GaLLeRy 1990s - Black and Whites

Photographer unknown.
Ann and Estelle

Donna and Laura

Becky

Can anybody identify this woman with Otter?

Elliott

Can anybody identify any of these women?

Cindy and Twilight

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aRTiCLe - July 17, 1998

Legacy Laurie Twilight, left, and Estelle Coleman, two of the nine owners of Women’s Peaceland in Romulus, say they are still committed to the original mission the group set forth in 1983. “This is a place that’s become symbolic for many women,” Twilight said.

Democrat and Chronicle
July 17, 1998

‘Fire still burns’ at peace camp
by Doris Wolf
ROMULUS – In 1983, more than 12,000 women came to a humble white farmhouse on the outskirts of this rural Seneca County village.

The Women’s Peace Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice attracted women from Europe, Canada and across the country. They were housewives and flower children, Buddhist monks and self-proclaimed witches, feminists and families. They came to protest the Seneca Army Depot believed to be the largest storehouse of nuclear weapons in the northeast at the time.

They marched and tied yarn webs on the depot fence. They scaled the barbed-wire-topped chain link that surrounded the 10,600-acre facility. And when they were arrested, they received letters banning them from the site and barring them from protesting there again.

Today, the soldiers and the nuclear weapons have left the depot, which is slated to be closed in 2001. The white farmhouse is a faint echo of its former self.

But that will change today and tomorrow, when female peace activists again gather to recall their glory days. Called “The fire still burns,” the gathering will be an open campfire, at which women will share stories and songs of the peace and feminist movements.

“To retell the old stories is very inspiring, especially to the younger women,” said Estelle Costello [sic], a member of the nine-women collective that owns the former peace encampment. “It’s nice to see their enthusiasm and awe.”

The 52-acre site, with itsprivies, outbuildings, fields and two-story house, is now a land trust called Women’s PeaceLand. Members meet annually on July 4. This year they celbrated their 15th anniversary.

“Not bad for a group with no leader and no income,” said Costello [sic].
Members are struggling to pay $1,700 annual taxes – school taxes have tripled this year.

Ann Herman, the last woman to live in the house full-time, left in February 1996 to protest at the School of the Americas in Georgia against the use of federal money to train government operatives to work in Central and South America. She was arrested for protesting and is in [sic] currently in jail.

Costello [sic] said the group was “thinking and talking, looking for new direction.”
But Laurie Twilight, another collective member, rejects the suggestion that the peace encampment is without a mission.

“This is a place that’s become symbolic for many women, an inspiration to keep going, doing the work, keep hanging in there, and trying to make the world more peaceful.”
Twilight said women throughout the world viewed [sic] Women’s PeaceLand as a special place. “People are inspired by it from afar. They are very happy to hear there are still peace activists,” she said.

The property is used by groups that share the collective’s mission, said Costello [sic]. Recently, a group of radical feminists from Canada and six states in America met to share tactics and information.

“The focus here is not on the land, but on becoming politicized, radicalized here and going back to their community. It’s a place to regenerate, reconnect and network,” Twilight said.

The collective has issued a request for proposals from groups and individuals who want to share the land and buildings – and expenses. “What we need is more people, energy and resources to use this land. We are flexible and open to a wide range of ideas,” she said.

Payment could be in money, or other negotiable resources such as energy, structural improvements and skills, Twilight said. “As far as the depot goes, we feel we’ve accomplished a lot. But there still needs to be peace in so many places. And places for women to gather, a safe place, a woman’s place.”

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aRTiCLe - August 6, 1984

Security guards at the Seneca Army Depot in Seneca County drag some of the 29 women apprehended for trespassing. The women crossed the fence at the depot during a Hiroshima-anniversary anti-nuclear protest.

29 Depot fence-crossers apprehended
Security staff handcuffs, photographs, releases peace camp members.
By Carol Ritter, Laura Meade and Janice Sue Wang

ROMULUS – Security officers apprehended 29 women who climbed over or crawled under a fence to enter Seneca Army Depot yesterday during the largest anti-nuclear demonstration there of the summer.

The 29, including six who authorities said also had previously entered the depot illegally, were among a group of more thatn 100 owmen who gathered outside the depot’s main gate on Route 96 to protest the nuclear arms race and commemorate the atomic-bomb explosion in the Japanese city of Hiroshima 39 years ago.

The demonstration, called a “Day of Focus” by the women, fell almost on the anniversary of a massive demonstration at the depot last Aug. 1 that drew an estimated 1,600 women protesters.

