Yesterday, on Saturday, September 24, 2005 at 10:30 am, I drove to mom’s house and parked my car. She had a hot pot of coffee brewing and gave me another scarf, which she knitted, and happened to match my outfit. How do moms always know what makes you happy?
We then walked a block to the bus stop and took it downtown. Upon arriving there at 12:30pm, we congregated just at the beginning of the march, where it was roped off.
Some reporter noticed our signs and asked mom if she had been to Camp Casey. She had been, but only for a day. He asked her several other questions on camera and then I blurted out that myself and my children will be paying the debts the (dumb-ass) president are racking up right now. He turned the camera on me and asked me to repeat that, so I did. He then asked us if he could use this footage for media use and we both had to confirm our OK on camera, quoting our full names in the process. Our signs, which mom designed, ended up on KTLA evening news!
We ended up at the front of the march and, later, at the front of the rally, near the stage. Along the route, a newspaper reporter took about two dozen photos of mom and I, right smack in our faces, too. It was hard not to trip over him. He asked our names, ages and what city we came from. No idea what paper he was from! Oh well..
The march ended at a stage where people such as Stephanie Miller (Air America Radio morning talk show host), Martin Sheen (actor), Vickie Castro (Gold Star mother who lost her only son in Iraq) and Ron Kovic (author of Born on the Fourth of July and Vietnam Vet) spoke. We stayed for all the speeches, then headed home around 4:00pm.
Apparently, about 50,000 people were there.
Okay, so… I didn’t want to bring this up, but I’m still fuming about it, so I will. A friend asked me today why I do this “hippy stuff”. Here’s my answer: I do it hoping that this makes some small difference in the history of our messed-up species. I do it hoping that I broaden my mind and hopefully someone else’s along the way. I do it because I feel the need to DO SOMETHING about what I think is wrong and not just sit on my ass complaining about it. That’s partly why I do this “hippy stuff”.
Anyway, I took a ton of photos and will upload them when I get Gallery2 up. For now, here is one I found on the internet:
Click for full size. The arrows point to mom and I, just in front of the stage.