Public i Contact

Someone sits on a pieces of
put together stone.
Someone is hungry
Someone wants
to take something in,
make it part of someone’s self
and so in,
make someone’s self a part of it.
Someone wants to commune
with the sun
with the dynamic
living
green
making
living
possible.
Someone wants
but is told someone
must
coerce
and be coerced
before someone is allowed
the necessities
to commune with the sun.
Someone knows that
someone
trained by coercion is ill
equipped to commune
with the sun,
though that someone might
have
exuberant access
to food commodities.
Someone trained by coercion
doesn’t know how to
commune
Someone thinks,
sitting on a pieces of put
together stone,
listening to someone’s some
body’s stomach
Someone smiles, sunrays
gently caress someone’s face.

In the last month or so, the US has been involved in high level discussions regarding the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). In one case, the tone presented by the US administration is very different than that employed earlier this year by the US to justify the recent military foray to Iraq. In the other, the rationale for more military actions like the one against Iraq is being established. To other countries, the US presses for nonproliferation while it pushes forward new nuclear capabilities of its own.
NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION
Late March saw the convergence of parties to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in Geneva.
Two years from now will mark the Fifth Review conference of the only international treaty intended to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and to hasten the disarmament of those countries which do possess nuclear armaments. While speaking toward the treaty’s goals of nonproliferation, left unsaid in US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s message was that the US is concerned with nonproliferation by other states. Harsh words contending the need for “strict enforcement”, “resolute action” and choices that “require dealing firmly with countries”were made with reference to North Korea and Iran. Earlier this year North Korea withdrew from the NPT after revealing intentions to resume its nuclear weapons program.
There are legitimate suspicions that Iran, which is party to the NPT, has secret nuclear weapons facilities; the capability for gas centrifuge uranium enrichment was confirmed in late February during International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. Remember the US administration pontificating about Saddam Hussein’s alleged attempt to purchase aluminum tubes? Those would be for gas centrifuge enrichment. “The time for business as usual is over” for those other countries, in the words of the current US administration. The touting of the vague Moscow Treaty (the “handshake agreement” between G.W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin to putatively dismantle all but approximately 2,000 strategic nuclear weapons by 2012 with no verification protocol for either side) by US representatives to the NPT meeting was explicitly countered by a group of NGO’s. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Greenpeace said directly what representatives from other countries had only been hinting … that US nuclear weapons policies are threatening the NPT.
OUTSIDE ANALYSIS OF US NUCLEAR POLICIES
The NGOs criticized US strategies and documents that propose integrating nuclear weapons into military responses, indications of an intent to resume underground nuclear testing, and abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) in order to pursue missile defense and space-based weaponry. Further jeopardizing to the NPT has been the explicit threat to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states in response to non-nuclear attack. Specifically criticized was the development of new ballistic missile systems and new nuclear weapons, e.g., the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, which is better known as the “bunker buster.”
Back home in the US, Los Alamos National Lab has announced the resumption of production of plutonium “pits” – the grapefruit-sized balls of weapons-grade plutonium that are pretty much only used for nuclear weapons applications. These are not dual-use items.
CHEMICAL NONPROLIFERATION
As the NPT meeting was winding up, the First Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) convened in The Hague. The CWC prohibits the development and demands the complete elimination of all chemical weapons. The CWC was designed to have ‘real teeth’. Explicitly delineated are full verification and inspection regimes (lacking in the biological weapons treaties).
In his opening address to the Review Conference, the head of the US delegation Stephen G. Rademaker, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, made a number of statements that seemed to be setting the stage to justify further military actions, as the specter of chemical weapons was used as rationalization for the recent attack at Iraq. “We confront a number of countries around the world that have or actively are seeking chemical weapons.” The countries targeted by Rademaker’s rhetoric were Iran, North Korea, Libya, Syria and Sudan. All have (or there are legitimate suspicions that they have) pursued development and acquisition of chemical weapons.
Rademaker repeatedly emphasized the US administration paradigm that the absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence, but he extended further that line of thinking with the suggestion that inspections are fundamentally flawed. No other means to verify accordance with the CWC under international protocols were offered to the conference delegates. The other (unspoken) option is US military intervention.
