In the heads of men like John McCain and George Bush international relations are bi-polar. It's "us" and "them,” whether they are terrorists, aging communist societies, or Islamo-fascists. We'll never talk to “them” until they surrender to “us.” Until then, we'll keep on invading, killing, confining, blockading, and torturing. Until then, diplomacy is a dirty word.

Unfortunately for "us," international relations no longer fit the McCain/Bush bi-polar frame. The United States is only one player in a multi-player global context in which Uncle Sam no longer controls the show, the value of his currency, or the price of oil. The reality is the reverse. The price of oil determines the value of the dollar and the global petroleum reserves have probably peaked. China's demand for oil will soon equal and surpass the demand of the United States, driving down the value of the dollar even further. Russia, China, and Venezuela have taken state control of oil production and exportation giving them centralized power to assault the American dollar. OPEC and others could soon decide to peg the price of oil to EURO's rather than the dollar, thereby removing the international currency dominance of the United States. The collapse of the dollar may be accompanied by environmental collapse through global warming. To anyone who is conscious, international relations are not bi-polar, they are pluralistic and multi-lateral.

The only non-violent conflict management method we have devised to effectively deal with international multi-lateral conflict is diplomacy. Rather than employ it, McCain/Bush types call it Munich-style "appeasement" revealing their profound historical ignorance. As George Carlin would say, their bi-polar thinking is “bullshit and it's bad for ya.”

Think of it as the true test of the Western humanitarian impulse: The international effort that went into coordinating relief after the 2004 tsunami has to be repeated, but in much harsher, trickier, uglier political circumstances. Yes, we should help the Burmese, even against the will of their irrational leaders. Yes, we should think hard about the right way to do it. And, yes, there isn't much time to ruminate about any of this.

~Anne Applebaum

The situation facing the Burmese and the Chinese in the face of natural disaster is in dire need of attention. Some reports and media outlets are offering figures as high as 125,000 dead and 2.4 million at risk due to starvation and disease. The numbers in Burma alone are staggering. In fact, the amount of suffering civilians has led lawmakers including President George Bush to respond swiftly.

In response to these combined natural disasters, the United States has come forward with close to 20 million dollars in aid and the international community has “responded by offering over 100 million”

It seems as if the United States and indeed the world at large has taken the advice of Applebaum. Swift action in the face of “irrational leaders” will save lives and reduce the suffering of victims.

Sadly, Western media outlets fail to compare this humanitarian crisis to the US created crisis taking place daily in the Middle East, namely in Iraq, where over 4 million have been displaced and are living in squalid conditions. This humanitarian crisis has been named the largest humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world, and goes on largely unnoticed.

In a recently released report published by Refugees International, (Uprooted and Unstable, 2008) “the needs of the displaced are not adequately addressed by the Government of Iraq or the international community.”

Indeed, when compared to the billions of dollars (most recently 165 billion) President George Bush requests from US taxpayers to pay for the continued military presence in Iraq annually, a mere 35 million in humanitarian aid was requested for the fiscal year 2008. The report goes on to note, “This vacuum is quickly being filled by militias and other armed groups, who engage in hearts and minds campaigns and provide assistance as a means of building support for their political and military goals.”

The Iraqi government fragmented and corrupt has done little to assist their own people in providing basic services and aid, according to Refugees International, “It is unable and unwilling to use its important resources to respond appropriately to the humanitarian crisis.” However, in sharp contrast, as reported by Democracy Now! the Iraqi government “has now become one of the largest purchasers of US arms” worldwide.

Yet, in spite of the dire humanitarian situation in Iraq, the continued hypocrisies and politicization of convenient crisis’s, and the obvious blunder of pushing Iraqi civilians towards militias and radical groups, Western media and politicians will continue to distract voters from the real issues underlying continued destabilization of Iraq…the deliberate denial of Iraq’s humanitarian crisis.

One can easily take the words of Applebaum and make them apply to Iraq, “Yes, we should help the Iraqis, even against the will of irrational leaders like George Bush. Yes, we should think hard about the right way to do it. And, yes, there isn't much time to ruminate about any of this.

You can do something…HERE

It seems that we're always fighting on a new front...or more likely the old ones, disguised with new marketing and packaging. If it's not one thing it's another.

