Tolerance

After a stop at Borders to move Bush's new book, which came out today, to the True Crime section, I spent the morning wandering around The River in Rancho Mirage. I never did find a real river but as shopping centers go it really was very nice. Even the parking was high end. Big, which for me translates to easy in and easy out, flat, which translates to glasses of water, keys and cell phones remaining on the counter, not the floor. It was shaded, and relatively quiet. Everything a weary traveler could need except a garbage can to throw away the last couple days of smelly take out boxes and kitty litter. But, most importantly,  everything Luney needs to be comfortable and set for my day away.

I had gone through one of those free magazines and cut out a couple of coupons which would save me some money. So I had lunch at 20% off, free wine tasting, and a two for one Ben and Jerry's ice cream cone. While at Borders I bought a book about writing exercises. I randomly opened the book and did the first one I came to while sitting alone eating my lunch. I want to share it with you here. (It is MY blog)

I am eating lunch. The sun is burning on the right side of my face as it glares at me and brightly peaks around the edge of the festive colored red and purple umbrella perched above me. I can taste each individual ingredient in my 3 egg omelette. The bacon, the avacado, the eggs. Everything except the catsup which I asked for at the beginning of this meal but has, as yet, not been delivered. I can hear the traffic and the chatty voices of the jewelry clad, obviously well to do women sitting at the table next to me. The sound is muted by the sound of the water falling in the fountain, separated from me by a piece of glass although the shimmering blue seems close enough to touch. I am surrounded by brown and green and blue. But still, no red. Still, no catsup. The ice water makes the inside of me feel like cold tingling mountain snow while the outside burns like hot dessert dirt. Oh, here comes the red, I mean the  catsup, served in a little stainless steel bowl. Yeah, no big ugly bottles on the tables at this restaurant. I guess I am not quite as hungry as I thought I was. The remainder of the food, which looked and smelled so appealing a few minutes ago will fit nicely in the small white inviting cardboard to go box.

Well, enough of that.

Now, you must be asking what is the real reason Sandee would spend the day in a shopping mall. (I can not believe my friends would not question that small fact.) Well, surrounded by plantation style country clubs that make Pebble Beach look like a ghetto, sits the Tolerance Education Center.

This is what their website says:

My name is Earl Greif. I am a Holocaust survivor.
My life has taken me in many directions, I have traveled many countries and I have met many people. My experiences have given me a unique perspective on humanity at large. At this point in my life, it is my choice to turn those unique moments into a greater cause. I wish to educate. Ultimately my vision and sponsorship for education and tolerance will bring understanding to younger generations, a sense of unity for people who went through their own atrocities and forgiveness for those who violate the laws of humanity.
I am pleased to introduce the Tolerance Education Center to the Coachella Valley community and beyond. Hatred and bigotry still exists today, even here in the United States and it is very important to educate the public, especially the youth of tomorrow. Further, as citizens of the great United States of America it is our duty to remember and to understand why hatred exists. If there is no knowledge, there can be no change.
The purpose of our Center is to educate and inspire young people to understand the terrible consequences that result from intolerance and bigotry. We must abandon the idea of "them" and "us" to begin to see that man is only one.We will offer many volumes of books on the history of genocide including the Holocaust in Europe, the current crisis in Darfur, and other atrocities in the past including, Croatia, Rwanda, Armenia, and others.
Our collection of films will be extensive and will include personal testimonials from survivors with question and answer periods.
Our library will give students an opportunity to study and write their own papers on this subject.We will have computers and materials for their use and a librarian will be available to help students to circumnavigate the center


Tonight, and why I stayed in town the center is screening a preview of the documentary: 

American Justice: the Jerome Bowden Story with the presentation and Q and A by co-director Paula Caplan. The film is designed to alert people about one of the worst abuses in the U.S. - the execution of those with serious intellectual disabilities.

It seems the Tolerance Center and the building, which was obviously built for this specific purpose, is about a year old. There is a library of books that includes an array of topics that pretty much cover everything people can find to hate and be intolerant of. There are numerous computers, a little gift shop, and most impressively a theater. A theater just like at the movies at the mall. Not quite as large but can probably seat 125 people. Nice plush seats, a huge screen. 

The film and presenter were also very impressive. You can look up Paula at www.paulajcaplan.net. It turns out she was also the play write of one of my favorite plays that I saw at the festival over the weekend. She is an amazing woman. This is what her web site says about her.


Paula J. Caplan is a clinical and research psychologist, author of books and plays, playwright, actor, and director. She was born and raised in Springfield, Missouri, attended Greenwood Laboratory School from kindergarten through twelfth grade, received her A.B. with honors from Radcliffe College of Harvard University, and received her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from Duke University. She is the daughter of the late Jerome A. Caplan and of Tac Caplan. Currently, she is an Associate at the DuBois Institute, Harvard University, and a Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Previously she has been a Lecturer at Harvard in Women, Gender, and Sexuality and in the Psychology Department. She is former Full Professor of Applied Psychology and Head of the Centre for Women's Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and former Lecturer in Women's Studies and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.


She has written numerous books including one about mothers and daughters which I promptly bought to be delivered immediately to my iphone and another now in press called 'When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home' — about war veterans, how most of their suffering is invisible to most Americans, how every citizen should ask to hear a veteran's story, and how only by learning what they have to teach us can we create a national body of information that may help prevent us from going to war so easily again. It will be published in 2011.


You can watch the play she wrote, The Test, about Jerome Bowden on youtube or on her website. It is a heartbreaking and frustrating story of a 24 year old, probably innocent, black mentally handicapped young man with an IQ somewhere below 60 sentenced to prison and put to death by a corrupt and unjust U.S. system. A story that could come to visit many of us. 


For now, goodbye civilization, hello solitude.