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"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." - Robert Fulghum


First, the people...

My Grandfather.He left Germany when Hitler was popular. Grandpa said Hitler killed off the opinion leaders in the country so that even when the masses of people knew Hitler was bad, they did the sheep thing. Followed blindly.

Michael Moore. We knew Bush was evil; Michael’s movies filled in the how’s. When we saw Michael in Nashville, he brought up the fact that our “Opinion Leaders” are the media and the media had been killed.

Friends. We have many gay friends here in this Bible-belt town. They deserve every bit of support we can give them. The president was setting a tone of discrimination.

David. Husband of almost 30 years. Sensible, inspirational, supportive - always.

Randall. Son of 20 years. Just the right age to be drafted.

Then ...
Decency.

And let me mention Blame and the problem of being stuck in it. I’m an expert at it. Did it for over 20 years (my mother). The thing is, I did nothing/changed nothing about myself during that time; I didn’t have too, I was “right”. Blame is an, oh so comfortable, no action, no improvement place.

In many ways, the FreeThinkers rose from the ashes of the 2004 presidential election. After the 2004 election, I was swimming in blame of the Republicans -- rightly so! But blame is also a level of apathy.



Grief, fear (terror), and rage are unpleasant emotions that we would rather not feel, so we suppress them to feel a comfortable nothing (apathy). Problem is, when we feel nothing, we do nothing -- not much if anything at all. We think and talk and have meetings, but we don’t act. Those of us who knew the danger of Bush being in office were shoved into these horrible lower emotions, from which many of us then burrowed into apathy. Baa!

Then a friend volunteered her business space. I gathered a few people and did a workshop on this topic with instant results. A little group of us initiated a lot of action that has continued to present: peace vigils once a week, development of an email list of contacts, a name, a newsletter with Mary, a box of the bill of rights books($1 Cato), signs ready to go to any rally, and meetings once a week with Let U.S. Eat Cake served. I bought a button maker. All of my art was political and my rally signs were art. Several of us did letter writing to the newspaper. Some of us headed to every rally we could attend in nearby Nashville.

Over the years, as I felt frustrations similar to those experienced by Cindy and freewayblogger, many of the leaders, the “movers and shakers” in our community kept me going: Terry McMoore, David Shelton, The Roxy Theatre, Jill Eichhorn, Beth Robinson, Bill Larson, Gerry Gilman, Jim Palmer, Barry, Susan, Chantel, Stacy and others. They inspired me.

I made a contact with Sarah of Boulder who sent articles, and with her humor and alive anger she saved me many times over from giving up. MoveOn.org and others let us connect across the country. Chris Lugo and the Tenn Independent News inspired me. Bernie Ellis with his remarkable integrity showed us the election fraud picture and led us through steps to do something about it. I really did want to quit this effort so many times. Not because I didn’t want to do it, but because of the lack of action by just about everybody to stop Bush. Bush and the Neo Cons are evil, and all these people knew it, yet hardly anyone was moving. THAT was scary. I kept doing things because I couldn’t NOT do them.

Christine got involved, and became my mentor almost immediately. This woman doesn’t believe in the word no. From standing together to turn our backs on the Bush motorcade as it rode through Kentucky to her IMPEACH BUSH sign at our last rally, she has taken the organization of our rallies into her capable hands and I love her for it.

Bill Larson has the same idea when it comes to making a web site work. He created Clarksville Online, an alternative news source in our community that gives us a beautiful and professional forum, a voice to replace the death in corporate media. He has endless energy.

I started FreeThinkers with the intention of inspiring others to copy me when I do something positive that they want to copy. Bill and Christine say that I have inspired them into action. That is the most awesome compliment I can imagine.








FreeThinkers for Peace and Civil Liberties was born out of dismay with the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election and frustration with the lay of political landscape and public policy regarding the war in Iraq.

Clarksville (Tennessee) artist/activist Debbie Boen gathered a small group of friends and acquaintances for monthly meetings at the public library and launched a series of weekly peace vigils at the city's Eternal Flame, overlooking the Cumberland River.

Today, the FreeThinkers are a loosely organized but deeply committed group of anti-war activists and dedicated pacifists living and working in and around Clarksville, TN, and Hopkinsville, KY. Both communities share claim to Fort Campbell and the 101st Airborne; this major military installation straddles the state line and has hundreds of soldiers deployed for their third tour of duty in Iraq. The economy of both communities is heavily linked to the base and military spending.

Since it's inception, members of the FreeThinkers have formed collaborations and networks with other local and regional groups, drawing strength and resources from many sources. Its anti-war actions and peace vigils have grown and shifted, with the most recent events drawing people and organizations five states and many organizations.