STOCKPILE DESTRUCTION AND INSECURITY
The US has met the treaty’s timetable for destruction of 22% of its chemical weapons stockpile, which once consisted of some 31,000 tons of chemical warfare agents. The case in Russia is much different where just over 1% of its 40,000 ton stockpile has been destroyed. The security of the remaining chemical weapons to potential terrorist threats was also highlighted, although perhaps not as forcefully or with as much importance as is warranted considering the potential consequences of insecurity. Completely overlooked was the question of stockpile (in)security in the remaining 24,180 tons of US chemical weapons.
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND CWC IMPLEMENTATION
One problem highlighted at the review conference was the failure of nearly half of the state parties to implement any domestic measures to ensure compliance to the treaty. Only one quarter of the 152 nations party to the convention have fully adopted the national enforcement requirements. The US Congress has passed legislation in accordance as specified by the CWC, with some exclusions to the benefit of the chemical industry.
Developing countries account for the majority of those failing to fully implement the treaty. A lack of resources, both financial and technical, and dearth of expertise are cited as reason for non-compliance by most developing countries. This deficiency of resources for chemical weapons nonproliferation is not going to discourage terrorists. The US has pledged aid to developing nations – a real, pro-active means to limit proliferation of chemical weapons or a course for preemptive US military intervention?

While wishing she were back climbing in the Everest region of Nepal, Margaret finds inspiration on the topographically-challenged plains of central Illinois in the amazing people around her. Described by the director of the Sunshine Project as “not suffering fools gladly,” she firmly believes in the need to reclaim science from co-option by corporations “science is NOT property, especially not the property of CEOs, shareholders or corporate executives.”

Jeremy Glick, whose father was killed in the World Trade Center, has traveled around the U.S. speaking about peace as it relates to 9/11 and Iraq on behalf of “September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows,” a group of family members of those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. I spoke to him on April 10, 2003, when he was in Champaign-Urbana for a speaking engagement sponsored by the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort (AWARE) and other local groups.
Baldwin: Anti-war activists get asked a lot about their motivations, but I wonder if you think it’s different for you, or how that might have changed after Sept. 11?
Glick: Nothing has really changed. I mean, obviously everything has changed for me personally since 9-11. My family life has been devastated. I’m without a father. So of course that’s changed. But really 9-11 has only just made me more disciplined, because I felt a greater sense of personal or immediate urgency. I’ve always been opposed to US and any other form of imperialism. But it also just generally reminded me of my limited, my mortality, the fact that my life isn’t necessarily guaranteed for any period of time. So it makes me a lot more disciplined and a lot more sparing with my time in the sense of sacrifice. I’ve always been involved in social justice issues. It’s just that this social justice issue has an exceptionally personal component.
Baldwin: What about the group, September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows?
Glick: They came along with their own momentum. I’ve been involved in political prisoner and anti-imperialist and local issues in various urban centers in the New York and New Jersey area. The Peaceful Tomorrows organization is an anti-violent organization of 9-11 family members that opposes aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq. And I have an immense amount of respect for them, obviously with their personal pain and also the way they’re converting their subjective experience into fodder to struggle for social justice. I think that it’s very frustrating for a 9-11 family member to listen to how that day, and not only the lost loved one but the pain of the living family member, gets evoked over the top from the mouth of bourgeois politicians and the Right in the media. So I think it’s really important that there are people that were directly impacted that are being so principled and so thoughtful.
Baldwin: Do you think that there’s a special role or a special place for that in the antiwar movement?
Glick: Yeah, they’re speaking from a very powerful moral high ground. But I think they also have to be careful about talking from experience. It seems to me that the system could produce, you know, ten 9-11 family members who don’t have a very thought-out analysis, and are just warmongers. So I’m always cautious about speaking only from my personal subjeceive position. But I think that their analysis is more correct than the pro-war analysis. Also, in terms of the 9-11 subject, family members are like the cross in a vampire movie. It deflects a lot of criticism, you know, that you’re being insensitive to the families’ members who lost loved ones. I mean, people say that to me anyway. But actually I don’t think that the leadership should be that. My whole thing about 9-11 is that, those political conditions, that instability, of murder, or terror, domestically, on a quotidian, day-to-day level, is shared by, for example, the Black and Latino working community in New York City. They know exactly how it feels to be under the gun like that, and have that much instability and emotional insecurity that’s because of structural terror, or extralegal terror, whether it’s at the hands of the economic system or the hands of the NYPD.
