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One More Protest
J: We attended another peace rally in DC this
weekend, on Saturday. The march started at the Washington Monument. We
brought some drums and our "peace frog" percussion instrument that Marlene gave us. We
found Kory and Jenny
and some of the Greenbelters, including DNA (Dorian and Amethyst) by a group of
trees near the monument. We joined a righteous crowd of drummers and
dancers there, and had a great time drumming with Our People. A side
note for all the war mongers in my family: all the pretty women are
dancing in peace rallies, hah.
The weather was good to us, nice and sunny, not too hot or cold. We sat
on the grass and drummed a while and watched the dancers until the
crowds started moving toward the street; then Kory, Jenny, Gina and I
followed. The numbers looked smaller than at the last rally. I guessed
that it was something over the predicted 20,000 marchers but under the
population of the last rally I attended (a whopping 100,000). Later the police released
their estimate: 40,000.
Eventually we met up with Lucy, who was waiting at a corner for Leo. We
waited with her, and when Leo showed up we resumed the walk. Minutes
later, as we passed another line of police (they stood in lines, about a
yard apart from each other, across every intersection, to keep the march
from straying off course) Leo recognized one of them as our good
friend Jon Amigo. We waved and he smiled and waved back, then Gina ran
back to say hi. As she approached him, Jon grinned and said something
like, "Hey, you commie pinko hippie peacenik..." Gina said, "Kiss a cop
for peace!" and gave him a big hug and kiss. I watched from a distance;
it looked like the officers to Jon's sides laughed and joked with him a
little afterward.
Later we passed a hill, where the pro-war protesters sat and stood,
waving their signs and yelling. I must say I prefer a peace protest;
anti-peace people look a little more, um, aggressive, and not as pretty
or colorful. I estimated we passed about a hundred pro-war people, later
I read that the police estimated 75. I thought it was interesting that
they looked so angry or sad -- after all, they're getting their way, so
why should they be down? Some of the antiwar people stopped and stood
facing the war people, showing them their signs. I heard some yelling
back and forth (e.g. "Support our troops!" "Yeah, bring them home!") but
we didn't hang around for fireworks, figurative or otherwise. A lot of peaceniks raised their hands and
showed the victory/peace sign as they walked by the hill.
A camera
crew from TBS (with a
little Asian character under the TBS) filmed Gina for about 15 seconds. There seemed to be
many news cameras from many different countries, except the U.S. Go
figure. We have a freedom of press but no actual press coverage here,
when it suits the news companies. I'm fed up with my country's news
shows. I watch more BBC news and other foreign news stations now -- U.S.
news shows are two thirds commercials and one third entertainment fluff.
By the time the march circled back around to the monument Gina and I
were tired and hungry, so we walked past the overcrowded metro stations
to our secret one -- Archives. We got onto a crowded train, found a
couple seats and rode home.
On Sunday we took Booda to an outdoor
Irish-themed party next door to Izolda's place, at Danica's house. Some
of Gina's pottery students were there, but I really didn't know anyone.
A woman named Carla (I think) played bagpipes and scared Booda a bit. He
kept trying to escape from the party and continue his walk.
Eventually we did escape the party, and continued walking to the city
hall, where we met up with DNA and about 40 other people for a candle
light vigil. Can't say I'm into candle light vigils, they're a bit too
churchy for me. But Booda and I endured (for the cause, of course).
After that we enjoyed a long walk home in the dark.
On Monday night Gina and I drove to Grey's neighborhood for a gathering
of about eight Girl Scout troops. Each year they get together to
celebrate Thinking
Day. (It's
scheduled for February 22, but was postponed here because of snow.) They
select one country, and each troop puts on a little display about a
certain aspect of the country's culture, natural history, or geography.
This year Thinking Day was devoted to Australia, and I got to play my
didjeridus to 70 or 80 girls, about eight at a time. I also described
the instrument, showed how to play it, and told stories about it. I
played several to show the different drones each one had. A few of the
girls didn't like the idea of an instrument that is made by termites,
but most of them liked the sounds they made. All of the girls yelled
"thank you!" at the end of the evening. That was surprising, in a good
way. Grey gave me a Thinking
Day patch. Now I
can tell people I earned a Girl Scout badge.
Right after Thinking Day, we drove directly to Dad's house to attend
the remains of a St. Patty's party. Dad made us cabbage and mashed
potatoes. I had a Guinness (good beer but their website is torturous bureaucratic
babble) and some interesting banter and family arguments. Gina and I mixed some non-dairy
whipped cream with Kahlua
for tasty Kahlua pudding!
A few weeks ago I was watching BBC News and they said that bombing
had intensified in Iraq, as American planes took out Iraqi
communications in "preparation for war." I thought of it as a beginning
of war, not a preparation, so as I marched in the peace rally this
weekend I felt somewhat... late. I just heard now that the bombing has
ramped up another notch, and I'm sure it's a big notch this time because
nobody has to pretend they aren't invading. Hang in there, Salam Pax.
G: My favorite sign and the only one I remember
from the march: Real Men Know When to Pull Out.
Held by a pretty blonde woman with black-rimmed cat's eyes glasses, who
nodded and smiled knowingly at all the marchers who laughed as they went
by.
Dippy, our '87 Ford Escort, didn't pass emissions testing. He barely
passed a few years ago, after failing and getting the requisite tune-up,
and even then it seemed like he didn't really pass but they let me get
away with it. It's really pretty amazing to me that he still runs - and
has over 170,000 miles. So Ginohn is thinking of donating Dippy (unless
someone out there really wants it enough to make us an offer on it!) and
looking into getting some other car. We may go for a new hybrid, that's
my dream, but new cars cost a lot of money! So we are also thinking
about a previously owned vehicle. Know of any trustworthy ones for sale
out there? Email us!
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salam pax: iraqi
blog
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the
moron majority
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grist:good
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antiwar
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iraqi
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pat robertson...
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