Saturday, September 11, 2004
Remember 3.15.03
Tha rock won't burn
if yo cash don turn
Yeah baby
shit yeah
aint that the truth
I was in an odd mood this morning - a bit jittery - so I decided to stroll on up to the friendly neighborhood Starbucks.
On the way I run into the usual assortment of early morning characters.
A man, looking in his late twenties, pimped out in a red velour sweatfit, swaggering along a little too casually on the grey early morning sidewalk.
Another man walking speedily across an intersection, a block up in front of me, wearing what looks like a leather jacket from a distance. But something in his gate tells me that up close it would be vinyl.
I stand in line wondering how there can be a line at 6:30 in the morning. I feel a little weak on my feet. A dozen-and-a-half beers will do that to you. I walk back home with my coffee in one hand and my folded over New York Times in the other. I scan the headlines on the quarter of the page that faces me, but I don't remember any more what they said.
The sun is coming up now, behind the light grey clouds that hang in the sky across the river, outside my window. Dawning dreary and depressing, which is fitting for a day like this.
As soon as I finish writing this I intend to smoke anything even vaguely narcotic that I can lay my hands on, and then pass out and sleep for at least fourteen hours.
I definitely want to make a point to miss anything and everything on television today, because I'm sure it will all be either viciously depressing, or infuriatingly insipid - in most cases, probably both.
10 days ago - labor day - I was digging through some old tapes, and I happened to run across some video that I had shot at the peace march that took place in Portland on March 15, 2003. I had almost totally forgotten about that rally, and when I sat down and watched the tape, it had a definite impact on me.
Watching all of those thousands of people, many with signs, many chanting, some just walking, and some dancing, I was struck by how far we have come from that day. Not just in days, dollars, and bodies, but also in perceptions.
Today we are faced with the inextricable problem of 140,000 of our soldiers entangled in the occupation of a foreign country that is on the verge of collapse even with their presence. In this situation few people even consider the possibility of peaceful solutions. And none of those who do are running for president as the candidate of a major party.
"I'm John Kerry and I'm Reporting for Duty"
And I am really going to vote for this guy?
After watching that tape a few more times, I decided that I had to share it, and what better day then today.
Instead of remembering death, and destruction, I encourage you to take the time to remember Peace, and remember what it was like to stand shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of Portlanders, and in spirit with millions around the world, and believe that Peace was possible. It may be just me, but I think that if we stand on our convictions, it still is.
This video is encoded with XviD. www.divx.com has codecs available for both Windows and Macintosh.
If you use BitTorrent, please download the torrent, so I can save my bandwidth:
Remember.3.15.03.Peace.Rally.Portland.OR.USA.xvid.avi.torrent
You can also download the file directly:
Remember.3.15.03.Peace.Rally.Portland.OR.USA.xvid.avi
if yo cash don turn
Yeah baby
shit yeah
aint that the truth
I was in an odd mood this morning - a bit jittery - so I decided to stroll on up to the friendly neighborhood Starbucks.
On the way I run into the usual assortment of early morning characters.
A man, looking in his late twenties, pimped out in a red velour sweatfit, swaggering along a little too casually on the grey early morning sidewalk.
Another man walking speedily across an intersection, a block up in front of me, wearing what looks like a leather jacket from a distance. But something in his gate tells me that up close it would be vinyl.
I stand in line wondering how there can be a line at 6:30 in the morning. I feel a little weak on my feet. A dozen-and-a-half beers will do that to you. I walk back home with my coffee in one hand and my folded over New York Times in the other. I scan the headlines on the quarter of the page that faces me, but I don't remember any more what they said.
The sun is coming up now, behind the light grey clouds that hang in the sky across the river, outside my window. Dawning dreary and depressing, which is fitting for a day like this.
As soon as I finish writing this I intend to smoke anything even vaguely narcotic that I can lay my hands on, and then pass out and sleep for at least fourteen hours.
I definitely want to make a point to miss anything and everything on television today, because I'm sure it will all be either viciously depressing, or infuriatingly insipid - in most cases, probably both.
10 days ago - labor day - I was digging through some old tapes, and I happened to run across some video that I had shot at the peace march that took place in Portland on March 15, 2003. I had almost totally forgotten about that rally, and when I sat down and watched the tape, it had a definite impact on me.
Watching all of those thousands of people, many with signs, many chanting, some just walking, and some dancing, I was struck by how far we have come from that day. Not just in days, dollars, and bodies, but also in perceptions.
Today we are faced with the inextricable problem of 140,000 of our soldiers entangled in the occupation of a foreign country that is on the verge of collapse even with their presence. In this situation few people even consider the possibility of peaceful solutions. And none of those who do are running for president as the candidate of a major party.
"I'm John Kerry and I'm Reporting for Duty"
And I am really going to vote for this guy?
After watching that tape a few more times, I decided that I had to share it, and what better day then today.
Instead of remembering death, and destruction, I encourage you to take the time to remember Peace, and remember what it was like to stand shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of Portlanders, and in spirit with millions around the world, and believe that Peace was possible. It may be just me, but I think that if we stand on our convictions, it still is.
This video is encoded with XviD. www.divx.com has codecs available for both Windows and Macintosh.
If you use BitTorrent, please download the torrent, so I can save my bandwidth:
Remember.3.15.03.Peace.Rally.Portland.OR.USA.xvid.avi.torrent
You can also download the file directly:
Remember.3.15.03.Peace.Rally.Portland.OR.USA.xvid.avi
