December vigils 2012

[anni]

We were parading around on the Peace Train last Saturday, December 1st! Just to keep hope alive...and keep our adorable engine in mind...we'll be flaunting it this Friday, 12/07/12! Check us out just before the parade:

[Brian]

One of these three remaining Fridays in December, Roberta and Jeanne will bring the front panel of the Peace Train to the corner for a Montrose Peace Vigil, and Anni will post a photo or two here.

This week, Anni and I went first to the Glendale Peace Vigil at the southwest corner of Broadway and Brand early, getting there before Henry, Nancy K. and Marcel arrived around 5 p.m. We left at 5:30, but with the unusually heavy traffic near the freeway in downtown Glendale, didn't make it to Montrose until 6.

We found Roberta alone with her bag of signs. Then, almost simultaneously, our newest regular Nancy, Bruce, Mike and Nancy H. showed up. So our total attendance this Friday was seven. Montrose Peace Vigil has had no spontaneous participants since November 2. But we are seeing more Nancys.

Every week, I compile and Anni posts the military death announcements by the Department of Defense on the light pole on the corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose during the vigil. Three more men have left us. You can log in and view our posting in this PDF attachment:

Attachments:

[Sharon W]

We didn't make it to Broadway & Brand till about 5:40 so we missed you Brian and Anni! Two teenaged girls from Atwater joined us and then Moe so all toll we had 10 participants albeit no more than 8 at one time. The girls said they'd be back next week. Henry passed out all 150 of his reprints of Andrew Cockburn's LA Times op-ed piece on defense budget cuts by 6:30 so plans to make 200 copies of whatever he decides to share the next couple of weeks. There is more pedestrian traffic during holiday shopping season I guess. We also decided to celebrate the Solstice by going to BJ's for dinner and/or drinks after the vigil on 12/21. We'd love to have anyone who wants to venture down to flatland Glendale join us!

[Brian]

Dec 8, 2012 11:00:52 GMT -8 Sharon W said:

We also decided to celebrate the Solstice by going to BJ's for dinner and/or drinks after the vigil on 12/21. We'd love to have anyone who wants to venture down to flatland Glendale join us!

Thank you for the invitation, Sharon! Since you posted, I've been thinking about going. But now my work week is shaping up like Afghanistan, where there's no hope of an early withdrawal, especially on the 21st. I'll feel beat up, though nothing compared to our troops.

It's sad, because I had a great time dining with the Glendale Peace Vigil regulars at BJ's after they had a special Saturday vigil on January 2, 2010, which was a smart choice. Foot and wheel traffic was virtually nonexistent when Montrose Peace Vigil gathered on New Year's Day. That holiday weekend, I got to attend a vigil that was seen, then enjoy some good pizza and ale.

[Roberta]

Dec 3, 2012 17:40:25 GMT -8 anni said:

We were parading around on the Peace Train last Saturday, December 1st! Just to keep hope alive...and keep our adorable engine in mind...we'll be flaunting it next Friday, 12/21/12! Check us out just before the parade:

I haven't checked out the city of Glendale website yet -- too busy hanging with Corah! -- but there is this:

www.crescentavalleyweekly.com/news/12/13/2012/parade-viewing-now-on-charter/

[Brian]

I notice much lighter traffic when it's cold, especially after 6:30 p.m. This Friday, a teacher came over, offering to buy everyone a drink from Starbucks -- she had just received a $50 gift card -- but she didn't drink coffee and she wanted to thank us for being on the corner every week. So I have to count her as a Montrose Peace Vigil participant this Friday. We had a total of ten with a maximum of eight at one time.

The promised rain arrived just as we finished the vigil at 7 p.m.

The first man on this week's compilation of the Pentagon death announcements is the Navy Seal who died saving the physician in Afghanistan, as you've no doubt heard. This is the PDF of what we posted:

Attachments:

[Sharon W]

It was very cold at Broadway & Brand last night but Nancy was there with her signs and Henry was handing out the War Resister's League pie chart when we arrived a little after 5 pm. Moe joined us about an hour later and one young woman came by to find out what we were all about. She said she was from Iran and worked nearby and would join us when she could. Not much foot traffic so I guess the shoppers were all inside.

Brian, it would be fun to see you on Solstice night but understand it's hard enough to get to one vigil much less two. We'll hoist a glass to the Montrose Vigil while at BJ's!

[Brian]

Although the temperature hardly climbed this Friday, the turnout for Montrose Peace Vigil has all month:

• Dec. 7 - 7
  
• Dec. 14 - 10
  
• Dec. 21 - 12
  

A pedestrian named Ray, bearing a harmonica, stopped to talk and wound up leading us in singing some Christmas carols. We gathered around the front panel of the Peace Train that we marched Dec. 1 in the Montrose Christmas Parade. Thanks to Roberta and Jeanne for carrying the five-foot tall canvas painting down Honolulu Avenue and back again, one more time, so we could display it.

Attached is the PDF file of the Defense Department's death announcements that we posted on the corner:

Attachments:

[Sharon W]

GPV was half your number. Nancy, Henry, Moe, Marcel, Bill and I were at Broadway & Brand at various times between 5 and 7 pm. Then Nancy, Henry, Bill and I went to BJ's to celebrate the Solstice with dry Manhattans (Henry) and beers for the rest of us - plus good food. No end of the world so we'll be back on the 28th to promote peace yet again.

[anni]

Yes, here we are Vigiling the next to the last Vigil of 2012...don't we look Festivus?



Other outstanding Vigilers: