I Didn't Even Get The T-Shirt

Saturday morning, I had a really cool 20-mile ride with EB. Relaxed the whole way, but had fun. Damn my new bike is awesome! On the return leg, got a call from John Remy. Promised to call him back, and did on the way back home. He was proposing a morning activity. I had plans in the early evening, but was up for something. What followed was a slowly unrolling story about meeting up with the American Friends Service Committee to march. Well, I was game but needed to leave around 4:30 to meet a friend for dinner. It eventually came out that John wanted to march then head over to say hello to the same friend. Nice.

Missed the AFSC rally point, but managed to meet up with them at the greater rally point. On the way we passed by a very surreal scene of an ambulance with red-lights flashing in front of a building with a display of what looked like emergency-vehicle lights, which started to flash. Wish I had taken a picture, but there were some people standing in front of the display and we made the on-site decision to respect their privacy.

At the rally point, it looked like a few hundred people showed up, which made me wonder about the street-shutdowns and police presence. Lots of cops on bikes, so I asked one about the frame he was riding. He was on a Raleigh, but they had bikes built on Giant as well. Interesting. The march got going and I suddenly realized that there were several thousand people around us. John, GameBoy, and I made plans to meet at various locations if we got separated, which were totally inadequate in retrospect. At various times, John, GameBoy, and I all got to carry the eight-foot tall AFSC sign proclaiming that "There Is No Way To Peace. Peace Is The Way." AFSC seemed to be in the "slow" lane of the march, so we got to see various groups pass us by. Snapped the following shot of one of the louder drumming and shouting groups.

We ended up passing on the rally, and getting lunch in Little Tokyo. At that point, my knee was really acting up. I ended up limping the rest of the day. GameBoy gamely ordered half a chicken with gohan and soba. Wow. It was a late lunch for me, so I just had udon. Yummy!

We spent a tiny amount of time in the Little Tokyo branch of the public library. I wish I spent more time in the area (in general, not just on the day).

On Sunday morning, my mother excitedly text-messaged me that I had made the paper. As I told the attenders of Meeting that morning, there are two young, handsome guys to the right of the "I [Heart] Our Troops" sign. And next to them are JohnR and I! Sunday 1/28/2007 LA Times, page A14.


Stopped to visit with SL before heading back home. John and I both prattled on about what we thought about the surge. I think I'm pretty married to the idea that what we're doing now is a mistake, and that there are more informed people than I who should be spending all their time and energy on a graceful exit plan. Blah blah blah. It was a full day.