Category: news

Yarn Registry BLOG – Rumor has it Lee Harvey Oswald was in Yellow Springs

From Rod Serling to Hollywood stars, Yellow Springs has its fair share of celebrity associations. But one of its strangest connections is likely its most infamous. According to some theorists, at one point Yellow Springs was said to host none other than Lee Harvey Oswald, the man behind the Kennedy assassination. Was he really here? Why? How? Was it all just part of a larger CIA-led plot?

In the 1960s, Antioch was a hotbed of left wing activism and as such was frequently on the government’s radar. The government kept files on students and student groups connected with the College. When an Antioch grad named Ruth Paine was connected to Oswald, Oswald was in turn connected to the College.

Ruth Paine graduated from Antioch in 1955 and eventually moved to Irving, Texas with her husband and their children. There she befriend Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey’s wife, who had come to the United States with Oswald following his years in Russia. Paine spoke Russian and met Marina through a friend. When Lee Harvey moved around Texas looking for work, Marina and their two children would stay with Paine. In October 1963, Lee Harvey got a job at the Texas Book Depository. On November 21, 1963, he came to retrieve some of his belongings from Paine’s garage, including the rifle he would use to kill Kennedy the next day.

Paine was promptly questioned by the FBI and later testified at the Warren Commission, the official government inquiry into the assassination. Her testimony discusses her time at Antioch where she admits having read The Communist Manifesto as part of a class. She said she had no interest in it later, nor did she have any interest in Das Kapital. (“I have seen the size of the book, and I certainly would not want to read it,” she said in her testimony.)

Paine also discovered by accident that Lee Harvey had attempted to assassinate another government official, who was not wounded. But she was not considered to have any sort of involvement with Oswald and was able to go about her life, eventually becoming a school psychologist. The home where the rifle was concealed was eventually purchased by the city of Irving, Texas and turned into a museum.

The rumors connecting Oswald to Yellow Springs started a few weeks after the assassination. Every city probably seized on the most tenuous Oswald connection.

The Columbus Dispatch wrote an article about the Paine-Antioch connection, noting Paine learned Russian from Marina Oswald, that she considers the Russian language a hobby, and that she is a Quaker and a pacifist. The article published the addresses of Paine’s parents and family, who lived in Columbus, in their entirety. In the same piece, the Dispatch reported that Antioch students were among those involved in a “Fair Play for Cuba” demonstration in front of the statehouse in Columbus.

In November 1963, a Columbus, Ohio police officer received information from an anonymous source that Lee Harvey Oswald had attempted to attend Antioch in 1957 but was not accepted because he couldn’t prove he graduated high school. This has never been verified.

An intelligence agent issued a report in early 1964 suggesting Oswald was receiving money orders through a bank in Yellow Springs. But this allegation was “completely run out and has proven to have no basis in fact,” and the report was not disseminated outside of the office. In fact, a declassified document mentions that the people responsible for this particular rumor were chastised: “Personnel of the Cincinnati Office who were responsible for the poor wording in the report [about] the Oswald case have been issued sharp error slips…and have been issued emphatic admonitions.”

However, it is likely that “official” accounts of his whereabouts will be distorted by the government, as many believe that Oswald was a CIA operative who only appeared to be a pro-Castro agitator. The story goes that when the government orchestrated Kennedy’s assassination, they had the perfect person to blame it on, Oswald, because he was already known as a vocal communist.

Following this logic, some say, Oswald’s connection with Ruth Paine, who also spoke Russian, means that she too was likely a CIA operative. And assuming for a moment that the discrediting of the Oswald-Yellow Springs connection was really government disinformation, Oswald’s connection to Antioch coupled with Paine’s connection to Antioch means that Antioch was or still is connected to the CIA.

In addition to past Antioch professors having connections to security agencies, author Bob Fitrakis writes that a few former members of Antioch’s board of trustees have connections to corporations that provide defense technology solutions to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and other intelligence agencies. Fitrakis also says that one shouldn’t fail to notice the college’s proximity to Wright-Patt or The Ohio State University, who works very closely with the “CIA’s favorite nonprofit Battelle,” a mysterious research company whose campus is located right next to the university.

