BraveBirds Times Online
January 2007

Online newsletter of the Eastern Shore Sanctuary & Education Center

Aftershock

The Eastern Shore Sanctuary is pleased to announce the publication of Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World: A Guide for Activists and Their Allies by sanctuary cofounder pattrice jones.

The book is a practical guide for activists who encounter unsettling experiences in the course of their work. The book also explores the culture of trauma that people have created through our violent exploitation of the earth and other animals. It includes practical tips for activists, friends and relatives of activists, organizations, communities, and therapists as well as several thought-provoking chapters that show how problems like war and global warming are rooted in the traumatic rupture between people and the rest of the natural world.

To learn more about the book, visit:
aftershock.pattricejones.info

The book is rooted in pattrice's experiences as an activist, including the years that she has spent working with the birds at the Eastern Shore Sanctuary. She asks sanctuary supporters to help her spread the word about the book to other activists and also to ask their local libraries and bookstores to carry it.

Strange Bird

Traffic's been pretty heavy here on Reading Ferry Road in rural Maryland because a tropical kingbird was spotted nesting in a nearby field. From what we hear, this is only the second time this bird has been seen nesting this far north. It's interesting to watch the bird-watchers riding slowly up the road, evidently unaware that the fumes from their SUVs are responsible for the global warming

Not that we dislike bird-watchers. Most try to avoid disturbing birds and many participate in conservation activities. And, their kind of "hunting" is certainly preferable to the murderous rampages of the deer hunters who haunt the woods all winter long.

But, still, we can't help but wonder how many of these bird watchers go home and eat the wings of birds for dinner, never asking themselves what — exactly — makes one kind of bird more worthy of respect than another. Is it really so different than considering one race of person inherently more valuable than another? Isn't the habit of venerating "wild" birds while denigrating "domesticated" birds similar to the mentality that led colonial Americans to assign negative stereotypes to enslaved Africans and to have romantic ideas about Native Americans, even as they displaced and destroyed the communities of the original inhabitants of these lands?

Upcoming Events

Such questions will be asked at the upcoming United Poultry Concerns Forum entitled "Inadmissible Comparisons," at which sanctuary cofounder pattrice jones will be speaking. The annual UPC conferences are always extremely thought-provoking and this year's event promises to be even more so, with speakers from both within and without the animal advocacy movement address the controversial question of comparisons between human and animal exploitation and liberation. Other speakers include UPC President Karen Davis, Anarchist Panther Ashanti Alston, feminist and antiracist activist Andrea Smith, and authors Carol Adams, Charles Patterson, and Roberta Kalechofsky.

The conference will be held in New York City on 24-25 March. For more information, visit:
www.upc-online.org/Forums/120306forum.html

Crazy Days

It feels like spring almost every day, which is nice for the "broiler" chickens but unsettling for the people who worry about climate change. Last year at this time, we announced that our New Year's Resolution was to do more about global warming. This year, our New Year's Resolution is exactly the same.

We hope that all of our supporters also will vow to do more about climate change in 2007.

For ideas, check out our web page on the subject:
www.bravebirds.org/heat.html

Sanctuary Update

There have been some changes at the sanctuary lately. Cofounder pattrice jones still lives here all the time and takes care of the birds most days. Cofounder Miriam Jones lives here for part of every week and takes care of the birds on those days. She also covers the sanctuary whenever pattrice goes away for speaking engagements, sanctuary business or just to get "off the farm" for a few days. (Miriam doesn't get nearly enough credit for her behind-the-scenes work, by the way, or for the money that she pitches in whenever the sanctuary bank account dips too low.) Helper Christopher Wood comes on Saturdays to help out with heavy labor. We're hoping to raise the funds to pay him to come more often because he's great with the birds and very creative at solving maintenance problems. The birds are doing well but the grounds look like they always do at this time of year: Too muddy! We are all looking forward to real spring, when we can get the foraging yards reseeded and make some other improvements to the grounds.

Eastern Shore Sanctuary & Education Center
13981 Reading Ferry
Princess Anne, MD 21853 USA
410-651-4934
www.bravebirds.org