DNC Day 4

Got *some* sleep last nite.

Spent the first part of the day doing some small volunteer
work in places & then going to meet Jan's cousin in order to
recover our luggage (we had left some at his farm and didn't
expect to go back out there until later in the week).

Well after lunch (we're getting real familiar with travelling on "The T"
(Boston's rail system/subway) we got back late for a meeting at which
Dennis spoke to all the volunteers here (I think it is around 200+,
seems that way when we're all together in the "atrium" area).


Although we came in at the end of the meeting, I got to hear
some impassioned thanks from fellow Kucinich volunteers, and then
Dot Maven (main campaign coordinator) thanked all of us again
for all the hard work and reminded us again that this is a *movement*,
not just a political campaign.

At the end of the meeting a gal in the balcony (you'll have to see the
pix, I shot 140 today(!)) offered a song to Dennis via her guitar:
"Imagine" by John Lennon (I know you old-timers know what this
is, but some of the "younger readers" might not :-)).

All of us in the room started joining in, and at the end we had
linked arms (including Dennis) and shed more than a few tears.

Very moving.

I found out later that this was completely spontaneous (this from the
volunteers, staff, and even the lady who played the guitar).

That made the moment all that more special. I can't emphasize
enough how wonderful this group is. Just like our folks back home,
when things need to be done they just *get done* by whomever happens
to be around.

This is such a powerful feeling, to know that you're among others
who are passionately dedicated, deeply principled, and
completely committed to positive non-violent change.

A few hours later Dennis spoke to a crowd of ~200 or so at the
Jamaican People's Party (all Delegates had DNC-sponsored parties
today, so local Boston folk decided to sponsor one "for the people").

After Dennis' speech the BackBone Campaign came up (see
previous blog entry) and asked for volunteers for the "Backbone
Puppet".

A bunch of us climbed the hill (this was too good to pass up) and
there was a 200-foot "backbone" made of about 50 individual lumbar
pieces of cloth with poles beneath each.

Once all the lumbar poles were in place, we had a 100-foot
backbone in the air (I was lumbar #10, as I counted from the front).

One amusing (for me, anyway) feature of the pole support was
the use of a eceptacle that was secured to each
of us by means of a belt. The bamboo pole end was placed
in the receptacle hole and that helped distribute the weight
off of our arms.

My problem: the belt was pulling my shorts down :-( And there
was no way to hand off the pole to someone else wiithout
stopping the backbone.

I made it to the end ... but it was a funny sight and mildly
embarrassing to think what might have happened had my
shorts come off. No one commented and I'm pretty sure
my T-shirt covered my underwear but ...

Anyway ...

We proceeded to march about 10 blocks while singing slogans
like:

"John Kerry get tough/Bush-lite ain't good enough!"
"Dem bones dem bones dem BACK bones (repeat 3 times),
now here's how to change the world"

There was a crowd of about (again guesstimate) 300 people who
trailed behind the backbone with signs & slogans.

Very exhausting, but a huge amount of fun.

Some notes:

1) There were about 50-60 police on motorcycles who were
at the gathering; some number of them ran interference for us
as we wended our way through the streets.

Absolutely no incidents whatsoever (although we were told
to stay on the sidewalks, and sometimes the "backbone"
almost got stuck in some trees).

The police were very professional and courteous, and
we all tried to wave and yell our thanks for a peaceful
demonstration.

2) At one point of the march, there was concrete (the street) to the
right of the BB, and on the left were some little hilly fields
fileld with flowers). This prompted a chant of "flowers on the left"
by many of us manning the BB.

3) A helicopter was hovering just above us for about 4 blocks. We
couldn't tell if it was security or a news helicopter; we *hoped*
it was a news helicopter 'cuz they got great shots of us
weaving back and forth with the backbone.

Some security notes:

1) Emily, the 80+ mountaineer/environmentalist/journalist I
mentioned in previous postings accidentally dropped her
walking stick on the tracks after getting off a train.

We waited until the train had left and then decided (wisely) to
contact the MTA (Mass Transit Authority) police to help us
retrieve the cane.

Once we got the attention of the MTA (mostly by waving
our arms at guard down the tracks) both an MTA policeman
AND about 6 military-garbed MPs quickly converged on the
spot (at first they weren't sure what was happpening).

We quickly explained the situation and they calmed down
a bit and retrieved the cane.

They (the MPs) were carrying rifles.

Once the cane was recovered they left quickly to their
next post.

The speed and efficiency of the MTA + MP response was
very impressive. And they were completely professional
and courteous in the performance of their duties.

2) On a diffferent (sour) note, we saw some MTAs and MPs (again,
in military garb) do a quick arrest of a man in the tunnels between
the Red and Green lines of the subway.

He seemed to have unkempt long white hair and beard and, as
far as we could tell, was holding a soft drink in his hand.

He was surrounded by the MTA and MPs and was quickly
shuffled off out of view. I didn't see any particular evidence
of any wrongdoing on his part, but he did appear somewhat
scruffy (so did we after hiking around the non-A/C subway
stations).

Soooo is dress / haircut style a crime?

Trying to be fair, something may have happened before we got
there, but again it is chilling and reminder to be *very* careful
to be courteous and non-confrontive at all times in all venues.

We wrapped up the night with a visit to an outstanding Blues
bar in Cambridge recommended by Jan's cousin Steve. Turns out
he knows the musicians and the proprietors of the place; he
has a lot of them out to his farm on a regular basis to jam
in the barn (which will eventually have a recording studio
in it).

All 4 now. Still working on where to post my pix (about 300 so far).

Charlie