25th Anniversary of Peace Park vigil yesterday

Hi everyone,

I want to thank everyone who joined Prop 1 at the 25th Anniversary of the Peace Park vigil out in Lafayette Park yesterday. I know it meant a lot to Ellen and Thomas.

There were a lot of warm wishes from the community of activists who have been supportive of Prop 1 and Peace Park in their efforts to take us out of the nuclear age. It was well worth the sunburn I got that afternoon.

DAWN stayed out there all night. We banged drums, at first with some of the Rhythm Workers and Guerrilla Poets, and then we banged them on our own and with accompaniment by a screeching set of instruments, including an oboe, a clarinet, a saxophone, and a recorder. The police gave us absolutely no trouble, even as we paraded and stood (often without moving) right in front of the White House for a couple of hours singing, dancing, and making noise. When we wore out and retreated with Thomas and some others staying out there with us (including Pete Petropoulos and his two children), another large group came out there around 2 PM and went right back out to the White House to bang drums intermittently until 4 AM.

Ultimately, 8 people and Thomas made it the entire night before Ellen kindly came back to bring us some breakfast. We cleaned up, helped Thomas and Ellen pack up the platform built for yesterday, and I made it home not too long before 7 AM.

I'd thought I might be asleep all day, but I feel warm from the experience (or is that the heat emitting from my sunburn?) So, I'm going to go right back out today and join the South Koreans in solidarity with their protests of the potential US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement that's being negotiated this week. They'll be going right back to the White House like so many have, and I'll be curious what their reaction will be to the vigil that's inspired so many over the past 25 years.

Jim