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Submitted by WallyCuddeford on Tue, 07/04/2006 - 8:37pm.
So earlier tonight, a bunch of us were sitting around at this party, and somebody said, "We should totally just go marching down 4th Ave tonight."
» And you know how sometimes someone brings up a totally awesome, totally plausible idea, and you're like, "Yeah! We should really, actually do that!", and then the people who brought it up are just like "Huh, yeah, that'd be soooooooo cooooooool. *cough* Pass the bowl, man." Well, this time we all really were like, "Yeah! Let's totally do it!" So we had ourselves a little march. A Midnight March! We got out some signs. We picked up a megaphone. We busted out our little anarcho-syndie flag. Come 11:00 or so, we just started walking out. About eight of us, out of the 30 at the party. Keep in mind, this wasn't for demonstration value. We had some serious chants and signs. Stuff about the war. But really, this was just for fun. And fun it was. We marched down 5th Ave, and back up 4th Ave, just taking one lane of the road. We had people waving and honking in support. We had people up in windows above us shouting in support. Some guy from Daily Kos started taking pictures. A couple people even joined us. We had angry motorists try to run us over. We just ignored them. It kinda takes the wind out of their sails when they act like they're going to speed up and run us all over, and we just act like they're not even there. We chanted whatever the Hell we wanted. "Bring our soldiers home!" "Bring our friends home!" "Bring our soldiers home!" "Bring our friends home!" "True independence for all!" "Say what?" "True independence for all!" "Say what?" "True independence for all!" "Say what?" "True independence for all!" "Say what?" "Capitalism!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Empire!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Port of Olympia!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Ralph's Thriftway!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "War machine!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Air America!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Corporatism!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Prison system!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "The Daily-O!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Pizza Time!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Police state!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "The Eagle ninety-seven point seven!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Daily Kos!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" "Just kidding, dude!" Not that The Daily Olympian or Pizza Time were open or anything. In fact, just about nothing was open. The Broho was open, but there were, like, three people inside. We thought, "Oh, Midnight March on the Fourth of July! That'll be fuckin' awesome!", but it didn't exactly work that way. Nobody's in downtown Oly when the fireworks were only at home. But Hell, whatever. It was fun. The police came up behind us after a little while. We had like three cop cars following us as we walked, but we kept on walking. Then they did something we totally didn't expect. They just drove off. The police didn't so much as appear after that, anywhere. We speculated they rushed off to the port to guard it from us, since we were chanting "Port of Olympia!" "TEAR IT DOWN!" On this occasion, we intentionally steered clear of the port. This was just for fun, not to rattle any fences. We kept chanting a lot, especially downtown, but by the end, we were just like "Fuck it." We were singing shit. We sang "Folsom Prison Blues," "Me and Bobby McGee." I tried singing "Mercedes Benz," but I slaughtered it. There was one tense moment in it all. Without warning, one of our people ran out into this parking lot, toward this young couple there. I couldn't tell what was going on at first. I quickly saw that it was a domestic abuse situation, right there in front of us. This big tough guy beating on this lady he supposedly knows. Our person ran up to him and got in his face, like "Why don't you take me on, huh?" A couple more of us ran up to join her. The guy looked tough, like he could kick all our asses if he really wanted to, but we were totally fearless, as always, and that scared him. He took off, yelling something at the lady. She appeared alright. She had a friend with her, to escort her away. They thanked us for saving the day. Not having a car, I'm a big walker. I forget that other people aren't as up for walking down the big Olympian hill and back up it. It really pooped some of the others. But it was way fun. I'd do that again any day. :D
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Oh, and in case there's any
Submitted by WallyCuddeford on Tue, 07/04/2006 - 8:44pm.That is hilarious.
Submitted by Rick on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 1:26am.Absolutely! :D
Submitted by WallyCuddeford on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 3:41am.Too fun
Submitted by Sarah on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 3:43am.Olympia loves to parade
Submitted by Crenshaw Sepulveda on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 1:43am."I would make it impossible for the covetous and avaricious to utterly impoverish the poor. The rich can take care of themselves."
^@^
Subject
Submitted by WallyCuddeford on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 3:43am.Every Sunday
Submitted by Jade on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 4:36am.They are not really political. Its mostly just kicks that they stand for. But I think they do sort of make a point of being obnoxiously disruptive to the elite neighborhood up there as they fly by, all 100 or whatever of them at 35 miles per hour in the middle of the night on Sunday.
