Streetvibes December 15-31 Edition

The Men Who Stare at Goats Film Review Youth Outreach Page 8 Page 5

Artists as Activists Page 16

STREETVIBES

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Dec. 1-14, 2009 • Advocating Justice, Building Community • Issue 166

Hope for Chronically Homeless Jimmy Heath House starts with ‘housing first’

By Keara Anita Mullen Contributing Writer

O

ver-the-Rhine Community Housing (OTRCH) celebrated the groundbreaking Nov. 12 of Jimmy Heath House, Cincinnati’s first permanent supportivehousing project.

Named in honor of the late former editor of Streetvibes, Jimmy Heath House introduces the nationally recognized “Housing First” model as part of OTRCH’s efforts and mission to “build and sustain a diverse neighborhood that values and benefits low-income residents.”

About 1,685 chronically homeless people live in Hamilton County, according to 2008 statistics from the Hamilton County Homeless Management Information System. Studies

See Homeless, p. 7

The architectural sketch of Jimmy Heath House on Odeon Street in Over-the-Rhine. Jimmy Heath House is set to open in September 2010. Drawing courtesy of Over-the-Rhine Community Housing.

Cincinnati Oracle Appears in India Buddhist guru visits new monastery

By Gregory Flannery Editor

cate Shar Gaden Monastery, made up of monks who left the larger monastery in order to continue honoring Dorje uten Lama, head of a Tibetan Shugden. A wall separates the two instiBuddhist monastery in Cincin- tutions.

Kuten Lama, abbot of nati and leader Gaden Samdrupling Monof a lineage at odds with the Dalai Lama, last Kuten lama is an oracle, astery in Colerain Townmonth helped inauguship, led a group of about channeling the spirit of a dozen U.S. followers to rate a breakaway monasDorje Shugden, a deity the dedication ceremony. tery in south India. banned by the Dalai Kuten Lama is an ora- Lama. Devotees believe While there he performed cle, channeling the spirit an invocation. Tibetan Dorje Shugden is a of Dorje Shugden, a deBuddhists believe that, “wisdom Buddha” and ity banned by the Dalai protector, while the Dalai during an invocation, Lama. Devotees believe Lama has declared him Dorje Shugden takes over Dorje Shugden is a “wisKuten Lama’s body, using an evil spirit. him to convey enlightened dom Buddha” and proinstruction. tector, while the Dalai Though the practice is ancient, the Lama has declared him an evil spirit.

Following the Dalai Lama’s ban, Gaden monks who preserve it are not without Shartse Monastery in Mundgod, India, or- media savvy. Shar Gaden Monastery has dered its monks to sign pledges renounc- a Facebook page and posted a photoing Dorje Shugden. Monks who refused graph of the invocation.

During the trance, Kuten Lama wieldwere shunned and denied food and other necessities – a policy enforced in Tibetan ed a sword, symbolizing the “wrathful Buddhist monasteries throughout India. compassion” of Dorje Shugden, severing Last month Kuten Lama helped dedi- ignorance and egoism.

K

Kuten Lama performs an invocation in India.

Photo by Shar Gaden Monastery.

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The Vibe

By The Numbers

11,000

the number of women and girls helped by Talbert House every year (see page 3)

18th

the century in which Goya created a painting that inspired Matt Reed (see page 16)

1861

the year the city of Wyoming was founded (see page 13)

25

the number of housing units that will make up Jimmy Heath House (see page 1)

$80

billion the estimated loss to the U.S. economy if employment of undocumented workers were further restricted (see page 6)

$775,000 the annual cost per soldier of the U.S. war on Afghanistan (see page 13)

96

the age of Over-theRhine Kitchen’s longest serving volunteer (see page 11)

4

the height, in stories, of the Jim Tarbell mural at Vine Street and Central Parkway (see page 9)

1,162

the number of homeless people served by street outreach programs in Hamilton County (see page 5)

1

the number of times the head of the Army’s Intelligence and Security tried to run through a wall (see page 12)

StreetWise

By Gregory Flannery Editor

Remember the Suffering of Prisoners While many of us gathered for family feasts on Thanksgiving, many others were unable, some because they have no homes or no food. Others were unable to celebrate with loved ones because they were held in cages. Streetvibes recently received a letter from a woman at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. She asked that her name not be used.

“There is so much food that gets thrown away,” she wrote. “We are not allowed to opt out of something being put on our tray. Another thing is the rule here that we cannot take anything from our tray back to our room. Often this place pays a (corrections officer). to check our pockets; and if we do try to take a piece of bread back to our rooms and they check us, the C.O.s make us throw the food away and may punish us. I realize rules are rules but that’s a dumb rule that costs taxpayers money.”

Health Care is a Matter of Justice Most faith traditions urge people to be generous toward the poor and suffering at this time of year. But charity is just one expression of faith. A more useful one is solidarity in the cause of justice. People of Faith United for Health Care Reform marched Nov. 24 to the Cincinnati office of U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), presenting an open letter calling for health-care reform.

“As people of faith, we want to assure that 1 in 6 children and non-elderly adults will no longer have to live sicker and risk dying younger because they cannot get needed health care,” the letter said. “Medical care will no longer be the cause of financial ruin for families, institutions, businesses and governments. All people must have the health care they need regardless of their income or the state of their health.

“The 45,000 annual deaths due to lack of needed health care, as noted in the recent Harvard report, are a profound reminder about how important it is to make comprehensive and compassionate reform happen this year. This tragic and needless loss of human life is evidence that we as a nation have lost our moral courage and our faith-inspired call to care for everyone as a brother and sister.”

Among the people signing the letter were the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., the Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, the Rev. Sharon Dittmar, the Rev. Paula Jackson, Dean James A. Diamond, the Rev. Elmer Martin, Bishop E. Lynn Brown and the Rev. Joanna Leiserson.

Tell Strickland to Stop Killing People Distressing though it is that in 2009 tens of millions of Americans lack access to health care, even more disturbing is the purposes to which some medical technology is put – namely, the deliberate killing of human beings. After a series of botched executions, the state of Ohio is now set to try a new method for poisoning condemned prisoners. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio is asking citizens to contact Gov. Ted Strickland and urge him to stop state-sanctioned murder.

“In light of overwhelming problems with past executions, the state announced new lethal injection procedures … (that) have never been used in any other state and are largely untested,” the ACLU says. “The state plans to implement these unproven procedures as soon as possible.

There are currently seven men scheduled to be executed in the next seven months, with the first date rapidly approaching on Dec. 8.

“By rushing to implement these experimental new procedures, the risk is greater than ever that something may go wrong in the execution chamber. These procedures do little to remedy the problems Romell Broom experienced during his botched execution. Also, they do not address the reality that Ohio’s execution team is ill-equipped and unqualified to perform these complex medical procedures.”

While you’re shopping and decorating for the holidays, please take a few minutes to contact Strickland at 614-466-3555 with this message: “Ohio's death penalty system is fundamentally broken. Please put a halt to all executions now.”

Sweeping the Poor from Their Homes Not all government activity is quite so pernicious. Some is just silly, except when seen in the context of its larger goals. Thus the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) is accepting registration for the 2010 Fountain Square Broomball League. Yes, your tax dollars at work.

It’s worth remembering that, while 3CDC is turning Fountain Square into a playground, less than two blocks away it’s preparing to force out 200 low-income residents of the Metropole Apartments. The city-subsidized 3CDC wants to convert the building into a boutique hotel.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless urges people to contact Steve Leeper, CEO of 3CDC, and urge him to back off. Write sleeper@3cdc.org and tell him to let the residents of the Metropole keep their homes.

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009 Streetvibes is an activist newspaper, advocating justice and building community. Streetvibes reports on economic issues, civil rights, the environment, the peace movement, spirituality and the struggle against homelessness and poverty.

