Ramblings and Reflections Newsletter 21 April, 2005

Dear companions for peace with justice,

This holy week from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday takes on special meaning for all of us incarcerated. Anyone who reads the Scriptures of these days with their eyes to see, their ears to hear and their hearts open would find opposition to U.S. government practices. I read that the President has signed off for a military air strike on Iran, that Attorney General Gonzales is expanding and intensifying the Patriot Act, that the staggering deficit is unbearable, that drilling in the Arctic and reducing environmental protection will cause tragic irreversible effects.

War in Iraq continues unabated. It is a U.S. military war on civilians. Homelessness increases, the elderly struggle, Social Security is being raided, food stamps and housing assistance are being cut and the prison budgets prove that this big business cannot be afforded. This list goes on and on and on.

You might say, “Ardeth, this is a season of Resurrection joy and you usually are filled with so much hope.” So let me tell you that I remain trusting and hopeful which means first of all that I recognize the signs of the times, that I am not in denial regarding our addictive organizations, system, society, culture and country.

So when I saw the ad by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in the March 4, 2005 National Catholic Reporter I experienced a true Resurrection theme and way: I quote:

“Non-violence it's a call it's a way of life it's an action it's a voice it's about caring for the earth it's about caring for each other it's about education it's a change in your heart it's a change in your world it's a change in the system it's risky it's visionary it's about sustainable living it's the only way to be just it's a choice it's peace-filled it's prayer-filled it's who we are it's what we do Come explore a meaningful way of life with us breaking boundaries, creating hope. moreinfo@spsmw.org”

This invitation above to Sisterhood is also a call to each and every one of us in every walk of life in every day. It is the call to persons of every faith as I have discovered through attending the variety of services held in this prison. Thank you, Sisters.

Good News Events

Hundreds of demonstrations were held on March 18 and 19 on the second anniversary of the bombing of Iraq. Many people from these actions faced arrests and consequences. Much gratitude!

Peter DeMott, Clare Grady, Teresa B. Grady and Daniel Burns – the St. Patrick's Day 4 face charges for the second time (since their mistrial) for their action on March 17, 2003 in an Army/Marine Recruiting Center in New York. Much gratitude!

Gatherings are being planned all over the United States for the 60 th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Gratitude!

Legal teams and political leaders are planning to keep the Non-Proliferation Treaty alive and implemented. The U.S. remains a serious block in the way of disarmament.

At this writing Jackie Hudson, OP has been released (March 4), returned to her home and mission, received a “courtesy assignment” there and is in contact with a probation officer in Seattle, WA until the appeal results. Gratitude!

The life and work of Dorothy Stang, SND inspires all of us who have read about her. God grant her eternal life. Presente!

Inside Danbury

1. Alice Gerard and Lil Mattingly, MM, SOA Watch prisoners of conscience, self-surrendered on March 15 th , spent the night in a cell in Segregated Housing Unit and were welcomed at the Camp Unit by a number of us on the following day. We lift to God all other POC serving time across the country. Gratitude!
2. Prison cuts of programs and “privileges” are in process. The visiting days of Thursdays and Fridays are no more. Some women have family members that drive many miles and stay over for that extra day. Others can only have visits on these days. I'll let you know the rest of the story in my next months and upon release.
3. Our library grows by leaps and bounds. Thanks for the NCR subscription and these books:

A Woman of Egypt by Jehan Sedat
The Lobster Chronicles by Linda Greenlaw
The Clock Winder by Annie Tyler
The Old Woman by Gail Godwin
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Rushing to Armageddon by Mel Hurtig

Our Appeal in the 10 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Circuit judges Hartz, Anderson and Tymkovich offered their decision to refuse to reverse the convictions and sentences of the Federal District Court of Colorado. I invite you to read more about this on the web: www.jonahhouse.org We add these judges to our list of prayers and invitations to uphold international treaties, agreements, laws as part of the body of laws of the land and of war.

We acted consciously, nonviolently and symbolically to uphold the laws of war, that absolutely prohibit any threat or use of a weapon of mass extermination such as the Minuteman III. We did exactly what the President was demanding of all other countries to show good-faith progress toward our common legal and moral obligation for nonviolent nuclear disarmament. Our nonviolent and symbolic acts to expose and inspect a weapon of mass extermination on high-alert merely showed legal ways to achieve non-violent nuclear disarmament. We acted as citizens to stand up on the side of necessary universal adherence to the laws of war and for essential nonviolent disarmament - a side the U.S. itself purports to be on.

The price of war fact sheet by Phyllis Bennis and the IPS Iraq Task Force (Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy in Focus: www.ips-dc.org ) makes my little price for peace seem so miniscule. However, we each add our small acts of truth and love together with those powerful truths and the love of the nonviolent Jesus, which makes the price of peace invaluable.

A blessed season and lifetime of Resurrection!

Gratitude always!

Ardeth Platte, OP # 10857- 039
Federal Correction Institution
33 ½ Pembroke Station
Danbury, CT 06811

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