So, the [9-11] family members are strategically important. They certainly need to be heard. They certainly need to be enfranchised so much more than they have, because the media has completely shut them out. And a lot of 9-11 family members are not concerned about going to war, or bombing, or retribution. I’m not being clever – I’m sure that there are some that are. But most 9-11 family members, regardless of their political orientation, are tired of feeling exploited. Because if you lose a loved one, whether it’s your husband or your wife, or your child, or your grandmother, or your uncle, or your dad in my case, or your brother or sister, it’s a private loss. And it’s a private loss that’s been co-opted by a public sphere, both a media sphere and a government, like a civic sphere. You’re just like, ease up, buddy, can I have a little, little space to, like, mourn? I understand the bumper stickers, but people that lost a loved one in 9-11 aren’t going to ever forget. That bumper sticker is not doing anything for me. I mean, in my family there’s conservatives – everybody isn’t radical – but even the non-radical were like, I don’t want American flags brought to the funeral or memorial service – not because my family has a problem with the American flag, but my mom felt like it was a co-optation. You know, “This isn’t a political event – I’m trying to mourn my husband.”
But in the global situation, you can’t privilege my father’s life over an Iraqi’s or somebody in Palestine. And you can’t privilege my pain, because I lost a North American US-citizen father in the Trade Center, over somebody in Chile on September 11, 1973, who lost his father in the US-sponsored Allende coup. I’m not a pacifist. If the people of Iraq wanted to take up armed struggle to democratize their civil society, I would support that. But it’s not what we’re witnessing. I don’t love Saddam Hussein. I don’t consider Osama bin Laden my friend. I consider him an armed extension of Bush’s power. So if you’re going to hire thugs to kill people, you’re as culpable as the thugs that kill people.
Baldwin: Rita Lasar and some others from the Peaceful Tomorrows group went to Afghanistan after the bombing, and when they came back they were calling Afghanistan “Ground Zero Two,” with the World Trade Center being “Ground Zero One.” Do you see a connection?
Glick: Yes, George Bush’s father trained the man who killed my father – when George Bush, Sr. was head of the CIA. It doesn’t get any more basic than that. But I’ll tell you a funny thing. The summer before 9-11, I went to the Bruderhof, which is a Christian, communalistic society. They were sponsoring a magazine I write for, and a bunch of us were on this retreat.
That Sunday when I got back – I remember it was in July, right before July 4th, and right behind where my apartment is there was a housing project – Memorial Homes, New Brunswick, New Jersey – and that Sunday it was firebombed, because the city is becoming immensely gentrified. Nobody died in that, per se, but I went to Ground Zero with a federal escort in October, and it was horrific. Even though this was public housing and it really wasn’t ideal circumstances, they were still people’s homes, and those people were not given what they were promised in terms of relocation. And if they did get relocated, they were low-income people that didn’t have access to cars, and they weren’t sensitive to where they relocated them and how this would tie into public transportation so they could continue their jobs. So it was just a blight, it was a devastation upon a community that was already devastated. And, to be frankly honest – and maybe this has to do with repression – I didn’t feel what I anticipated, which was this scary moment, like, “Oh my god, this is where my father died,” because it’s so big and you can’t really look. But the first thing I thought was, “Oh my god, this looks exactly like the imploding of the projects. It’s just on a bigger scale. That’s exactly what it looked like. And I daresay that the two were related politically.”

Several people responded to our request for tips about good places to shop locally. This is by far not an exhaustive list of the many excellent locally owned and operated businesses but it does indicate places that people felt strongly enough to write to us about.
Contributors: Linda Evans, Belden Fields, Phyllis Brussel, Gabriele Cooper, Sandra Ahten, Paul Mueth, Lisa Chason.

ART MART
127 Lincoln Square Mall,Urbana, 344-7979
Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-5pm.