Distributed by people who are or once were homeless, in exchange for a $1 donation, Streetvibes is published twice a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Art Director Lynne Ausman Vendor Coordinator Jeni Jenkins Contributing Writers Lew Moores, Samantha Groark, Margo Pierce, Paul Kopp, Jeremy Flannery, Michael Henson, David Heitfield, Kelissa Hieber, Dan Rozier, Stephanie Dunlap, Saad Ghosn, Keara Anita Mullen, Ariana Shahandeh, Larry Gross, Eli Braun Photography/Artwork Aimie Willhoite, Lynne Ausman, Jeni Jenkins, Anthony Williams, Bill Haigh, Clarissa Peppers Proofreaders Jennifer Blalock Lynn Baker Jeremy Flannery The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that works to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati through coordination of services, public education, grassroots advocacy and Streetvibes.

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STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

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By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer

A

n addiction is an addiction and so all we need to do is get people into treatment when they hit rock bottom and they will get clean or sober. Right?

Wrong.

Women in particular must deal with a myriad of issues that could easily be dismissed as extraneous by a program that focuses only on getting the drugs out of a person’s system and teaching her to, “Just say no.”

At Talbert House, this means assisting women in a variety of settings with getting the necessities of life for them and their children – shelter, food, mental-health services – so they can focus on overcoming their addiction for good.

Cathy Jo Veroni, Talbert House’s director of Women’s and Court Services, oversees a halfway house for women; Pathways, a communitybased treatment program for women with misdemeanor or felony convictions; and a jailbased chemical-dependency program. The Rewards Jail Intervention program uses “gender-responsive techniques” to assess and treat female addicts, including education and intensive discharge planning that addresses chemical dependency, mental health, prostitution and other criminal behavior.

These are proven drug rehabilitation methods that respond to the specific needs of women; it isn’t a men’s program with pink paperwork.

“We know that women are very relational,” Veroni says.

“In other words, relationships are really important to them, and the kinds of relationships that they’re in dictate a lot of the behaviors and the choices that they make. The other thing about women that’s really different about men in treatment is women are very verbal. They need to talk, and they need to talk about their feelings. Men tend to need to talk about how they think.

They’ll continue to talk with you, they’ll debate with you.

They’re there with you as long as you’re there with them … and on their side.”

During that talking, lots of issues arise because women aren’t solely defined by their

Column

M I N U T E S

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O pe ni ng a D o o r For female addicts out in the cold, Talbert House opens a door addiction, Veroni says.

“The other thing that we have to touch on is the fact that most of them are parents,” she says. “When they walk in the front door, they want somebody to know that they’re worried about their kids. They want to tell somebody what it is they need to do for their children.

“Financially, most of our women are living at a poverty level, so housing and food are major concerns that we need to address right away.”

Most of the women Veroni works with come to her through the legal system. Frequently they have a charge of possession or using drugs and maybe something else related to their addiction that supports their habit, such as theft or prostitution.

“Typically our women have been through trauma at some point in their life – many of them physical or sexual abuse as children by family members; women are typically abused by family members, people they know,” Veroni says. “If you’ve been abused by someone in a trusted relationship, it’s more emotionally damaging, so we get a lot of mental illness symptoms as a result of that.

“Consequently, the relationship choices they make aren’t healthy; they get into adult relationships that are also abusive. Almost all women who’ve engaged in prostitution have received some form of abuse.”

In the midst of all that turmoil and dealing with what society has deemed inappropriate, these women live, love, laugh and really aren’t all that different from anyone else.

“It’s the humanness in them that I find very easy to relate to,” Veroni says. “I don’t have a drug addiction. I’ve never been arrested … but just the way they view the world, their experiences, their spot in the community, is real close to mine.

“They don’t love their children any less than I love my children. They don’t love their parents any less. Their friends are just as important to them.

They’re just as sensitive – their feelings are hurt just as easily as mine are.”

Unfortunately, most people see the addiction without bothering to acknowledge the person.

Cathy Jo Veroni, Talbert House’s director of Women’s and Court Services, oversees a halfway house for women.

Photo by Aimie Willhoite.

“It’s gotten better over the years, but I certainly think that something all drug addicts deal with is the stigma associated with, ‘They’re bad people,’ ‘There’s something wrong with them.’ Women deal with that a bit more because women are supposed to be at home taking care of their children,” Veroni says.

“They’re supposed to be the homemaker; and when they’re not, it’s looked upon with more shame than men.”

A significant part of transforming that way of seeing themselves and their old behaviors is a cognitive-therapy approach called Truthought.

It’s a way to help women identify thinking barriers, such as a refusal to admit fears as a way to avoid embarrassment, and provides examples of how to replace them with “responsible thinking steps,” such as admitting fears and trusting others to help. The Truthought pocket-sized bro-

chure resides in many wallets and purses throughout Hamilton County, serving as a quick reminder, according to Veroni.

Meeting women where they’re at with their fear, worry and addiction is what these female-centric programs are about, with absolutely no judgmentalism allowed.

“It’s really an unconditional regard,” Veroni says. “We don’t want them to feel ‘less than’ even if they’ve made bad choices before they got to us or after they’ve left us.

Not everybody gets it the first time.

“Our intention is to always be there for them, for there to be an open door,” she says.

“That’s our main message to the women – even if they’re not ready for treatment, and some of them are court-ordered … if we can just have a positive relationship with them, when they are ready, they’ll remember, ‘Oh, (this

person) was nice to me even when I wasn’t in a good place.’

And so when they come back, we welcome them with open arms.”

In 2008, Pathways served 350 women, and approximately 450 women were served through Rewards Jail Intervention. Talbert House assists approximately 11,000 women and girls every year with outpatient services, adolescents’ programs, community groups and welfareto-work job readiness assistance. The newest initiative is a mentoring program for women recovering from addiction.

For emergency care, call the crisis hotline at 513-281-2273.

If you think you or someone you know has a problem with drugs or alcohol, call Adult Services at 513-641-4300 or Adolescent Outpatient at 513321-8286 so they can receive unconditional support.

Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in the Queen City.

“Eight Minutes” is an opportunity to learn who those people are and what motivates them to be a positive influence.

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STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Local News

Demanding Justice from Chiquita Company convicted of funding right-wing terror group

By Samantha Groark Contributing Writer

of dollars to the United SelfDefense Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acrohen investors nym AUC. George Washingarrived Nov. 16 ton University’s National Sefor a meeting at curity Archive describes AUC Chiquita, protesters stood as an “illegal right-wing antioutside company headquar- guerrilla group tied to many ters downtown in defense of of the country’s most notothose who have been affected rious civilian massacres.” by the company’s support of The U.S. State Department right-wing terrordeclared the AUC a ists in Colombia. terrorist organizaTwo human “We are here tion in 2001. rights groups – because Chiquita The protesters 8th Day Center gathered to demand has committed for Justice and justice for Colombihuman rights Witness for Peace ans who have been violations” – protested in - Sam Pettinichi harmed by Chiqan effort to hold uita’s economic and executives acpolitical policies, countable for the company’s according to Candice Camapayments to terrorist groups, rgo, an organizer for Witness payments the groups say led for Peace. to the murders of thousands Union leader Gerrardo of poor laborers in the re- Tajamarca, who has witgion. nessed terrorist activity allegChiquita is the only U.S. edly tied to Chiquita, spoke to corporation ever to plead the protesters. guilty to violating the U.S. “We are here so people can Anti-Terrorism Act. Carl H. see the truth about who got Lindner Jr., the billionaire rich off these murders,” he Cincinnati businessman, was said. “Chiquita does not reCEO of Chiquita from 1984 gret making these payments to 2001. During his leader- and refuses to give compenship, Chiquita executives sation to its victims. Chiquita paid hundreds of thousands does not regret paying terror-

W

Protestors gathered to demand justice for Colombians who have been harmed

by Chiquita’s economic and political policies. Photo by Clarissa Peppers.

ists to threaten its workers and their communities. They are still guilty.”

In March 2007, Chiquita pleaded guilty to paying the AUC more than $1.7 million during a six-year period, from 1997-2004. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Chiquita will pay a $25 million criminal fine to the U.S. government over five years.

In accepting the fines, the prosecution agreed not to name or prosecute the executives involved in ordering the payments. None of the money will go to victims or their families.

