We Rallied for Sanity (and didn't return to fear)
Wow, what an impressive crowd in Washington DC yesterday! Man oh man!
I was down on the National Mall on Friday so I could eat the delicious Woodland Indians cuisine at the Museum of the American Indian cafeteria. They were out of venison steak, mashed potatoes with chestnuts and several other things. But I got a strange wild rice dish, duck breast with berry compote, and a grilled hearts of celery salad. It was crazy crowded and, by 1pm, had already sold out of 50% of the dishes. (Woodlands is just one cuisine; Inuit, mesoamerican, etc. foods are also offered.) I guess I need to go there by 11:30 a.m. to beat the crowds and have access to all the dishes...
Anyway, I saw the Rally for Sanity stage being built. Multiple Jumbotrons, very impressive! Plus dozens and dozens of porto-potties all in the mall between the Smithsonian museums. I thought at the time, "that's overkill on the toilets." Then when I got there Saturday and had to go, fighting those crowds took up the first 45 minutes of my rally! And when I was going into that stinky, dark hovel, stupid boys decided to climb on the potties to see over the crowd! So scary -- those things are flimsy...!
Then I came back Saturday, and what a difference! As in about 250,000 to 300,000 people were there! It was massive! Biggest crowd I've ever been part of. I could only stand to the side catching a glimpse of a Jumbotron every now and then. I heard lots of the speeches. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. Ozzy Osborne, Cat Stevens, ?Lenny Kravitz? and more were singing. But all I could see was the crowd.
However, some of the crowd was a theater presentation itself. Like the guy who stomped around snarling out of the side of his mouth and screaming pretend insults at the crowd. He was a dead ringer for Dick Cheney! And he kept shooting the bird and grabbing his crotch. Here he is about to grab you-know-where:
And these folks doing a series of riffs on the tea-party, and Alice:
There were so many people that the city and the Metro didn't plan well (they had fewer than 100,000 people at the Glenn Beck rally, so crowds but no problems) and it took people hours and hours to get there. Gridlock everywhere. Even me, I had to do the sardine-packed trains, but at least getting on in Alexandria where Emily and Sam live got me onto trains. So many other stops the people just had to watch as the completely full trains went by...
But best of all was Jon Stewart talking about the event and why he held it. I was at the other end of the mall by then leaving early, but it is a good speech.
Oh, and here's my buddy Emily at the wall of pebbles at her new job (she is a certified geologist with a Masters and everything) for the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Assn, which is right in Old Town Alexandria, so 7 blocks from their condo. Another cool part of the trip: I got to stay with Emily and Sam and eat at cool restaurants. And play with their spoiled cat Urby. They live just up the hill from the King St Metro station. So convenient!
I was down on the National Mall on Friday so I could eat the delicious Woodland Indians cuisine at the Museum of the American Indian cafeteria. They were out of venison steak, mashed potatoes with chestnuts and several other things. But I got a strange wild rice dish, duck breast with berry compote, and a grilled hearts of celery salad. It was crazy crowded and, by 1pm, had already sold out of 50% of the dishes. (Woodlands is just one cuisine; Inuit, mesoamerican, etc. foods are also offered.) I guess I need to go there by 11:30 a.m. to beat the crowds and have access to all the dishes...
Anyway, I saw the Rally for Sanity stage being built. Multiple Jumbotrons, very impressive! Plus dozens and dozens of porto-potties all in the mall between the Smithsonian museums. I thought at the time, "that's overkill on the toilets." Then when I got there Saturday and had to go, fighting those crowds took up the first 45 minutes of my rally! And when I was going into that stinky, dark hovel, stupid boys decided to climb on the potties to see over the crowd! So scary -- those things are flimsy...!
Then I came back Saturday, and what a difference! As in about 250,000 to 300,000 people were there! It was massive! Biggest crowd I've ever been part of. I could only stand to the side catching a glimpse of a Jumbotron every now and then. I heard lots of the speeches. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. Ozzy Osborne, Cat Stevens, ?Lenny Kravitz? and more were singing. But all I could see was the crowd.
However, some of the crowd was a theater presentation itself. Like the guy who stomped around snarling out of the side of his mouth and screaming pretend insults at the crowd. He was a dead ringer for Dick Cheney! And he kept shooting the bird and grabbing his crotch. Here he is about to grab you-know-where:
And these folks doing a series of riffs on the tea-party, and Alice:
There were so many people that the city and the Metro didn't plan well (they had fewer than 100,000 people at the Glenn Beck rally, so crowds but no problems) and it took people hours and hours to get there. Gridlock everywhere. Even me, I had to do the sardine-packed trains, but at least getting on in Alexandria where Emily and Sam live got me onto trains. So many other stops the people just had to watch as the completely full trains went by...
But best of all was Jon Stewart talking about the event and why he held it. I was at the other end of the mall by then leaving early, but it is a good speech.
Oh, and here's my buddy Emily at the wall of pebbles at her new job (she is a certified geologist with a Masters and everything) for the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Assn, which is right in Old Town Alexandria, so 7 blocks from their condo. Another cool part of the trip: I got to stay with Emily and Sam and eat at cool restaurants. And play with their spoiled cat Urby. They live just up the hill from the King St Metro station. So convenient!