the Wilders
The Wilder’s life has always veered between art and politics. When they got together in the late 1990’s, Kimberly and Ian ratcheted up their activities. Together, Ian and Kimberly Wilder published chapbooks; gave dozens of poetry readings; wrote newspaper articles; and hosted events.
At a master class in poetry, Mark Rudman proclaimed of Kimberly: Distemper is your muse. At another master class, Yevgeny Yevtushenko proclaimed that Ian’s untitled snowflake poem is perfect.
One of the most memorable readings the Wilders gave was as a group with George Wallace and Kate Kelly at the Lowell, Massachusetts Kerouac festival, where they had the opportunity to perform with David Amram. Ian was also particularly honored to be one of the narrators for the 2002 Across the Generations: A Woody Guthrie Restrospective, A Musical Biography in Three Acts.
Ian has performed spoken word as a part of the near-mythic folk groovin’ band Nylon & Steel, and was co-founding lyricist for the duo Spiritwalkers. His work with Nylon & Steel can be found on the album Slip Behind the Molecule.
With Nader’s 2000 presidential campaign, the Wilders were drawn back into politics. Within four years they had co-founded the Babylon Greens at their kitchen table; run the first full ticket of Greens in their town’s history; got Kimberly twice elected to the Executive Committee of Green Party of New York State (GPNYS) in 2002 -04; and then she stepped down when Ian was elected to the position of GPNYS State Party Co-chair in 2004.
In early 2006, Ian created the peace slate concept which was used statewide by the GPNYS and nationally by GPUS. In 2006 , Ian stepped back from state politics after retaining the right to enroll Green in NY by successfully getting Malachy McCourt on the ballot for Governor , and Kimberly returned to the GPNYS Executive Committee for a third term.
Kimberly & Ian developed the Long Island for Malachy committee which increased the Long Island vote totals for governor by at least 42%. The website they created to underpin this effort was archived by the Library of Congress as an example of the 2006 election. www.LongIslandForMalachy.com
Kimberly has finished her term as Co-chair of the GPUS Dispute Resolution Committee. In 2007, they had a year busy with activist work such as organizing: a local UFPJ Peace Vigil; a pro-day laborer/Love Thy Neighbor Rally; and a Step-It-Up 2007 event at the Solar Cafe. They also presented “Fighting Global Warming through Electoral Politics” at the 2007 Long Island Global Warming Summit.
Kimberly is the Press Secretary of the Green Party of Suffolk County. Ian represents Long Island to the GPUS Presidential Campaign Support Committee and is the Secretary of the Green Party of Suffolk. Together, they co-host the monthly Green Party Gatherings at PIsces Cafe, Babylon.
Wearing a different hat, Kimberly has stepped in as the interim coordinator of Peacesmiths after the death of its long-time coordinator Susan Blake. They were very proud to co-chair the Love Song for Susan Blake: A Life Celebration.
Also wearing a different hat, Ian is in his second term as treasurer for his Co-op Board.
Ian & Kimberly have the Green Party Show, a public access TV show on Woodbury Cablevision Channel 20 on Saturdays at 11:30 am and Hauppauge/Brookhaven Channel 20 at 6am . You can also see the same shows on videos posted at this website.
