making the march

saw nizer, borkson, pratt, brian, alpina, keach. strangers tried to get my phone number. people stuck flyers in my hand. food not bombs handed out free food. i learned that dahr jamail will be speaking in jp in two weeks. a stranger came up to me and told me not to vote for obama because obama wants to kill osama. i wanted to sing "osama these days, i'm gonna miss you honey," but something called maturity held me back. somebody sang "i'm not marchin anymore." a young rapper wasted about 10 minutes of my life. an anti-war vet seemingly invented new profanities on stage. local congressman (bold, bald, and bright) chuck turner gave a great speech, as did joe gerson, local head of the american friends service committee. vegan activists and 9/11 conspiracy theorists made an appearance. a guy with a bush mask held a plastic sword with "power' written on it. it took until april for us to march. there was an "alternative" stage, which made me think of the newport rebels. borkson "sang" on this stage. sadly, coleman hawkins was not in attendance.

finally, we marched. i got to hear people shouting "whose streets? our streets" one more time. the new "they say bail out, we say troops out" was introduced. sadly the rapper who at an earlier rally had yelled "when i say fuck, you say war" was not heard from. every few minutes, a cop would go flying by on a motorcycle, missing a marcher by a foot, almost removing their foot in the process. amused passerby took pictures, others flashed the peace sign, as they debated which fast food joint to eat at. there were signs for obama, nader, and mckinney. i looked for my favorite sign, "another fuckhead for peace," but didn't see it. the march went down several streets. hours before the march, there were several police guarding the armed services center. those police remained in position as we passed. sadly, the induction center still stands. ah, the wonders of pacifism. eventually, i heard the lame "there ain't no power like the power of the people because the power of the people don't stop." at least nobody followed this chant with the quasi hip hop response "say what?" finally, another standard "the people united will never be defeated" was chanted. ironically, this was a chant in allende's chile, and of course, we know who won there. other marchers pounded drums until it sounded like the world would come to an end. the chant "what do we want? troops out. when do we want it? now!" lasted longer than a nun's virginity.

eventually, we ended up back at park street for yet more speeches. at this point, mellish, along with papa and mama mellish, decided to call it a day.

all and all, a good and exciting protest.

i expect that as a result of this rally, the war will end any minute.