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Sunday, Apr. 14, 2002 / 5:56 p.m. ~Nervous - and a Washington Post Article - Please Read it~
Fucking horoscopes, why do I read them? Looking for answers, having a strong "need" to know the future, yet knowing all along that it's unknowable. Is that a word? Unknowable? This is what I just read on my Yahoo! start page:
Congratulations, dear Aries! A goal you have been working towards for a long time has finally been reached. Success and advancement are on their way, and you should be feeling extremely enthusiastic and optimistic about your future. Some vast changes may take place in your life, but they all promise to be positive ones. Expect some travel, and a lot of expansion of knowledge. Make the most of these energies.
What the HELL does all of that mean? And you see what I'm doing, I'm expecting it to have meaning. That's the main problem. One daily horoscope for ALL people born with Aries as their Sun Sign is not possibly accurate. One must consider placement of ALL the planets at exact time of birth. But still, what does it mean?!!!
I'm nervous. Every now and then, tomorrow pops in my head. Oh my god! Tomorrow!! What is going to happen? I can't stand thinking about it. Will the Manager (M) call me into her office? Will Listerine be in there with us? Will we "take it to the floor"? What about the 5:00 people? The ones who didn't witness the balloon murder incident? What will they think? They won't care, they won't believe the extremity, the severity, what is going to happen? Will Listerine quit? Will I quit? Will she get fired? Will I? Will I mouth off, say the wrong thing, say the right thing, will I get any sleep at all tonight???!!!!!
I slept 'til around 4:00 this afternoon. Oh yeah, I did. Before asking why, I would think the answer is obvious, I was tired. I've been stressed. Things have been happening. I'm going to Washington on Friday night! I'm getting on another bus, with more strangers, and some not so strange, and I'm going to yet another HUGE national protest at the White House, for god's sake! Or for chrissakes, or for my sake, or for the sake of all citizens of this country, all taxpaying citizens.
I just got a great email including the text of a Washington Post (how's that for respectability?) article concering the upcoming demos. Shall I post it here? Would anyone read it?
I just sighed. A big outpouring of air. Nervous.
Right, so I slept all day. Here's another reason, I stayed up 'til about 4:30 this morning. Still, do I need 12 hours sleep? I must have. And guess what I was doing at 4:15 this morning? No, not watching porn, gay or otherwise, I was filing my tax return, on the telephone. Isn't that cool? Yeah, I used the IRS' "Tele-File" service, and I may be the only person in this country who actually likes a good, efficient automated phone system. It was great. Took about 5 minutes, and I owe a bit, as always. I don't want my employer to take out more taxes than they need to, but they never seem to take out quite enough, it's usually about $70 that I owe, Federal, and another $40 or less for State. Thing is, I never got my State package in the mail, so now I have to go forage for the form, and file that through snail mail. Whee.
I love waiting for the last minute. I do this every year. Why not? I owe, you think I'm going to pay them early? Are you crazy?
I even missed most of the Thrashers Season Finale because I slept so late. I decided not to go, but to watch it on TV, and still, I missed most. We tied Carolina, and in three seasons we have not once beaten them. Still, a tie is better than a loss. I love the closing ceremony when the players give fans (carefully pre-selected) the jerseys off their backs, the sweaty nasty jerseys off their backs, sign them with Sharpies, and we get to see them in their hockey undergarments and padding only.
One year, the first Season Finale, one guy revealed he had on nothing beneath his padding, and I had my binocs glued to my face at the Arena, watching this guy, Petr Buzek, skate around after, his pants slightly unlaced at the waist, his hair on his abdomen wet with sweat, his shoulder pads over bare skin, oh my god, it was crazy! He's not on our team anymore, and I've been such a sucky fan this season I can't even tell you where he went. I know he missed an entire season because of a bad concussion, and then came back.... I guess we traded him for someone else.
But we had two rookies tie for MVP, Heatley and Kovalchuk, and that was very cool! I'm glad I at least got to see the last half of the game. Now? Well, I have my "stories" on tape, I have to clean, I have to eat, I have to bathe, and I'm considering cutting my hair again, it's growing too fast. But it's hard to cut one's own hair, I always go a little crazy trying to make sure it's even in back. And no, I don't want to pay to have it cut, I haven't done that in years.