A commonality of all of these issues is 'Who Decides'. The First Section of the California State Constitution states: “All people are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy.”

Without our consent, the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) aerially sprayed pesticides on Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in the fall of 2007. They plan to resume aerial spraying of an unknown chemical mixture every 30-90 days, 9 out of 12 months, for the next 2-10 years. Who decides?

Pesticide spraying has expanded to seven more counties and is continuing to expand. The use of pesticides is becoming alarming, both in urban and rural areas. Families are affected; children are affected; elders are affected; our wildlife, water, food, environment & our planet are affected. Who decides?

Concerned citizens are pushing for safer alternatives and for a critical review of short- and long-term potential health impacts (over 643 people filed adverse health reports from the fall 2007 aerial pesticide applications). Again, who decides?

Some time ago, I viewed a presentation by Marianne Williamson. She said something that touched my heart. Female hyena circle their young while they eat; thereby, protecting them from all predators, including the male of the species. She ended this thought by saying, should we human females be doing less?

I’m certainly not going to blame the females on our planet for our voice has long been unheard. What I would like to say is the feminine energy that guards our planet is so lacking that our future survival, our children’s survival, and all of the other life forms on our planet are in peril. The feminine energy embraces the qualities of openness, lovingness, gratitude, compassion, consideration and kindness. It is gentle, nurturing and healing. And let us not forget, our energy has strength. We can be heard, for our voice is ancient.

We know who decides! We, the mothers, the grandmothers, the daughters, the sisters, the girlfriends...we decide together! Undoubtedly, we can agree that our combined voice and effort is needed now. It is time to 'Draw The Line' and Stop The Spray In Monterey...for all of California, whether it be aerial or ground spraying. There are groups forming everyday that need our help to increase public awareness.

You decide...it's your body, your choice...your voice.

For as long as there have been editorial pages consumers of mainstream news media in the United States expect wit, humor and insight in political caricature. The opinion columns and letters to the editor that accompany political cartoons are often thoughtful and diverse in reasoning, ideology and perspective. For their part, editorial cartoonists illuminate the foibles of politicians, capture their hypocrisy, and satirize their policies with evocative and often stereotypical images. But the best cartoonists never lapse into hate. Hate caricatures stay on the street, if not in the gutter.

Things are real different in '08. Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Democratic nomination has brought hate cartoons to the lips of prime time anchors and talking heads. No wit, no humor, no insight from that source -- just debasing hate. Referring to Hillary they say "It cries." They diagnose her as having a “multiple personality" disorder. They argue she deserves to be "taken behind the barn." She's the "nagging wife" who barks bitchy demands to take out the garbage. According to Chris Mathews, Hillary is on her husband's "short leash." He adds that the only reason she won her Senate seat because her husband played around. The anchor boys even accuse her of "pimping out" her daughter Chelsea to win the nomination.

The prime time cartooning anchors and talking heads tell us nothing about Hillary - her achievements, her vision, her commitment rebuild the constitutional wreckage of the Bush years. They are silent about her uniquely feminine perspective displayed in concrete proposals for providing health care, stopping a preemptive war, restoring economic and fiscal justice, and ending energy dependence – all of which advance the public interest. These proposals, and the others she advocates, are based on the insight that we must be mindful that the choices we make as a society today will determine the character of our country tomorrow.

What the hate cartoons of the prime time anchors DO tell us is lot about the dark misogynist side of our society. It surfaces like an archetypal demon that configures women as empty stick figures, leashed animals, and rape objects that should be taken behind the barn. The arrival of hate cartoonists in mainstream news media is disgrace to the tradition of American journalism.

For more on this please see this post on the website Women's Voices for Change and watch the video.