However, Antioch may not be a CIA front in toto, it may just have been infiltrated. “If the CIA or U.S. intelligence services were involved in the subversion of America’s most pro-peace college, it wouldn’t be the first time that the progressive college campuses have been infiltrated,” writes Fitrakis. “The CIA subverted the National Student Association in the late 50s and early 60s. The agency also has been accused of subverting everything from fraternities to Fullbright scholars to Peace Corps workers.”

Was Antioch subverted? Was Oswald actually in Yellow Springs? Did Ruth Paine know more than she let on? Maybe we’ll know the answers to these and the infinite other questions about the Kennedy assassination when the rest of associated records are released to the public next year.

A Yellow Springs roundtable on refugee crisis

Syrians. Afghans. Somalians. Columbians. Kosovars. Iraqis.

More than 60 million people around the world are refugees and migrants, according to recent UN figures, and over half of them are children. Not since World War II have this many people been displaced from their homes.

What can a village of 3,500 do?

That’s one question motivating the upcoming roundtable event, “An Uncertain Welcome: Displacement, Migration and Refugees,” which will be held Thursday and Friday, April 14 and 15, at Antioch College’s South Gym. Organized by the college and Community Solutions, the event is free and open to all villagers interested in understanding refugee issues in greater depth.

The refugee crisis “definitely marks what’s going on in our world — it’s a feature of our time,” said Rick Kraince, associate professor of cooperative education at Antioch College and a co-organizer of the event.

“Destabilization of the Middle East and north Africa by the Western powers, with our government at the forefront” has been a huge driver of displacement, he said, together with U.S. policies in Central America that go back decades. Climate change is another driver. The Syrian war has its roots in the “worst drought of 900 years,” said Susan Jennings, executive director of Community Solutions, citing new research linking climate change, conflict and migration in the Middle East.

“Uncertain Welcome” will explore many of these issues, opening with a keynote on Thursday evening, 7–9 p.m., by Ethiopian human rights scholar Semahagn Gashu Abebe, who will address food security issues and the forces affecting displacement and migration. The event continues on Friday, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., with roundtable discussions focused on the causes of displacement, the forces shaping our perceptions of the crisis and the support systems currently in place, as well as the urgent question of what individuals and communities can do to help.

But another impetus for the gathering, according to the organizers, is to counter negative and demonizing rhetoric about refugees.

“Where we are in our national discussion is disturbing,” said Kraince. “Presidential candidates are competing to outdo each other to be unwelcoming to refugees,” he added, citing rhetoric by Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Kraince believes that civil society — the sector of society that includes nonprofits, educational institutions and faith groups — has a special responsibility to respond to such rhetoric, and to foster an atmosphere of tolerance and welcome. Jennings agreed.

“Community Solutions and Antioch College and village leaders have all been very distressed by the rhetoric around refugees,” she said. “It’s so important that good people speak up. Even though we’re a small community, our voices are important.”

Indeed, villagers have already spoken up — and signaled their willingness to help. In December, Village Council unanimously passed a resolution of support for any local efforts to relocate Syrian refugees to Yellow Springs. That action followed Governor Kasich’s statement in November that he opposed the entry of Syrian refugees into the U.S. and Ohio. And in February, Rev. Aaron Saari, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, organized a meeting to brainstorm ways to aid Syrian refugees, including exploring steps to bring refugee families to the village.

Around 40 villagers turned out for that meeting, said Saari recently. But as eager as people are to open their homes to refugees, the resettlement process is long and complex. Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley is the primary coordinator for refugee resettlement in our region, Saari said, and according to that agency, Syrian refugees are not currently being placed in the Dayton area. Resettlement, when it happens, could take five or more years, he added, and requires that a community build out the necessary supports for refugee families — affordable housing, medical and social services, job training and language classes.

“It’s a tremendous investment of time, talent and treasure,” said Saari, who will be speaking about a possible Yellow Springs refugee initiative at the upcoming roundtable. The April event will be followed by another meeting in May, Saari said, to determine what form of commitment to the Syrian refugee crisis villagers are willing and able to make.

