CROW’S I‘, 0'" CAWS BY CROW COHEN evolution was my favorite word 15 years ago. Our" then-new consciousness about the connections among war, rape, pollution —— all mani- festations of patriarchy’s stran- glehold on our planet — drew us to the inevitable conclusion that nothing short of a revolution would stop this forward thrust (so to speak) toward doom. Sometimes I would go off the deep end. I thought that the rev- olution would happen simulta- neously on'December I8, 1984, in Jerusalem, Israel and Burlington, Vermont. Why? Because those were two of the places I called home, of course. I also imagined that there was some mega-computer that con- trolled the war machine (there probably is), and that one of us (read: lesbian feminists) would sneak into some round room full of maps and lights and quietly sabotage the computer’s capabil- ity to give the signal to drop the bomb. She would then sneak out and tell a few of us hanging out ‘ at the park; we’d get all excited and spread the word, but nobody would believe us. That was OK. There would at least be a hand- ful of deeply relaxed lesbian feminists in the world, and that would be enough of a revolution for me, as long as I was one of the handful who knew “the truth.” As you can tell, my fantasies were a bit desperate, if not slightly narrow in focus. However it would be accom- plished, it would have to happen soon, because the rate of destruction on our planet was (and is) mind-boggling. I did hold out the hope that to effect permanent change, it would have to be non-violent. Violence begets violence, and peace is the point here. As the years have gone by, I have discovered a hard-to- accept reality. Nothing of lasting value happens overnight — especially not monumental changes in behavior. We Americans are led to believe otherwise. Quick cures, love at I *Clél.’o’€>}s.;E AH -0115] ( A:n;V-Efl2-l’I