My brother, who has now moved to Hillbrow sent me the longest email ever. I suspect he is reaching out. Initially, forced to live in the township because the rents there were cheaper and because the townships were much safer than Hillbrow, he strangely now feels safer in Hillbrow. He says he feels a little safer with other African brothers. This causes me to conclude that the raging South African mobs have suddenly been branded non African. My brother says he feels safer in Hillbrow because the brothers from Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Pakistan who live in Hillbrow mostly have guns. As the elder sister I asked the inevitable question of whether he would consider going back. The response pasted here : "Mugabe is also beating up pple there, so it's better to be beaten up here where the polce at least try and defend you rather than in Zim where it's the cops and sodiers beating up pple ,you know even the government (South African government) knows ukuthi (that) no one can just enter eHillbrow and do what they pliz ,unless they are ready for war,Iraq style,anything can come out of hillbrow even war tanks can emerge from a basement !,gaya (Imagine)I feel like writing and writing but I'm out of time,now that uSie (our 28-year old sister)is at home I feel all alone,I really wish to raise money to pay for my daughter's lobola." My brother has a young daughter whom he can't have custody of because traditionally he must pay lobola because he is not married to the mother of his daughter. What love!

The reports from South Africa about the continuing violence against immigrants come as no surprise.

As a student in post-apartheid South Africa from 1998 to 2000, the derogatory term "Kwerekwere" was often heard.

Kwerekwere refers to anyone who is not from South Africa and speaks none of the country's dozen or so official languages.

You are a Kwerekwere because when you speak the South Africans do not understand what you are saying, so to them you are a sounding gong making unintelligible sounds "kwerekwere".

My 28-year old sister began her journey from Johannesburg on Friday with her six-week old baby fearing that she would be killed.

The trip from Johannesburg to our home in Gwanda, Matabeleland would have taken her about 12 hours, but it took her 48 hours.

Needless to say, that was the worst time of our lives as I kept calling her to check if she was alright. I barely slept as I was calling and sending encouraging text messages.

She says they were forced to use backroads to avoid the police as well as the mob roadblocks.

When I talked to her on Monday she was still dazed saying she was not sure which was the worse evil, the mobs in Johannesburg or the hunger and political volatility in Zimbabwe.

I am yet to talk to my mother as I don't have the emotional stamina to deal with her sobbing because her youngest son remained behind in Johannesburg.

He said he wants to wait for a couple of days and see whether the situation improves.

No more checks come to the elderly couple from the local real estate investment company. Usually the monthly earnings from their investments in deeds of trust combine with their Social Security and their liquidating IRA to make ends meet. The investment company had told them their life savings were safe and secure in loans to real estate developers who build houses and commercial projects all over the state. No reason to worry.

When the couple complains to the company about the empty envelopes, the CEO says, "The environment changed on us. The developers we lent to can't sell their houses, because there no lenders to finance buyers. Sorry."

According to Kevin Phillips, in his latest book, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism one reason there are no lenders is that $500 billion dollars worth of securities called a "collateralized debt obligations" devised by Wall Street and exported all over the world are infected with bad subprime loans – loans that fee-seeking mortgage bankers and brokers made to borrowers who had no job, no income and no assets. The inevitable default and foreclosure of those loans continues to bring on huge international bank losses, a glut in a falling domestic housing market and the evaporation of lending capital. If loans cannot be sold in collateralized debt obligations and other factoring transactions, there are no new funds to lend. The subdivisions built with the savings of our elderly couple and thousands of others like them are unsellable.

"How could this happen?" asks the couple.

One answer may be that the fee-hungry arrangers of bad sub-prime real estate loans never stepped back to ask, "How could today's bad sub-prime loan destroy the real estate market tomorrow?

Would a loan arranger with a feminine perspective have stepped back and asked that question?

"Are you married or single?" asks the prospective employer of a young woman who is registered as a domestic partner with another woman. If she answers, "No, I am in a domestic partnership," she will disclose her sexual orientation, a matter of constitutionally protected privacy that is irrelevant to her job qualifications. If she declines to answer she may lose an employment opportunity.

On May 15, 2008 the California Supreme Court resolved the young woman's disclosure dilemma and those of all similarly situated same-sex domestic partners by establishing their right to answer, "Married."

The court' majority opinion written by Chief Justice George (In re MARRIAGE CASES Number S 147999) is a long discursive journey. It begins with the determination that the law of husband and wife and the law of domestic partnerships are identical. An analysis follows demonstrating that marriage is the foundation for the profoundly important family relationship, the intimacy and child rearing success of which in no way depends on the sexual orientation of its members. After extended legal and constitutional reasoning the Court arrives at the conclusion that the California legislation denying the name "marriage" to identical marital and domestic partner relationships impinges on the fundamental right to marry and unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex marital relationships.

