Tompkins County Against War & Occupation

I am a member of the video documentation team for New York State Marches for Peace. The march has three converging routes which start May 8 in Ithaca, Rochester and Utica and finish on May 17 at the the Ft. Drum Spring Festival in Watertown. This march brings together various local peace groups with Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and Military Families Speak Out. Along the route there will be public events. As a member of the video documentation team, I will be gathering footage for a documentary. I also will be uploading video from the march as often as I can.

The goals are multi-fold. One is to take action to consolidate and make more make visible the considerable public opposition to the war. Another is to bring forth issues and information regarding the war and its effect locally, regionally, and globally. And finally, and most importantly, to forge an effective alliance between antiwar veterans, military families, and peace activist across the state.

At least that is how I see the march. I am particularly interested in getting to know and interacting with military families.

As a member of the video documentation team, I will be gathering footage for a documentary. I also will be uploading video from the march as often as I can. The video will be uploaded to tompkinsagainstwar.blip.tv as well as tompkinsagainstwar.org.

I have incurred some expenses related to the video documentation and web streaming, These include:

$225.83 for tapes
$168.99 for a 750 GB hard drive
$85.71 for an accelerator to speed up encoding video (for the web video).

My bank account is overdrawn and I am in need of some financial support. Fortunately, I am receiving some support from the Social Justice Council to help with gasoline costs, something which is greatly appreciated as I will be needing to shuttle back and forth for days when my full camera, lighting, and audio gear are needed and those days when they are not. I also will be on the march with a portable camera, staying overnight on those days and nights when my full gear is not needed.

I have worked hard with no recompense to cover events and stream those events on the tompkinsagainstwar.org web site. I have also established that web site and am responsible for its maintenance and costs. I have helped establish and hosted under my account other web sites for activist groups promoting peace. So, I don’t feel reticent in asking for some financial support from the community I serve. At that same time, I do not want to discourage donations for the general march effort (to donate, go to http://nysmarchesforpeace.org).

Please give me a call at 607/387-9830 if you can help me with my expenses. Since much of this expense is related to video streaming on this web site, if your business would like an advertisement, I can do that for you. (This could be a logo with a message for peace).

Or, send me a check in any amount to Cris McConkey, 402 Aiken Road, Trumansburg, NY 14886.