Yellow Springs has a history of welcoming refugees, according to Scott Sanders, Antioch College archivist and another roundtable speaker. He’ll be telling the story of the Conway Colony, freed slaves who were relocated here in 1863 by Moncure Conway, an abolitionist. Among them were Eliza and Dunmore Guinn, who established a home on Grinnell Road and have descendants in the village today. Another story Sanders will relate involves the Folkmanis family, who came to Yellow Springs as displaced persons after World War II, thanks to the efforts of First Presbyterian Church, Antioch College and the local community. Atis Folkmanis, who was 10 years old at the time of the family’s relocation, went on to graduate from Antioch and later became a major supporter of the college with his wife, Judy.

Kraince believes that Antioch College today has “real momentum” around contemporary refugee issues, in part because of its students’ wealth of co-op experiences. Since reopening, the college has made about 750 co-op placements, Kraince said, more than 90 of these overseas. About a dozen students have worked specifically on refugee issues in their co-op placements, he added. Some of those students, as well as graduate students from Wright State University studying migration, will bring their work and perspectives to the roundtable.

“We hope this will be a launching board for other collaborations,” said Kraince. “There’s a lot of knowledge here.”

According to Saari and others, it’s not yet certain what form villagers’ collective response to the Syrian refugee crisis will take. But it does seem clear, given the village’s history and its present engagement with refugee issues, that Yellow Springs residents are unlikely to sit out what Jennings called the “largest humanitarian crisis since World War II.”

“With the roundtable and other actions, we’re hoping to help shape a compassionate and informed response,” she said.

For more information about roundtable topics and participants, villagers can email info@communitysolution.org. Child care is available for the event; those needing child care are asked to contact the organizers in advance.

ComCil Committees

  Committee Name Meetings Contact: Budget Committee Birch Kitchen, Wednesday 1:30pm Meli Osanya ’18, Perin Ellsworth-Heller ’17 Communications Committee  Hannah Priscilla Craig ’17 Diversity Committee CSKC, Tuesday 12:30pm Jessica Martinez, Assistant Director of Residence Life and Education  Elections Committee*  Jennifer Berman, Associate Director of Restorative Practices Events Committee Birch Kitchen, Wednesday 12:30pm Myrcka Del Rio ’17 … Continue reading ComCil Committees

Antioch Eco-Village— ‘Pioneers’ share vision, plans

The Antioch Eco-Village Pioneers includes a farmer, social worker, travel tour director and journalist, as well as people skilled in carpentry, music, graphic design and older adult fitness. It’s a mix of women and men active in Glen Helen, the Yellow Springs Arts Council and the library, and passionate about reading, writing, theater, food, travel, swimming, diversity and spirituality, among a host of other interests. One has a master’s in creative writing, another a master’s in social work. One member is certified as a master gardener, another as a grief counselor. And while the age range tilts older (most members are in their sixties through eighties), the group includes one family with children — and is actively seeking new members of all ages to explore options for creating a cohousing community on the Antioch campus.

“We want to be intergenerational,” said Pat Brown, one of the group’s 14 core members, in a recent interview. “We need diversity from the beginning, and so we’re hoping families and younger couples will join us. We need their vitality and ideas.”

To that end, the Eco-Village Pioneers are organizing an event on Sunday, May 1, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Senior Center for all villagers curious about cohousing and interested in learning about Yellow Springs’ cohousing group, which does not yet live in a cohousing community, but seeks to establish one on the Antioch campus as part of the college’s planned intergenerational housing development.

Cohousing is “an intentional community of private homes clustered around shared space,” according to the website of the Cohousing Association of the United States. The website lists 161 established cohousing communities around the country, as well as 123 that are in the process of forming. The Cohousing Association does not identify any active communities in Ohio, although it lists two, in Akron and Granville, as forming/reforming.

Many members of the local group have long been fascinated by cohousing, and have considerable knowledge and expertise on the social and environmental benefits of these communities and the various forms they can take. Some have visited cohousing communities; one member, Pat Gaskin, who is not currently active but plans to address interested villagers at the May meeting, lived in a cohousing community for many years.