The Court does not create a new constitutional right to a same-sex marriage. Rather, it establishes that the right to marry applies to both same and opposite sex marital relationships. Relationships that are identical in terms of legal rights and duties deserve "equal dignity" including the same name. Accordingly, state legislation that denies the same name to those relationships denies that equal dignity.

Even more, in an inconspicuous corner of the Chief Justice's option he restates an established principle that also sheds light on the abortion and separation of church and state debates. Immediately after the San Francisco officials began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the Proposition 22 Legal Defense Fund filed a suit claiming injury to their ideology and beliefs. But the Court said that ideology, belief, and a strong interest in an issue do not give someone the right to sue in California courts. Unless the Fund could demonstrate an actual injury, their convictions alone do not give them access to a court as a litigating party.

This conclusion clarifies and restates the established principle of a free society - belief and ideology cannot be imposed by law.

• My wife watering the Milpa. •

I have a small plot in my backyard (10 feet x 15 feet) with tomatoes, melons, pumpkin, corn, and peppers that I planted not too long ago. There are no rows or any order to the placement of the plants.

• The Milpa on May 15, 2008. •

Does anyone know if this constitutes a real Milpa? Please let me know. I'll keep you posted as our Milpa grows.

The vintage steam engine train that has steadily moved across Germany since November will halt today in Auschwitz, Poland, retracing the final stop on a route that thousands of Jewish children travelled during the Second World War, arriving only to meet their deaths.

Commemorating the Nazi transportation of Jewish children to the notorious death camp in Auschwitz, The Commemoration Train stirred up not only raw emotions but also controversy. Thousands of visitors here in Berlin stood in line to board the museum of photographs, biographies and letters beginning on April 13. In a move met with wide protest, the German railway, Deutsche Bahn, refused to let the train stop at Berlin’s central train station, citing a probable disturbance of train traffic and other technicalities. Eventually, the train was allowed to halt in the city’s Ostbahnhof, the central train station in the former East Berlin.

The real clincher was not just where the train was allowed to stop, but at what price. For the use of their tracks and exhibition space, Deutsche Bahn—which was only given a new name at the end of the war— charged the organizers of the train exhibit 100,000 Euros ($153,398 USD). Critics say Deutsche Bahn— then called The Reichsbahn— already profited once from the transportation of Jews. The Nazi state paid The Reichsbahn 4 cents per kilometer per child, half for children under 10, for the transport on rickety, crowded trains intended for cattle.

Perhaps realizing their image blunder, the Deutsche Bahn then announced it would donate the 100,000 Euros in operating fees to Jewish charities. The general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephen Kramer, called the offer a “selling of indulgences,” and said the Jewish community would vehemently reject the money. “It confirms anti-Semitic clichés, as if they could keep us quiet with 100,000 Euros,” he said on public radio last month.

But the controversy could be beneficial in bringing the memory of the Holocaust beyond the emotional level. Because we’re often so jarred by the horrifying images of cruelty and inhumanity, we don’t necessarily consider that there was a very precise financial machine driving the Holocaust. The list of companies that participated in and profited from the genocide of European Jews, homosexuals, Afro Germans, Roma, Sinti and disabled people is disturbingly long and possibly still incomplete. Only at the end of the 1990s did big names like Daimler Chrysler, Volkswagen and IBM begin to surface as companies that profited from the Holocaust.

The cruel fact is: the gas that sprayed out of the shower nozzles were first developed, tested and manufactured. The gold stolen directly from victims’ gold-tooth fillings were processed and re-sold on the market. Banks allowed theft of the funds of Jewish account holders. Real estate companies helped assure the Aryanization of neighborhoods. Life and property insurance policies of Jews remained unclaimed or were stolen. The cars, trucks, machines and weapons that perpetuated not only the war, but the business of transporting and murdering Nazi victims, had to be built (much of it through slavery) and sold. The Final Solution could have only been realized by the logistical transport of the train system built, maintained and operated by the Reichsbahn.