In addition to 8th Day Center for Justice and Witness for Peace activists, several Xavier University students attended.

“We are here because Chiquita has committed human rights violations,” said Sam Pettinichi, president of Xavier University Students for Economic Justice. “This is particularly important to us as students at Xavier because former CEO Carl Lindner has been a major donor to our university.”

Art and Culture of Over-the-Rhine SCPA students explore neighborhood in pictures and words

By Olivia Hamilton Contributing Writer

ates art-education programs for youth and adults designed to foster community engageeginning in Au- ment. gust, 21 juniors and SCPA students began seniors from the the New Voices program by School for Creative and Per- learning basic photographic forming Arts engaged in a composition and technique. photography and The class met with writing program community leadthat sought to The dialogue that ers such as Bonnie connect them to Neumeier of the resulted gave the community of Peaslee NeighborSCPA and the Over-the-Rhine in Drop Inn Center hood Center , Kelly new and meaningLeon of 3CDC and the chance ful ways.

Jeni Jenkins of the to develop Students were Greater Cincincross-cultural encouraged to nati Coalition for understanding form and express the Homeless to that could their own opinhave a positive gather information ions about issues about the comimpact on the affecting the community that they community of munity as they un- Over-the-Rhine. could incorporate dertook a variety of into their art. Stuphotography and dents also toured writing assignments. Working Washington Park and learned with diverse institutions such about the history of the area. as the Drop Inn Center and Finally, students went out the Cincinnati Center City into the neighborhood and Development Corp. (3CDC), began photographing. students sought to broaden After touring the Drop Inn their understanding of the Center and learning about its community in which their mission, students began to new school will be located as work collaboratively with the of fall 2010. residents of the center who The class, called “New were involved in an ongoing Voices,” is produced by Prai- creative-writing group. The rie Inc., a non-profit organi- students began by listening zation in Northside that cre- to the residents read some

B

An image created by a student in the New Voices program. Photo by Asia.

of their writing and in turn shared their photography with the residents. In later weeks students produced portraits of residents, and both groups engaged one another in an artistic collaboration using writing and photographic images.

“We are: What this world has made us. What made me different in life. No better

than what we think ourselves to be,” wrote Adrian, an SCPA student, and Calvin, a resident.

The dialogue that resulted gave SCPA and the Drop Inn Center the chance to develop cross-cultural understanding that could have a positive impact on the community of Over-the-Rhine.

Images and writing from

the program can be viewed on the New Voices Web site, cincinnatinewvoices.com.

The opening reception of the New Voices work will be from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8 at the Miami University Center for Community Engagement, 1300 Vine St. The show will remain open from 2-5 p.m. the remainder of that week and through the following week.

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Local News

To Get Youth Off the Streets

5

Youth outreach workers distribute necessities and offer hope

By Valerie Fessler Contributing Writer

T

hree times a week Lea Drury and Nelson Troché drive a beige van marked “Lighthouse Youth Services” through the city of Cincinnati, passing out basic essentials such as food and water to homeless young adults.

They are outreach and caseworkers for Anthony House, a dropin center for people, especially those who are homeless, ages 1824. Anthony House provides food, clothing, showers, basic medical care, laundry facilities, social-service referrals, anonymous HIV testing, pregnancy testing, birth certificates and identification, mail service, Internet access and housing assistance.

But rather than wait for homeless youth to come to Anthony House, Drury, 31, and Troché, 32, go in search of them. They pass out sandwiches, water, condoms and harm-reduction kits, hoping to make homeless youth safer in their life decisions. It is unrealistic to believe prostitution will disappear from the city in the near future or that all drug use will cease, but educating homeless youth and giving them the tools to be safe is one step in the right direction.

Troché and Drury approach people on the street when distributing items, asking, “Do you know anyone that is homeless who needs help?” Many often respond by saying, “Yeah, that’s me” or “I know someone who is.” Troché says they use this approach in order to not offend anyone and because sometimes it is difficult to distinguish who is homeless. Over time, the outreach workers learn where various homeless youth hang out, such as on the banks of the Ohio River.

Drury began volunteering for Lighthouse Youth Services because she is interested in social justice and wanted to be a full-time caseworker. She has been working full-time with Lighthouse for three years. Troché has been working as a full-time caseworker for more

Anthony House is a daytime, drop-in shelter for homeless youth.

Photo by Aimie Willhoite.

Leah Drury and Nelson Troché, outreach workers at Lighthouse Youth Services, offer help and necessities to homeless youth hanging out at the library. Photo by Aimie Willhoite. than a year. He has a background in HIV work and community work with lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people.

Many young adults face homelessness because they are booted out of the foster-care system at age 18 with no place to go, no job skills, no rental history for landlords and sometimes with no highschool diploma. Others are raised in broken homes where violence and drugs might be all they know. Some suffer from mental illness and end up on the streets.

“The most challenging part of my job is that they are just kids,” Troché says. “At the end of the day, I do good work by helping to give them the basics.”

The youth who visit Anthony House are greeted with open arms. Caseworkers build relationships with their clients in order to teach homeless young adults the basic necessities of life. Through the transitional-living program, caseworkers help homeless young adults move from the streets into apartments and help them find jobs.

During a recent van ride, Drury and Troché stopped at a Kroger store to pick up fried chicken and side dishes in order to feed the youth at Anthony House.

The first level of Anthony House contains several computers, a couch, a kitchen, tables, a shower and laundry facilities. The next level holds office space and desks for outreach and caseworkers, along with a nurse’s station. The uppermost level serves as a pantry for food and storage of donated clothes for the homeless.

Drury says she has learned the necessity of knowing when to stop working.

“I have learned not to bring my work home,” she says. “It is not helpful to my clients to be up all night worrying, because I am ineffective the next day.”

In Cincinnati and Hamilton County, 1,162 men, women and children were served by street outreach programs in 2008, according to the Homeless Management Information System’s annual report.

Anthony House recently extended its operation from 10 hours per week to five hours per day. It is now open from 1-6 p.m. weekdays. The outreach and caseworkers hope that one day Anthony House will be a 24-hour facility where beds and overnight services will be available.

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STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Local News

Wage Theft: The Forgotten Crime Workers organizing; new law proposed

By Eli Braun Contributing Writer

L

ow-wage workers and supporters gathered Nov. 19 in locations across Cincinnati to condemn wage theft – the illegal underpayment or non-payment of wages.

The events organized by the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers’ Center were replicated in over 40 cities across the country to commemorate the National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft.

Wage theft is a national crime wave robbing millions of workers of billions of dollars.

On busy intersections, activists passed out educational fliers and held signs saying, “Thou shall not steal. Stop wage theft now.” The group could be seen at 5 a.m. in Walnut Hills, 1 p.m. in Carthage and 4 p.m. downtown.

‘End the robbery’ “The goal is to draw attention to wage theft in our communities,” said organizer Dan Moore of the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers’ Center. “We need to connect workers to resources to end the robbery of working families and educate Cincinnatians that these violations cannot stand.”

Low-wage workers are cheated of an average $51 per week out of $339 in weekly earn1 in 4 were paid less ings, according to a recent study of workers in than the legally required New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The minimum wage, and 3 out report, “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers: of 4 who worked overtime Violations of Employment and Labor Laws in America’s Cities,” was authored by scholars at hours were not paid the legally required overtime. several university and non-profit institutions.

Among the workers surveyed, 1 in 4 were More than 2 out of 3 experienced at least one paid less than the legally required minimum pay-related violation in the wage, and 3 out of 4 who worked overtime hours were not paid the legally required overweek before the study. time. More than 2 out of 3 experienced at least one pay-related violation in the week before the study.

“We estimate that workers lose an average of $2,634 annually due to workplace violations, out of total earnings of $17,616,” the authors concluded.

Employers were creative in stealing workers’ wages: promising higher wages but paying only the minimum, paying less than minimum wage, not paying for all hours worked, misclassifying workers as exempt from overtime pay, deducting transportation or equipment “fees,” stealing tips, misclassifying workers as independent contractors or simply not paying workers at all.

