Category: Politics

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Another month, another rally

Lindsay from Santa Rosa joined Laura and I for Saturday’s anti-war protest. There wasn’t as much turnout as the February 15th march, but it was still quite sizeable. The parade route was different this time – we marched through the Fillmore to Jefferson Square Park, and sat next to an area with yellow caution tape, which turned out to be a civil disobedience training area. The park is right across the street from a police station, and law enforcement was flanked along the rooftop, videotaping the event.A group of people within the caution tape area informed passerby of civil disobedience training about to commence. Laura and I crossed the barrier with about 40 others. I was nervous, because the yellow tape to me represented a true commitment to doing this, with the knowledge that this was probably being videotaped and photographed. After about 20 minutes in, I thought less and less about the police presence and more and more that I have the legal right to be a part of this training. Have I been that subtlety affected by anti-civil rights legislation?

A very skinny man in his early 30s talked us through and facilitated role playing events in partner form (one person plays a protestor, the other plays an angry commuter trying to get into the building they’re blocking). We did several of these events, and then went through short legal training if one might be arrested (I particularly dug that they’ve committed to my memory a legal hotline number: 415 385-1011).

The second organic dinner at Sutter and Octavia was smaller, but even better. I might start something like this when I move here, but make it more of a potluck so that people don’t have to pay a fee to partake (although what they’ve served is a deal at twice the price). Lindsay, Laura and I ended up at a party for someone who works at Global Exchange. I already have a resume in for a design position there. My fingers, legs, and anything else that can be crossed, is.

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Smoking ban?

A representative from West Seattle is attempting to pass a state law banning all forms of smoking within bars and restaurants. Rather than get attacked by conservatives who say that liberals are taking away smokers’ rights, he’s attacking smoking as a health hazard to the servers/waitstaff who have to soak in the stench all day. I hope this passes – it’s one of the reasons I enjoy going out dancing and singing in San Francisco. The restaurant associations in Washington state say that business will plummet, but I believe it will increase, since people who don’t go to bars and restaurants because of the smoking will now go if that law is implemented.I’m thinking about flying in to San Francisco next weekend a day earlier. I wondered aloud to a friend of mine about how psyched I am when I come back from the Bay Area, all charged up with new ideas and things to create and do as a result of my New College experience and the general outward clashing of ideas prevalent in that city, but that energy dissipates after a few days back in Seattle.

My friend Julie and I went to a vespers night at the Episcopalian church across the street – they have Gregorian chant, and turn off the lights. It’s a nice reprieve from an otherwise hectic few days.

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NYC “inevitable”, say Seattleites

A big gathering at Molly Maguire’s tonight, and I meet two more people who are moving to New York. Something’s catching.

“You know him. He was the guy who used to walk around downtown capturing crows in a cardboard box – the guy whose girlfriend led him around with a dog collar at the Catwalk?”
Overheard on Capitol Hill

Pundits are declaring the Iraq war “inevitable” again, and the terror alert has been reduced to “Elevated”. I think I’m going to turn off the media for a couple of days for a well-deserved break. Like homework, for instance.

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Largest focus group, ever.

I don’t know why, but I watched the almost-final episode of Joe Millionaire. It’s amazing how vapid most of the contestants were. “Joe” chose the good all-American girl rather than the gold-digger.The protests have been all over the mainstream news. This is wonderful, although Bush has deemed them a “focus group”.

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Barbara Lee at the rally

Today, 200,000 people marched in San Francisco. Laura and I were two of them. We marched behind the official start of the march, which I would assume is where Joan Baez and Danny Glover were, but after hitting several stalls (and limited chanting), we found the real march was in front of the United for Peace and International ANSWER banners – there was dancing, drumming and singing a block further. So much better.I stayed at the rally to hear Barbara Lee speak, but left. As I left, I noticed the police were suiting up, likely for the unofficial breakaway march planned later that day. I have mixed opinions about the black bloc – true, one shouldn’t need a permit to march in the city, but when any media organization gets whiff of the ritual glass-breaking of Starbucks, Old Navy and Gap windows and mass arrests, that seems to overshadow and undermine the effort of the official, mainstream march. I lean towards the idea that the black bloc is a bad thing for the protest movement, but I can’t and won’t take away their right to do what they do. I only know that I won’t have any part of it because I saw how it undermined the WTO protests in Seattle.