But Deutsche Bahn insists that it has paid its dues. The federally owned company lists its ongoing exhibit in Nürnberg’s Deutsche Bahn Museum about the role of the Reichsbahn during the Nazi era and its support of similar projects, as well as their “voluntary contribution” to the Memory, Responsibility and Future Foundation, a government initiative that paid over 4 billion Euros to almost 1.7 million people in 100 countries to forced laborers and other Nazi victims.

Still, Deutsche Bahn’s inflexibility and shallow attempt at revamping its image has left a sour taste in the mouth of many Berliners. “I think it was shameless of The Deutsche Bahn to expect the exhibitors to pay,” says Ulla Müller, who was born in Berlin at the war’s end. “Everyone knows that it was once the Reichsbahn and the role they played during the war.”

That role was precisely what sent Berliners in droves last month to tearfully board the moving exhibit and take in the heart-wrenching stories of the 4,660 Berlin children who were deported to Auschwitz.

“The Holocaust was thought out and planned in the German capital,” Berlin’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit said last month, in response to the controversy. “Berlin’s Jews were systematically brought by the Nazis to death camps . . . by train.”

Sixty-three years ago today, on May 8th, the trains finally came to a halt and the very long, still incomplete process of penance began.

- by Rose-Anne Clermont

MEND-The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta

The oppressive and repressive activities of the oil companies and the Nigerian State [sic] impact women first and foremost. During military occupation of communities, the women suffer psychologically, emotionally, and physically. They are raped and maimed. They suffer as their sons get arrested and killed…and feel it most when their brothers, husbands and lovers are tortured maimed and killed. The military and armed police have brutalized and sacked whole communities, assaulting and beating indiscriminately. The objective is to humiliate, intimidate, and eliminate all those who resist oil exploitation activities.

~Emem J Okan

On November 10, 1995, a small group of ten human rights activists including Ken Saro-Wiwa was led to a prison yard to face punishment for their crimes. Ken Saro Wiwa was executed by hanging. The Nigerian military wanted to make an example of individuals who might consider further protest of the destruction of their land, the poisoning of their air and water, and the theft of their natural resources, namely oil.
In September of 1999, a group of journalists with the Essential Action and Global Exchange spent ten days in the Niger Delta meeting with community leaders, residents, and state and local officials. According to the report that subsequently followed released on January 5, 2000, “There is a long and terrible record of environmental destruction and human rights violations in the oil-producing regions of Nigeria. The gross level of environmental degradation caused by oil exploration and extraction in the Niger Delta has gone unchecked for the past 30 years.” However, in spite of the atrocities committed by the Nigerian government, Shell, and other multi-national companies, the murder of Wiwa, environmental degradation, and civil unrest caused by oil exploration and drilling went unnoticed by Western audiences. Stories of celebrity drama continue to hold the attention of the American people, even as they pay close to three-dollars and fifty cents for one gallon of gas.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND,
has claimed responsibility for several bombings that have taken place in recent weeks that have forced oil conglomerates to shut down operations and have removed close to 164,000 barrels of oil a day from world markets. According to a recent article in the Tehran Times, “The latest wave of attacks and an eight-day strike by senior oil workers at U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil which ended on Thursday, had slashed Nigeria's output by 50 percent, helping to push oil prices to new records.”
In an electronic communication released this week, the group stated, "The MEND command is seriously considering a temporary ceasefire appeal by Senator Barack Obama. Obama is someone we respect and hold in high esteem,"
In sharp contrast and in spite of the pleas of organizations and authors like Emem J, Okan, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam International, Amnesty International, and the Council of Ijaw Associations Abroad, the administration of Bill Clinton continued to allow the use of private military contractors in the Niger Delta. Regardless of the fact that the use of private military personal has become the focus of recent US attention, Mother Jones Magazine points out, "The use of private military companies, which gained considerable momentum under President Clinton, has escalated under the Bush administration.” Part of this escalation took place in the Niger Delta where companies like Shell and Chevron hired private military for ‘security’.
To further the power of multi-national corporations and military contractors, Clinton joined with these companies to overturn laws that allow states to use “selective purchasing” power. According to Corp Watch, “Selective-purchasing laws are designed to force companies to choose between continuing to do business with repressive foreign governments and bidding on often-lucrative state or local government contracts.”
Most recently in a press release dated February 2008, the Clinton campaign has said about military contractors in Iraq, “From this war's very beginning, this administration has permitted thousands of heavily-armed military contractors to march through Iraq without any law or court to rein them in or hold them accountable… We need to stop filling the coffers of contractors in Iraq, and make sure that armed personnel in Iraq are fully accountable to the U.S. government and follow the chain of command,” However, prior to Clinton’s most recent statement and in spite of sitting on Armed Services Committee no legislation has been presented by Clinton. When questioned about this contradiction, Clinton claimed she did not know about this problem, “Maybe I should have known about it; I did not know about it.” This in spite of well-documented human rights abuses around the world by the very contractors who contribute regularly to her campaign.
Juxtaposed with Clinton rhetoric is bill S.674: Transparency and Accountability in Military and Security Act of 2007, submitted by Barack Obama in February of 07. According to the Obama campaign website, the bill would “require accountability and enhanced congressional oversight for personnel performing private security functions under Federal contracts, and for other purposes. The act would clarify the legal status of contractors, subjecting them to the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA) to ensure that all contractors working in war zones – regardless of contracting agency would be held accountable under U.S. law. Passed in 2000, MEJA says that contractors for the armed forces can be prosecuted under US law for crimes committed overseas.”
The potential for the United States to regain the respect and admiration of the world is within our grasp. As some elder statesmen have pointed out, as long as the United States continues to build relationships with foreign nations whose records on the democratic process are abysmal, we will continue to pay the price. A price paid at the gas pump and in innocent blood.