“I’ve been reading about it since the 1970s,” said Jane Baker, another member. “It’s just always been interesting to me.”

The Eco-Village Pioneers got their start last spring, in tandem with Antioch College’s charrette, or public planning meeting, devoted to the concept of intergenerational housing on campus. Though the proposed Antioch College Village is a wider vision of on-campus residential community, it includes cohousing as one component, and shares the cohousing group’s commitment to ecologically sustainable and socially enriching living.

“Many of us went to the charrette, and from there we began to roll,” said cohousing group member Pat Stempfly. “We’re a wonderful group that’s building community together.”

The group has been meeting at least monthly, and has picked up a few new members since the charrette, in addition to deepening relationships among the core members. It has researched cohousing governance, and is inclining toward sociocracy, also called dynamic governance, a form of consent-based decision-making structured around committees.

“Everyone gets a vote and a voice,” said Stempfly, who is chair of the Community Life committee.

Cohousing communities around the country (and world) strike different balances between private and communal living, according to Brown and others. Brown said the local group envisions individual living spaces — likely a mix of houses and apartments that could be purchased or rented — complemented by indoor and outdoor common spaces. Indoor spaces could include a kitchen, laundry, meeting or community room and office; outdoor spaces could include a garden and composting and picnic areas.

A cohousing community is not a condominium association, which may also have shared amenities, said member Don Hollister, development director at Community Solutions. Its commitment to community goes deeper. The local cohousing group is collaboratively planning its common spaces “with the intent of ongoing social interaction — things like common meals,” he said. Unlike many suburban developments, the whole point of cohousing is to “see your neighbors,” he emphasized.

Environmental stewardship is another key aspect. Most older members of the group envision cohousing as a form of downsizing. “Everyone wants to live in a smaller footprint,” said Brown. In Stempfly’s view, “We’re not going to be able to sustain the planet living the way we do. Cohousing is about living more sustainably … with thought for future generations.”

As the group seeks new and diverse members, it also hopes to open the concept to people from different income levels. According to Brown, the group is in conversation with Home, Inc., about ways to incorporate an affordable housing component into the community’s plans.

And, for most of the group, locating their cohousing community on the Antioch campus and being part — perhaps a leading part — of the college’s intergenerational housing development is an important aspect of the vision.

“I think Antioch would be a wonderful place to do a pilot because the college is reviving itself,” said Stempfly. “The opportunity to live on campus is very appealing — there’s that mix of young and old, the energy of youth and the wisdom of the old.” Stempfly, like other members, expressed interest in volunteering on campus; she has a particular passion for mentoring, she said.

“We’d like to be a part of the college. The infrastructure is there, and we know that what they build is going to be quality,” said Brown. “The location is ideal,” added Baker.

Former Antioch president Mark Roosevelt was a champion of the intergenerational housing concept and saw cohousing as an element of it, according to Brown, who met with him on the subject even before the cohousing group formed. Roosevelt said in an interview last year that he believed the concept would appeal to Baby Boomers who are ready to downsize but not yet ready “to be put out to pasture.”

“These are people who don’t want to be isolated, who want to be valued for their knowledge, who want demands made of them,” he said in the previous interview. “I believe it’s a generational yearning.”

The new president, Tom Manley, signaled his strong support for the College Village as a way to raise revenue for Antioch — and carry out its commitment to finding “new and better ways of living,” he said.

“We’ve got to get it off the drawing board and into a more active phase of development,” he told the News in a recent interview.

Around the same time as Manley’s comments, Antioch’s board of trustees took a step toward that more active phase. According to Andi Adkins, vice president for finance and operations, the board affirmed its commitment to the College Village and the local cohousing group “as part of that project.” The board also announced the “first bit of funding” for the project, in the amount of $20,000, from a source Adkins declined to identify. That funding will be used to pay consultant Sandy Wiggins, who oversaw the charrette, to research and identify funding options for the project’s first phase, which is estimated to cost $2.2 million and will unfold over at least two years. The first phase will establish the legal structures, zoning and licensing and fee requirements that must be in place, Adkins said, “before we break ground.” The college is targeting “a little over 300 units” in the project’s current scope, she added.

