Being at Peace in Our Community

from Poet and Being at Peace in Our Community Progenitor Kathy Smith takes place April 21st @ 2:00pm:

"How we can all become less estranged, and more part of the community?

We welcome you to participate in a series of  events featuring poetry, discussion and
food. The impetus for this series is a drive to improve the relationship and understanding
between people who are leading and policing our communities and all people who live in
the communities to minimize violence and to work better together on solving problems.

Here are some of the immediate problems we’d like to work on solving/discussing:

•Incidents have occurred such as misuse of
force/misuse of authority/improper training on the part of some police officers and
other members of the community.  Some in our community have been stopped and harassed
by for no apparent reason, and like in the case of Trayvon Martin, some children have even been harmed.

• Too much polarization, not enough togetherness
• Not enough working together on common community issues
Addressing and helping solve these social issues can help us work together
on some of the other big issues--economic and environmental--at which

we
will
be
more
effective
addressing
together.

SATURDAY APRIL 21 @ 2-5 PM

BEING AT PEACE IN OUR COMMUNITY

“Introducing Ourselves” @


The Nia Coffeehouse

2555 Euclid Heights Blvd. (At St. Alban Episcopal Church)

Open mic poetry, refreshments and roundtable introductions. Theme of
the evening: “Introducing Ourselves”--however you might wish to interpret
this. Please feel free to bring some food and poetry to share. We will meet
again in May; stay tuned for venue and theme info! "

Joseph Kony and Uganda's Wounds Still Seeping

Jason Russell creator of the Kony 2012 video and movement

Undoubtedly you've read about allegations leveled at Jason Russell, creator of the now viral Kony 2012 video and his arrest. I'm cynical and chose not to trust the allegations in toto believing that there is some manipulation going on in media and in Mr. Russell's life somewhere, somehow, someway for some reason. It is just suspicious he has no record of anything like this and as soon as this cause gets some juice he makes the news.
Worst case scenario- all the allegations are true, AND Kony is guilty. Uganda's weak defense that Kony is a good boy now and Uganda has been overtaken by warm fuzzies and that Kony is no longer in Uganda does not detract from the illegal and immoral atrocities he has committed. Uganda should be at the forefront of the movement to bring him to justice instead of promoting roadblocks and taking on a Freddie Prince, "it's not my job man," posture.  Thirty thousand (30,000) children, mostly if not entirely Ugandan, have been affected for the rest of their lives.  Imagine deep depression, hopelessness, unbearable guilt, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at thirteen (13) years of age times 30,000 children dismissed because "Joseph doesn't live hear anymore."
To be sure many decent people in Uganda are incensed at being on the world stage in this light once more and would rather Joseph Kony have no ties to Uganda mentioned.  

Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army formerly operating in Uganda

The Christian Science Monitor in,

Teacher in Uganda: Why give celebrity status to a killer in Kony 2012,

reports a high school teacher as saying, "The LRA led vicious attacks in northern Uganda for 20 years, killing tens of thousands of people and abducting children as soldiers and slaves. But Kony and his LRA were pushed out of the country by the Ugandan Army, and there have been no LRA attacks here since August 2006. Most of the 1.8 million displaced people have returned and are trying to reconstruct their lives.,"

It is too bad that this refocus on Joseph Kony may show Uganda in bad light once again, but this should not be the main consideration in bringing  crimes against humanity perpetrators to justice, and I dare say this has not been the cry of outrage anywhere else in the world when war criminals are hunted down. 

 It does not matter if Ghandi made the Kony 2012 video or Joseph Stalin did, either way the impetus for his capture and for his being brought to justice needs to be, at the very LEAST maintained.   Mad prayers to Jason and his family believing he will recover quickly and believing what Satan has meant for evil and destruction, God will use for good. Y'all keep up the good fight, let us keep fighting, let us fight more. 

