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Desert Regional Float at Gay Pride Weekend, check out more events in our Weekend Event Sum Up on page 2. Photo by Pat Krause
Desert Hot Springs, CA PERMIT NO 00005
November 14, 2014 Vol. 7 No. 87
Veterans’ “War Ink” By Desert Star Staff Pleasant Hill, Calif. – As Americans struggle to find meaningful ways to honor the nation’s 2.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, a powerful new online exhibit, WAR INK, opens today to support those efforts. The honest and emotionally raw collection of original video, photography and audio interviews uses the memorial tattoos and
words of 24 veterans to open a dialogue between civilians and returning vets. “WAR INK emerged out of a need to recognize veterans’ stories of service and sacrifices and to bridge the divide between the veteran and civilian communities,” says WAR INK co-creator Jason Deitch, a former Army medic and military sociologist. “This is both an exhibit and a forum, using tattoos
as a springboard for veterans to share their stories.” “Veterans need ways to reconnect with their communities,” says Chris Brown, WAR INK cocreator and senior manager at the Contra Costa County Library, which will launch the program along with over 20 other libraries throughout California. “As librarians, we’re pleased to play a part in bridging that gap and
By Desert Star Staff Palm Springs, CA--Palm Springs Windmill Tours is now open and offering the only windmill farm tour that takes visitors up close and personal with the Coachella Valley’s most recognizable landmarks. The tours operate daily at 9 am, noon, and 3 pm, and take visitors “behind the fence” to a working windmill farm, then explore other sustainable energy production facilities nearby. The tours are approximately one and one-half hours and cost $35 for adults and $17.50 for children. “Palm Springs Windmill Tours is the only windmill tour company
that takes its guests up close to actual windmills on the farm,” said David Hixon, of Palm Springs Windmill Tours. “We show our guests the history of windmill operations here since the 1980’s, and also explore newer alternative energy production with a stops at a solar panel field and the valley’s new natural gas peaking facility.” Palm Springs Windmill Tours is also the only windmill farm tour endorsed by the Desert Wind Energy Association. In 1982, the first wind farm was developed in the Palm Springs flats of the San Gorgornio Pass. Today, more than 4,000 windmills are spread out over 70
square miles and produce enough electricity to power Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley. In the Palm Springs area, about 2,000 windmills exist, ranging in height from 105 feet to the height of a 45-story building. The tours begin at Palm Springs Windmill Tours in North Palm Springs, where photographs documenting the evolution of the industry in the area are on display, along with various windmills that have been in use over the last 35 years. Reservations for the tours can be made at windmilltours. com, or by calling 800-531-5834.
Windmill Tours Now Open
sharing the poignant stories of our veterans.” The sudden transition from war to civilian life leaves many vets facing deep feelings of alienation and isolation. Tattoos, Brown and Deitch explain, are a shared form of expression between many civilians and vets, and offer a unique gateway to conversations, which can begin to build that community.
“Every tattoo on my body tells a story,” says WAR INK veteran Ron “Doc” Riviera of Santa Cruz, California. “If people just asked, they wouldn’t get a movie or a book; they would get the real thing.” Elegantly produced, WAR INK walks visitors through four multimedia chapters. In the veterans’ own words, they remind Continues on Page 3