Dick and I commuted by bicycle for many years to our jobs in Seattle. So we are among those privileged to know that a rainy day of cycling is just another day. Even so, this reporting period has been a wet, if not hard pill to swallow. Our plan for this trip was to follow the progress of spring warmth and sunshine up the East Coast. But for the last two weeks, Mother Nature has had other plans. Instead, it has been cold and raining most of the time, with more of the same predicted for next week. On the other hand, weather reports from home in the normally cold and rainy Pacific Northwest are unbelievable. 87 degrees in Seattle, 97 degrees in Portland. It crossed Mona's mind to call this whole thing off and fly home. But, despite the weather and a little homesickness, we are still having too good a time.

Mona's touch of homesickness was aggravated somewhat by some interchanges from home this week. There was an email message from Pam Green of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods saying our neighborhood clean-up and kiosk dedication in April was a great success with lots of helpers and celebrators, including Mayor Greg Nichols and Councilman Nick Licata showing up. Then there were phone conversations with Kris Zawisza and Julie Walton saying things are going well, services have been great and attendance good at our church home, the Rainier Valley UU Congregation.

These last two weeks have been more notable for great conversations than for good weather. We spent most of the last week of May staying at the home of Carol and Leland Allen in Princeton, NJ. Carol and Lee both love to talk and are the greatest of conversationalists. We had met Carol previously due to our affiliation with UU's for a Just Economic Community and because Carol is the mother of Emily Allen, a fellow alternative transportation activist in Seattle. Lee is a professor emeritus of chemistry at Princeton.

From Princeton we traveled on two consecutive days by commuter train to New York where we encountered more very stimulating discussions, some on subjects very dear to us, namely global democracy and peace. On Wednesday, May 26 we visited the United Nations building where we attended the World Opinion Forum, a teleconference of nongovernmental organizations. The discussion began with fairly unanimous denunciations of Bush's war policy and unilateralism. There was one panel about the dangers of a growing media monopoly and another on peace. Panelists challenged the very legality of war, given that most war today is within, not between nations, and so could be potentially prevented or contained by a strengthened United Nations. During the audience commentary, Mona posed the question of whether it is realistic to expect countries to disarm under the current system of international decision making, which is based heavily upon the use of force, and brought up the idea of a global parliament. She was pleasantly surprised when that subject was greeted enthusiastically and especially when the next and last panel of the conference was on that very topic. On the following day we discussed the Earth Charter and also the idea of a global parliament with Suzi Snyder at the UN office of the Women's International Leage for Peace and Freedom and found her very savvy on the subject of global democracy and most receptive to our ideas.

Later in the week we attended a meeting of the Princeton democratic organization and spoke with Jeffrey Laurenti, national policy director of the US chapter of the United Nations Association. Unfortunately Mr. Laurenti did not prove all that amenable to the idea of an elected global body but is rather fond of playing devil's advocate on the subject. In fact, he has written the opposition argument in a recently published anthology on "Second Assembly and Global Parliamentary Proposals." Mr. Laurenti has a number of favorite arguments against a global parliament. For example, he believes appointed diplomats would be more skilled than would elected representatives in compromising, finding common ground, respecting cultural differences, and so forth. He also believes common people would not take much interest in politics at so high a level and would not turn out to vote. Fortunately for the future of our planet, Jeff's arguments seem rather weak. For example, global issues hit home daily all across the globe as people deal with global trade, global environmental problems, terrorism, etc. The impacts are becoming ever more difficult for ordinary people to ignore, and they want their voices heard directly. More and more people are beginning to realize that if we don't achieve some sort democratic rule of law on a global scale, the human species could degenerate into barbarism or even destroy itself.

It's too bad Jeff Laurenti, and in fact all intellectual nay sayers, have not been along with us on this trip. It's too bad they have not stood with us in front of scores of grocery stores and inside of several Barnes & Nobles and spoken these words to hundreds of everyday working people, "We're promoting the idea of a global parliament elected by the peoples of the world." At that, the average person's eyes light up. Ofen they say something like, "Yes, that's just what we need!" When I speak of great conversations, those exchanges with average working people are the best we've had. Unfortunately, there were a lot more of them down south where the weather was warm and more conducive to sitting in front of stores. I hope the weather improves in the northeast soon, so we can have a lot more of such interchanges in the last month of our trip.