I love shopping for toys and kitchen tools at Art Mart at Lincoln Square mall. I like the feel of Art Mart and we like wooden toys. My son loves to play with the trains while I shop. Art Mart has a great selection, a friendly staff, and reasonable prices. – LE
Specialty foods. Great coffee. Space to eat a snack or lunch. Unusual and always changing selection of table settings, kitchen related stuff, cards for all occasions, gifts, candles etc. – PB
INTERNATIONAL GALLERIES
114 Lincoln Square Mall,Urbana, 328-2254
Mon-Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-5pm
An eclectic collection of jewelry, pottery, prints and posters, candles, wind chimes, incense, and more. They feature local artists’ works. Also custom framing. Great place to look for gifts and art. – LC
SKANDINAVIAN LINK
1707 W.Kirby Ave, Champaign, 356-4646
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-3pm
I really like to shop at Skandinavian Link at Old Farm shopping center. The staff and owner are very helpful. They keep track of certain toy brands so others can come in and buy things for your child and you don’t end up with duplicates. They have great sales and a fun area for children to play while you shop. – LE
ANDY’S SHOES
115 W.Kirby, Champaign, 359-7500
Mon-Fri 9:30am-6pm, Sat 9:30am-5pm, Sun 12:30pm-5pm
I buy all my kids’ shoes at Andy’s Shoe’s. If I bring them in and they haven’t outgrown the old pair of shoes, Andy won’t sell me a new pair. He just tells me to come back in a couple of months. Do you think one of the big chains would do that? –GC
The owner Andy Pomokoy says “it’s important to be honest and good at what you do” when you are fitting children’s shoes. It is responsibility that he takes seriously. The store all types of shoes, but only for children up to about 7 or 8 years of age. Andy has been in business since 1984 in the same location. – SA
ILLINI EYECARE
518 E.Green, Champaign, 351-6110
Mon & Thurs 9-6,Wed & Fri 9-5:30, Sat 9-1
I lost my glasses last week and was badly in need of a pair of new lenses I could put in some old frames very quickly because I had to grade a lot of papers. So, at the urging of my wife, I called the large chains in Market Place Mall to see how much it would cost me and how soon I could get them. I was promised one-hour service in one and one day service in the other. In one place, the minimum cost for plastic lenses was $99 for the scratch-resistant coated lenses. In the other, the range was from $89 to $109. Then I called Dr. Curtis Johnson’s Illini Eyecare on Green Street in Campus Town to see if the expected higher cost would be worth the convenience of the location. Low and behold, they offered me scratch resistant lenses for $65. And they could do it in half an hour. Two lessons: (1) Small business is not always more expensive than the large corporate chains despite the advertising propaganda of the latter to the contrary, and (2) Campus Town businesses are not always trying to rip off students and other university people as is sometimes assumed. – BF
JANE ADDAMS BOOK SHOP
208 N.Neil, Champaign, 356-2555
Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm
Jane Adams bookstore is a rare find in many communities, but they are located conveniently in downtown Champaign. We love to peruse the shelves and we invariably find a book that we have no idea how we lived without. – LE
PAGES FOR ALL AGES
1201 Savoy Plaza Ln, Savoy, 351-7243
Mon-Sat 9am-11pm, Sun 10am-9pm
My family buys way too many books at Pages for All Ages. Some days we go more than once to this wonderful locally owned bookstore in Savoy.We walk or ride our bikes to Pages several times a week and find it hard to leave without an armful of books.We love the live music and tea too. If Pages does not have a book in stock, the extremely knowledgeable and helpful staff is eager to special order books. I heard about a book on public radio one day and couldn’t remember the author or the title. I felt foolish and asked a staff member and they quickly took me to A Bondwoman’s Narrative…just the book I was stumbling to find. I was very impressed and have never hesitated to ask for a book by subject alone again. – LE
LINCOLN BOOKBINDERY
1601 N. Coler,Urbana, 328-2613
If you have a book that you treasure and it’s coming apart, this is the place to go and have it fixed like new. – PB
ORPHEUM CHILDREN’S SCIENCE MUSEUM
346 N.Neil, Champaign, 352-5895
Tues 9am-6pm,Wed-Sun 1pm-6pm
When looking for something to do with our three-year-old during inclement weather (we are after all in themidwest), we have been saved more than once by The Orpheum Children’s Science Museum. In fact, when the skies clear up it is hard to convince my son to leave. – LE
PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION (PACA)
44 E.Washington St, Champaign, 359-7222
Wed 4pm-7pm, Sat 9am-noon