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune has formed a new Wage Theft and Worker Misclassification Task Force, which will attempt to quantify the impact of these violations.

These violations impact not only the workers themselves, but every taxpayer as well. As many as 92,500 Ohio workers were misclassified in 2005, according to the county resolution authorizing the new task force. Misclassifications ultimately deprived the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation of $103 million in premiums and the Department of Revenue of $36 million in lost taxes.

Legislation is moving at the state level to help rectify abuses. In

Pedro Alverado speaks during a press conference to mark the National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft. Photo by Dan Moore.

November, State Sen. Sue Morano introduced the Wage Protection Act (S.B. 212), which would empower the state commerce department to investigate complaints beyond minimum wage. Ohio is one of only five states that does not investigate disputes when workers have already received the minimum.

On the national level, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Cal.) introduced the Wage Theft Prevention Act (H.R. 3303), which begins the statute of limitations from the date an employer is notified of an investigation instead of the date of the alleged theft. Under current law, delays in pursuing lost wages, often at no fault of the workers, can result in permanent loss of back pay.

Workers’ victories

Client-based advocacy happens daily at the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers’ Center (CIWC), headquartered in Over-the-Rhine.

Since its founding in 2005, the small organization has taken over 500 wage-theft reports and helped recover over $500,000 in unpaid wages.

Last month CIWC assisted a group of 357 mostly AfricanAmerican day laborers win a $75,000 settlement against Laborworks and Schwans/Red Baron Pizza. The settlement will pay workers’ wages that were never paid or were deceptively withheld for “transportation fees.”

CIWC assists in numerous individual cases, including, for example, a Cincinnati landscaper who was robbed of $30,000 when his employer refused to pay overtime wages. The landscaper had worked a year’s worth of 80-hour weeks, which often kept him away from his wife and children.

Cincinnati resident Frazier Kidd spoke at the CIWC press conference marking the National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft. He explained his struggle after being cheated of promised wages and CIWC intervention.

“I had to make decisions on whether to pay rent or buy food,” he said.

Day laborers and the CIWC recently succeeded in raising wages from below minimum wage to $10.90 an hour for nearly 50 trash-sorters at Rumpke Recycling.

“This change allowed hard-working employees to move out of shelters,” says CIWC Executive Director Don Sherman.

“CIWC is devoted to empowering workers to challenge dangerous working conditions and to protect their hard-earned pay. Immigrant and low-wage workers are standing up against Activists gather at 5 a.m. in Walnut Hills to reach out to immigrant and low-wage employers that unfairly make their money on the backs of workers. Photo by Dan Moore. working people.”

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Local News

Hope for Chronically Homeless

7

continued from page 1

show that chronically homeless people are often caught in a cycle that keeps them alternating between the streets and shelters, with jails and hospitals usually not far behind – an expensive and destructive cycle for the individuals themselves as well as the community.

The Housing First model creates structured, supportive housing that gives homeless people a permanent residence. The approach is a rapid re-housing method that serves as an alternative to emergency shelters and transitional living arrangements, decreasing the time that individuals remain homeless. Housing First is based on the belief that people are more responsive to interventions and social services after they are in their Housing First is own housing, rather than in a temporary or transibased on the belief tional limbo.

With permanent residency established, oncethat people are more responsive to homeless people can begin to reclaim their lives and confidence, which is often lost in the seemingly endinterventions and social services after less cycle that traps many individuals. With a focus on they are in their own self-reliance, Housing First residences provide crisis housing, rather than intervention to address immediate needs in order to transition people to stability. In addition to housing, in a temporary or the model includes an individualized and structured transitional limbo. plan of action and a support system, building skills to keep people in housing.

Jimmy Heath House will actually consist of six buildings on Odeon Street. The 25-unit residence will be monitored, with only one entry to the facility and a front-desk staff with surveillance, but OTRCH encourages a balance of making sure that residents will have freedom to move toward independence. The hope is that common areas will draw residents out of their private rooms and into interpersonal relationships with other tenants. This peer-support network can be beneficial to creating a healthy community and encouraging positive steps toward larger goals.

Residents will have access to a part-time clinician, a case manager and a service coordinator, though they are not required to use these services. Each resident will have a case manager and will be encouraged to utilize supportive services, but as long as house rules are followed and rent is paid, the residents will be responsible for their own decision-making.

Jimmy Heath House will partner with neighborhood services such as the Elm Street Heath Clinic, the Alcoholism Council of the Cincinnati Area, the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Service, Health Care for the Homeless, the FreeStore FoodBank’s direct rent program, Consumer Credit Counseling Services and the Homeless Individuals Partnership Program. These services, as well as many other resources in the community, will provide the residents with a support system intended to help them achieve their goals, end the cycle of homelessness and support capable, contributing citizens in the community.

Jimmy Heath House is scheduled to open in autumn 2010. Each resident will be screened, with help from organizations such as the Drop Inn Center. Residents will not have to leave the facility if they follow the house rules, but can work with caseworkers to find their own future housing if that is what they want.

Heath, a photographer and community activist, died in 2007. He

Jimmy Heath was the editor of Streetvibes until his death in December 2007. Photo by Jim Montgomery arrived homeless in Over-the-Rhine in 1995, eventually finding his way to the Drop Inn Center. He wrote that there he found hope and recovery, a new direction for his life and inspiration for his photography. After Heath graduated from the Drop Inn Center's Live-in Recovery Program, the late Buddy Gray – leader of the These services, as well as many movement to create solutions for homelessness in Cincinnati other resources in the community, – encouraged his involvement will provide the residents with a in the Over-the-Rhine commusupport system intended to help them nity and his use of the camera as achieve their goals, end the cycle of a tool for documentation. homelessness and support capable, Heath attempted to dispel contributing citizens in the community. myths and negative stereotypes associated with Over-the-Rhine.

He depicted everyday life in an affirming way, showing the beauty of the people and places in his community, while at the same time documenting the struggles and the reality that many, such as the future residents of the house named after him, face on a daily basis.

Don’t Grow Your Playoff Beard Yet Bengals relaxed against the easy foe

By B. Clifton Burke Contributing Writer

I

n Week 10, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers for the second time in 2009 and the golden-brick road to the Playoffs opened up before them. Fans and pundits finally opened their eyes and agreed that, despite a dismal team history, the Bengals were a contender this season after all. The team was proud and the city elated.

Then Cincinnati lost to the Oakland Raiders the following week and instantly fell back to the ranks of mere mortals yet again.

If pressed to find a weak-

ness on this Bengal team, one might point to the pattern of letdown efforts they have produced following landmark wins this season.

The first example of this trend came in an overtime win to the Cleveland Browns after Cincinnati's first win against Pittsburgh. A win is a win, but the game should not have come down to a field goal in the final seconds of overtime – a kick that some believed never actually went through the uprights.

Then the Houston Texans caught Cincinnati by surprise and beat them in Week 6 after the emotional win against the Ravens in Baltimore. Most recently, the Bengals handed

Oakland a win by coughing up two fourth-quarter fumbles in a late-game meltdown.

It's easy to forget that these teams are made up of human beings who are bound to experience stretches of physical fatigue and adrenaline dumps, but not even that excuse holds up in the NFL. Marvin Lewis likes to point out to his team that whoever they play that week gets paid to win football games, too, and if his team is unable to take the task seriously, they will fail.

The situation was ripe for a setback. After five straight divisional wins and gaining a foothold atop the AFC North, the upcoming stretch of Oak-

land on the road, followed by two home games against the Browns and Detroit Lions, must have seemed like approaching the intersection of Easy Street and Playoff Way for the Bengals. Had they cruised through those three games, the people of Cincinnati could have comfortably begun to grow their playoff beards. But after the Oakland debacle, the razor remains on the sink.

