T. Writes to C. Who Writes Back and So On

T. writes to C.

Hiya!

Drippy out here this morning. I want to get out to work and spend a few hours gardening - but it might just be too wet for that. So I'm here sat in the Red and Black working again for a little while. There is a meeting in here of the old guard MoveOn.org/ Fellowship of Reconcilation folks. They have big boxes of posters for a "Stop The War" rally and march on March 18th. That's a Sunday. This happened last time...A huge rally and march through downtown was organized - and there we all were by the thousands - speakers from churches, some soldier's mom who wants her son to come home, a gospel choir singing "Imagine" and then we were off to march through downtown to stop the war. By the thousands. On a Sunday. In downtown Portland. Nothing is open and no one is in downtown Portland on a Sunday. The news hardly even bothered to film it.....It was useless!! At least I thought so. Even a Saturday would be better in terms of visibility. But oh well. Now there's another rally and march through downtown to stop the war. On a Sunday. But this one is even worse as it's the Sunday after St. Patrick's Day. The second biggest national hangover this side of New Year's Day. Why don't people take these things into consideration? Do I sound jaded? I hope not. It just seems like there has to be a better way to do these kinds of things.

C. writes back to T.

timothy!

you sound a bit jaded on the "march people" but really, i know the scene. people feel really good about doing (marching downtown on a hungover sunday) what they are doing (and maybe that is what it is all about) but in terms of change, not much comes on out of it. they'd probably be better off knocking on 20 doors and talking to people about how the war sucks----person to person, mom to mom, dad to dad, punk kid to grandmother. lately, that is my take on it. who the hell are my neighbors? can we know eachother and talk about things that are important? for me, it is better than the same old march with the same old signs in the same old drizzle and rain.

T. writes again back to C.

Ok, so I did sound a little jaded on the Fellowship of Reconciliation folks.... I'll admit ~ and I'll be downtown that Sunday for the march for sure. Last year it was such a drag though! It was somber and lacked focus...I remember being up near the side of the stage when this "A Mighty Wind" moment happened in real time....There was this group of fuddy-duddy folkies - a band - on the big stage singing "I Ain't Gonna Study War No More..." The front guy stopped the band and berated the crowd that "People, you aren't singing loud enough to be heard in Washington DC! Do you want to stop the war or not?!?!?" Then they started the song all over again trying to get the crowd to sing along, at which point a woman came on stage and told the band that their time was up, at which point the singer said into the mic "Do you want us to keep singing or not?" (to very little effect) at which point someone else with a clip board came on stage to try and put a stop to things and announced into a side mic "that was......(I can't remember the name of the group)..." at which point the bass player stopped playing at which point the front guy got completely fucked off and yelled into the mic "well, I GUESS we're out of time" while glaring at the two organizers on the stage at which point there was a moment of awkward silence involving thousands of people....at which point I thought "...oh no....."

After the march on that Sunday when no one was downtown, we returned to the park from which we started down by the river here and it took maybe 40 minutes for everyone to come in...but there was this guy there on the edge of the curb on the edge of the park shouting "Thank you for coming! Our permit runs out at 5! Please go home! DO NOT Go In The Park!" at which point two women completely saved the day - two punk artist girls in overalls had a spray painted bike with a garden cart welded onto the side of it. In the cart was a great big P.A. speaker with an amp head, a 12 volt battery, a converter, and an IPod. They rolled right up next to this "everybody go home" guy and dialed up "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince on the IPod and started blasting it through their sound system on wheels. It was totally fucking great. People started immediately dancing and the "Go Home" guy started having a melt down and repeating "Our permit is up at 5!!" and the girls shrugged their shoulders while dancing and the one girl said "We're not part of your permit"

So I guess I'm jaded..I think we ought to put some humanity and some fun back into the whole operation again. Not that this isn't serious business, it is, but yelling at people that they aren't singing loud enough to stop the war when you suck and there isn't any energy in the crowd anyway, that just blows. I remember the march in Seattle before the war - that global day of action that George Bush didn't listen to - I stepped onto the sidewalk for to get a look at the side of the march going by and this organizer guy yelled at me "Get off the sidewalk! We're only permitted to be in the street!" It one of the strangest things I've ever heard. No - you can't go on the sidewalk - the cops said we could protest the war in the street and ONLY in the street! I told that guy that I wasn't part of the march and he apologized and offered me a flier. It was ridiculous.

I guess that I think we should take this business really seriously 'cos things are really bleak and dangerous right now and people are dying. While at the same time lets dance, rejoice, and stay in the park after the permit has run out. What are they gonna do? Not give you a permit for the next march? Well that's fine - it's a public park and if we want to make posters and rally thousands of people to gather in the park and protest the war then march through downtown well then that's our right. The longer we color inside the lines the more we'll come to realize that we're coloring in a picture that someone else has drawn. You're right - it's time to get to know our neighbors and knock on those twenty doors 'cos we're all really gonna need each other here pretty quick.