We can't be lead by the perfect person, she or he does not exist unless you look to Jesus, but we can be led by perfect love which casts out fear and overthrows what should not rule this world, what should not rule our lives. Whether evil or good wins you have to choose a trajectory or it will be coercively  chosen for you. Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!  Please do not make the mistake of believing that the spirit of Joseph Kony is not active in your neighborhood.
To bring this closer to home, "we are the richest most prosperous nation in the world and  still we haven't found the political will to end hunger."- James McGovern, US Representative, Massachusetts.  Our style of rape and pillage may be far more insidious than what Joseph Kony exacts.
The  Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi asked someone what they thought about Jason Russell's arrest and he named the charges which makes one think there may be a strong connection between Uganda and the event  that the pres knew about it almost immediately. Mr. Prime Minister didn't ask me what I thought about it but here is what I think about it; everybody needs to RE POST and pursue: Right on Jason may God bless to finish the fight: Capture and Arrest Kony Now!

Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi

How Should You Tip Your Barista? | Phoenix Coffee

How Should You Tip Your Barista? | Phoenix Coffee

Coffee cup Mona Lisa

This is pretty cool.














Artist assistants stand next to 3,604 cups of coffee which have been made into a giant Mona Lisa in Sydney , Australia . The 3,604 cups of coffee were filled with different amounts of milk to create the different shades!

The Nia Coffeehouse Has a New Home

Well the Nia Coffeehouse has been on hiatus for a couple of months. We hope you missed us.  We will be back soon.  Home base will be St. Alban, 2555 Euclid Heights Blvd.  Look for the read door on the hill.  We have more space, we'll serving food and bringing you poetry, music, and spoken word.  We will be back to you soon with times and dates.  You can see where we've been at facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Nia-Coffeehouse/129467261263?sk=app_2309869772

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

I hope you enjoy this essay on Ethiopian Coffee Cerimony by Emily Doyle
Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

culture by the cup

Culture in a Cup
By
IT Blog
Food writer and Modern Spice cookbook author Monica Bhide recently returned from visiting her family in India, and we asked her to share some glimpses of contemporary life she noticed while there. You can read her first post here.


For centuries India, particularly North India, has been a country of tea drinkers, while steaming cups of coffee were loved by the folks in South India. And then something happened. Since 2000, coffeehouses like Barista and Café Coffee Day have begun to spring up in major cities by the hundreds. They offer different types of coffees, smoothies, and snacks very much like Starbucks does. The initial reaction was interesting to watch. "The affluent young Indians will love it," the media claimed, as they noted all the youngsters gathering at the coffeehouses. There was an outcry from lovers of Indian culture and tea--it was blasphemous for them to even think that coffee culture could be percolating here in India, sacrilegious that a tea-drinking nation could love drinking coffee. Culture watchers were quick to point out that people drinking in these fancy coffeehouses weren't any better than the ones who drank tea off the street stalls.

My view is a bit different.

In my opinion--and I have been watching this closely over the past ten years-- these coffeehouses aren't about the coffee. While tea stalls provide a quick stop for the frantic in need of a hot shot, they aren't places to gather for contemplative conversations. A Barista opened near my parents' home in New Delhi several years ago, and as I stopped by on a daily basis during five weeks of my trip, I discovered it had culture of its own.

The early morning hours find retired older men who sit around with newspapers in hand discussing politics, their children, the new iPod Nano and their good old times. I spoke with a few of them and they told me there was nowhere else to go in this heat, and at home their wives objected--oh, the maids are cleaning, not now! So they meet here; this is their support in their old age. The afternoon finds the young adults with their laptops, and book clubs meeting to discuss the latest Jhumpa Lahiri masterpiece. As the day fades, these coffee shops become places to be seen, with teenagers gathering to discuss where to eat and what the evening holds.
They meet, they talk, they reminisce, they discuss, and they work here. True, some of them sip the beverages offered, but it isn't about the coffee. It is about the culture: the togetherness it has bought. Why not celebrate what it is bringing to contemporary India, instead of lamenting about what it is supposedly taking away? There are, and always will be, crowds at the local tea stalls. That is also a culture, and I don't think it will, or should, ever go away. But this diversity is what makes India what it is today.

Photos: Above, a lovely cup of cappuccino is served at the Barista in Phoenix Mills, Mumbai. Below, a traditional tea stand in Mumbai. By Monica Bhide.