So, right, every time I stop to regroup, to think about what's next, in what order do I do this and that, I think of tomorrow and my blood starts to heat up, I start to shake a little, then I think about next Friday and I start to worry about leaving the cats, how much food to leave, will they throw it up because they eat it all at once, like they've done in the past?, how much litter, do I pull out the extra box?, and the ever popular.... what do I wear??? What do I take? Not too much like last time, no, less is more. Toothbrush, yeah, maybe something to clean my face, a small container of moisturizer, one extra shirt, maybe more socks, and is it gonna be cold? What if it rains??? I've got to watch the Weather Channel.
Nervous.
Okay, here's the article, no one will read it, but in case you want to, PLEASE at least skim it, it's good, I just read it, this is going to be big, kids, I'm telling you, times are volatile now, this is important, you must know what your country is doing with your tax dollars, you must know what we are doing to the rest of the world, who we kill, and with what purpose, it's your duty to know, it's your duty to speak out when it's not what you want, these are YOUR elected officials, whether YOU elected them or not, do you understand? Good.
From Today's Washington Post:
D.C. Protest Organizers Join Arms By Manny Fernandez The escalating violence in the Middle East has given a new emotional
urgency to social activism, uniting a diverse mix of demonstrators headed to downtown Washington this week.
Those opposed to global capitalism and the U.S. policies that support it, others who have decried the war in Afghanistan, and activists who objected to widespread arrests of Muslims in the United States have joined pro-Palestinian groups to march for a commoncause.
"We're giving a government [Israel] that has been found by the United
Nations to be in violation of human rights $3�billion, while at the same time we are cutting back on social infrastructure projects in the United States," said Salem McCarron, 30, an Adams Morgan Web developer who plans to take part in demonstrations next weekend. "We see that as a local issue, especially here in D.C."
Working together under a room-for-all banner of anti-oppression, four
broad contingents plan four days of demonstrations focused on marches and rallies next Saturday, which have concerned police and are likely to snarl traffic. Police have said that although they do not expect trouble, they will be prepared.
At least four marches are planned for Saturday and will wind through
downtown from rally points including the grounds of the Washington Monument, the Ellipse south of the White House, and the Foggy Bottom
headquarters of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
A confluence of events � part happenstance, part strategy � led several
coalitions to link their plans, their people and their marches.
When a wave of demonstrations took over Washington's streets two years
ago, the focus was the spring meetings of the World Bank and the IMF.
The themes were largely opposition to the institutions' lending practices, which the protesters said impoverished Third World countries and damaged the environment.
This year, although the protests again will fall on the weekend of the
spring meetings, when anti-globalization activists will renew their drive, the themes have taken on a more urgent edge. Now, violence in the Middle East � and U.S. support of Israel � has moved to the forefront, yet still comfortably tucked under the anti-oppression umbrella.
A visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that had
been planned for April 22 further padded an April protest calendar already booked with marches against support for Colombia's regime; against the meetings of the IMF and World Bank; and against the Bush administration's domestic and foreign policies. Whether Sharon actually visits during the Middle East upheaval remains a question.
Organizers of the various groups say they became aware of each others'
demonstration plans and decided to unite to create a larger, broader presence for their causes.
Organizers in the various coalitions maintain that the wide variety of issues grow from the same root � the role that U.S.corporate and government leaders play in worldwide oppression.
"All of the issues are related," said Peta Lindsay, 17, a senior at the
District's School Without Walls and a volunteer organizer with International Answer, a coalition calling for support of Palestinian rights. "We couldn't have an antiwar demonstration and not talk about Palestine. It would be hypocritical of us."
No one is sure how many protesters will show. Police estimate that
10,000 to 20,000 will participate Saturday; organizers expect from a few
thousand to tens of thousands at the larger marches.
"We're mobilizing to bring thousands and thousands," said Terra Lawson-Remer, 23, of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, one of
many groups coordinating another march Saturday from the Washington
Monument to the Capitol. "There's no RSVP policy . . . so we don't have an
exact number."
The protests will cap an unusually busy week, even by Washington
standards, including Monday's pro-Israel rally at the Capitol, a parade on
Tuesday commemorating the emancipation of slaves in the District and a
flag-waving demonstration Saturday to show support for U.S. troops.
