make.

DC Youth Slam This Sunday and Other Weekend Events

From Regie Cabico, Artistic Director of SOL Y SOUL:

CALLING ALL DC YOUTH POETS!
Be on the 2009 DC BRAVE NEW VOICES YOUTH POETRY TEAM

the drama diva, the goth bard, the hip hop giant, the coffee house beatnik, the funky flower child, the urban/suburban yin and yang---JUST MAKE IT SHINE!! We have 20 slots and want lots of contenders!

When?
May 31, 2009 1-4pm

Who?
DC residents between 13-19 (Non-College Students)

Where?
EATONVILLE RESTAURANT, 2121 14th St. NW, Washington, DC, 20009(U St/Cardozo Metro, Green Line)

COST
TEENS/YOUTH ... FREE
ADULTS ... ONLY $5

IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE FOR A SPOT Pre-register by sending your full name, age, school, grade & email address to Lisa Pegram, Team Director at lisap@SOLySOUL.com Your place will be reserved, and you will receive more details and slam rules & regulations.

More information about DC Youth Slam and SOL y SOUL:
* Hosting the DC Youth Poetry Slam team as they quest to Chicago July 13-19 for the 12th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam (as seen on HBO).
* Upon their return the team will be performing for the community at various places in DC. If you have a organization that may be interested in a performance please check with SOL y SOUL!
* SOL y SOUL is a work site for Summer Youth Employment Program so we will be employing youth to learn about the artistic process and the administrative process that fuels the art! This program is through an arrangement with the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities.
* SOL y SOUL's Artistic Director, REGIE CABICO is going to be everywhere! In addition to coaching the team he will be presenting several workshops and present from Howard Zinn's new piece at the Kennedy Center as a part of DC's Hip Hop Theater Festival this summer!

Other Events This Weekend:

Project Metamorphosis is an ensemble live art exhibit featuring acclaimed local artists and young women ages 7-19. This group has worked as a unit every Saturday since January to produce a seamless arts experience on the theme of Change that includes: Poetry, Photography, Dance, Theater, Vocal music, Storytelling, Garden Arts, Narrative & Documentary Film. Come wander through the many rooms, performances & displays. They will move all your senses as you witness their brilliant stories of transformation and contemplate your own.

Lead Artists: Psalmayene 24, Charneice Fox, Sami Miranda, Kimberly C. Gaines, Sydney March, Andrea Thompson, Maria Tripodi, Johanna Park, Candace Wolf, Rebecca Lemos & Lola Bloom

DETAILS:

When: May 30 2-5PM
Ongoing Live Exhibits 2-4pm
Finale Performance, documentary showing & artist Q & A 4-5pm

Where: The Art of Living Center 2401 15th St. NW

Family Friendly event, Children Welcome.

For more info please contact Artistic Director Lisa Pegram at lisa.innerchild@gmail.com

Project Metamorphosis is sponsored by CentroNia Bilingual Public Charter School

Artomatic is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. For more information on events, see the event calendar.

E. Ethelbert Miller Interview on The Bob Edwards Show

2008 featured poet and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller was on the Bob Edwards Show earlier this week to discuss his new book, The Fifth Inning, which uses baseball as a metaphor for exploring his life. To hear the interview, follow the link below.
E. Ethelbert Miller on the Bob Edwards Show

Thanks to the Writer's Center for the link.

SPARKLE at Busboys and Poets/ DC Youth Slam at Black Cat May 27th

SPARKLE is a queer friendly reading series held at Busboys and Poets at 5th and K (1025 5th St. NW). Hosted by Regie Cabico and Natalie E. Illum (a 2010 Split This Rock featured poet). Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 27th at 8pm, SPARKLE will feature the Baltimore Slam Master Chris August (www.slamocide.com) Chris is incredibly funny, deep, charming and ruthless at at the same time. It is a feature not to be missed. Admission is 3 dollars, and the reading will include an open mic.

SPARKLE is made possible by a grant from the DC Commission for the Arts & Humanities
and support from Sol Y Soul.

After SPARKLE, head over to the Black Cat to hear the young women from DC Youth Slam featured at Mothertongue. All ages are welcome, and admission is 8 dollars. Proceeds will help send the DC Youth Slam Team to Chicago to represent DC in the 12th Annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. The show, hosted by Danielle Evennou, starts at 9:00 p.m. and will include an open mic, too.

First International Festival of Poetry of Resistance In Honor of the Cuban Five

Poet Allison Hedge Coke ( a featured poet at Split This Rock's next festival) attended the International Festival of Poetry of Resistance in Toronto recently and sent us some photographs and insights.

For those who don't know, the Cuban Five are a group of artists who are imprisoned in the United States after being accused of and convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. More information about them can be found here. The intent of the festival was to celebrate resistance, to promote the end of the culture of war, and to promote an end to racism and discrimination. The festival's statement of principles and further information can be found here.

During the festival, many poets and musicians turned out in support of the Cuban Five.


Allison Hedge Coke tells us that the crowd was "absolutely mesmerized by poet and co-organizer Asoke Chakravarty on tabla and Anwar Khurshid on sitar. Anwar's hands moved so fast at one point, they were difficult to see.


Osaze Dolabaille played some Calypso and drummed as he read poetry.


Poet Carlos Angulo was one of many poets to read, including co-organizer Maria Elena, Allison Hedge Coke, Nancy Morejon, Pablo Armando Fernández, and many more.



Thomas Maracle, musician and flautist, Mohawk of the Six Nations Confederacy of Tyendenaga, played several songs on various (very beautiful) flutes.



Elizabeth Palmeiro, wife of Ramón Labañino, one of the Cuban Five was present. She spoke about her husband's imprisonment, about the four other families affected, and the two wives who were denied US visas to visit their husbands. The crowd cheered with support when she appeared on stage.


Dan Doreen, War Society of the Mohawk of the Six Nations Confederacy of Tyendenaga, gifted Elizabeth with a solidarity gift at Innis Hall, Innis College, U of Toronto, on Wednesday night for the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

We are inspired by this sister festival and grateful to Allison for her report and photos. Please keep the news of poetry and resistance coming.