Vigils in October 2021

[Brian]

After this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, there are only five more weeks before Daylight Saving Time ends.  Already, the middle patch of grass on the corner -- which the sun blasted a month ago -- is entirely in shade by the vigil's 5:30 start time.  The official L.A. sunset was 6:37 but the sun sank behind the Verdugo Hills around 6:10 where we stood.  It was almost dark by quitting time at 7.  We will have to break the candles out of storage soon.

Vigil turnout remains high, a little better than our weekly average of a dozen peaceniks before the pandemic.  This week 14 regulars came to the corner.

Since October 2011, we have printed and displayed every Defense Department news release announcing the deaths of soldiers, Marines, sailors and Airmen in our many ongoing military operations around the world.  The Pentagon reported no uniformed U.S. casualties in the previous seven days.

[Brian]

Two years ago, hundreds of Glendale citizens took to the streets for clean energy and the city council agreed, directing Glendale Water and Power to come back with new options to reduce the burning of natural gas at the Grayson power plant.  That never happened.  Instead, GWP recently issued a new draft plan for the same amount of gas they asked for in 2018 just as the rest of California is planning to retire all natural gas plants.  In the photo above taken at last Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, Roberta stands next to her vintage sign from the Glendale Environmental Coalition, which she updated with AGAIN.  Here's the link to GEC's Stop Grayson action page:

gec.eco/stopgrayson/

[Brian]

From 16 years of experience, I could tell that traffic on the sidewalks was going to be light when I arrived at this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil and found nearly all of the parking spots on Ocean View Boulevard empty.  I attribute that to the weather.  It actually rained in the early morning hours, leaving a chill the rest of the day.

Anni brought the candles this week.  For various reasons, this vigil had our lowest turnout since May 14, eight regulars.  So let's name them in order of appearance:  me, Jim, Anni, Russell, Jeanne, John B., Sharon and Bill.

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

[Roberta]

Correction to item above re our clean energy at Grayson campaign. The “partially recirculated” draft EIR — yes, their obscure and verbose vocabulary is one of their tactics — calls for less, not the same amount of gas burning, along with equipment to burn it. Do go to [gec.eco/stop grayson] for more info. Glendale residents/GWP electricity customers are needed to apply pressure on them to go clean!

[Brian]

This Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil was a contrast to last week's.  The weather was warm.  There were no empty parking spots on the street, and lots of pedestrians passed us, predominantly teenagers.

And a near average 11 vigil regulars came to the corner, only six of whom demonstrated at last week's vigil.  In order of appearance:  Jim, me, Anni, Rosalind, Jeanne, Terry, Nancy, John the Realtor, Frannie, Bill and Sharon.

No U. S. military deaths were reported in the previous seven days.

[Sharon W]

And the little al fresco dinning spot in front of Big Mama and Papas Pizza has been removed.

[Brian]

Three of our greatest vigil stalwarts -- cofounder Roberta, Bruce and Justeen -- returned from their trips out of town in time for this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, helping to bring our attendance to 15 total participants.  We were joined by Jim, who owns an electronics store in Burbank, for the first time.  Bruce told him about our weekly demonstration going back to 2006 so Jim decided drive up here and check it out.  He came around 5:30 and stayed nearly to 7.  All of us were glad to meet Jim and we hope he comes back.  Meanwhile, my laptop needs a new battery and I've been looking for a reason to go to Burbank.

Now for the traffic and weather together:  brisk and cool, with very few empty parking spaces and the temperature in the low 60's.

For the eighth week in a row, the Pentagon reported no U.S. casualties.

[Brian]

The San Gabriel Mountains were still bright orange at the start of this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil, but at the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, the sun had already slipped behind the Verdugo Hills in the west.  Soon the strings of white lights wrapped around every tree in the shopping park helped to illuminate us. After next week's vigil, we will enter our 17th season of standing for peace and justice in the dark during standard time.

Since 2008, I've counted every demonstrator and vigil regular who comes to the corner.  My tallies for October 2021:

• Oct. 1 - 14
• Oct. 8 - 8
• Oct. 15 - 11
• Oct. 22 - 15
• Oct. 29 - 13

This month's weekly average rounds down to 12 participants, after averaging 22 in September and 30 in August (when we were joined by anti-recall demonstrators), 11 in July, 17 in June, 11 in May, 10 in April, 9 in March, 8 in February, 7 in January and December, 8 in November and 10 in October 2020. Twelve peaceniks was our average attendance for many years before the pandemic.

The Department of Defense reported no casualties in the previous seven days.

[Sharon W]

We stopped by for only a short time so we could get home watch the live stream of the Dead & Company show at the Hollywood Bowl. The first audience video from the show I found is of a song with an anti war theme.

Excerpt of the lyrics:

Standing on the moon
I see the battle rage below
Standing on the moon
I see the soldiers come and go
There's a metal flag beside me
Someone planted long ago
Old Glory standing stiffly
Crimson, white and indigo - indigo

I see all of Southeast Asia
I can see El Salvador
I hear the cries of children
And the other songs of war
It's like a mighty melody
That rings down from the sky
Standing here upon the moon
I watch it all roll by - all roll by

[Sharon W]

Sorry the video got removed, I understand Nugs TV needs to protect their revenue stream! Here's their YouTube channel with the "order full show" teasers for the whole D & C tour, they have the first song of the first set. They hired old famous deadheads Gary Lambert and David Gans to do a preview starting at the announced show time until the band actually starts. They also entertain with guests during the set break, the "Dead Air" videos, those contain the first song of the second set. As you can see there are lots of other options and bands available. We're really enjoying the live streams, their camera people are great at showimg the musicians hands and interplay between band members.

www.youtube.com/user/nugsnet/videos