This warehouse store is operated by a “club” of folks who “promote preservation and re-use of buildings or areas of historic or architectural significance in Champaign County.” They saved the famous Ricker House (Green and Coler in Urbana) from becoming a parking lot, or worse. Their architectural salvage center is a place to look for that odd part that will get your old door working again, or enough stuff to entirely refit your abode in period décor, or perhaps that objet trouve that makes for a conversation piece in an otherwise antiseptic apartment. Check it out. – PM
GRIGGS STREET POTTERS
355 W.Griggs St.,Urbana, 344-8546
Mon-Fri 11am-4pm; also by appointment Some very talented potters turn out beautiful as well as useful things here.Really fun to visit and see work in progress. – PB
CINEMA GALLERY
120 W.Main St.,Urbana, 367-3711
Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1pm-5pm
Many wonderful displays of local art and crafts – all for sale, or you can simply walk about and admire the beautiful things. (There are rooms beyond the main entrance) – PB
ENGLISH HEDGEROW
406 N. Lincoln,Urbana, 365-0055
Mon-Sat 9am-5:30pm
In addition to being a full service florist, this store sells many items to catch a gardener’s fancy.Many items from England, reflecting the English background of the owners. They also specialize in handcast metal signs. – PB
JACK’S GREENERY
1017 W. Bloomington Rd, Champaign, 359-9009
Mon-Fri 9am-7pm ,Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10am-5pm
I really like Jack’s Greenery. Their plants are of excellent quality and Jack and his wife know a lot about plants. They even help me load the plants into my car. They will also order any special plants or heirloom vegetables. – GC

MIRABELLE FINE PASTRY
124 W.Main,Urbana, 384-6460
Tues-Fri 8:30am-6pm, Sat 8am-3pm
My breadmaker is now collecting dust since I started buying bread at Mirabelle in downtown Urbana. I love the smell of fresh baked bread. The staff is very helpful with ingredient inquiries and they even remember regular customers. – LE
Going into Mirabelle’s is like going into a real French bakery and the bread and pastries are every bit as good. Pastries can be made to order. This bakery has totally spoiled me. – PB
STRAWBERRY FIELDS NATURAL FOOD STORE & CAFE
306 W. Springfield Ave,Urbana, 328-1655
Mon-Sat 7am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm
Coming from the DC area, I thought local organic “health food” stores were a thing of our past, but we are so happy to have Strawberry Fields in the community. We love their “deli” food and the fact that vegan food is labeled. (Thank you!) It is great to walk into a store and see the owner working or eating his own food. The staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. – LE May be the only source for shade grown, organically grown coffee beans. – PB
NATURAL GOURMET
2225 S.Neil, Champaign, 355-6365
Mon-Sat 9am-6pm
Since we live in Savoy, we are overjoyed to have Natural Gourmet close by. They have a great selection of supplements and other grocery items. The owners and staff are always helpful and happy to point out something new a customer might want to try. – LE
COMMON GROUND FOOD CO-OP
403 S.Wright, 352-3347
Mon-Fri 3pm-8pm, Sat 11am-4pm, Sun 11am-7pm
Common Ground Coop at the IDF is one of our favorite places to shop for groceries. I love the coop system and all the workers we’ve meet have been wonderful.Many days they have member baked goods and they specialize in locally grown organic produce.We are so lucky to have the coop in CU. – LE
SUNSHINE GROCERY
117 W.Washington,Urbana, 384-6668 Everyday 7:30 am to 7pm (hours can vary) Owner operated, dedicated to serving the neighborhood. Knows customers by name. The best fresh eggs you can buy. Owner makes egg rolls that high school students love to eat for lunch! – PB

WORLD HARVEST INTERNATIONAL AND GOURMET FOODS
519 E.University, Champaign, 356-4444
Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 11am-6pm
Food tasting: every Saturday 11am-5pm
A fantastic assortment of foods from everywhere. We go there especially to buy olives, olive  oil, cheese and the best dark chocolate bars in existence. If you need an unusual item, the store’s owner will order it for you in a flash. – PB

CAFE KOPI
109 N.Walnut, Champaign, 359-4266
Mon-Thurs 7am-11pm, Fri-Sat 7am-midnight, Sun 8am-11pm
If you enjoy reading The Paper or The Public i and drinking tea in a comfortable setting, look no further than Cafe Kopi in downtown Champaign.We are always running into people we know at Cafe Kopi and it is great place to meet. I love the hummus eggplant experience and the art work is always a treat. – LE
VERDE GALLERY
17 E. Taylor, Champaign, 366-3202.
Gallery: Tues-Sat 10am-10pm
Café: Mon-Sat 7am-10pm
Verde gallery and cafe in downtown Champaign has quickly become a family favorite. My three-year-old son loves to sit down with some soy milk and a magazine and “read.” I
love to look at the art and my husband is always up for their coffee. – LE
WALNUT STREET TEA CO.
