Pleonastic Ephemera

8.29.2004 posted by William 17:58 link

Today I participated in the massive United for Peace and Justice march through Manhattan. I joined Christian, Jackie, and Lightshow at 19th St and 7th Ave, where we stood for a while. Then we moved a little. Then we stood for a while. This is how it went for the next three hours, as we moved at the leisurely pace of about 1 block every 15 minutes. Despite the hot sun beating on our backs, it was a good time because the mood was jubilant and friendly, and there was an endless array of different signs, puppets, and sculptures to look at. The march filled 7th Ave as far as the eye could see, and feeder groups filled the side streets. Many people who live on 7th Ave had banners or signs in their windows, or were leaning out to watch, and would cheer and wave. The march proceeded slowly but steadily uptown to the Garden, where the convention is to be held. There was a mass booing of a hotel that had a "Welcome RNC" sign and a mass booing (and worse) of a Fox News billboard. The march moved slowly and we were in front of the Garden for a while. After a chant died down, I saw to my right a number of people with black bandanas covering the lower half of their faces run through the crowd. I knew something was up, and sure enough suddenly the realization that the cargo van-sized papier mache green dragon in the middle of the street was on fire spread through the crowd. I was about 15 feet from it, and I backed away with everyone else, but the flames grew so quickly that even as I moved farther I felt more heat. The crowd did not panic, as I think everyone realized the fire wasn't going to spread, but everyone wanted to get off the street. The police started lifting the barricades that kept us on the street and off the sidewalk so we could exit and they kept us moving down the block while the dragon got toasted. That was the end of the march for us. I was hungry (hadn't eaten before leaving the apartment that morning) and smelly (nor showered) and getting sunburned, plus there wasn't any obvious way to rejoin the march since the police had blocked the intersection and told us to keep going on down 34th Street. So we split up and I headed back home as best I could. I saw a guy spread out on the hood of a police cruiser being handcuffed, for what I don't know, on my way back, and there were cops manning every intersection all the way over to Park Ave. I ran into Mike and Marie outside of my building and joined them for a late BBQ lunch and a beer. I think I'm going to take it easy tonight. Here are some photos of the dragon burning.