Rereading Carolyn Heilbrun's Writing A Woman's Life, published in 1988 led me to reread Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas, 1938. Heilbrun is calling for "new texts," new concepts of what a woman's life could be. Woolf gave the world powerful new texts that have made it possible for me to live the life I do in 2008. She never went to school or university. She was grown before women could hold professional positions in England and vote. She achieved great things in a time when the message "women can't..." was pervasive. Three Guineas was her response to the role of women in the effort to respond to the crises in Europe that led to the Second World War.

She also states forcefully that until women are free to choose what they want in life, no one is truly free and there can be no peace.

UN Resolution 1325, passed on 31 October 2000, says that member nations should:

ensure increased representation of women at all decision making levels in national, regional, and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.

Clearly, this resolution is still honored in the breach rather more than not, but that it exists as an aspiration for the world is a result of women writing texts that did not exist before the twentieth century.

The WIP is a place where women and men can write new texts here and now (a favorite expression of Woolf and the original title of a book that ultimately became two different ones, The Years and Three Guineas). It is part of the most important work in the world at this time of crisis, not just of nations and empires, but of the planet.

How can we further this work?

A WIP Contributor in Harare recently sent us this update:

i have been lucky and i am alive and well. here the levels of violence and intimidation and state repression are getting to really frightening levels. hundreds of the people have fled their homes and are internal refugees. until April 25, more than 300 victims of political violence were housed at the MDC headquarters here in Harare but police raided and arrested them. among the arrested are women and children and babies. the police claim they are criminals. how can a five month old baby be a criminal? the situation gets worse and worse here and i want the world to know whats happening here.

Tens of thousands are expected to march today for immigration reform in cities across the United States. The biggest march is expected in Los Angeles. Last year the protests were marred by heavy police force despite the peaceful nature of marches which each year are comprised of families, children, music, and vendors.

I was in Los Angeles on May Day 2006, appropriately donned The Great American Boycott of 2006. I am not in Los Angeles this year but I hope readers in Los Angeles will blog about the day here on The WIP.

Below I copied an entry from my journal from the day of The Great American Boycott in 2006:

My sister and I took to the streets of Los Angeles to document history today. We walked miles, pedaled boulevards, marched routes and sang songs of protest in solidarity with all immigrants that came out to march. Despite the lower figures reported in the LA Times, I am certain there were at least a million people on the streets.

At the end of the day, after Mayor Villaraigosa and Dolores Huerta, after the sun had begun its western descent below the horizon, after “If I Had a Hammer” and several prayers, when we began to notice the distance we had walked in our calves and thighs, my sister and I packed our cameras and backpacks and got on our bicycles and headed home down an empty and quiet Wilshire Boulevard.