115 S.Walnut, Champaign, 351-6975
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-5pm
A great assortment of teas and coffees, pots and cups, biscuits and jams, etc… and if you can walk out the door without buying a melt-in-your-mouth caramel you’ve got real will
power. – PB
JARLINGS CUSTARD CUP
309 W. Kirby, Champaign, 352-2273
Mon-Sat noon-10pm, Sun 1pm-10pm
This is really good, creamy smooth frozen custard. I know people who mark the opening
day of the store in the Spring on their calendar, and who have a farewell cone at the close in Fall. Then it’s a long, dull winter. – PB
STRAWBERRY FIELDS NATURAL FOOD STORE & CAFE
306 W. Springfield Ave,Urbana, 328-1655
Mon-Sat 7am-8pm, Sun 10am-6pm
…the café…
TIMPONE’S
710 S. Goodwin,Urbana, 344-7619.
Mon-Thurs 11:30am-10pm, Fri 11:30am-11pm, Sat 5pm-11pm
Just the best Italian food anywhere. – PB
RED HERRING COFFEE HOUSE
1209 W. Oregon,Urbana, 367-2340.
Only open during the U of I school year for lunch 11am-2pm and sometimes for Friday night pasta night (recommend calling ahead) I am always happy to eat at The Red Herring restaurant in the basement of the Channing-Murray Foundation. As a vegan, I am happy to have lunch or Friday night pasta with my family and non-vegan friends at the Red Herring. Great tasting healthy food at a child-friendly place…what more could I ask for? – LE
KENNEDY’S
2560 South Stone Creek Blvd.,Urbana, 384-8111.
Mon-Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-8pm
Good food and a really nice view over the golf course. Large parties can be accommodated. – PB
SILVER CREEK
402 N. Race,Urbana, 328-3402
Mon-Thurs 11am-10pm, Fri 11am-11pm, Sun 10:30am-3pm; 4:30pm-10pm
Good food at a reasonable price. Very pleasant surroundings. Good Sunday brunch. – PB
THE COURIER CAFE
111 N. Race,Urbana, 328-1811
Sun-Thurs 7am-11pm, Fri-Sat 7am-midnt.
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner everyday.
A popular, fun, good place to eat. Real wood booths. Good coffee. – PB
MILO’S RESTAURANT
156-D Lincoln Square,Urbana, 344-8946
Tues-Sun 11am-2pm, 5pm-9pm; Fri-Sat 5pm-10pm
Some of the best food in town. Outdoor tables in summer (entrance is from the east side of Lincoln Square). – PB
SWEET BETSY’S
805 S. Philo Road,Urbana, 344-0414
Mon-Sat 7am-3pm,Wed 7am-7pm
Unbeatable sandwiches and hearty soups. In the summer there’s nothing like a Lemon Shake-up to quench the thirst. –PB

I gave in to an impulse last week and bought a new jacket for $29. When I got it home I checked the tag and found that it was made in Vietnam.Yikes, pangs of guilt. I know that it was made with sweat shop labor. Slave labor really. I find no way to buy new clothing without these feelings. So normally I just avoid buying new clothes.When the urge to buy hits me I try and show a little restraint until I can get my fix in the second hand market. This not only assuages my guilt – it saves me lots of money. Last year I spent a total of $407 on clothing. That includes those things that I didn’t buy in the aftermarket like some shoes, bras, and pantyhose (which are a requirement for my day job).
My favorite place to shop for clothes is at the Goodwill store. Salvation Army is less expensive, but they don’t have dressing rooms nor as big a selection. I understand that Goodwill actually rotates their stock and ships it to a store in Springfield after a period of time. You pay about $3 for a shirt, pants or dress. Salvation Army does carry more non-clothing items like furniture and dishes. I recommend donating items to Salvation Army. I once donated a perfectly good microwave oven to Goodwill. I went back the next day and found the microwave in the dumpster.
I also shop at Karen’s Closet. This store bills itself as upscale retail, which it is. Only name brands and nothing too funky here. It is well sorted and sized with roomy dressing rooms and a large selection. It is a good place to shop for work clothes. There is a teenage version of this store called Plato’s Closet. Both stores take consignments by appointment and are adamant about the quality, condition, and it being the appropriate season.
If you like more retro, a little funky, or downright outrageous there are a number of shops in downtown Champaign that might be the ticket including Carries, Dandelion, and Le Shoppe.
I love going to what in these parts are called garage sales whether there is a garage involved or not. I don’t waste my time trying to map out which sales are where, but instead let luck be my guide and just follow the signs. Two good tips if you are a serious saler: (1) Wear body hugging slinky clothes with some easy-to-pull-off loose clothing over them. This is best for fitting without a dressing room. (2) Take time to peruse the merchandise. It sometimes taking some digging to find the gems.