Letting up against lesser opposition isn't the worst characteristic a team can posses, but it's something the great ones have learned to avoid. The Bengals are a disciplined, well-coached team that out-muscles the toughest

but relaxes against the softest of foes. The conundrum is proof that the coaches have a few more lessons to pound into the players' heads before January. The Raiders provided the valuable lesson that stresses: If you keep a team in the game long enough, they will fight back and put themselves into a position to beat you.

Carson Palmer has said that his team is not yet good enough to win the Super Bowl; if they can learn to take their competition seriously, no matter what the record, they will be that much closer to doing just that.

8

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Issues

Immigration Benefits Americans The road to poverty is paved with good interventions

By Dennis Nichols Contributing Writer

T

he past three decades in America have seen pretty near a consensus emerge that immigration is a drag on the economy, especially illegal immigration. That consensus is mostly wrong, according to a recent study by a well-known foundation.

Various advocates have compiled data to buttress their arguments that illegals are a pox on society and toxic to prosperity, never mind that the influx coincided with record national prosperity and ended when jobs became scarce.

A Google search Nov. 14 on the terms “illegal” and “immigration” and “costs” turned up 3.06 million hits. The first three were these: • “Illegal Immigration Costs California $10.5 Billion Annually” (http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/ Latin American demonstrators at the U.S. Capitol. REUTERS/Jose Luis Magana. immigrationnaturalizatio/a/caillegals.htm). Excerpt: “A new study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) examines the costs of education, health care and incarceration of illegal aliens and concludes that counters that allege costs of more than $800 billion resulting from ilthe costs to Californians is $10.5 billion per year.” legal immigration. It looks like Bill O’Reilly sounds. The introduction • “Cost of Illegal Immigrants” (FactCheck.org). Excerpt: “Q: Do illegal runs to more than 2,500 words, and its paragraphs average 364 words. immigrants cost $338.3 billion dollars a year? More than the Iraq war?

A: A chain e-mail that makes this claim is loaded with errors and misFear wins votes leading assertions. Published studies vary widely but put the cost to government at a small fraction of that total. … The Urban Institute put Move down the list of hits, and you can find a few dissenting views, but the the net national cost at $1.9 billion in 1992; a Rice University professor, pattern is clear. The people posting this material are generally agreed: Immiwhose work the Urban Institute criticized, said it was $19.3 billion in gration hurts.

1993.”

Are they right? Or is the general agreement that immigrants are a burden • “Immigration Counters.com – Live Counters, News, Resources, Facts” one of those things that everybody knows, but just isn’t so?

Excerpt? Not going to try. The Web site’s sulfurous home page features One reason we have so little objective information about the effects of imseven flashing links in red text and 12 – count them, 12 – numeric migration is that there’s so little demand for good research. Illegal immigrants aren’t a voting constituency, and candidates for office can usually do better by raising fears than by suggesting contrary notions. And neither candidates nor bigots need research studies to talk like Lou Dobbs. Xenophobia has been a winning tactic since at least the time of Xenophon.

But some useful research is available. Much of it is advocacy, similar to economic studies done for hire at the University of Cincinnati, such as the one telling Cincinnatians what a great investment the stadiums would be. But even the advocacy studies can be useful, and some of the work is honest research by first-rate scholars.

A pair of recent reports cast some light on the subject.

The Immigration Policy Center has published “New Americans in The Buckeye State: The Political and Economic Power of Immigrants, Latinos and Asians in Ohio.” It falls into the category of advocacy. The Immigration Policy Center is part of the American Immigration Council, which supports the interests of immigrants. That’s fine, but it’s not impartial.

This brief report summarizes the growing importance of immigrants, legal and illegal, in Ohio’s economy and civil life. It notes, for example, that “39.6 percent of Ohio’s foreign-born population age 25 and older had a bachelor’s or higher degree in 2007, compared to 23.3 percent of native-

HOLIDAY SALE!!!

See Immigration, p. 10

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“If the lower classes are strong enough, or, in other words, if the lower classes can cause enough disruption in the society, the elites and more affluent may be wiling to give them concessions in order to remove this threat to the overall status quo.”

- Harold R. Kerbo, Social Stratification and Inequality

_________

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Reader’s Input

‘Just Another Brick in the Wall’

9

We don’t need no gen-tri-fi-ca-tion

By Gregory Flannery Editor

R

esidents of Over-the-Rhine and Streetvibes readers have plenty to say about the four-story mural of Jim Tarbell at Vine Street and Central Parkway.

More than 100 people have submitted cartoon “balloons” voicing what they imagine the humongous Tarbell would be saying.

Artworks, a non-profit arts organization, placed the mural of the former vice mayor at a key entry point to Over-the-Rhine without soliciting input from the neighborhood. In a joint community engagement project, Streetvibes joined

students from Miami University, Northern Kentucky University and Chatfield College in circulating photos of the mural with cartoon bubbles for residents and readers to fill in.

Most of the comments received so far allude to Tarbell’s support for the kind of economic development that equates with gentrification – displacing poor people to make room for wealthier people; his opposition to the Drop Inn Center; and his disdain for the late Buddy Gray, its founder.

Some comments refer to Tarbell’s costume, reminiscent of the late “Peanut Jim,” an elderly man famous for selling peanuts in downtown Cincinnati.

Some of the comments are reproduced here. The college students hope to present all the cartoon bubbles in a public exhibit.

? m ? s y i c lit t? ust ul a “This way to the “R qua men . J utif e ce at a ethnic cleansing.” n I pla th s be ” s ind hi e. i D m f t ur t , o c r y l e d ve al it d e u !”

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t o g e’s n o e e h m t o “S carry ’s to e man t i h .” w n e d bur

“For I wi my next ll ma ke a trick, home ll th less peop e disa le ppe ar!”

“I am kind of a big “Welcom thee to deal.” that caRhine, a pl Overfor

ace n be pean bought uts.”

r u o d y is n i e m all th .” “H l p ey, Bu eo es, way p u box o a ddy, o c y a n g you sp “If ndow ould wi rty w us mo are re e v o p Vine? ”

“Gentrif ication i s a myt Lalalala. h.

I can’t hear yo u.”

“Ec abs on here o o s s m a Inn lute ic m who p , have a l l a “I don’t hate poor “May osper nd help Ce ly. B ix? r p , e a nte ut Y thriv od time o the people. Just take d o o g t r w th es, really fellow man incinnati.”

C mo ill h e D your problems your less b d o r G ve.” ave op . same elsewhere.” to

10

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

National Issues

Immigration Benefits Americans continued from page 8

•

born persons age 25 and older.”

That’s interesting, and it’s important, but it does not refer to Mexican drywall installers and lawn-care workers.

The Immigration Policy Center has other, more extensive research data and reports available. Nevertheless, the organization has a mission, and we can reasonably expect its beliefs and commitments to inform its priorities and its conclusions.

Remember this: The most profound bias in any research is not the slant, but the choice of what to study.

Legalization helps everyone The Cato Institute has published a research report titled, “Restriction or Legalization? Measuring the Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform.” The Cato Institute is what most “The past three decades in America have people will call conservative – very conservaseen pretty near a consensus emerge that tive – although the instiimmigration is a drag on the economy, especially illegal immigration. That consensus tute disputes the term.

Its Web site explanais mostly wrong.” tion leans towards the term “libertarianism” or “market liberalism.”

Not everybody likes the Cato Institute, but it’s a respected foundation. Here’s the center-left Wikipedia on Cato: “The Cato Institute is a pro-free market, right wing think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. … The Cato Institute is non-partisan, and its scholars’ views are not consistently aligned with either major political party. … During the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Cato scholars criticized both major-party candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama.”

The last phrase was for Wikipedia users who forgot who ran for president last year.

Cato commissioned Australian academics Peter B. Dixon and Maureen T. Rimmer to conduct the study. “Peter Dixon is the Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor and Maureen Rimmer is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of Policy Studies at Monash University in Australia,” the report says. It explains their research model in more detail than most lay readers would require. (See www.cato. org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10438/print.)

Dixon and Rimmer calculated the effect on the U.S. economy of seven different policy approaches. The scenarios were: 1. Tighter border enforcement.

