tell me what democracy looks like!?!
this is what democracy looks like!

ok, so, swatties are the most old-school hippies i've ever seen. we sang "down by the riverside" and "if i had a hammer" and did the responsive chant above as well as various ones beginning with "hell no, we won't go" and "1-2-3-4..." hell YES. other post-gen-Xers at the protest were a little freaked out, but various grey-haired vietnam protest vets congratulated us on our willingness to be big noisy dorks. (at one point i suggested that instead of the "swarthmore students for peace" banner, we should carry the more accurate "big noisy dorks for peace.")

in all seriousness, it was a great day. the rally and march were really accepting of a lot of different sorts of people and a TON of people showed up, generally with signs that promoted peace above whatever cause motivated, surrounded or informed their opposition to the war. even a source as mainstream as the washington post put the numbers at 100,000 or more--though, interestingly, after a brief overnight stay on the front page of the site, the article has now been consigned to the metro section. the times doesn't even carry the 100,000 number (or any significant coverage at all). unbelievable. however, indymedia has lots of great stuff, including some pictures that, unfortunately, don't really even begin to cover the astounding number of people there. i'm still waiting for helicopter photos.

it was an emotional day. i felt so great about the protest, but it was hard looking at all those wellstone-related signs. the first one i saw made me cry: "paul wellstone/ a nation turns its lonely eyes to you." i bet he would have loved what happened yesterday...because unlike the new york protest, it seemed as if the energy of the event was coming from the people, not from the stage. in fact, i'm not even sure we really listened to a lot of the rally--especially since it was so crowded that the swat group was literally outside the fencing that was to serve as the perimeter of the gathering. so we held up our banner and yelled when everyone else yelled and waited for the march, which was when we got truly rowdy. go us.

favorite moment of the day: laurel scales a traffic signal in order to survey the crowd at 17th and C. she took pictures of a ton of people and a ton of people took pictures of her. maybe she'll be famous. :-)

also, i added ben galynker to my list of links. read and enjoy.