Charley Underwood

History

Bio: I am a 62-year-old Montessori kindergarten teacher, working in the St Paul public schools. Prior to St Paul, I have taught in the Congo, in Togo (W Africa), Phillips neighborhood of Mpls, Detroit area, Brownsville TX and Puerto Rico. I have been a pacifist since about age 16, attending Quaker since 1992. My four sons were born in the Congo, in Togo and in Puerto Rico. I have been married for 10 years, following the death of my previous wife. My earliest involvement with the Democratic Party was in the Eugene McCarthy campaign, when I campaigned "clean for Gene" in 5 states in 1967-68. My most recent presidential campaign was with Dennis Kucinich, which took me to the national convention to cast the only Minnesota vote for him. I had a 2-hour run for the U.S. Senate in Rochester in 2006, challenging Amy Klobuchar to be a bit more peaceful (I failed, but got 20 % of the vote for the cause). I am an extrovert who finds my best role in flitting between various groups and putting people in touch with each other. My hobby for the past four years is putting out a weekly "peace calendar," which details a very wide variety of MN peace activies from plays to direct action to rallies to politics; you can get a single copy or subscribe by writing peacecalendar@visi.com with "peace calendar" in the subject line. I am currently very heavily involved as a volunteer with the Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer campaign for U.S. Senate.