Voice of the Iraq Veteran #2 / Gentrification in Seattle

Voice of the Iraq Veteran #2--Ryan Lockwood

This is the second short in the Voice of the Veteran Series. Each of these episodes is a snippet from interviews PepperSpray did with vets during the 2006 Veterans For Peace national convention. In this one, Lockwood recounts what turned him around, as real-life experience changed him from somebody who thought killing would be cool to a veteran dedicated to ending the war.

Save Cascade

Gentrification seems to be a universal problem in America. This week we feature a story in progress, about a lively community center in the South Lake Union area of Seattle that is being threatened with closure because the city plans to cut off its funding. The Cascade People's Center provides many progressive groups with free space for meetings, as well as after school programs for kids, and on and on. But in Paul Allentown, to borrow Seattle busker Jim Page's term, it is apparently a useless relic of a pre-gentrification past. Of course the volunteers and those who benefit from the many programs at the Cascade People's Center have a different opinion, and off they went to march to City Hall to kick off their campaign to "Save Cascade." PepperSpray videographers were there, and this is the story, with a musical score provided by two of Seattle's well-know buskers, Jim Hinde and Jim Page.

With Choices Like These

Jonny Hahn is the piano-playing busker often seen down at Seattle's Pike Place Market. Here he plays an election-themed song in his finest bandaged-finger style.

Thank You Lt. Watada

Lt. Watada update from outside the Federal Courthouse in Tacoma, WA
The brave Lt.'s stay has been extended, as Federal Judge Settle considers the issue of double jeopardy. In this short update a retired Navy Commander and even a statue get into the act of standing against illegal, immoral war.


Thank You Lt. Watada
http://www.thankyoult.org

Courage To Resist
http://www.couragetoresist.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War
http://www.ivaw.org

Veterans for Peace
http://www.veteransforpeace.org

Military Families Speak Out
http://www.mfso.org

Gold Star Families for Peace
http://www.gsfp.org


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BE THE MEDIA!
Pepperspray Productions formed shortly after the WTO protests in Seattle, in response to the Independent Media Center's call, "don't hate the media, be the media!". We believe that the Corporate Media is not telling us the whole story, and that the people must make our own media if we want our voices to be heard.

Related websites:

Independent Media Center

http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml

Indymedia NewsReal

http://www.newsreal.indymedia.org

Free Speech TV:

http://freespeech.org

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• gentrification
• Iraq
• veterans
• buskers