2. Tighter internal enforcement.

3. Liberalized entry, assuming no change in immigrant characteristics.

4. Liberalized entry with increased worker mix.

5. Liberalized entry with increased worker skills.

6. Liberalized entry with visa charge to neutralize immigration change.

7. Liberalized entry with visa charge to maximize economic benefits.

They calculated six effects of the policies: • Direct effect: The change in U.S. gross domestic output directly attributable to illegal immigrants or guest workers, minus the change in the cost to the economy of employing them.

• Occupation-mix effect: Restricting immigration opens up opportunities for U.S. workers in low-skill, low pay jobs, but at the same time makes the economy smaller, curtailing higher-skilled occupations with higher pay.

Capital effect: Changes in the supply of labor affect capital formation and its ownership, foreign or domestic.

• U.S. employment effect: Equilibrium unemployment is higher in low-skill jobs, so changes in the occupation mix will change long-term aggregate employment beyond that quantified in the occupation-mix effect for the current period.

• Public-expenditure effect: The change in the cost of schools, hospitals, police services and other public services.

• Macro-price effect: The change in domestic and foreigntrade prices that would result from the change in the labor supply.

• Here is the meat of their conclusions: • Border enforcement hurts average households.

Approach 1, tighter border enforcement, would significantly damage the economic interests of U.S. households. The loss to the U.S. economy to effect a 28.6 percent reduction in the employment of illegals by 2019 is forecast at 0.55 percent of GDP, or $80 billion annually in today’s economy.

One class benefiting from tighter border security would be the illegal immigrants who remained, as the worker shortage would drive up their wages, according to the study.

According to the report, employment of illegal immigrants would grow from about 7.3 million in the base year of 2005 to about 12.4 million in 2019, a growth rate of 3.8 percent annually. Restricting growth to about 1 percent would result in a 2019 figure of about 8.8 million, a 28.6 percent decrease.

With liberalized entry, workers could enter a broader range of occupations, and they would be more stable and more apt to seek training for higher-level skills, according to Dixon and Rimmer.

• Liberalized entry means more for everybody.

The assumption of liberalized entry with increased worker skills yielded a forecast of 1.19 percent increase in GDP, or $170 billion annually at today’s level. Computations with a visa tax produced similar results.

The weakest forecast us“One reason we have so little objective ing a policy of liberalized entry was still an increase information about the effects of immigration in GDP of 0.57 percent, a is that there’s so little demand for good change about the same research. Illegal immigrants aren’t a voting size as with tighter border constituency, and candidates for office can security, but in the oppousually do better by raising fears.” site direction.

The report says that public expenditures rise with immigration, legal or illegal, but that accounting does not consider taxes paid by the immigrants, productive output in the economy and increases accruing to U.S. households.

“This study finds that increased enforcement and reduced lowskilled immigration have a significant negative impact on the income of U.S. households. Modest savings in public expenditures would be more than offset by losses in economic output and job opportunities for more-skilled American workers,” the report says. “Our analysis shows that the major ingredient in good policy is legalization.

This would eliminate smugglers’ fees and other costs faced by illegal immigrants. It would also allow immigrants (now guest workers rather than illegals) to have higher productivity. Both effects create a surplus gain for the economy by raising the value of immigrant labor relative to the wage necessary to attract it. This surplus can then be extracted for the benefit of U.S. households.”

Dennis Nichols is an old journalist who has lived in Cincinnati since FDR was president. A Christian, conservative and Republican, he wrote this article because the editor of Streetvibes asked him to.

Do you remember the magic of your First Book?

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STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

11

Community News

Happy 96th Birthday to ‘Mr. Bill’ Still volunteering after 33 years

By Vicky C. McDonald Contributing Writer

father said the man whom police killed in Chicago was not his son, claiming the gangster had undergone cosmetic surgery. incinnati’s oldest soup kitchen Nov. Kenny recalls when Over-the-Rhine was a 15 celebrated the birthday of a vol- quiet area and the biggest problem was unteer who has given more than bootlegging. three decades of dedicated service.

Dave Angevine, former manager of William M. Kenny, affectionateOver-the-Rhine Kitchen, ly known as Mr. Bill, celebrated his where he worked for five years, 96th birthday at Over-the-Rhine says Kenny is a great friend and Kenny recalls Kitchen, where he has volunteered very dedicated. Kenny volunwhen Over-thefor 33 years. Kenny says he doesn’t Rhine was a quiet teers even on days when there believe in retirement; he believes is heavy snow, according to area and the it’s not healthy.

Angevine. Two years ago, when biggest problem “We sit down, we get stiff,” he was bootlegging. there was a snowstorm so bad says. that the city all but shut down, Therefore, when it was time Kenny showed up to work. for him to retire in 1976, Kenny began volun- Over-the-Rhine Kitchen was the only soup teering at the Over-the-Rhine Kitchen, which kitchen serving that day, and people were opened that same year. grateful through the next week.

“He’s the inspiration that gets us up every“Mr. Bill is an inspiration,” says Melody day,” says Executive Director Patricia Wakim.

Byrom, who runs Walnut Hill Kitchen PanKenny has always had her back, Wakim try, which is affiliated with Over-the-Rhine says, even when she first started nine years Kitchen. “He keeps us going everyday. He ago and was “greener than grass.” The culture giggles at me all the time because not evof the soup kitchen was different from what erything will go well.” she was used to, and Kenny was instrumental Kenny was born Nov. 18, 1913, the secin guiding her, Wakim says. ond child in a family of 10 brothers and Kenny is a humble man, according to his sisters in Paris, Ky. He was married and has friend, Gwen Angevine, who says he has a two daughters. Before volunteering at the “wealth of knowledge, though (it’s) hard to soup kitchen he worked in tobacco fields, pull it out of him.” breaking horses, was a hotel valet, served Kenny sometimes reminisces about the as a sergeant in the U.S. Army from 1941days of notorious mobsters. He recalls seeing 46 and was a car finisher. He resides at the Al Capone and remembers that John Dillinger’s YMCA.

C

William Kenny, 96, has volunteered at Over-the-Rhine Kitchen for 33 years. Photo by Maria Campolongo.

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12

Film Review

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Being All That They Can Believe “I do not believe that the free press is free anymore.

It’s very expensive.” -Ret. Gen. Albert Stubblebine III

By David Heitfield Contributing Writer

W

hat motivates you to get up in the morning when you no longer have anything to believe in?

That's the question facing Bob Wilton, the focal character of The Men Who Stare at Goats, a journalist in Ann Arbor, Mich., whose wife has left him for the paper's one-armed editor. His answer is to go to Kuwait to become a combat journalist, looking for a way into Iraq.

“I was on a mission even if I didn't know what kind of mission it was,” he says.

Ultimately, what he finds isn’t what he was looking for, but hell, it's better than believing in nothing.

Men Who Stare, as it was abbreviated at the multiplex, is a surprisingly topical fiction that winks upfront: “More of this is true than you The New Age philosophy would believe.” Again, isn’t a fringe philosophy, with the beliefs. In Kulimited to its place and time. wait, Wilton (Ewan McGregor) meets Lyn It’s the pervasive view of the Cassady (George Clooney), whom he sees as his ticket into Iraq. Cassady, a self-deAmerican mainstream. scribed Jedi warrior, breaks up clouds with his mind as he drives through the desert, telling Wilton the back story of the creation of “psychic spies” – who could, among other mind games, stop a goat's heart by staring at it -- known as the New Earth Army.

You see, the Russians had heard a rumor started by the French that the Americans were doing psychic research, so the Russians started doing psychic research, so now the Americans had to prevent a psychic research gap. As ponytailed new-ager Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) sells the idea of the New Earth Army, “We'll be the first superpower to have superpowers!” As the movie points out, this all came down during the Ronald Reagan Highway era, because he believed in Star Wars and astrology and a strong military and, of course, American Exceptionalism.

Men Who Stare shifts between flashbacks of the founding of the New Earth Army and its ultimate, demythologized version led by non-believer Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey) in Iraq in 2003, who is trying to find a way to win the unconventional war on terror.

