Brian
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Post by Brian on Apr 2, 2021 23:00:17 GMT -8
Los Angeles County is easing pandemic restrictions next Monday, allowing restaurants to double indoor capacity to 50 percent of normal. Indoor dining resumed only three weeks ago, and it didn't result in increased traffic at the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue between 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Fridays, at least. There seemed to be more people on the sidewalks during this week's Montrose Peace Vigil but fewer vehicles, possibly because it was Good Friday. Ten regulars came to the corner. I'm happy to report that everybody has now gotten all of their Covid vaccinations. Since October 2011, we have printed and displayed every Defense Department news release announcing the deaths of soldiers, sailors and airmen in our many ongoing wars. The Pentagon reported no uniformed U.S. casualties in the previous seven days. |
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anni
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Administrating Designer
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Post by anni on Apr 3, 2021 14:30:17 GMT -8
A great snap shot by Brian! Who is the one person misbehaving? Of course it's me. "]
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Brian
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Posts: 3,790
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Post by Brian on Apr 9, 2021 23:00:12 GMT -8
 Another photo taken at the Montrose Peace Vigil on April 2, 2021.Since Monday, all retail shops can operate at full capacity in Los Angeles County, and every other kind of business in Montrose that had been closed is now open, except for the bars. It hit me when I saw little girls in tutus at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, after their lessons at Revolution Dance Center across the street. That was the first time we've seen the tiny dancers gracing the sidewalks on a warm spring evening since 2019. A lot of drivers and passengers had their windows down, so we engaged in more quick conversations with them than usual as they waited for the crosswalks to clear or as they slowly rolled by. Like last week, ten vigil stalwarts participated -- the same cast of characters with Jim replacing Bruce this week. Jim got to the corner around 4:45 p.m., so the vigil ran more than two hours. 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 many other operations underway around the world. |
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Brian
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Posts: 3,790
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Post by Brian on Apr 16, 2021 23:00:19 GMT -8
We've been waiting for nearly 20 years to hear a president announce that U.S. troops are being withdrawn from Afghanistan, so the nine regulars who came to the corner had reason to celebrate at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil. Now how about Iraq and Syria?
Traffic during the vigils has settled into a familiar pattern: lots of people out during the first hour, especially on the sidewalks, with fewer and fewer pedestrians and vehicles before the sun sets behind the Verdugo Hills.
For the 12th week in a row, the Pentagon announced no uniformed casualties.
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Post by Sharon W on Apr 16, 2021 23:39:24 GMT -8
We were a couple of minutes too late driving by on the way to pick up dinner - saw Bruce walking up Ocean View, Anni & Brian walking down and Nancy heading west on Honolulu - we waved and yelled from the car but no one heard us. Thank you again for faithfully demonstrating.Our spirits were with you but we move more slowly these days!
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Roberta
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Vigil founding member
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Post by Roberta on Apr 17, 2021 18:07:41 GMT -8
Better late than never and I was already long gone! Got invited out by another vaccinated codger couple so joined Jim for the early shift and left at 6!!! We were a couple of minutes too late driving by on the way to pick up dinner - saw Bruce walking up Ocean View, Anni & Brian walking down and Nancy heading west on Honolulu - we waved and yelled from the car but no one heard us. Thank you again for faithfully demonstrating.Our spirits were with you but we move more slowly these days! |
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Apr 23, 2021 23:00:15 GMT -8
Seems like old times: Sharon and Bill, now fully vaccinated, joined nine other fully vaccinated regulars at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil for the first time in 13 months. They started the Glendale Peace Vigil in 2002, and after that vigil ceased in 2012, they came to Montrose every week when they weren't traveling, attending concerts and participating in other actions and activism. For me, it was the first vigil that felt normal since March 2020, except for everybody wearing masks. No U. S. military deaths were reported in the previous seven days. This doesn't happen every week but it's been going on for years: On Friday, a young family stopped to ask what wars our signs were referring to. We don't just advertise for peace -- we're there to remind people that U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Africa and elsewhere, now in a fourth presidential administration. We discussed the best ways to answer those recurring questions in the rest of the February 2021 vigils thread, resulting in a new sign by Roberta pictured on this page headed "What Wars?" with clip-on names of countries where U.S. troops are engaging in hostilities. Since then, President Biden has announced the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and my "War Is Over If You Want It" sign is literally disintegrating. Instead of making another just like it, I'm going to make one based on a sign I saw in Minneapolis this week on TV: "Imagine Security Without Violence." That addresses our national military and policing sickness at the same time, and asks people to start taking action by thinking and wanting, just like my old sign said. |
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Post by Sharon W on Apr 24, 2021 21:11:39 GMT -8
It did feel like old times! Nancy Kent and Julianne Spillman started the Glendale Peace Vigil in 2002 and we joined shortly after. It was pretty emotional to see the crowds tonight on the news celebrating that President Biden has recognized the Armenian Genocide in front of Bloomingdale's at Broadway and Brand where the GPV demonstrated for peace and other progressive causes for so many years. We've met so many wonderful people protesting war over the years. Julianne was a Raging Granny too, www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-xpm-2007-01-17-gnp-grannies17-story.html |
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Brian
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Post by Brian on May 1, 2021 0:25:34 GMT -8
Record heat preceded this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, a noontime high of 93 degrees. Despite the heat, the new CDC guidelines for outdoors and the still falling Covid case numbers in Los Angeles County, most pedestrians were still wearing masks. And they seemed happier. I had my first lengthy conversations with passersby in months. Here are my tallies of vigil participants each week: - Apr. 2 - 10
- Apr. 9 - 10
- Apr. 16 - 9
- Apr. 23 - 11
- Apr. 30 - 9
This month's weekly average rounds up slightly to 10 participants, after averaging 9 in March, 8 in February, 7 in January and December, 8 in November, 10 in October, 9 in September, 11 in August, 10 in July, 14 in June, and 10 in May and April 2020. One dozen had been our average attendance for many years before the pandemic. The DoD reported the first military casualty since Biden became president on Wednesday. We posted a printout of this news release about the non-combat death in Kuwait supporting the operation in Iraq and Syria on the utility pole throughout the vigil: www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2588309/dod-identifies-army-casualty/ |
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