The primary goal of the conference is to help minority and low income women with self esteem issues, and to instill in women the knowledge that they are not alone, that other people are out there willing to help them.

Denise Thomas giving a presentation on proper dress

While the event was targeted primarily at minority and low income women, it was is open to all. Those who attended the conference were provided access to free health screenings, nutritional information, educational and empowerment classes.

Sponsors included the The Matthew Walker Clinic, Americhoice, Carlos Murgas from Honeycutt Realty, and the City of Clarksville.

Organizational attendees included the Montgomery County Health Department, WIC, TennCare, The Community Health Initiative, AARP, Hope Pregnancy Center, The Legal Aid Society, Centerstone, Montgomery Care and Rehab Safe House, UT Extension Nutrition Education, Victim Advocate for Army Community Services, YWCA, APSU,  Angel Wings, and other local vendors.

Miyo Katchi from the Maxwell Clinic provided a free massage to interested attendee.

Clarksville H.O.P.E. looks forward to your attendance next year.

[Show as slideshow]

Our most memorable, binding event happened when we heard that President Bush was landing at Fort Campbell in Tennessee, the home of the 101st Airborne, to travel to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he would talk to people (Republican supporters only) about his desire to seriously change social security. We tried without success to get onto the audience list, but Christine found out the exact line of travel that the Bush motorcade was going to take. We spent a day looking for places to ‘greet’ the motorcade. We made a list of possible places to stand, but when the day came for the presidential visit, the police tailed us, and kicked us out of all but one.

Though the cops told us we were not permitted to stand within 1,000 feet of the road, we did find one place to stand. A home with an empty roadside building had plenty frontage, We knocked on the homeowners’ door, and they turned out to be anti-Bush.  With police and federal agents watching our every move (some supporting us too), and a news reporter wanting to get us on film, we stood on private property about 15 feet from the highway in the pouring rain, waiting for the motorcade. We wrote our slogans on the backs of our shirts after police told us our signs could not be used (they were “weapons”). The most emotional thing I ever did was to turn my back on the motorcade as it drove by. Even the planet obliged us with an eerie silence and a pause in the constant rain. Cops (including the Feds) were positioned all around our small group of 12 (mostly women and children) and the reporter filmed us. We were the voice of dissent. It was the first time I ever made such a powerful statement.

This event was topped only by the protest, a vigil we [at left, the author (r) and Christine] staged across from Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne, where Christine’s huge, hand-sewn IMPEACH BUSH sign hung over the Patriot’s Park sign. Our rally grew as others joined us from this town and Nashville and with Honk for Peace signs, we heard a constant honking. Code Pink, en route from Atlanta to Chicago, stopped to join us, taking a “break” from their travel across the US. We would never expect everyone to agree with our protest, but we expect that everyone agree with our right to peaceful protest. A photo of the sign (below) was posted online with Freeway Blogger.

Bill Larson joined our group in writing letters to the editor in protest of the uninformed and ill-tempered public that mainstream media had carefully created. He later created the ClarksvilleOnLine web site to give our voices a neutral platform to speak from. Our agreed on purpose was to acknowledge the creative and good things that happen around us, to use our freedom of speech and right to dissent, and to report the news that mainstream media was ignoring.

As the site grew, Christine took on the editor position for the all volunteer ClarksvilleOnLine. For me, writing meant agonizing; it took me all morning to write one paragraph, one whole day or more to write a story. This stopped being a burden, because I could count on Christine to polish up my stories. She makes me look good and ClarksvilleOnLine look good.

Christine (at left, speaking at a a vigil with daughter Kelly) is a very wise person, with wisdom drawn from her life endeavors. Hardships in life did not cause her to lose her energy to make things happen for herself and others. I’ve never seen anyone handle crisis so well. When her house burned down, she cried, and then she started making lists of what she could do in the face of overwhelming odds. By moving one foot after the other, she created her life again. She helps others do the same. She cares so much about her town, people and country. If she could, she would volunteer at every social function there is and go to every bit of live theatre. She is an incredible reporter and writer. She loves to contribute, enjoy life and laugh, and she’s a sucker for stray animals.

Here she is being interviewed by her own Goddard college.

http://storiesfromgoddard.podbean.com/2008/02/26/stories-from-goddard-episode-1/

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/20/col-editor-interviewed-by-goddard-college/feed/ 1 http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2006/09/01/the-dog-who-saved-lives/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2006/09/01/the-dog-who-saved-lives/#comments Sat, 02 Sep 2006 03:15:10 +0000 Debbie Boen http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2006/09/01/the-dog-who-saved-lives/ Christine Piesyk says there isn’t a minute of the day that she doesn’t think on the dog that saved her life. She says that without a doubt, she would have died from smoke inhalation on August 30th if not for her hero.

Here is Keykey, the dog who kept jumping and yipping (something he usually does not do) on Christine while she was sleeping, alerting her to the fact that her house was on fire.

Donations are coming in, we thank you with all our hearts. A bed has been donated, thanks so much! Money is coming in; any amount helps! Please see the previous article for more information on how to donate to help this family get back on their feet.

I’m sure that you’ll be hearing from Christine as soon as she can get on a computer.

When I got to Christine’s house at around 1 pm., the front two windows were black gaping holes. A heap of melted and blackened furniture and other debris was stacked up in the front yard. Christine’s daughter, Kelly, greeted me and said that Christine wasn’t there. She had gone to a hotel that the Red Cross had paid for.

Kelly invited me into the house where she surveyed the damage for another time. She pointed to the wall, “that’s where Grandma’s picture was that she made. I’ll miss that more than anything.” She pointed at all the things that used to be Grandma’s. Finally she found rosary beads that were wrapped around a melted lamp. She grabbed a towel and rubbed the beads until you could see their real color again. It was a little victory.

Here’s what happened that morning:

Our dear friend Christine Piesyk laid back down to sleep after seeing her three grandkids off to school. Kelley was not at the house, son-in-law was asleep downstairs. Christine was awakened by the family dog leaping and jumping on her repeatedly, making weird noises. “OK, I’ll let you out!” she said. She opened the bedroom door to a house engulfed in flames and smoke. She quickly kicked open the front door for the dog and ran downstairs to awaken her son in law. They all got out except for one lizard.

Christine confesses that if the dog hadn’t jumped on her, she would have died this day.

The family will repair and rebuild. The brave work of trying to clean and save their smoke filled clothes and furniture has begun already. The fire was an electrical one and no one’s fault. This hurts their one income family pretty badly. I went and bought some cleaning supplies and brought them to the son-in-law and he broke down in tears. He said that he always tries to help others, maybe what goes around comes around. If there is any help you would like to give, they would truly appreciate it.

Please make a donation, this is a devastating tragedy for this family. Anything at all will help! We all need to help and support our neighbors in their time of need, because one day it might be our turn to ask for their help.

Note: All money donated through the paypal donation button
goes straight to Christine.

Debbie Boen

P.S. The dog had a well deserved steak dinner today.