The Eco-Village Pioneers acknowledged that there’s some “nitty gritty” — not to mention major financial hurdles — to overcome before their concept of living in a close, ecologically sustainable community becomes a reality. But they believe their activities of the past year have laid the foundation for that community.

“We’re not yet living in cohousing, but we’re already building community by caring for each other,” said Stempfly.

Other members agreed. Brown said she’s been “blessed to meet some wonderful people,” while Baker, a longtime villager, added, “It’s been interesting to get to know a whole new group of people.”

The benefits of cohousing for people of retirement age are obvious, members believe. There’s less isolation, more community involvement, less individual space and “stuff” to manage and more communal space and experiences to enjoy.

At the same time, members “don’t want to live in a community that’s just elderly,” said Brown, who believes that younger people and families also have much to gain from cohousing.

“As a society, we’ve become so isolated from each other. Cohousing offers younger people and older people the chance to learn from and lean on each other. It’s a chance to be connected to more than just your family, and to find the support you need,” said Brown.

Hollister sees cohousing as congruent with the “new urbanism” concept, which emphasizes the value — for collective and individual well-being — of “unplanned interactions” with neighbors.

For Stempfly, the benefits of cohousing are holistic. “It’s an opportunity to plant some visionary seeds to live in a community and care for the earth and each other,” she said. Given the time and money the project will likely require, fruition may be years away. But Stempfly was upbeat.

“We’re going to do it, by golly,” she said.

Groups striving for a local economy of resilience, equity

These are a few of the many ideas and projects that villagers will be discussing this month at a series of free events, organized by Community Solutions and the YS Resilience Network, that focus on the local economy. The goal, said Community Solutions Executive Director Susan Jennings on Monday, “is to build an economy that provides for as many goods and services locally as nationally — to move us to greater self-sufficiency, greater resilience and greater equity.”

The local economy events are part of a months-long series tackling topics ranging from local food to waste reduction to housing. Community Solutions and the YS Resilience Network are the organizers of the series, in collaboration with other local groups and with financial support from the Yellow Springs Community Foundation. Two more months remain in the series: April events will focus on renewable energy, and May will address transportation.

But in a sense, said Jennings, this month’s focus encompasses all the topics. “The emphasis on the local, and the impact of local initiatives in all these different areas on our local economy, really ties the whole series together,” she said.

There are lots of reasons why a local economy is a resilient economy, she added. “When you can meet your needs locally, you’re less susceptible to supply chain shocks or turmoil in the international financial system,” she said. And when you buy and invest locally, the impact of dollars spent and invested is concentrated.

“Studies have shown that if you shop locally, three times more of your money stays in the local community,” she said.

Local economic activity also builds a sense of community and people’s skill sets. “People working together have an opportunity to interact, to bond,” said Jennings. Not to mention the compelling environmental reasons for meeting a community’s needs within the community, rather than relying on goods and services from afar.

One example of an innovative local economy initiative that’s already underway is the Yellow Springs Time Exchange. Coordinated by villager Kat Walter, the time exchange, also known as a time bank, is a mechanism for connecting a community’s needs and skills without the exchange of money.

“These are just popping up all over the world,” Walter noted on Monday.

The local time bank was launched in November, following an earlier iteration developed by Antioch College students last June. The current Yellow Springs Time Exchange is a merge between the two groups, and currently has around 70 members. Services offered and requested range from piano lessons to dog walking to elder care to house weatherization to transportation to simple companionship, said Walter.

“We’re still getting off the ground, but we’ve seen more offers and requests in the past month,” she said. A potluck to bring together existing members and those interested in the time exchange was held on Wednesday, March 9, to kick off the local economy series.