The movie is hilarious, and the performances are perfectly deadpan, with perhaps the exception of McGregor, who, as a veteran

of the bad Star Wars movies, seems mostly to have been cast for the innate joke on Jedi warriors. It was “inspired” by Jon Ronson's 2004 nonfiction book of the same name, which also inspired a BBC documentary about those crazy American Army people.

It’s too easy to watch this as a very broad satire of what happens when you let a group of hippie New Age freaks into the military.

Satire is at its best when it reflects not on its target so much as its context. And that’s where I think Men Who Stare works better than most recent “satires.” And that’s because the New Age philosophy isn’t a fringe philosophy, limited to its place and time. It’s the pervasive view of the American mainstream.

At one point Clooney asks McGregor if he’s always felt different or as an outIt’s too easy to watch this as sider – such was proof that he was a Jedi.

After returning home from watching a very broad satire of what this movie, I lazily happened upon Joel happens when you let a group of Osteen, telling his megachurch that, if hippie New Age freaks into the they feel like they don't have a meaning, military. Satire is at its best when well, you can manifest your meaning it reflects not on its target so and its subsequent success by coming much as its context. to God. As I watched Clooney breaking up clouds with his mind, I wondered how this was different from any Oprah episode or PBS fundraiser telling well-educated middle-class people that they can manifest their desires simply by focusing on them.

The question isn’t whether you believe the bullshit.

The question is to what degree you believe it. In a postmodern world where the truth is irrelevant, the only thing that matters is what you believe. The Creation Museum is not the story of Christian paleontology; it’s a shining monument to postmodernism.

And how is the story in Men Who Stare so much more fantastic than asking our boys in the volunteer army, who mostly have high school diplomas and have not exactly been exposed to the best social skills, to conduct a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, where they are tasked with changing an entire culture or three? We train them to be soldiers, and then ask them to act like Richard Leakey on a mission from God? If you choose to believe that the psychic arts were first looked into by the Soviets – and there is at least some evidence that they used subliminal messages on their own troops to cut down on drunkenness – then you must also be struck by when these techniques were employed: during their losing war with Afghanistan.

Ronson talks to Ret. Maj. Gen. Albert Stubblebine in the book (who’s quoted at the top of this article), who reportedly did try to run through his wall at least once, in 1983 (the movie begins with a fictional major general trying to run through a wall). A West Point graduate, Stubblebine was the head of the Army’s Intelligence and Security from 1981-84 and is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. He seems to have his biggest following now with the 9/11 conspiracy theorists, as he insists there is no evidence that a plane crashed into the Pentagon on that day.

See Believe, p. 13

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

13

Guest Column

Suburbs Have Their Own Problems A meditation on the dark side of apparent tranquility

By Paul Kopp Contributing Writer

have received overwhelming support from residents who say their punishment was too ast month four Wyo- harsh and that they should be ming city employ- reinstated. ees lost their jobs for I grew up in Wyoming, drinking alcohol while work- and since I left, I haven’t ofing at city events. The Cincin- ten looked back on the time I nati Enquirer reported that spent there. I might not have in August the even read this workers drank story except while working It is supposed to be safer for the fact that at a drive-in than a big city, have better it happened in movie, a teen schools, fewer people, big Wyoming. It dance and a houses with pristinely cut made me think staff appreabout the way front lawns, etc. ciation party, things work in all of which suburbs. were at the city‘s pool and The idea of a suburban recreation center. town always seemed simple Several off-duty underage enough to me: It is supposed lifeguards were also suspect- to be safer than a big city, ed of drinking at a staff ap- have better schools, fewpreciation party but the city er people, big houses with was unable to identify them. pristinely cut front lawns, etc.

Three of the ex-employees In what ways does a small city have filed a lawsuit against like Wyoming strive for such Wyoming, alleging that, perfection? In order to propamong other things, City erly construct a perspective Manager Bob Harrison has to further discuss the issue condoned and participated of the fired city workers, it is in city events where drink- necessary to provide a brief ing took place. At various city summary of the city‘s begincouncil meetings since the nings and demographics. incident, the ex-employees Wyoming has been around

L

for a while. Its roots go all the way back to 1861, when it was founded by Robert Reily, a prominent local resident of the area and a former infantryman in the Civil War. Wyoming’s current population is just over 8,000 people, and its total area is just over three miles. The population is about 87 percent white, with just over 9 percent AfricanAmerican, 1 percent Asian, 1 percent Hispanic and 1 percent other races.

Wyoming’s sense of community seems more deeply engrained than in other suburbs I have visited. Other suburbs feel like a collection of upper-middle-class families lucky enough to have good homes but not necessarily a town-specific mentality. Growing up in Wyoming, it sometimes felt the city was surrounded by an imaginary force field, that nobody knew where anywhere else was.

But no one wanted to go anywhere else, because this was the best place you could be.

Though the city tries to protect itself from such negative elements as drugs and

All They Believe continued from page 12

And, apparently, there is a Lt. Col. Jim Channon, who originally proposed the First Earth Battalion, to use yoga and meditation and primal screaming to achieve battle readiness. Channon envisioned an army that answered to the planet over the nation-state. Channon’s ideas were well received in part because of our failure in Vietnam and Channon’s observation that our soldiers were basically good people who did not want to kill anyone (a line also noted in the movie).

It was through his grandiose optimism that Channon allegedly came up with the

underage drinking, it can- right to fire someone who not eradicate them entirely. exhibits inappropriate beInstead there is a subculture havior, but not if the same created. Denial that it exists behavior is accepted among can become more harmful to other individuals within the everyone involved. same circle.

Wyoming Every city seems to base has problems its identity on Growing up in Wyoming, unique to itexcellence in it sometimes felt the city self. Of course, education, was surrounded by an someone who public safety, lives in Overimaginary force field, and landscap- that nobody knew where the-Rhine has ing. Due to anywhere else was. But to worry about its small size, different things no one wanted to go the collec- anywhere else, because than a person tive mindset this was the best place in Wyoming. amongst longThe problems you could be. time residents of the inner is insular. Excelcity are more lence can mean many things, immediate, in the sense that but in Wyoming it sometimes they exist in plain view. Crime seems based on the image of a and poverty directly influence place so squeaky clean that it the well-being of the people. exists separately from the rest Though the ideological issues of the region. One result is an of a small suburban town are intensified focus on smaller not so immediate, they are infractions by members of worthy of examination due to the community – in this case, the subtlety with which they employees of the city of Wyo- reflect the problems of their ming. community.

When the city employees were caught drinking, the incident threatened to tarnish the city’s image. It might be

To the Editor To the editor:

most popular marketing slogan in the Army’s history: “Be all that you can be.”

You can find out much more on the Internet. For example, if you take the words “stare” and “goats,” you'll come up with “Stargate” with the “OS” left over, which stands for the Occult Sciences division of the CIA, which reportedly investigated “remote viewing” from the mid-’70s through the 1990s.

That’s why the fictional approach of Men Who Stare works so perfectly. The truth is irrelevant today. In a culture where most everyone feels somewhat disenfran-

chised, you too might be a Jedi warrior, or find success through Christ, or manifest your dreams, or even elect Sarah Palin president. All that matters is what you are willing to believe.

Don't believe me? The two long commercials before this anti-war satire were from the U.S. Air Force (where playing with satellites in the sky looks a lot like playing a video game) and the National Guard (where "hero" was sung as people in camouflage carried muddy people around).

We've shot past irony and moved straight into stupid.

Recently I saw the video, Rethink Afghanistan, where I learned that it costs us taxpayers $775,000 per year for each soldier. Here’s another statistic to blow your mind: So far we have spent more than $231 billion in Afghanistan alone.

We are all concerned about the carnage in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Many of us are guiltily aware that we need to do something. So let me ask you: If you were in charge, is this how you would spend our tax dollars?

In the past, many non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) have been working to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. They do so by helping to build schools, hiring and training teachers, building clinics and staffing them. Unemployment is at 40 percent in Afghanistan, and many Afghans join the Taliban so as to have an income. NGO’s can help create jobs. Wouldn’t it be better to spend our money in humane, peaceful ways than through war?