The women taken into custody yesterday were handcuffed and photographed by the depot security staff before they were released. Depot spokesman Robert Zemanek said the six second offenders were given tickets ordering them to appear before a federal magistrate in Rochester, while the others were given letters barring them from further trespass on depot property.

About 20 women were at the gates by 10 a.m., but the gates stood open until guards closed them at 11:15 a.m. when most of the women who demonstrated arrived from the Women’s Encampment for Future of Peace and Justice, a mile north of the gate on Route 96.

The early arrivals, mostly members of the Rochester Women’s Action for Peace, spent more than an hour tying 6,001 short pieces of red yarn onto the fence.
The group claims the American and Soviet arsenals now have weaponry 6,000 times as great as the weaponry used in World War II.

When all the women had gone, by mid-afternoon, a security guard began cutting off the pieces of yarn that covered several large sections of the fence.

The demonstration that lasted more than two hours featured what the women called a “Missile America” contest. Women held aloft cardboard models of American missiles while one woman acting as emcee introduced the missiles as if they were contestants in a beauty pageant.

“Look, it’s a cruise. Isn’t it beautiful?” the emcee shouted, and women in the crowd booed loudly. At the end of the pageant, several women tore the missiles to pieces and piled them on the ground.

About two dozen spectators and a dozen police officers watched from the sidelines as the omen circled, danced, sang, and acted out their concerns over the arms race.
Marion Winkelman, a Geneseo schoool teacher, and Frank Carvers of Trumansburg, Tompkins County, stood at the back of the protesters holding a banner with the words, “Choose Life.”

“I teach about Hiroshima every year and I always teach about the atrocities and deaths,” said Winkelman, who lived in Japan for several years. “The ones who were punished were those unfortunate to get in the way of a nuclear holocaust.”

“That was war. This is now a matter of life and death for the planet,” she later said.
Carver said he came “because I believe strongly in the words of the Lord” ‘I have placed before you death and life. Choose life.’”

Several women strung a huge web of yarn from the fence to a stop sign at the end f the driveway, saying it symbolized the interconnections of all living things on the earth. But almost as soon as they were finished, about a dozen teen-agers who said they live in Romulus began tearing down the yarn web.

Thirteen-year-old Harry Telbock said he was ripping the yarn off the fence “because it’s a bunch of bull. I wish these bums were out of here.”
“This is wrong, what they’re doing, blocking the gate and stuff,” added a blond youth who refused to identify himself. “It’s just childish.”

Several of the protesters argued with Ruth Stanover, a flag-waving Waterloo resident who has repeatedly confronted anti-nuclear protesters. During a demonstration by about 45 women July 16, Stanover crawled under the depot fence shouting that she was trying to call attention to the local residents’ disapproval of the peace camp and its actions.

Stanover said yesterday that there was “no way” would [sic] she illegally enter the depot again, but she said she would continue to argue against the demonstrations. Yesterday, she and her daughter, Debbie Cator, helped Romulus teen-agers tear down the yarn webbing, as several women tried to reattach the brightly-colored strands.

When the demonstration broke up, the women returned to the peace camp. Then nine left to hand out leaflets in two nearby communities, Ovid and Geneva, arriving at both places at 3:30 p.m.

In Ovid, four women were met with mixed response from the few people on the street. About half the people they approached accepted their handouts, but they stopped the distribution at 4:20 p.m. after the mangers of the Big M and Super Duper markets ordered them out of their parking lots.

Where they stopped, the people talked about them and their literature afterward.
At one point, a group of four teenagers walking down the sidewalk were reading the handouts. Customers in Jay’s Soda Bar also discussed the information, but many said the protesters were wasting their time.

Catherine Allport of New York City walked into several of the stores on Main Street in Ovid, drawing mixed reactions. Gordon “Scorch” Jensen, co-owner of Mr. T’s Head to Toe shop, accepted a fistful of anti-nuclear literature, but said the protests wouldn’t do any good. “It’s not going to accomplish anything,” he said. “They’ll (nuclear weapons) always be there.”

But, he said to Allport as she left, “I will read it, dear. Thank you very much.”
In Geneva, five women stopping passerby [sic] on Exchange and Castle streets disposed of their leaflets in about 40 minutes. Some people shrugged off the literature, while others accepted it and began reading as they walked away.

"Doreen Caravita of Seneca Falls, NY you are hereby informed that you are barred from this installation for an indefinite period of time. This debarment is predicated upon your misconduct at 1245 hours, on 6 Aug. 84, when you entered Seneca Army Depot without authority."

