And by weekend, I mean six days...

So I made it home safe and all from that crazy RNC, glad to say I lived to tell about it. And that I didn't get arrested. I'd like to thank my overpreparedness for that. So here goes...

Thursday
I headed down on Thursday, not to go to any actions but to go to this Wes networking event. Well, it turned out to be an "ivy league social," which is a fancy way of saying an elitist party at a bar. It was lots of people from other schools with jobs chatting and knowing each other, and a bunch of unemployed Wes04 people who got the CRC email, who had gone hoping to find jobs. Oops.

Friday
Hung out in the NJ with KP and RC. It was pretty initials-tastic. Went to the Home Depot and got drumsticks. Had amazing bbq and homemade pasta sauce dinner. The carbo-loading started early.

Saturday
Saw Andrea! It had been 3 years... so that was exciting. We went to Central Park, which was surprising like the HIll in May. Then headed over to student rally dealie and sat around in hot sticky for a bit. Went back to bsom's and made another carbo-tastic dinner in preparation for the next day's musical blow-striking.

Sunday Sunday Sunday
UFPJ march! Started at Wes meet-up, which consisted of those coming from bsom's apt, TMQ and VJR, and two Sabahots alums. Went over to the youth/student staging area, or whatever, and began drumming and such. Some other youths had a bullhorn and some pretty cool chants and stuff. So then we did the usual SAMBAHOTS deal, only with far fewer drummers than usual. But we did have a real agogo thanks to Snorr. Then we picnic-ed in the park, activist style. Meaning... not much, except we had the drums with us still, and there were tons of other activists there too. Then we had bsom's famous tofu--woot!--and then some blue and some beer. Well, technically it was all beer, but the blue was flavored like blue hawaiian. Oh and this cool kid came who i'd only known by reputation as he's from santa cruz.

Monday
March for Our Lives. Unpermitted, but fairly free of incident. Then this kid got dragged to an arrest wagon right in front of us. I mean, he walked, but also was forcibly removed from the march by cops. It wasn't so much a march, actually, as a walk down the middle of the street next to some friendly New York's Finest. Ok that's a lie. It was a march, but it was flanked by a solid single-file line of the po-po. We even saw a police critical mass, but it was far less massive, and they didn't all get arrested. On three separate occasions throughout the weekend. At the end it got dicey when we found ourselves in a pen full of people somewhat angry that the march had been broken in half by moped cops. So we played some frisbee, and then left just as some riot-geared police entered the pen. I don't think many people were arrested, but we were glad to be gone by then. Dinner, chillness, bed.

Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday
aka a31.
Not wanting to join the other 1100 arrested, we opted to go to the Code Pink Fox News Shut Up-athon. Peaceful Protestor buttons in hand (or, in bag), we went over to Fox News HQ and yelled at them to "Shut the Fox Up." Pretty cool. I didn't realize at the time, but apparently Medea Benjamin got arrested. The important thing is, KP BSom and I didn't get arrested. And we got to tell Fox to shut up, which was fun.
Then I went home, and today I've been checking the stories and hearing about my friends getting arrested. I'd love updates, if people know anything... email or call.

Here's to some wonderful blow-striking, even if it didn't reach the point of state-smashing, as the pink anarchists from north carolina might have liked. and plenty of other people =)