Vigils in March 2019

[Brian]

As much as I loathe Daylight Saving Time, I look forward to it for just one reason. After four months of protesting in the dark, we will soon be seen in daylight for the entire vigil at the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, California, where we've advertised for peace every week from 5:30 to 7 p.m. since January 2006.  Half of this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil was conducted under some modicum of daylight, and two weeks from now everybody will be able to read our signs.

Two of our greatest stalwarts were out of town, but turnout was close to average.  Eleven regulars came to the comer.

Since October 2011, we have displayed every Defense Department news release announcing the deaths of soldiers, sailors and airmen in our unconstitutional wars during the vigils. The Pentagon reported no uniformed casualties in the previous seven days.

[Brian]

After this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, the last one governed by standard time, Anni put the bag of candles in storage for another eight months.  The cold weather -- and reduced traffic -- persists.  Southern California hasn't had one day since January when the temperature hit 70 degrees.

Thirteen regulars came to the corner this week.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the deaths of two soldiers "as a result of a non-combat related incident." Stars and Stripes reported that they died in a truck accident in Kuwait, where another soldier was injured. A printout of this Pentagon news release was displayed on the utility pole throughout the vigil:

dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1778828/dod-identifies-army-casualties/

[Brian]

Temperatures in the 70's returned to this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, as did the throngs of pedestrians and the many honking, waving, peace-signing motorists passing by.

Pastor Steve and daughter Susie came to the corner because of the news from New Zealand.  They stood with ten vigil regulars.

In the previous seven days, the Department of Defense reported no military deaths in Operation Freedom's Sentinel in Afghanistan, Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria or in any of the other U.S. operations underway around the world.

[Brian]

That's Louisa with Jeanne and Nancy playing guitars -- all of whom were standing up at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil -- as seen almost exactly ten years ago at our tribute to the first Bed-In by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Amsterdam on its 40th anniversary.  We brought an air mattress, bedding and a headboard to the corner, staying an hour later than usual because passersby enjoyed the sight and we were having so much fun.  In May 2009, we did it again for the 40th anniversary of John and Yoko's second Bed-In in Montreal, the more famous event, where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance" in the hotel room with the likes of Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsburg and Tommy Smothers on guitar.

Nancy brought signs from our Bed-Ins to mark the 50th anniversary of Amsterdam, including her replicas of the "Bed Peace" and "Hair Peace" signs that John and Yoko displayed above their bed. Anni and I have a photo of that in our living room.

A dozen regulars demonstrated this week.

The Pentagon announced no U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria or anywhere else in the previous seven days.

[Sharon W]

It's really hard to believe it's been 50 years.

[Brian]

The 40th anniversary of John and Yoko's May 1969 Bed-In as observed in Montrose, Calif.

I think it's safe to say that nothing John Lennon and Yoko Ono did during their five years of advertising for peace captured more attention worldwide than the Bed-Ins.  Almost everybody knows their songs today -- "Imagine," "Give Peace a Chance" and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." Yet many seem to have forgotten the Bed-Ins, if they're old enough, or never heard about them if they're younger than 60. Nancy brought back her signs from our two re-creations of the Bed-Ins in 2009 to this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil -- which coincided with the first week-long Bed-In -- and we got questions about what they meant from passersby.  The Glendale News-Press ran an article with photos about that March 2009 Bed-In, long since deleted from the newspaper's website, but Yoko's Imagine Peace website reproduced it for its archives.  You can still read the article, "A Message Reimagined," if you scroll past the empty boxes where the photos used to be:

imaginepeace.com/archives/5782

Here are my tallies of each week's participants in March:

• Mar. 1 - 11
• Mar. 8 - 13
• Mar. 15 - 12
• Mar. 22 - 12
• Mar. 29 - 13

I don't need a calculator this month. The weekly average was 12, the same as February, January and December, after averaging 13 demonstrators in November and October, 10 in September, 13 in August, 11 in July, 14 in June, 13 in May and 12 in April. Last March, the vigils averaged 10 participants per week.

We posted a printout of last Saturday's news release by the Department of Defense announcing the deaths of two soldiers in combat in Afghanistan:

dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1793765/dod-identifies-army-casualties/