Smoke and Mirrors

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March 20, 2003

Tired feet!

I left work at 2 o'clock today, to join in the anti-war march the local colleges were doing. It was sort of funny -- my coworker and I both wanted to go, but we were figuring only one of us would be able to, what with scheduling and desk coverage and whatnot. When we mentioned it to our boss, though, she pretty much insisted that we both go, and volunteered to watch the desk for us. Pretty cool of her, I must say. So, J. and I collected another coworker, A., and her very adorable puppy, and we headed off to the rally. We didn't get there early enough to make signs or anything -- we did sit around and watch people go all gushy over the dog -- he's a ten-week-old white German Shepherd, and quite possibly the cutest puppy ever to exist. He's a little white puffball -- sort of looks like a dandelion with eyes and floppy ears. He was also very good -- calm and laid-back, in spite of all the people and noise. I think it was his first venture out into a crowd, and he was very, very good. He's a big cuddle-slut, and would happily accept scritches and pats from anyone who came along. He also had his own little fan club going -- at one point, the kids around us were chanting "Puppies for peace!" Hee.

So. The march. I'd never done anything like that before. It was, surprisingly, a lot of fun. The news said there were about 4,000 people marching -- I couldn't tell, since we were near the front. There were helicopters circling overhead (sometimes hovering disturbingly low) and a ton of cops on motorcycles. I expected more nastiness from onlookers, I guess -- there was one guy in a pickup truck waving a flag and giving us the finger, and one woman who gave us a thumbs-down as we passed, and a few random people yelling, but mostly we got cheers and encouragement. The people in the offices along the route waved and made peace signs. One older guy grabbed my arm and said "You should be ashamed. I remember September 11th." I smiled and said "So do I. That's one of the reasons I'm here." He just blinked at me. I'm sure traffic was a mess -- the Mass. Ave. bridge was shut down for a bit, and the streets were closed while we walked through -- I think we must have taken up all of Boylston Street at one point. But on the whole, it was good. I know it won't make a bit of difference in what's happening, but it felt good to... well, to make a statement, as cheesy as that sounds. I hate what we're doing in Iraq. I know Hussein is bad, and I know he shouldn't be in power, but what we're doing isn't right, either. It's the wrong time, we have other concerns we should be addressing, and we're acting like global bullies, and I hate it. So, I went out and made that statement. I don't think I want to say any more about it. (And anyone who might be tempted to email me about it, just close that email client right now.)

In other news, I'm liking this new format. There are two things I want to fix -- it sucks that you have to leave an email address to post a comment (I like comments!) and it also sucks that I don't get a notification when someone leaves a comment. I'll see what I can do about that. I'm sort of hoping that this format will inspire me to write more often -- maybe shorter, more frequent entries. I am lazy, though, so that may just be wishful thinking.

Posted by Mary Ellen at March 20, 2003 10:09 PM

Comments

Posted by: Sueellen at March 20, 2003 10:30 PM

Posted by: Mary Ellen at March 20, 2003 10:39 PM

Posted by: rawrin at March 24, 2003 09:56 AM

Posted by: dave at April 3, 2003 07:54 AM

Posted by: Mary Ellen at April 3, 2003 08:50 AM