I know that many people dislike disruption with a passion. But I can't help but be charmed by this kind of mischievous creativity. It gives me a little thrill to see people acting up. (I guess some people never grow up...)
Jade
(A Rose in the Pumpkin Patch)
"It's mostly just kicks that
Submitted by Meta Hogan on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 6:30am.Does that mean they're taking a kick-stand?
lol.
I am seriously still
Submitted by Domenica the Mouse on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 6:16am.I also don't have a problem with commercials on radio. I have a problem with Clear Channel, yes, but not radio stations that sell ads in general, like Mixx 96.1, etc. When I was a teenager, I'd say "commercials suck" and "corporate radio sucks" and it mostly does, but I am not fundamentally against commercial radio now because of the commercials, except for Clear Channel and assholes like that. I don't have a problem with the idea of advertisements, because businesses need support.
However, my main problem with commercial radio in general is some of its practices, such as the whole idea that women DJ's are rarely the authority figure on music in radio. Like on 107.7 a few nights ago, the male DJ announced the songs and the lady companion added commentary. It is almost always like that, and that bothers me. I don't like widespread uniformity on radio stations across the country, but I am in the small minority. Although, when I think about it, it makes sense to do that. If a formula works, go with it and so on.
Getting back to Air America though, have you done anything to figure out what happened so you're not announcing "tear down Air America" in the streets needlessly?
LOL, Are we still talking about Air America?
Submitted by WallyCuddeford on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 9:35am.I have never on olyblog criticized Air America's, The Eagle's, or anyone else's commercial slate. I know that media outlets that don't ask for donations and aren't publicly funded require ads to sustain themselves. I've also been raised on U.S. media, so the idea of a broadcast being divided up by little commercial segments demanding I buy crap I don't need isn't alien to me. This has nothing to do with "Corporate radio sucks," or "I hate commercials." It was, and still is, a valid, rehearsed critique.
As for my initial assault on Air America, I knowingly posted my critique without talking to them at all about it. If Air America was a person with a conscience, that definitely would have been jumping the gun, posting my critique publicly without talking to them first. But Air America is not a person. It is a big business, which is committed to doing big-businessly actions and to not reconsidering those actions for criteria other than money. I was not outrageous at all for me to assume Air America would not change just because Wally Cuddeford from Olympia, WA, was on the case. Institutions like this cannot be reasoned with. I could not talk to the owners. (In fact, even now, I cannot find out who the owners even are. It doesn't appear to be a publicly traded corporation.) In fact, when I did finally speak with a representative of the network, their method of "discussing my concers" was to try to pacify me, to make me understand that things are out of their control, without actually making any change in their system I was condemning. My follow-up critique of them was, in large part, simply a highlighting of that attitude. They wanted to make criticism go away without addressing any of the problems, much like all the other institutions they claim to oppose.
And as for what I "have against" Air America, I think the two posts still convey my beliefs. But I do appreciate the counter-critiques.
I didn't know that you had
Submitted by Domenica the Mouse on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 2:03pm.Well, I wouldn't say that I
Submitted by WallyCuddeford on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 7:25pm.And also, I'm just not interested in helping them run a better business. Just call it for what it is and let it change, stagnate, prosper, or flounder. Whatever they choose has no real impact on me.
Where do I start...
Submitted by Phil Owen on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 7:15am.mischievousness).
But is it really necessary to turn it into some kind of political action, like a march with signs? If it pisses some people off, and fails to change the minds of any others, why do it? Why not go out for fun's sake and leave politics out of it?
Not that mishief is never effective as a political tool... (try talking to Pat Tassoni, a local mastermind for the effective use of mischief), but that kind of mischief is usually carefully planned and narrowly targeted. A noisy (megaphones?!) "midnight march" affects everyone living downtown. It strikes me as highly irresponsible and counterproductive. Please don't forget that, in what is an effectively "anarchist" peace movement, the actions of each and every person reflect on the movement as a whole.
Oddly enough, we got much
Submitted by WallyCuddeford on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 9:43am.I don't intend to forcibly rob people of having a life free from the issues I think are important. But when we're talking about war, oppression and murder sponsored with our tax dollars, I shed no tears if I ruffle feathers in bringing this to light, whenever and wherever. Inconvenience is commendable.
Being awakened by midnight marchers...
Submitted by jlw on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 2:31pm.I can't say....
Submitted by Norm on Wed, 07/05/2006 - 11:04am.