there are helicopters buzzing around my house this morning. and while i kept flashing back to the last time this was happening, i didn't make the connection until just now.
it's the anniversary of the day we invaded iraq. where were you, and what were you doing a year ago today. how did you feel?
i was horrified, and frightened, and disgusted. i awoke to the sound of helicopters and complete traffic jam in my lower haight neighborhood, and i immediately knew that we'd done it. i threw on clothes, grabbed my camera, and my housemate, and ran downtown. you locals know this, but for the rest of you, protestors were blocking the commuter traffic, snarling things up as a way to say, "no business as usual". it was intense on market street. no cars, people pulling trashcans and newspaper dispensers into the middle of the road, other people chained up in long lines to create blockades. it was overwhelming and traumatizing...just the complete feeling of frustration and anger and sorrow at our government so out of control and so unresponsive to popular opinion, as well as my home being thrown into chaos. a lot of my friends got arrested that day and weren't heard from for days after as they were detained. we narrowly escaped arrest in an unjust, but, unfortunately, not uncommon, example of police brutality. down towards the end of market, a few people were milling around, playing drums and deciding where to go next. people started to accumulate as we wondered if we should head towards the civic center. but it was peaceful, we were really just standing around. policemen on horseback showed up, and after one order to break it up, which no one really heard because people were drumming, and they didn't have bullhorns, they started charging at people with their clubs out, knocking people down. of course people started screaming and running away, and we backed out just in time. didn't hear about that on cnn and fox news? of course not.
the helicopters continued for days after that, as well as the traffic jams and everyone in my house was nervously exhausted and fried.
but a year later, our lives are all back to normal, and i have dreams about leg warmers and worry needlessly about romantic involvement and yesterday there was another car bombing in baghdad.
what the fuck are we still doing over there?
it's the anniversary of the day we invaded iraq. where were you, and what were you doing a year ago today. how did you feel?
i was horrified, and frightened, and disgusted. i awoke to the sound of helicopters and complete traffic jam in my lower haight neighborhood, and i immediately knew that we'd done it. i threw on clothes, grabbed my camera, and my housemate, and ran downtown. you locals know this, but for the rest of you, protestors were blocking the commuter traffic, snarling things up as a way to say, "no business as usual". it was intense on market street. no cars, people pulling trashcans and newspaper dispensers into the middle of the road, other people chained up in long lines to create blockades. it was overwhelming and traumatizing...just the complete feeling of frustration and anger and sorrow at our government so out of control and so unresponsive to popular opinion, as well as my home being thrown into chaos. a lot of my friends got arrested that day and weren't heard from for days after as they were detained. we narrowly escaped arrest in an unjust, but, unfortunately, not uncommon, example of police brutality. down towards the end of market, a few people were milling around, playing drums and deciding where to go next. people started to accumulate as we wondered if we should head towards the civic center. but it was peaceful, we were really just standing around. policemen on horseback showed up, and after one order to break it up, which no one really heard because people were drumming, and they didn't have bullhorns, they started charging at people with their clubs out, knocking people down. of course people started screaming and running away, and we backed out just in time. didn't hear about that on cnn and fox news? of course not.
the helicopters continued for days after that, as well as the traffic jams and everyone in my house was nervously exhausted and fried.
but a year later, our lives are all back to normal, and i have dreams about leg warmers and worry needlessly about romantic involvement and yesterday there was another car bombing in baghdad.
what the fuck are we still doing over there?
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Next on the agenda is organizing a Rock n Roll Rally for the Dems of West Michigan, to get the young people to vote in some decent people not only on the national level, but here in WEst Michigan, too. I'm sick and tired of being oppressed by war-mongering whores to the dollar.