It’s time for all of us to accept the role we play in war when we do nothing. We all need to contact our president and members of Congress and let them know that we do not support the destruction wrought by war. If peaceful demonstrations are what is needed, then we must demonstrate.

In Cincinnati, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center is organizing for peace. They can be reached at 513-579-8547and www.ijpc-cincinnati.org.

We are Americans. We are kind, humane, generous. Let’s start to act that way once again.

Judy Cirillo, member of Women in Black To the editor: In response to Gloria McConnaghy’s letter to the editor (issue of Nov. 15-30), I was born in Over-the-Rhine and lived there for 50 years and was a patient at the 12th Street Clinic.

I was a friend of Buddy (Gray) and fought against the wealthy displacing the poor from low-income housing in Over-theRhine, standing side by side with Buddy, Bonnie (Neumeier) and others.

My God is a loving God, not one that takes housing from the poor for a high-end shop for greed of the almighty dollar.

Sonny Williams Clifton

14

Annual Dinner

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

15

Resources

Need Help or Want to Help?

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Churches Active in Northside

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Crossroad Health Center

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Franciscan JPIC 721-4700 Gr. Cinti Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 117 E. 12th Street, Cinti, Ohio 45202

Intercommunity Justice & Peace Cr. Legal Aid Society Ohio Justice & Policy Center Faces Without Places Stop AIDS

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Health

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Poetry Corner

The Ground You Rest On

By Lisa Marie Carbert Dirt on your cheeks, lint in your pockets, hunger in your belly, shame in your mind.

A day’s beg for coins to the dollar.

Thirsty for life, hungry for change, your circumstance is un-guiding.

Eyes pass you, minds pretend you aren't there, the week lingers on you, your path is clear.

A meal for today and maybe not one for tomorrow, nothing to claim but what you hold in your pockets.

The ground you occupy is America's, but they say you’re homeless.

Grateful for a quarter, blessed for a bill, you feel you're at your rope’s end.

You’re a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a friend.

The mistakes you've made coincide with your condition, or maybe life has just dealt you bad cards, the world, full of your kin,

turn their cheeks the other way, and I ask...

If we all believe that we derive from Adam and Eve, then why are we so easily deceived into believing the contrary?

Aren't our brothers and sisters our responsibility?

You have a growling pain in this great land of opportunities, we can lift buildings and build dreams, but you’re falling with nothing but the pavement to catch you.

You rely on catchy cardboard words, but pressed white collars and fancy heels don’t always acknowledge worn jeans, I see it every day.

But God has connected me with you.

From sun up to sun down our bellies are empty simultaneously.

Humbling for me, we are the same.

Your hope is spooned to you everyday out of the pots and pans of those giving bless-

ings.

When the thirst of the summer heat is urging me to drink up all of my nutritional opportunities, I think of you.

Where will your next meal come from?

Does the world really care?

Homeless... laid off, Homeless... divorced, Homeless... run away, Homeless... abused, Homeless... mentally incapable.

Homeless... not heartless.

God has inspired me to not forget our ancestries, the same earthly womb bore us all, and our creator planted the seeds that rooted you and I, the same.

So I'll give my change, smiles, blessings, nonperishables, and time.

Not forgetting you are a part of I, The ground you rest on is America's, but they say you’re homeless, I say you're God's!

16

Column

STREETVIBES December 1 - 14, 2009

Reason Awakens from Deep Sleep Matt Reed uses art to teach ethics

A

s a child, Matt Reed was very much into comic books. His parents would buy them for him before he could even read. He would draw from them again and again. They were his first introduction to art, also his first love in art.

Born in Toledo, Reed, a visual artist, moved to Cincinnati in his senior year of high school. He attended Columbus College of Art and Design and majored in illustration. He soon realized, however, that his real love was teaching; he enrolled at the University of Cincinnati, obtained a teaching certificate and since then has taught art in high school and middle school.

Reed has also been doing his own art all along, mostly detailed drawings influenced by his illustration training. His art usually expresses his interests and concerns, his political views and his obsessions, all mixed and mashed together.

“It is a blend,” he says, “one that comes from within and finds its way out. Art is also my escape from reality into a newly imagined world. It helps me communicate and make a statement.”

Reed has been political all his life, growing up in a family where both parents were politically minded Matt Reed. Photo by Saad Ghosn. and where politics was regularly discussed. Different from his father, who is conservative tion.” right-wing, Reed is proAt the bottom of his drawing, several silhouettes mimic an evogressive and leftist, influ- lution scene and progress from a caveman into increasingly refined enced early on by the po- gunmen. The message is that we’re evolving into more sophisticatlitical messages of punk ed and more efficient killers. In the middle, a mound of skulls is as rock bands. Social and surrounded by comic book-inspired panels depicting explosions; political issues concern and at the top, a soldier standing on a tank is approached by a suihim and transpire into cide bomber who blows up everything. The drawing links increases

By Saad Ghosn his art. His satirical draw- in violence to current politics to death and questions the wisdom Contributing Writer ing You Will Be Recycled, and rationale of waging unending wars in the pursuit of peace. for instance, is about the His pen and ink drawing, Reason Is Still Sleeping, is a take on The environment and people Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, in which Goya reacts to the viowho refuse to recycle. Reed ironically points out that the Earth will lent events of the late 18th century – wars, the Spanish Inquisition, recycle them whether they like it or not. etc.. The drawing represents, in the midst of explosions and deThere Is No Peace in Retreat is based on a direct quotation of struction, a woman smiling happily, embracing in her arms a large then-President George W. Bush regarding the Iraq War. Reed found bomb, her young child standing by her. It was Reed’s assertion that the statement arrogant; it reflected in his mind how the adminis- mankind’s reason is lacking, also his expression of outrage at the tration was conducting its foreign policy relying mainly on might Iraq war, a war in he sees as based on greed and lies. and war, rarely conducive to peace.

In addition to his personal art, Reed also uses his teaching to “As a strategy, retreat does not necessarily equal defeat or cow- convey his values and beliefs and to trigger thinking in the fresh ardice” Reed says, “Sometimes withdrawal is simply the best op- and avid minds of his students; he does this, however, always cautious not to impose his own views. Teaching is for him a type of activism in which one shows students how to interact with others, treat others with respect and tolerance, react appropriately to a difficult situation, develop social skills, appreciate the diversity of things.

Reed thus does not only teach the techniques and skills of art but also works on building the character of his students, opening their minds and hearts to various important issues. He uses recycling paper in the classroom as a model and a trigger for environmental concerns. Discussing and deciding with his students what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to conduct, he helps them set ethical norms for their own behavior. Exploring the social or political content of artists’ work, he leads students into reflecting about the issues addressed, at the same time challenging them and empowering them to use their creativity and art to express their own concerns and beliefs.

He recently used Keith Haring’s works as a trigger for a class show, Haring’s art being simple, straightforward and still full of messages. Not infrequently, in addition to visual art, Reed resorts to poems, texts, stories and events to interpellate his students and open their eyes.

With the changes brought by the new administration, Reed’s outlook on the world is more hopeful. He is still concerned, however, by the persistent and powerful control big businesses exert over politics, often at the expense of the people. He will continue to use his own art and his teaching to address big issues such as war, environment, equality, freedom, choices in life, etc. but he would like to do it now in a more positive way, to be able to offer viable alternatives instead of simply being critical.

“Art is a very important tool for change” Reed says, “It uses and triggers imagination, which is unfortunately undervalued in our society. Imagination, however, is badly needed to recreate the world.

The world does not have to be the way it is. We have to imagine something better; focus on something new for the good of everyone and the survival of our planet.”

A

rtists ctivists

There Is No Peace in Retreat, ink drawing by Matt Reed.

Photo by Matt Reed.

Artists as Activists is a regular column highlighting Greater Cincinnati artists who use art as a vehicle for change. Saad Ghosn is the founder of SOS Art. Ghosn can be contacted at saad.ghosn@uc.edu.