(no subject)
look at this slideshow for a little sneak-peek of what my day was like on january 20th. remember that i do not agree with all the signs...i do agree with a significant majority in these pictures, however...
http://www.stratecomm.net/~fritz/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=j20
the ones in which masks are present are a lot more akin to what i experienced than the others. my knees and wrists were bruised for a couple days, but besides that it was a fantastic day.
in DC, a convergence center was set up at a warehouse for planning counter-inaugural marches, rallies, and actions including an art space (banner, poster, stencil and puppet making), tons of consensus meetings, and yummy-nummy dumpstered vegan food prepared by seeds of peace. the energy there was really wonderful - it gives you a lot of hope to see so many people gathered in one space, all scurrying around to make preparations, creating a hectic and crazy but welcoming atmosphere, with similar goals in mind.
the group i went with was olybloc consisting of 13 greeners including me. we definitely had at least five spontaneous dance parties - not only at my friend alex's beautiful snow-covered farmhouse on the border of maryland and pennsylvania, but also during the riotfolk show at the brian mackenzie infoshop, in the upstairs dining area of SoulVeg (the absolutely delicious vegan restaurant run by a very sweet african-american family and their friends), at our friend ryan's house more than once, and during as many as 3 protest marches to boost morale, creating a roving ruckus. the majority of them were to an 80's dance mix camille had put together...including not only Safety Dance but also Aha's Take On Me. It was stuck in my head the *entire* week, notably while i was on my knees in the snow with my hands behind my head, and while sitting in the metal coffin of the police van...
i had the opportunity to see defiance ohio (and if i had only gotten to the show earlier, ghost mice!) as well as 1905 and q and not u, all of whom were lovely.
we also had plenty of vegan feasts...yum!
i think the thing that struck me most about DC was that i've never seen such a sharp contrast between those who are more wealthy and those who are not...there are 20,000 homeless people within the district of columbia, and if i'm remembering correctly, 75% of them are black. the river is a distinct division between the ritzy palaces of american university, the capitol buildings and monuments, the commercial districts, and the pentagon and CIA headquarters, and the low-income residential project areas, the so-called "ghettos," the more home-like neighborhoods, parks, churches, and restaurants, the public spaces, and the "crime-watch" areas. it was also the most militarized city i've ever walked around in - there were at least four types of police on every corner (district cops, secret service, federal cops, FBI, national guard, and troops pulled straight from iraq) and according to a few people we met who live in DC full-time, the police presence wasn't really that much more intensified than usual. police brutality in DC is apparently known to be almost as bad as in certain parts of LA, where the Coalition Against Police Abuse was started from the remaining members of the Black Panther Party. another striking difference: the areas mentioned above on the north side of the river (the lower-income bracket side) were much more beautiful, and the people were markedly more friendly - walls covered with street art in some areas, and very personalized houses. when we were walking to one destination or another, flyering, wheatpasting, meandering over the course of the week and while marching on the actual day, we got quite a few more hellos from the people there and quite a bit of complete ignorance (in more ways than one) from the mink-clad residents and visitors of the more wealthy areas.
if any of you are more interested, check out http://dc.indymedia.org archives from january 20th and 21st, as well as http://richmond.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9147/index.php
the photograph in that last link is one of the most telling, at least of what i did that beautiful, freezing, adrenaline-filled, peppery day.
i was in DC for eight days, and it was truly one of the most intense, most amazing and best week-long experiences in my life so far...
i thought i'd update you all on what my energy was focused on for a month and a half.
since then, i've been spending pretty much all my time catching up on classwork...as well as one night last weekend of a bonfire in the evergreen woods. the weather's been relatively warm and sunny here, above 40 most days this week, significantly improving my mood.
resistance is fertile...
love,
jenn
p.s. check out music by my friends, ryan harvey and anna roland, as well as some other beautiful lovely people, on riotfolk.org
http://www.stratecomm.net/~fritz/gallery/slideshow.php?set_albumName=j20
the ones in which masks are present are a lot more akin to what i experienced than the others. my knees and wrists were bruised for a couple days, but besides that it was a fantastic day.
in DC, a convergence center was set up at a warehouse for planning counter-inaugural marches, rallies, and actions including an art space (banner, poster, stencil and puppet making), tons of consensus meetings, and yummy-nummy dumpstered vegan food prepared by seeds of peace. the energy there was really wonderful - it gives you a lot of hope to see so many people gathered in one space, all scurrying around to make preparations, creating a hectic and crazy but welcoming atmosphere, with similar goals in mind.
the group i went with was olybloc consisting of 13 greeners including me. we definitely had at least five spontaneous dance parties - not only at my friend alex's beautiful snow-covered farmhouse on the border of maryland and pennsylvania, but also during the riotfolk show at the brian mackenzie infoshop, in the upstairs dining area of SoulVeg (the absolutely delicious vegan restaurant run by a very sweet african-american family and their friends), at our friend ryan's house more than once, and during as many as 3 protest marches to boost morale, creating a roving ruckus. the majority of them were to an 80's dance mix camille had put together...including not only Safety Dance but also Aha's Take On Me. It was stuck in my head the *entire* week, notably while i was on my knees in the snow with my hands behind my head, and while sitting in the metal coffin of the police van...
i had the opportunity to see defiance ohio (and if i had only gotten to the show earlier, ghost mice!) as well as 1905 and q and not u, all of whom were lovely.
we also had plenty of vegan feasts...yum!
i think the thing that struck me most about DC was that i've never seen such a sharp contrast between those who are more wealthy and those who are not...there are 20,000 homeless people within the district of columbia, and if i'm remembering correctly, 75% of them are black. the river is a distinct division between the ritzy palaces of american university, the capitol buildings and monuments, the commercial districts, and the pentagon and CIA headquarters, and the low-income residential project areas, the so-called "ghettos," the more home-like neighborhoods, parks, churches, and restaurants, the public spaces, and the "crime-watch" areas. it was also the most militarized city i've ever walked around in - there were at least four types of police on every corner (district cops, secret service, federal cops, FBI, national guard, and troops pulled straight from iraq) and according to a few people we met who live in DC full-time, the police presence wasn't really that much more intensified than usual. police brutality in DC is apparently known to be almost as bad as in certain parts of LA, where the Coalition Against Police Abuse was started from the remaining members of the Black Panther Party. another striking difference: the areas mentioned above on the north side of the river (the lower-income bracket side) were much more beautiful, and the people were markedly more friendly - walls covered with street art in some areas, and very personalized houses. when we were walking to one destination or another, flyering, wheatpasting, meandering over the course of the week and while marching on the actual day, we got quite a few more hellos from the people there and quite a bit of complete ignorance (in more ways than one) from the mink-clad residents and visitors of the more wealthy areas.
if any of you are more interested, check out http://dc.indymedia.org archives from january 20th and 21st, as well as http://richmond.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9147/index.php
the photograph in that last link is one of the most telling, at least of what i did that beautiful, freezing, adrenaline-filled, peppery day.
i was in DC for eight days, and it was truly one of the most intense, most amazing and best week-long experiences in my life so far...
i thought i'd update you all on what my energy was focused on for a month and a half.
since then, i've been spending pretty much all my time catching up on classwork...as well as one night last weekend of a bonfire in the evergreen woods. the weather's been relatively warm and sunny here, above 40 most days this week, significantly improving my mood.
resistance is fertile...
love,
jenn
p.s. check out music by my friends, ryan harvey and anna roland, as well as some other beautiful lovely people, on riotfolk.org