Honoring the Nobel Peace Prize Winners 2005

When I reached the age of 11, there was a flurry of building going on...bomb shelters. We had just built a new house and it didn't even have a basement. I lived in a small town in Missouri and wasn't quite sure how this was all going to affect me. But then, I'm the one who was sure Martians had landed in her backyard and build a vapor lock in her bedroom doorway. We lived on the edge of town on a windy hill and I was alone after school because my parents worked and my older siblings were in high school and busy. I would watch tv and eat chocolate ice cream soup, bread balls and orange slices for a snack while wonderful kids shows paraded by...Howdy Doody, Little Rascals, cartoons from my mom's time, and cowboy serials.

One day inbetween these wonderful shows that transported me out of my small town life, a terror more terrible than the Martians flashed on the screen. It was the reason the bomb shelters were being built. It was an atomic bomb test and it showed what would happen to you in the event of an attack. I was riveted to the tv set. Slowly over the weeks that followed, I felt weak and thought I had leukemia. I thought the bomb test on tv had damaged me somehow. I did find out I had anemia. My life was changed forever though with the knowledge of the BOMB.

As an adult artist on the East Coast, I did a series called Winter White which is about what the environment would be like if there were a nuclear accident...the condition is called nuclear winter or winter white. I also wrote a poem about it. It is in my book, In The Sanctuary, available in my online store. The Winter White show hung in a Harvard Square cafe gallery. I really liked it.

Later, in 1993, I was able to sign a petition in San Francisco banning the building of any more nuclear materials. The US signed a big treaty shortly after that which pretty much said we would not build any more bombs. I felt really good about that!

After I published my book, The Rain Prayer, I was nominated for several awards, but my favorite was a Peace Prize.

Now I want to say Congratulations, to Chief UN Nuclear Inspector Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency. They have just won, together, the Nobel Peace Prize 2005. To Mr. ElBaradei, disarmament is the #1 priority of the world! I heartily agree! We have over 27,000 devices on this planet, enough to blow us all to smitherines. In this way, we are all on the Endangered Species List!

I think it is so amazing that someone from one of the oldest civilizations on this planet has spoken with such truth and eloquence to the world! He thinks the bombs should be de-fused and put in museums and that is that. I like the idea of it all being buried the way Germany is doing.

In this season, we give glory to the Prince of Peace. He is returning to judge us. We should have no weapons of mass destruction as a Christian nation! And we should lead the world in eliminating them all!