by Marcella Ortega
Daily Lobo
Old photographs, a painting of a penis, a spelling bee award from elementary school and his mother's Christmas stocking are a few ornaments on the four walls of Don Schrader's apartment.
"This is like a museum of my life," he said.
Schrader, host of the television program "Clearly from My Heart" on Albuquerque's public access station, Channel 27, has been a member of the UNM community since the 1970s as an active protester of all war through demonstrations and letters.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Schrader was born in 1945. He grew up on a farm in Freeport, Ill. He came to Albuquerque in 1970 to complete community service as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War.
For the past 14 years, Schrader has expressed his views of society on his television show. He said he has five primary convictions he expresses on his program.
Schrader said the most important conviction is to not pay federal taxes. He has not paid federal income tax for 27 years and has pledged never to pay again. He said he refuses to pay to murder people.
"I have come to see that for me, as a conscientious objector to all war, to pay federal income tax to train other people - largely the poor and people of color - to become professional hired killers for Uncle Sam, for the U.S. empire, to murder on command with no conscience, would be more evil than for me to be a solider myself," he said.
Schrader said the second most important conviction he expresses is to live simply. Last year, Schrader lived on $3,385.
"Living under the taxable level is the most radical and least risky way to be a war-tax refuser," he said. "I'm not breaking any law this way, so I don't have to worry about the IRS threatening to lock me up."
Schrader also refuses to ride in automobiles. He has not owned an automobile since 1979 and has not ridden in a vehicle in five years.
"I refuse rides. Cars cause global climate change," he said. "People all over the world are being killed because of Americans' insatiable appetite for cars and travel. Cars cause poisoned air and debris."
Schrader said automobiles cause the smothering of soil by cement highways.
"Under all this concrete is soil that could be producing gardens, trees that produce oxygen and lessen the global climate change catastrophe," he said.
Schrader said being healthy is another important conviction he expresses. He exercises every day in his home on a small trampoline. He said he was inspired by his mother's struggle with kidney disease.
"She was my all-time closest friend," he said.
Schrader also practices urine therapy. He began the therapy in 1999 and drinks one to five cups of his own urine every day.
"This has been practiced for thousands of years all over the world," he said.
Schrader said urine contains hundreds of nutrients and is healthy for the skin.
"There have been multitudes of people all over the world, for many centuries, healing almost every disease known to human kind by urine therapy," he said. "It is tried and true. There is no hocus pocus."
Schrader said his other convictions are to be a homosexual and a nudist. He said he didn't know of the existence of homosexuality until he was in his 30s.
"That's how ignorant we were of such things," he said. "It's especially ironic that 43 years later, I am the most well-known openly gay man in the city."
Schrader said he is also the most well-known tax rejecter, nudist and urine drinker in the city. Schrader plans to remain in Albuquerque to continue his television program.
"I've had many, many precious memories over the years, many friends, many heartbreaks, many tears, many joys - and I love the sunshine," he said.