Fortunately, the media separated the mainstream protest from the breakaway protest. This seemed to be reflected on major outlets nationwide.

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Jim Crow visits the Embarcadero

Yowza! I weigh 182 pounds – I feel so much younger with this 15-pound difference, and much more energetic.While downtown this morning, a Southern tourist asked loudly to his friend “why white people would want to visit SF, when there are so many of those sickly homeless colored people”? I wanted to tell him off (I suspect his name was Jim Crow), but declined. An African-American woman next to me shook her head. Ugh. I had several comebacks prepared in my head later that day to mentally pound him into a stain. Timing, natch.

I finally find my grade report in a filing cabinet down the hall from where the class meets, where I’ve received three A’s and one A-plus! Hooah.

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Target Iraq; Nothing So Strange

After a couple of intense days catching up and making progress with my freelance work, I welcomed another trip to SF, albeit on the lottery-seat airline, Southwest. Tonight Norman Solomon and Reese Ehrlich spoke about their new book “Target Iraq: What the News Media Isn’t Telling You”. Somewhat troubling was the Q&A session that followed – most people weren’t so much asking questions as they were promoting their own organizations. I realize that some non-profits struggle, but I thought that the session should be about asking questions, not long diatribes of quotes that the audience already knew. An elderly woman (whose first protest was in 1939) spoke about the need to bring the message to not just the converted, but the mainstream. Bingo! My thesis. I talked to her afterwards. She asked if I was single, because she has a 25-year-old daughter, though a New Yorker. When I told her I was 32, she said, “You’re almost old enough for me!” We chuckled about that. Norman and I are talk about an email dialogue about my graduate school options.I skedaddled down to the Digital Movie House to see “Nothing so Strange”, a faux documentary about the assassination about Bill Gates and the official inquiry that follows, and is subsequently discredited by a conspiracy theorist group filled with infighting. Apparently the director had an obsession with the Kennedy assassination and wanted to direct his energy to a more healthy endeavor – in this case, independent film. Bill Gates’ official statement about the movie: “I find it disappointing that anyone would want to make a movie like this.”

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Taxicab confessions: Wars then and now

Today I wander as a tourist downtown. On the way to the airport, I stop for a shoeshine, performed by an elderly black gentleman named Randolph. We talked about the coming war with Iraq, and he tells me about his family history with war: his grandfather was in World War I, father in World War II, he was in the Korean War, and his son was in Desert Storm. His son just resigned his commission (voluntarily) after eight years of service. The timing was not coincidental – his son is opposed to the war and what it stands for. I only mention that my father was in Vietnam and his father was in World War II, and that I felt fortunate not to have to be a part of any conflict, but was much more interested in hearing his perspective. It was a nice way to leave this city until I visit next Thursday.

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Sakani to ’em!

Sakani! What a fiery orator, and co-author of “Taking It Personally”. She reminds me of why I cherish the weekends at New College – lively discussions accentuated with a variety of fascinating speakers. Tonight I hung out with Laura and a gaggle of her friends at a bar in Noe Valley called the Dubliner, but the real fun was when we all went out to a bar in the Castro called Lucky 13 – it reminded me as a collage of several bars that exist in Seattle, like the Tractor Tavern, Molly Maguire’s, the Comet Tavern. I loved the vibe, and they had a great jukebox. If I take up drinking as a hobby again, that’s where I’d want to practice. And it’s right down the street from the Mint.

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NLRB at RNM

I connected with several students today – Natasha, Yusef, Gerald and Jeremiah – over lunch at a Pakistani restaurant. That felt good, and those connections made me really feel a part of the city, almost as a resident, and no longer as a stranger. The afternoon found me nodding off during the last hour (sorry).Diana and I have dinner at a totally-out-of-place-in-the-Haight restaurant called RNM, a French and American fusion establishment. I eventually got into a conversation with a couple sitting next to us – it turns out that the guy sitting next to me works for the National Labor Relations Board – and talked about the rise and fall and present status of the labor/union movement. I didn’t expect that.