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notes from the anti-war protest in nyc this weekend:

lau made anti-valentine's day armbands that doubled as peace armbands for the rally. (you can see i'm sporting mine in the new icon for this entry. it conveniently matches my mittens, made by marissa.) when we all lined up to take a photo showing off our armbands, a woman asked "who are you all?" and rana replied "lovers." <3

we spent the whole time stuck on third ave. trying to get across was impossible. i was kind of weirded out that the focus seemed to shift from anti-war to anti-cop & "whose streets our streets" type stuff. it seemed almost like a diversionary tactic that worked too perfectly. but at the same time i know these things are all connected, so.

i just cannot get behind most chants. i'm sorry.

i also cannot get behind any signs or slogans involving the play on words that connects bush (as in g.w.) with "bush" (as in anatomy). like, no, okay? no. god.

we saw very little police violence where we were. mostly just a lot of cops & the very frightening sight of several police vans/busses lined up along sidewalks.

i felt really inspired to be in the midst of it all but simultaneously kept questioning what my purpose was, how activism is being defined, etc. i'm not sure it really has made me feel anymore hopeful than i was before i left for nyc, which is to say not very. there were various things that i found really energizing, like how yumi (who had the sole radio in our group) reported that rosie perez defined the "axis of evil" as racism, sexism, classism & homophobia. or the person on the subway who helped me attach my armband on the way there. or the queer resistance contingent with their stunning pink & black matching flags. but i was annoyed by simplistic rhetoric (in the form of chants/signs), irritated by the "patriots for peace" phrase that kept getting thrown around, & generally dejected that so many thousands of us were blocked from even reaching the protest site. i dunno.

signs i liked a lot:
resistance is fertile.
france! help!
bake cookies not people.

overheard: "just follow the lesbians, they know what they're doing."

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completely not apropos of your very interesting and insightful commentary on the rally -

What adorable freakin' mittens!!!

*shriek*

you can't tell from the picture but the white blocks actually say TOFU.

you too can have adorable mittens handmade with love, with any number of designs. get in touch with marissa, lj = redhoodedm, who posted below. she is a maker of all things charming. xo.

I saw you on the 77 bus the other day, going towards arlington. I was wearing a black leather jacket, sitting further forward on the bus. I saw a young guy walk toward the front to get off, and then stop to let an old man get off first. Then I saw the hearts on the gloves, and thought "there's only one person that could be," but by then you were off the bus and i couldn't say hi. Yay for gentlemanly trannyboys. :)

thanks for sharing all of that with those of us who couldn't be there. i monitored coverage of it on NPR throughout the day-- or rather, the BBC on NPR, who gave much better coverage than plain old NPR (interesting!). it was inspiring to hear quotes from participants and susan sarandon and desmond tutu and to know that some of my friends were amongst that group. two of my roommates (the other two goldfish cheerleaders) went to the rally & were also stopped on third, far from the center of the event. it sounds like it was an amazing day, and i really hope there is an event of some kind in boston.

a woman asked "who are you all?" and rana replied "lovers." <3 hi, this is the most precious thing.

and nice mittens!!!

toby! i had no idea that you were going to be in the city for the rally. i had to work (on saturday, unfortunately) and couldn't go... but as i was working on saturday i was thinking about what was going on east of me and how it was going. i heard that once capacity was reached for the 1 block that the rally had a permit for (thanks, nypd), they stopped letting people off at the subway stations nearby, even. and from my friends who all went, it was really interesting to hear how people were dealing with the cops in riot gear. many friends who got assaulted, a few who were arrested, most likely b/c they were being aggro towards the cops (i.e. taunting them is not the way to go). while anti-war and anti-cop are two related issues, i agree that these tactics at large demos like this really are so easily diverting attention from the main issue at hand.
i have huge issues with attending demos these days, definitely concerning how activism is defined by and around rallies, but that's a whole long email. write soon, hope you're well. love, l

ah, wow. i never knew rosie perez could be so astute. & it makes me super happy that she recognizes not only classES, but classISM. feminists and professors and hotshot politicians are still debating whether or not a caste system even exists in this country, and that accessible entertainors are already making such bold and right-on statements about its shit-ass exploitive oppressive existence just .. makes me really happy. lah!