Mar. 22nd, 2008

arontius: (Default)
.....Just before the Movie Previews yesterday TBT and I attended the Costumer's Death Match. The Secret Ingredient ( a la Iron Chef)???!!!! Trash Bags and Duct Tape. :-) Each group was made up of three costumers, who each could bring up to $8.00 worth of material to add to the pool. None of them knew before the Deathmatch what exactly could be found in the grab bag given to them. They had a little over an hour to design and construct said garment.

.....One side was led by Mistress Melusine, with WendyLady as the Manequin...

.....

.....And on the other side, led by .... well, I'm not sure exactly who, but here is what they did...

.....

.....I'll let you guess who walked out of there alive...:-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.
arontius: (Default)
.....Greetings All,

.....I have a friend whom I met whilst on Vision Quest a handful of years back. She lives in Santa Rosa, California, and works as a Counselor, amongst other things. She has an extensive history in activism and is quite an inspiration to me. I've been following along with the plight of the Tibetans in China and wishing there was more that I could do than just write e-mails and hope for the best. I wish sometimes that I was more like Linda below and felt the need to be more civally disobedient. Maybe some day my need to better the world will be stronger than my need to pay the bills and play in the SCA...

.....Way to go, Linda...

"I just keep thinking that I need to share with you my experience of engaging in civil disobedience (CD), so that's what I'm doing. Last Wednesday when I got arrested in San Francisco as part of an action to honor the five year anniversary of when the US started bombing Baghdad, I found it to be great fun. And that has been my experience other times that I have engaged in CD as well. I find myself wishing that everyone would get to know how fun it is and then more people might do it, thus having more impact. Maybe it is unique to me, but I get a real high off of doing it and my inner adolescent has a blast. It's like doing something subversive or "naughty," but getting to feel totally righteous about it. Depending on what actions you get involved in, there is some risk involved, but I feel like it is much healthier for me and the world (from my perspective) than not doing it.

Let me say a few things about my experience last Wed. in an attempt to convey the joy of it. First of all before the action, I was just standing on the corner of Montgomery and Market with a sign that said NO BLOOD FOR OIL watching other protesters and non-protesters walk by. Many people took my picture, including a woman from the San Francisco Examiner. And I was interviewed by two radio stations (KQED and KPFA for you local people who know them). I heard from two community members the next day that a bit of my interview got onto NPR. Cool!

Then what we did was a "die in" to represent all the Iraqis and USAmerican military who have been killed in the Iraq occupation. At noon, those of us who were "risking arrest" made our way through the line of police and laid down in the middle of the intersection as if dead. The first few carried a cardboard box coffin covered with a flag and flowers and that was placed in the center. The police, who were lining the intersection let us remain there for longer than I expected. And the sun broke through the San Francisco fog while we were lying there. When the police started arresting us, they were totally polite, kind, and gentle. I had a great time talking with my two arresting officers. We talked about who we were voting for and our work and I even got to describe what we do on peace teams providing a sense of security without weapons. As part of the procedures of this arrest, I got my picture taken with one of the cops and I knew it was going to be a great picture, but it was a Polaroid and was taking a long time to develop. The cop who was holding the picture started to stall in order to give me a chance to see the picture when another police woman was waiting to take me away to the vehicle that was to carry me to the jail.

They held us in a pen for several hours and that wasn't much fun, but I must tell you about one comment spoken by one woman in the pen. She was reflecting on how great it had been to lie down in the middle of the intersection. She said, "You know, that's a view of San Francisco you'd never get otherwise."

As far as I can remember, this is the first time that I've gotten a citation with a court date and it happens to be a day when I'm out of town, but there is a lawyer's guild who will represent us in court and most likely the charges will be dropped. I have never been held for more than a few hours, but the possibility of getting locked up for longer is one of the risks that are involved. Another risk is that I might get caught in a violent confrontation, because not all police are as kind as these were, but I always enjoy interacting with the officers as human beings who are just doing their job--just like I'm just doing my job.

Love, Linda."

.....Good Luck, Linda. I'm sending you all the good will I can. You are an inspiration.

.....Aaron.

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