Present: Peter, Glenda Rae, Reynaldo, Wanda, Ellyn, Lois (Zoom meeting).
Old business
1. Approval of Minutes for November 30: The minutes were approved after a long discussion about restorative justice which was the topic for the People's Inauguration of the day before. Reynaldo described a restorative justice circle for 2 young women who had fought each other at school. They each told their story and at the end they were asked to shake hands. Instead, they gave each other a big hug.
2. Progress Reports:
a. Topic of the Month: We did not choose a topic at the last meeting.
b. Book of the Month report: Reynaldo mentioned that there are some good programs on TV that can be the equivalent of books in keeping us informed. He mentioned Christiane Amapour, a British citizen who has a program on at 9am on channel 34-2 and 11pm on 34-1. She often has authors talking about their books and filmmakers talking about their films on her show. Another good program is Democracy Now with Amy Goodman, on at 10am on 34-2. He also listened to an audio book, "Becoming," by Michelle Obama. It was about her growing up in Chicago, her relationship with Barach, her experience as a political wife, and her time in the White House. It was better than Barach's memoir which would appeal to a political junkie.
Wanda has read "Together," by Vivek Murthy, who has been nominated to become Biden's Surgeon General, having been Obama's Surgeon General 2014-17. She talked about the healing power of human connection to overcome loneliness. One of the stories in the book was about Maxine in Australia, whose father had open heart surgery and was very hard to live with afterwards. Unbeknownst to him, Maxine contacted Meals on Wheels and the Neighborhood Watch group and asked them to invite her father to volunteer. It made a big difference.
c. Tax Day: We will probably hold tax resistance signs on Monday, April 12.
d. MAARPR Report: This group, "Michiana Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression," has not met since December. Reynaldo, Glenda Rae, Ellyn and Wanda were interested in finding out more about this group and Peter said he would add them to the mailing list. Ellyn noted that MPJC is made up of "old" people, average age in the 80's. She suggested that we stop meeting as an action group, but perhaps get together to discuss books we have read, We decided to meet every 2 month to do this. We will rotate who leads the discussion. Reynaldo agreed to suggest a book and lead the discussion at the March meeting. If some big issue arises we can reconnect. Peter suggested that we ask MAARPR to sponsor the weekly vigil, which we will keep going. Perhaps some of the younger members of MAARPR will start coming. He also agreed to become the Secretary for the Peace Ed Fund to help keep that group going. Lois was very sad that we will no longer be meeting every month. She depends on these interactions, since she is quarantined at her facility.
3. Treasurer's Report: $97.14 with $20 in petty cash.
New Business
1. What do we (can we) do next? We incorporated this topic into other discussion
2. Topic of the Month: We decided to take a break before choosing another topic.
3. MLK table: the MLK festivities were all virtual this year. There was no tabling.
4. Other Topics and Issues: Nimby Cushing runs the group on Reparations. Darryl and Monica T. are also involved. Glenda Rae will let us know when the February meeting is. Ellyn wondered what happened to the local Indivisible group. They kept track of all the local events. Glenda Rae thought it was led by a librarian at Notre Dame.
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5. Next Book discussion: Monday, March 22, 2021, at 2:30pm by Zoom. Ellyn will initiate the meeting.