Carries, 204 N. Neil, Champaign352-3231
Dandelion, 9 Taylor, Champaign, 355-9333
Goodwill, 1102 N. Prospect Ave, Champaign, 356-4021.
Karen’s Closet, 231 N.Mattis Avenue, Champaign, 355-9395
Le Shoppe, 110 E. University Avenue, Champaign, 61820
Plato’s Closet, 29 E. Marketview Drive, Champaign, 366-8200.
Salvation Amy Thrift Store, 119 E. University, Champaign 373-7825

Everyday, millions of Americans pledge allegiance to the flag, sing ‘America the Beautiful’ and ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ and memorize the words on the Statue of Liberty without knowing the names of their authors, their political inspiration or the historical context in which they were written. … Most Americans are unaware that much of our patriotic culture –including many of the leading icons and symbols of American identity – was created by artists and writers of decidedly leftwing and even socialist sympathies.” (Patriotism’s Secret History by Peter Dreier & Dick Flacks. The Nation,May 16, 2002) On March 19, Adbusters, the culture jamming activist network, publishers of the magazine of the same name and known for such campaigns as Buy Nothing Day and the Corporate America Flag, launched “Boycott Brand America” as an action to protest the impending war on Iraq. Yes, it is correct to blame the transnational corporations’ domination of our government for our involvement in that war. And yes, avoiding McDonalds, Philip Morris, Texaco, Wal-Mart, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Gap and the like is a commendable action. But does the slogan “Boycott Brand America” only reinforce the already too prevalent notion that progressives are poisonous ranting traitors? Wouldn’t it be a more effective “culture jam” to take back the flag and the long history of dissent as patriotic?
Rather than dissociating ourselves from things red white and blue, we need to instead dissociate the transnationals and use patriotic iconology to show how they are destroying community and enslaving us in a regime of taxation without meaningful representation. Symbols and stories are fundamental.
Knowing history is fundamental.We cannot allow the colonization of the symbols of freedom. Citizens must own their history.
THE CAUSE OF BOSTON IS THE CAUSE OF US ALL
At the birth of this nation, the patriotic side of the struggle was the side struggling against being nothing more than a profit center for a multinational corporation.
Nearly 200 years after its founding in 1600, the East India Company had grown massive and worldwide. But its debt financed growth brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. Its stockholders, who just happened to be most of the members of the British government, including the King, passed a series of laws granting it monopoly and exempting it from taxes.
Colonists had been protesting with nonimportation (a refusal to use imported English goods) since the Stamp and Currency Acts of 1764, but this particular attack on the New England based tea wholesalers and small tea houses led to one of the most famous acts of civil disobedience in American history. On the evening of December 16, 1773, members of the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Indians and tossed overboard 90,000 pounds of tea from the first tax-free shipment. A popular pamphlet of the time, The Alarm, written by “Rusticus,” asked: “Are we in like Manner to be given up to the Disposal of the East India Company, who have now the Assurance, to step forth in Aid of the Minister, to execute his Plan, of enslaving America?
Their Conduct in Asia, for some Years past, has given simple Proof, how little they regard the Laws of Nations, the Rights, Liberties, or Lives of Men. Fifteen hundred Thousands, it is said, perished by Famine in one Year, not because the Earth denied its Fruits; but [because] this Company and their Servants engulfed all the necessaries of Life, and set them at so high a Rate that the poor could not purchase them.”
On Oct. 25, 1774 a group of women met in a home in North Carolina to write the “Association Signed by Ladies of Edenton” as their way of saying that “the cause of Boston was the cause of us all”:
“The Provincial Deputies of North Carolina having resolved not to drink any more tea, nor wear any more British cloth, &c. many ladies of this Province have determined to give a memorable proof of their patriotism, and have accordingly entered into the following honourable and spirited association. I send it to you, to shew your fair countrywomen, how zealously and faithfully American ladies follow the laudable example of their husbands, and what opposition your Ministers may expect to receive from a people thus firmly united against them.”
This is just a single story from a long history of the unfinished struggle for independence in this country. As a progressive, I think it’s important to embrace patriotic symbols and remind people what the flag is supposed to stand for. I do not acquiesce to the idea that the flag stands for McDonalds and Wal-Mart and Halliburton. We need to hold America to her promise of fairness, equality, freedom and justice. Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America… What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. In their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for.”
BUT WE ARE AT WAR
Contrary to President Bush’s call for us to go out and spend money in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the World War II era gives us an historical example with which a shunning of consumerism is completely compatible.
