Message from Jessica Max Stein, 2008

Dear Friends,

Please join me on Saturday, August 16, 2008 in Seneca Falls, NY to
celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Women's Peace Encampment. We will reenact the women's walk from Seneca Falls to Waterloo, about four miles.

From July 4th to Fall 1983, hundreds of women camped outside of the
Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, NY, to protest its nuclear weapons and "to challenge the nuclear threat to life itself". Nearly 2000 women joined a weekend of actions in late July, including writer/activists Grace Paley and Barbara Deming.

Join me on August 16th to reenact their walk of July 30, 1983, when about 200 women set out from Seneca Falls to the encampment in Romulus, 15 miles south. In Waterloo, about 300 angry locals blocked their path across a footbridge, where a three-hour standoff ended with over 50 civil disobedience arrests.


Saturday, August 16, 2008 Itinerary

11 am: Meetup at Zuzu's Café, 107 Fall Street, Seneca Falls.
Noon: The walk begins. 12-5 pm (or thereabouts): We trace the women's route, stopping at the site of the 1848 women's rights convention and the homes of some of its organizers. We end the walk in our own collective triumph, by walking all the way over the bridge.

This is not a tour or lecture but a collaborative project — this day will be whatever we make it. Bring songs, stories, thoughts, pictures, and memories, along with snacks, sunscreen, water bottle and comfortable shoes.

About me: I grew up 200 miles east of Seneca Falls, in Schenectady, NY. I am a peacewalker; this commemoration is part of a longer 50+ mile walk along the Erie Canal. My first trek spanned 50 miles along the Hudson, chronicled in my zine "The Long Walk Back to Myself" (Microcosm Publishing, 2006). I make my home in Brooklyn, NY.

Walking for peace is all the more relevant today as we wage a war to hang onto our country's gasoline habit. Walking itself is peaceful, a kind of meditation. As Deming writes, "Yes, this is the way to walk — with the concentrated attention which is prayer."

Email senecawalk@yahoo.com with any questions. I'll be traveling, so expect a reply within a few days.

All are welcome.

See you in Seneca Falls,
Jessica Max Stein