It was on one of those many cold, wet, and rainy Sundays that we spoke at the early service at the New Brunswick, NJ, UU church. There were no intellectual nay sayers nor devil's advocates in that group. Everyone listened politely and thoughtfully. Then they asked many insightful questions, all of which reflected total grasp of what we were trying to say. We got the same good and thoughtful reception at a Sunday evening potluck dinner of UU's from the UU Congregation of the Catskills at the home of Dorothy and Leo Hellerman who kindly hosted us and the event. At both New Brunswick and the Catskills, we attended special rites of passage services and celebrations which reflected so much love and admiration of members for one another that even we as visitors could feel a sense inclusiveness and joy pulsating in these church homes.

Despite the predominance of bad weather, we have had some delightful sight seeing experiences during the past two weeks. On route from Philadelphia to Princeton, we crossed the Deleware at a bridge built over the spot where Washington's troops crossed on a historic winter night to surprise the British, turning the tide of the Revolutionary War. In New York City we visited the Einstein Exihibit at the Museum of Natural History and the amazing planetarium shows, a profound, almost religious experience, that took us on a virtual trip through the incalculable vastness of space. Later on that rare sunny afternoon, we took a walk in Central Park, an event both of us had imagined but never experienced for our entire lives. We have never experienced so graceful a blending of human civilization and the natural world. After a ride or two, we were even navigating the New York subways like old pros, taking full advantage of our $7 all day passes.

On alternating sunny and some rainy days we rode up along the Delaware River, crossing back and forth between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We camped at Bull's Island State Park, which was an experience more like "real camping" to us because our tent site was right on the river with practically no "civilization" in view. Happily, New Jersey camp grounds have no RV hook-ups and therefore can retain the effect of natural settings rather than of shanty towns like most campgrounds made up of trailers and mobile homes. Next day under moderate rainfall, we pedaled up through a dramatic gorge known as the Delaware Water Gap.

It was a beautiful sunny day when we crossed over into New York and traveled through the beautiful Shawangunk mountain country with woodlands and dairy farms plush and green from so much rain. Dominating the landscape were high ridges with white cliffs rising up alongside the road or jutting into the sky overhead. For that one afternoon it felt like we were out west again. Next morning we crossed the mighty Hudson River on a great suspension bridge. Later we toured the home and museum of Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Hyde Park. It was interesting to note, while reviewing the exhibits portraying FDR's life and career, that even though he loved books, Roosevelt's youth was balanced somewhat in favor of social activities over academic learning. His life illustrates how skills learned from dealing with people may be more important for a politician than knowledge gleaned from books. Those exhibits also showed that Roosevelt's constituents were ordinary people, not corporations or wealthy elites. In his speech accepting the nomination for President, Roosevelt said, "Give me your pledge not to help win votes alone but to win this crusade to restore America to its own people." Let's face it, what we need now is another FDR. Is there one out there somewhere in the crowd?

Aside from the rain, bicycling amenities have improved dramatically as we have proceeded northward. New York has been the greatest so far with an abundance of good shoulders, bike lanes, and quiet country roads. The results were as you would expect, more bicycles. Many more cyclists have passed, waved and greeted us here in New York than in any other state. However, it was on one of those quiet country roads that we got our first flat in over a month. Then we discovered that a bike shop back in Maryland had sold us the wrong sized spare tubes, and both of them went flat immediately after Dick put them on. So Dick patched the old tube which also gave out next day in the middle of a downpour. We took shelter in a garage and had some snacks while Dick tried unsuccessfully to fix the tire again. Finally we called an Angel of Mercy known as Dorothy Hellerman who came to the rescue with her Suburu. With the bike partially disassembled, we managed to load our whole aparatus, trailer, packs, and all into Dorothy's car and were sprited off to hot baths and a delicious salmon dinner inside of a wonderful, welcoming UU household. We are so blessed.

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Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.
- Earth Charter principle I.4.a.

We proclaim both the fundamental rights and responsibilities of  citizenship.
- Affirmation from the Preamble to the Charter of the Global
Peoples Assembly Movement

Report websites: www.scn.org/bike4democracy and
www.earthcharterusa.org/ecinaction.html.

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