jan. 18,2003
Took my usual walk around market street in san francisco.
I was trying to decide which of the women joe the millionaire should pick.
When I came out of the Bart station I found myself surrounded by literally thousands of others. Many of them carried signs with pictures and drawings of certain people of world renown especially our beloved president. You know he does look a little like Alfred E Neuman from the Mad magazine. I just happened to have my camera with me so I took some pictures.
This is the beginning of the crowd just before they started. At first I thought it was a protest but the crowd seemed so normal, you know no hippy types. You know like on the news programs when they show people dressed up like clowns and heavy metal types at all the protests. Well there were some of those but mostly everyone was what I think of as middle america. So I thought it was some kind of marathon, but everyone was dressed normal. Being a little slow as my friends and family would say. I decided to walk along with them and figure it out. Besides it would take my mind off that joe thing. But being slow as they say, I worried about keeping up.
O yeah I found a nickel, which I took as a good sign. Don't worry no one saw me pick it up. I pretended to tie my shoe even though I was wearing loafers.
I didn't know that we were fighting with Iraq. But I knew that Mr. Bush was pretty mad with them. He is pretty steamed about it. He's been losing his temper for a long time. Those faces he makes when he's mad on t.v., I bet he was one hell of a soldier when he was in the military. My father was in WW2 and Korea and he wouldn't even let me own a bb gun. But Mr. Bush has a whole army to play with, I wonder if his dad is more nicer to him then mine was, or maybe he never saw any real action so he doesn't know what real war is like. My dad used get a good laugh out of those John Wayne movies.
I saw a lot of signs asking were CNN was. CNN another thing to think about. I couldn't figure it out. What CNN stood for. I think it's one of those initial things like CIA, FBI, SUV, or STOP. Meanwhile I kept my eyes open for loose change.
As we got closer to the Civic Center I thought oh I know what this about. It's a Martin Luther king parade because there were a lot of pictures of him. Maybe huh? There weren't many minorities sad to say so it couldn't be. It was puzzling, maybe I better write the news organizations and tell them their reporters are getting lazy cause there should have told someone there was something going on downtown. I mean I could look ahead of me and see thousands and behind me and see thousands.
I had to take a picture of this couple. You see there were families, kids, and old people( like me ).There was this old couple must have been in their eighties, barely able to walk, but walking with this crowd. They held hands like lovers. I mean bodies touching with no space between, clutching hands together tightly. Like it was their last walk to their end. Against the cold wind with their free hands holding signs. "no blood for oil".
"no blood for oil" I know oil is expensive but blood. I don't own a car myself, so I'am not sure of the price. But it must be pretty expensive. Maybe this is the reason for the parade. They were protesting the price of oil. There weren't any cars around. No, our country wouldn't go to war for oil. Maybe there is a oil shortage. I got it let's get rid of the cars and just have mass transit systems, buses, and small shuttles. Think of all the money we would save, we wouldn't need so many roads, courts, lights, signs, insurance, laws, police, and wars. I'll have to write another letter.
There were fiddlers for peace, ragging grannies, sisters of perpetual indulgence, ladies in black, families with kids, loving couples, lone walkers, all races, bicyclist, straight, gay, native americans, every kind of person you could think of walking along market street today. What they were trying to say I may never really know. But I'll bet I'm not as slow as I was yesterday.
reminded me of what Dick Gregory once said if "If democracy is so good why do we have to push it down someone's throat with a gun"
O I forgot, that the one I liked on joe the millionaire had already got kicked off the show.
ooooh another nickel.
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