Walter will discuss the time exchange in more detail this Thursday, March 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Antioch College Arts & Sciences Building, room 219, as part of a panel called “Regional Examples of the Sharing Economy.” The title refers to alternative forms of economic activity that rely on the sharing of access to goods and services, according to Jennings. The second panelist is Brett Joseph, a Cleveland-based educator and organizational systems consultant, speaking on the Cleveland Evergreen Cooperatives, a connected group of worker-owned cooperatives that provide goods and services to major Cleveland institutions. And the third panelist is Lisa Daris, chapter coordinator for Slow Money Central Ohio, an organization that connects local investors with local food systems.

Jennings said on Monday that there are many ideas bubbling up, locally and around the county, about new and more democratic forms of economy. The concept of a worker-owned cooperative food hub in Yellow Springs is one such idea, and it’s smart and doable, according to both Jennings and Walter.

“We already have a wonderful local food base,” said Jennings. We can expand this into a food hub.”

Such a hub could offer shared facilities (such as a commercial kitchen), shared services (such as distribution and marketing, perhaps even a “local brand”) and access to local financing and business consulting. Working groups at the YS Resilience Network and Antioch College are already deep in discussions of how such a hub would work, said Jennings.

Villagers interested in a food hub and other cooperative economic models are invited to attend a workshop tackling these topics, held Saturday, March 19, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the United Methodist Church. “Toward a Democratic Economy” will begin with a keynote from Peter Block of Cincinnati, an expert in community building and empowerment, and will feature sessions on developing local financing and investing, a cooperative entrepreneurial hub and a cooperative food hub.

Jennings noted that this month’s conversations build on earlier brainstorming and planning sessions. In 2009, Community Solutions brought local economy pioneer Michael Shuman to the village for a workshop on strengthening the local economy by capitalizing on local assets, including time, talent and money, and reducing “leakages” of investment and spending. A number of the ideas that got expressed during those discussions have borne fruit, Jennings said, highlighting Antioch’s Wellness Center, the construction of the Mills Park Hotel and the college’s solar array, as well as recent movement toward a municipal solar array on the Glass Farm property.

“It’s important that people know we have these conversations, and they have a long-term impact in terms of actions and projects in the community,” she said.

The final event of the month is a free screening of the documentary “Money and Life,” by director Katie Teague, on Sunday, March 20, at 1 p.m. at the Little Art Theatre. The film — a look at the origins and meanings of money and a call to revise our relationship to it — touches on some of the deepest implications of the term “local economy,” according to Jennings.

“We’ve been mesmerized into thinking wealth is the same thing as money,” she said, when in fact it is much more: the relationships in a community; the sharing of skills, time and talents; the physical forms a community takes. Underlying the many experiments in new and more democratic forms of economy is a fundamental shift in our concept of wealth and ownership.

“We’re moving away from a sense of abundance that comes from what we [individually] own to what we have in common as a community,” said Jennings.

All local economy events are free. See the Facebook pages of Community Solutions and YS Resilience Network for details.

Thomas Manley arrives on Antioch campus

New Antioch College President Thomas Manley began his position earlier this week and is now on campus. He is eager to get to work, according to a college press release.

“In my view, nothing is more imperative than the continued success of Antioch College at this time, and I am deeply committed to becoming part of this community and helping the College grow,” he said in the press statement. “The determined work of alumni, trustees, faculty, staff and students has been nothing less than inspirational since the decision to reopen. I am very much looking forward to contributing to this ongoing effort.”

Manley and his wife, Susanne Hashim, and their young daughter, Chedin, will be moving into the Folkmanis House on campus, which has formerly housed college presidents. Chedin will be attending Mills Lawn School.

Manley brings to the job more than 35 years of experience in education, most recently as president of Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Ore., since 2003. During his tenure there, he was credited with helping that college turn around and emerge as “Portland’s most well-rounded, diverse and established arts institution,” according to the release.

Manley is only the second president of the reborn Antioch College, succeeding Mark Roosevelt, who left at the end of December. Roosevelt is now president of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, N.M.

The college’s path since it reopened in 2009 has been “distinctive and brave,” Manley said in the release.

“No college I know of has been braver and more steadfast over time in delivering a liberal arts education aimed so squarely at making a difference in the world,” he said.

See Manley’s letter on page 4. An extended interview with Manley will be published in the March 17 News.