this is what Berkeley should be, always.
at around 8pm last night, i wanted to watch the election results in a social environment but i didn't really know anyone who was throwing a party or anything. i also wanted to be in a lgbt-friendly environment because i'd done a lot of campaigning against prop 8. so i wanted to go to the queer alliance resource center, but at 8pm, i was passing by the free speech movement cafe. and when the bell tower struck 8, i heard cheering. went in the cafe and it was packed; everyone was smiling and calling their friends. people started clearing out, so i went to check out the queer alliance resource center. it was closed, so i went to bear's lair. it was totally packed, and everyone was cheering and hugging and smiling and texting their friends because it was too loud to carry on a phone conversation. we saw mccain speak and some people hissed and booed; we saw obama speak and everyone was cheering and clapping. and when the preliminary results for the propositions came on, everyone whimpered when they saw that "yes on 8" was leading. it was an amazing sense of community, even if it was fairly contrived.
i was wearing a "no on 4 and 8" button and the person next to me said he didn't think those props should be paired; to him, they were very different issues. we spent the next 20 minutes or so civilly discussing it, which was awesome. i think i convinced him of my position, too. then some people he knew came over and said hi, and it turned out i knew one of them. one of them got a message that there were naked people on Sproul, so we ran up there. didn't see any naked people, but there was a crowd of about 200 people smiling and cheering and picking up their friends. went back to bear's lair for a bit, then the group i was with wanted to go out and party. i followed them, which mostly involved running through Telegraph Ave and cheering with other students while cars driving by were honking happily.
as i was about to go home and unlock my bike at around 9:00pm, i noticed that Bancroft Ave. was totally full of people. like, wtf-how-is-this-possible-there-are-2000-people-here type of full. i've never seen anything like it in Berkeley (or anywhere else, outside of a planned setting). here's a video of it right before students totally blocked off traffic. i kept running into people i knew from all sorts of things -- classes, clubs, co-ops, high school. people were cheering and clapping and chanting stuff like "yes we can!" or "obama!" or "no on 8!" or no more bush!" many people were climbing whatever they could, including traffic lights. three people even climbed on top of a parked bus that couldn't go anywhere due to the sea of people. after bancroft cleared out a bit, apparently they were still on top, cheering. then a bunch of people ran over to Sproul Hall and ran up the steps, cheering once they reached the top. some people (illegally) were launching smallish fireworks from Sproul Fountain, and at one point the Cal Band came over and played some American and UC Berkeley songs. at around 10pm, i wandered back to Bancroft Ave. and noticed that the party had moved to Telegraph. i left around 11pm, but there were still around 500 people (and many stuck and abandoned cars, including police cars) cheering and chanting and hugging at Telegraph and Durant. i'm kind of sad that i didn't have my camera on me, but many of my friends had cameras and i'm sure there'll be footage all over youtube.
on the way home at around 11:15pm, i noticed that there were around 50 people chanting and cheering and drumming in the meridian of Shattuck Ave., with cars honking as they passed by. i was a little worried that i wouldn't be able to sleep because of the noise, but i couldn't hear it from my apartment; couldn't sleep because i was pretty wired, though. called Pepper and asked him if there was any crazy partying going on in the streets of San Francisco. he said that if anything big were to go on, it would be going on in The Mission, but no more than a few hundred people were in the streets at peak. i was so glad to be in Berkeley -- it was great to be surrounded by people who were all glad about what was happening, and the sense of community was wonderful. this would never have happened in san diego, or modesto, or any of the other places i lived in the past.
i am really sad that 8 passed, though. i'm going to wear all black and go to the rally on Sproul at noon today. i'm very relieved that 4 didn't pass, though -- what we don't need is more back-alley abortions, or single mothers who can't support themselves and whose kids don't have great chances at succeeding in life.