The variety of protest demonstrations scheduled from Friday through
April 22 has drawn both new and familiar players to the social protest
circuit.
Julie Ren, a freshman from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, will be
participating in her second major protest, coming in one of the many bus and carpool caravans of college students from across the country. Ren is taking part in Saturday's antiwar demonstration, which will be led by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition and other youth and adult progressive groups.
"I think marching on Washington, D.C., is symbolic historically of the
freedoms in this country, of the freedoms to protest," said Ren, 19. Ren and others are calling for an end to the Bush administration's war on terrorism at home and abroad, an issue that includes the treatment of Muslims after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Christy Pardew, a 25-year-old D.C. activist who described the April
2000 demonstrations as a pivotal point in her "radicalizing," will be there, too. She was on hand when the anti-globalization protests erupted in clashes with police, prompting mass arrests and complaints of unconstitutional police tactics. On Saturday and Sunday, Pardew plans to join a demonstration heavy on street theater to oppose the policies of the World Bank and IMF.
She and other activists with Mobilization for Global Justice, a D.C.-based anti-globalization coalition, have been busy hanging "More World, Less Bank" flags and finding volunteers to walk on stilts.
Many protesters, including D.C. organizer Hendrik Voss, see the causes of the various movements as closely connected and their convergence as a watershed in grass-roots activism. Voss, 27, is helping to organize marches demanding a change in U.S. foreign policy with Colombia and the closure of an Army school whose graduates, activists contend, are responsible for human rights abuses.
"It's historic that all of these movements are coming together," said Voss, who works for School of the Americas Watch, one of several groups
organizing the National Mobilization on Colombia. "There is a very strong connection with economic repression, as it's symbolized by IMF and World Bank policies, and military repression, as it is carried out by School of the Americas-trained soldiers throughout Latin America."
The A22 Collective, a D.C.-based anti-capitalist group, is calling for
activists to take part in civil disobedience on April 22 outside the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue NW, where Sharon has been scheduled to speak as part of the annual policy conference of the pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. "All I can really say is that it'll be nonviolent direct action," McCarron said.
He added that Sharon is drawing the condemnation of protesters for some
of the same reasons people turn out in opposition to multinational corporations and the military industrial complex: for their treatment of labor and human rights. "You have only one viewpoint in Israel forming policy � the military viewpoint," he said.
Scores of other pro-Palestinian activists, including those in a coalition called the Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People, are planning marches and protests in connection with Sharon's visit, even if he cancels.
More than 50 buses from mosques across the country � in addition to
caravans carrying other activists from Texas, Minnesota and New York, among other places � are planning to come to the District for International Answer's demonstration. Answer's organizers said they expect about 125 buses. About 100 more buses are expected for the student-led peace march.
Some activists will spread their message by marching on foot, pedaling
through downtown during evening rush hour or performing street-theater skits with costumes and fake blood.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, international demonstrations against world
financial bodies have been less aggressive, and there has not been as much violence. Some demonstrators plan to mark April 22 with civil disobedience, blocking entrances to the Capitol, marching in an unpermitted downtown procession and staging other undisclosed "direct actions." Organizers insist that all of their activities � even civil disobedience � will be nonviolent yet head-turning.
Last week, at a D.C. meeting of Mobilization for Global Justice, someone mentioned needing toy-gun props for a skit mocking corporate greed, but the idea was quickly shot down. "Make them out of cardboard," one activist said, hoping to prevent any trouble with police.
A single moment at that meeting illustrated how the Middle East issue has given emotional muscle to the group's often-esoteric demands on labor and human rights in faraway places.
Inside the hall of the Mount Pleasant church, Serian, a 25-year-old Palestinian woman who did not want her last name published, described the devastation of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank � of fearing for her family in Ramallah, of homes turned to rubble, of day-to-day survival overriding all else.
"It's extremely terrifying," the District resident told about 40 activists, who sat riveted to their seats as she talked and applauded her when she was finished.
"It's beyond imagination at this point," she said. "We need to let our voice be heard." She said she, too, will join the protests.
� 2002 The Washington Post Company Cost of the War in Iraq
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