We’re at war? Fine. Let’s embrace the patriotism of WW II and slogans of that era. Wartime means sacrifices. Frugality.  “Use it Up–Wear it Out–Make it Do–Or Do Without.” “Should Brave Men Die So You Can Drive?” On a poster of the WWII homefront big letters proclaimed “Make Yours a Victory Home” and a series of lifestyle actions were suggested, actions which could build a more sustainable and environmentally healthy community: (paraphrased) Find time for community work. Raise and share food.Walk and carry packages. Conserve everything you have. Save 10% of your salary.
LOCAL IS PATRIOTIC
There’s a good reason for the nostalgia in our culture for World War II and the decade after. In that era, known as “The Great Compression,” average incomes rose as never before, and the rich-poor gap narrowed as never before. That’s because most of the growth of the economy went to Middle America – rather than to the top 5 percent as we saw in the recent so-called boom. To quote FDR again, “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have too much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
Keeping your dollars local will reduce the profit of shareholders of multinational corporations, where the greatest fortune is already concentrated. But more importantly, if we shop with our neighbors, we will help create jobs which are more likely to pay a living wage. Locally owned small businesses actually create more than 90% of the new jobs in our economy.
Across the nation, 11,000 local pharmacies have closed their doors since 1990. Independent bookstores now account for less than 20% of book sales. Neighborhood hardware stores are disappearing: two chains have captured more than 25% of the market. An economic impact study done on the possible siting of a Borders Bookstore in downtown Austin found that “For every $100 in consumer spending at Borders, the total local economic impact is only $13. The same amount spent with a local merchant yields more than three times the local economic impact.” Local merchants spend a much larger portion of total revenue on local labor to run the enterprise and sell the merchandise. They keep their profits in the local economy, rather than immediately shipping it out to absentee shareholders. As Michael Shuman notes in his book Going Local, “A community in which money flows out quickly and never returns slowly bleeds to death.”
The first step is to show people that they really can make decisions for themselves about production, work, technologies, food and lifestyle. The mental habit of self-reliance is supported via community self-reliance, which boils down to producing locally for local needs, owning businesses locally, and recycling finance locally. All across the country, small businesses and farmers have been abandoned at every level from city councils and chambers of commerce to state and federal legislatures. They are fighting back by affiliating in local and national networks, cooperatives and alliances. Typical Independent Business Alliance schemes involve consumer education efforts, directories of local businesses, decals in participating business windows, and even discount cards for consumer members of the alliance.
Every effort makes a difference. Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. And let’s do it all with a “peace” and a “flag” sticker in our window.
Joan Cole is a stay-at-home mother who was radicalized by the entry of her son into this world. She got active with the Prairie Greens of East Central Illinois during the Nader 2000 campaign, and is also involved in primary caregiver rights issues at a national level. In her previous life, she worked in IT. Joan says, “I know that I am ‘just an egg’ in the endeavor of living more sustainably, and I know there are people in this community who have been at this much longer than I have. I would like to see a group get together and begin working on economic democracy projects, such as a local business directory. If you would be interested in getting involved with this, get in touch with me and we’ll get something started.” Joan can be reached at jscole@advancenet.net.

LIFESTYLE CHOICES
* Pay attention to where you spend your money. Spend less in the transnational corporate ruled economy; spend more in your local economy, with locally owned independent businesses and cooperatives.
* Use less energy.
* Buy more food locally from farmers and local processors. Grow some of your own food.
* Drive less; walk, bike and take public transportation more.
* Never borrow money for consumer purchases or entertainment, pay cash or don’t buy.
* You are not your wardrobe.
* Waste not, want not.Avoid buying new stuff whenever possible. Patronize the aftermarket – buy used, barter, garage sale, etc.
* Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
SOME SOURCES:
Dreier, Peter & Dick Flacks. “Patriotism’s Secret History”. The Nation. May 16, 2002.
Challenging Empire’s Story. Published in By What Authority, Spring 2002 (http://www.poclad.org/bwa/spring02.htm).
Hartmann, Thom. Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights. Rodale Press, 2002. You can read excerpts, and the real history of the Boston Tea Party at www.thomhartmann.com.
Rebellions from the Winter 2003 issue of Yes! magazine, available online at http://www.futurenet.org/24democracy/hartmann.htm
Livable City – Quality of Life for all of Austin http://liveablecity.com/ (source of the study on Borders bookstore).