Evidence/Property Custody Document. Owner: Caravita, Doreen. Obtained: 1- Set of Keys, 1- Gold in Color Chain, 1- $20, 1- $5, 6- $1, 1- watch, Misc. Paper, 1 Pr. Shoe Strings. view the rest of this post

GaLLeRY 2008 - Waterloo 54 Memorial Walk

Template for the front of the t-shirts designed and produced for us by Becky at WomanMade in Seneca Falls.

The back.


Becky showing us how it's done.


Hot off the press!


Estelle, Carmen, Lucille and Twilight finishing up breakfast at Carman's and raring to get walking!


Christine and Carman sneak in a photo op at Zuzu's Cafe, our pre-walk gathering point in downtown Seneca Falls.


Our fearless leader Max being interviewed at Zuzu's by Amanda Folts of the Finger Lakes Times.


Anita gets an earful from Hershe about the herstory project while she and Doreen wait patiently for others to arrive.


Carman and Patty discuss strategy.


Let the wild rumpus begin! Estelle, Sera and the beautiful banner made by Eugene and friends lead the way.

First stop: The National Women's Hall of Fame. Patty, Sita, Kim, Twilight and Doreen listen to Max tell us about Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), the first licensed black woman aviator who learned to fly in France after being denied the opportunity in the U.S.


Max and Hershe get ready to join in as Estelle begins singing, "Walk, women, walk and we'll catch a glimpse of freedom, women walk, and we'll catch a glimpse of peace."


Second stop: The Wesleyan Chapel, site of the first Women's Rights Convention, July 19-20, 1848. Renee-Noelle breaks it down for us while Sera and Susie look on.


Patty and Lucille taking it all in.


Sita concentrating. Maybe meditating?


Estelle with two young feminists in town for a wedding who came over to see what we were doing. They had never heard of the Waterloo 54 or the peace encampment.


Sita and Estelle on the road between Seneca Falls and Waterloo.


Snack time mid-route. Sera, Max, Susie, Louise, Chris and Twilight.


Doreen and Estelle at stop number three, the Hunt House. Jane Hunt hosted a gathering here in honor of Lucretia Mott and those assembled decided to organize the first Women's Rights Convention.

Leaders of the pack, Doreen (photographed under duress - something about loyalty to the Seneca Falls' football team?) and Dee entering Waterloo.


The next contingent to pass by, led by Sera and Estelle, employs the fine art of sign enhancement...


...while the paparazzi Twilight, Susie and Christine, capture the moment in film.

Lucille and Renee-Noelle, first on the scene at our final rendezvous point before the bridge, the McClintock House. It was here that Mary Ann McClintock, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and perhaps others drafted the Declaration of Sentiments.

The McClintok House ranger joins Dee and Doreen as they listen to Renee-Noelle share information about our founding mothers.


Middle contingent, Sera, Christine, Susie and Max arrive at the McClintock House...


...followed by our vehicle support contingent, Louise, Estelle and Chris.


Christine and Sera chilling on the steps of the McClintock House.


Christine, Hershe, Sera and Patty and the fine art of bomb enhancement at the American Legion.

Patty seizing the day (and the banner).

With all walkers collected, Doreen, Patty, Max, Dee, Lucile, Christine, Twilight, Louise and Sita are ready for the final three blocks of the walk.


Approaching the first bridge.


Taking the street!


Long live the Waterloo 4!

Talking the street (again), this time on the bridge. Long live the Waterloo 10!

Good job, team!


Renee-Noelle singing the incredible song, "I will not raise my sons to kill your sons."


What a day!



Peace camp!


Sure, there's enough room for everyone!


Mmmm, cramped quarters make me hungry!


The farmhouse.


The original outhouse.


Sky light.


Sky shower.


Love Yourself.


World Serenity.


Pavillion pose. Back row: Twilight, Hershe, Sita, Max, Sera, Doreen, Louise and Chris. Middle: Susie, Estelle, Renee-Noelle, Patty, Lucille. Kneeling: Christine. Taking the picture: Dee.


On to the former Seneca Army Depot.


Those women did whaaatt?!?! And it was dark?!? And it was raining?!? And they were carrying paint cans, rollers and roller extensions?!?!?


Still life #1 - Striations.


Still life #2 - Three and Half Hours.


Basking in the afterglow of a walk well-taken. Estelle, Louise and Chris with Carman on her back porch.


In Carman's front room, Sita, Patrice, Patty and Doreen watch archive footage of the original 1983 walk.


During the next video, this one of the Waterloo 54 trial, Estelle explains to Sera how hundreds of women disrupted the makeshift courtroom.


The next day at Carman's, Estelle reads Amanda Folts' article from the Finger Lakes Times to Twilight.

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