i tried to fight prop 8. i phone banked, i stood at street corners with signs and pamphlets, i talked to my parents. but i could've done better. i could've called everyone i knew, i could've volunteered a lot more. this measure will have a huge effect on all of california for at least the next two years, and if everyone had just volunteered a little bit more, we could've dissuaded the 2% of voters who decided to vote yes. it didn't help that every Mormon in Utah donated all they could or that the no on 8 campaign was fairly unorganized. but we could've done better, and i'm regretful that i didn't try harder, because i could have. i felt a little useless in berkeley because most people were already voting no, but i could've figured out how to convince people in conservative suburbs, or helped organize the campaign, or made flyers, or something. maybe next time. *sigh*.
i was wearing a "no on 4 and 8" button and the person next to me said he didn't think those props should be paired; to him, they were very different issues. we spent the next 20 minutes or so civilly discussing it, which was awesome. i think i convinced him of my position, too. then some people he knew came over and said hi, and it turned out i knew one of them. one of them got a message that there were naked people on Sproul, so we ran up there. didn't see any naked people, but there was a crowd of about 200 people smiling and cheering and picking up their friends. went back to bear's lair for a bit, then the group i was with wanted to go out and party. i followed them, which mostly involved running through Telegraph Ave and cheering with other students while cars driving by were honking happily.
as i was about to go home and unlock my bike at around 9:00pm, i noticed that Bancroft Ave. was totally full of people. like, wtf-how-is-this-possible-there-are-2000-people-here type of full. i've never seen anything like it in Berkeley (or anywhere else, outside of a planned setting). here's a video of it right before students totally blocked off traffic. i kept running into people i knew from all sorts of things -- classes, clubs, co-ops, high school. people were cheering and clapping and chanting stuff like "yes we can!" or "obama!" or "no on 8!" or no more bush!" many people were climbing whatever they could, including traffic lights. three people even climbed on top of a parked bus that couldn't go anywhere due to the sea of people. after bancroft cleared out a bit, apparently they were still on top, cheering. then a bunch of people ran over to Sproul Hall and ran up the steps, cheering once they reached the top. some people (illegally) were launching smallish fireworks from Sproul Fountain, and at one point the Cal Band came over and played some American and UC Berkeley songs. at around 10pm, i wandered back to Bancroft Ave. and noticed that the party had moved to Telegraph. i left around 11pm, but there were still around 500 people (and many stuck and abandoned cars, including police cars) cheering and chanting and hugging at Telegraph and Durant. i'm kind of sad that i didn't have my camera on me, but many of my friends had cameras and i'm sure there'll be footage all over youtube.
on the way home at around 11:15pm, i noticed that there were around 50 people chanting and cheering and drumming in the meridian of Shattuck Ave., with cars honking as they passed by. i was a little worried that i wouldn't be able to sleep because of the noise, but i couldn't hear it from my apartment; couldn't sleep because i was pretty wired, though. called Pepper and asked him if there was any crazy partying going on in the streets of San Francisco. he said that if anything big were to go on, it would be going on in The Mission, but no more than a few hundred people were in the streets at peak. i was so glad to be in Berkeley -- it was great to be surrounded by people who were all glad about what was happening, and the sense of community was wonderful. this would never have happened in san diego, or modesto, or any of the other places i lived in the past.
i am really sad that 8 passed, though. i'm going to wear all black and go to the rally on Sproul at noon today. i'm very relieved that 4 didn't pass, though -- what we don't need is more back-alley abortions, or single mothers who can't support themselves and whose kids don't have great chances at succeeding in life.
i tried to fight prop 8. i phone banked, i stood at street corners with signs and pamphlets, i talked to my parents. but i could've done better. i could've called everyone i knew, i could've volunteered a lot more. this measure will have a huge effect on all of california for at least the next two years, and if everyone had just volunteered a little bit more, we could've dissuaded the 2% of voters who decided to vote yes. it didn't help that every Mormon in Utah donated all they could or that the no on 8 campaign was fairly unorganized. but we could've done better, and i'm regretful that i didn't try harder, because i could have. i felt a little useless in berkeley because most people were already voting no, but i could've figured out how to convince people in conservative suburbs, or helped organize the campaign, or made flyers, or something. maybe next time. *sigh*.