Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,794
|
Post by Brian on Jan 6, 2011 0:00:25 GMT -8
Members of Montrose Peace Vigil at a march and rally in downtown Los Angeles, October 2007.And all but two of the nine people pictured still show up regularly on the corner in Montrose. Nobody could know when Roberta took a stand by herself with a sign on Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in January 2006 -- Nancy was the first to join her minutes later -- that an average of more than a dozen folks would come to the vigils every week since. But nobody then wanted to imagine that United States soldiers would still be dying in Afghanistan and Iraq five years later, with no true end in sight. This month we're talking about marking our anniversary with a dinner and maybe a party. Meanwhile, we hope that you'll consider dropping by the corner any Friday between 5:30 and 7 p.m. We will be there.
|
|
Roberta
Member
Vigil founding member
Posts: 1,030
|
Post by Roberta on Jan 7, 2011 13:14:20 GMT -8
Members of Montrose Peace Vigil at a march and rally in downtown Los Angeles, October 2007.And all but two of the nine people pictured still show up regularly on the corner in Montrose. I just can't see this picture too many times, thanks Brian and Anni!!! And ANSWER is still active getting the many who oppose these unending, unstrategic, wars to make a public, visible statement. Mark your calendar, MPV can assemble again -- I still have the M-O-N-T-R-O-S-E letterset! www.answercoalition.org/la/events/march-19-los-angeles-protest-1.htmlThat first Friday I remember so clearly getting off the UCLA van at about 5pm at the park 'n ride and picking up coffee, to wake me up from my van coma, and to kill time til 5:30. I had my anti-war sign (signs?) in the Prius, knowing I couldn't go home first, for fear I would chicken out. We've all stood alone there for a few on Fridays til comrades arrived, but that Friday Nancy was right on time, having seen my posting from Progressive Democrats of America or maybe gotten an email from them, since it was their organizing effort which originally got me out there. It was marking some dreadful milestone, maybe 1,000 or 2,000 (U.S. military only of course) dead in Iraq. The rest, as they say, is history there at the corner! We have hitched our wagon to other organizing stars, like MoveOn.org, over the years, but really from the beginning most recruits have been people who saw us there and joined on the spot, or came back on another Friday. Despite the not-so warm welcome from some segments of the local business community, we represent the best of Montrose in exercising our civil rights (really responsibilities, to me) there.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,794
|
Post by Brian on Jan 8, 2011 0:11:35 GMT -8
Everything was pretty much back to normal on the corner for the first vigil of 2011. It wasn't raining and it wasn't too cold. Long lines of vehicles idled behind the stoplights. The sidewalks were crowded with shoppers, dog walkers and lots of kids. And 13 of us peaceniks showed up, the most for a month. Even the counter-protesters were back across the street after a three-week absence.
Thanks to Roberta and Jeanne, who walked the Montrose Christmas Parade route one more time with two of the Peace Train panels from Roberta's garage -- they made a beautiful and effective display of who we are, why we're there and what we do. Next week, there will be a get together right after the regular Friday evening vigil to mark our fifth anniversary and observe Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
|
|
|
Post by Jeanne on Jan 8, 2011 10:13:11 GMT -8
Next week, there will be a get together right after the regular Friday evening vigil to mark our fifth anniversary and observe Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Hi Peaceniks, As a way to observe MLK's Birthday and MPV's 5th anniversary of standing for peace, I am inviting friends from the corner to come to my house after next Friday's vigil. There will be soup, bread, beer, wine, soft drinks, and whatever people want to add to that. You are also invited to bring a musical instrument, song, favorite quote from MLK, or Montrose memory. We would prefer that the wars had ended by now, but they haven't. So let us at least celebrate our willingness to speak and act and to find courage and comfort in each other's company. Peace and Love, Jeanne
|
|
anni
Administrator
Administrating Designer
Posts: 1,607
Member is Online
|
Post by anni on Jan 10, 2011 9:37:26 GMT -8
I'm thinking a couple of roasted chickens from Sam's Club. I'll pick them up just before the Vigil keeping them in the giant heat pack sack I got there a month ago! This is going to be fun!
|
|
Roberta
Member
Vigil founding member
Posts: 1,030
|
Post by Roberta on Jan 11, 2011 14:57:09 GMT -8
I'm bring beer and deviled eggs!
Thanks Jeanne for giving us food, context (MLK) and content (the wars that haven't ended) and a warm and wonderful place to gather.
|
|
|
Post by Jeanne on Jan 11, 2011 17:46:54 GMT -8
I'm bring beer and deviled eggs! Thanks Jeanne for giving us food, context (MLK) and content (the wars that haven't ended) and a warm and wonderful place to gather. Mmm. Chicken and eggs. Menu is taking form. As is music. Forrest mentioned bringing his keyboard.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,794
|
Post by Brian on Jan 15, 2011 1:50:36 GMT -8
A passerby took this photo of some of us who marched on Hollywood Boulevard last March.Friday, we started celebrating our fifth anniversary of weekly gatherings on the corner of Ocean View and Honolulu in Montrose -- and a weekend devoted to the work of Martin Luther King Jr. -- with yet another peace vigil, attended by 11 of our regulars and blessed by beautiful weather and brisk traffic. Thanks to Jeanne for hosting the greatest anniversary party imaginable afterwards.
|
|
|
Post by Sharon W on Jan 15, 2011 10:43:59 GMT -8
Happy Anniversary! I love the photos too.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,794
|
Post by Brian on Jan 22, 2011 0:52:12 GMT -8
For five years, I notice something different every Friday on the corner at the Montrose Peace Vigil. This week, it seemed to me, we were getting fewer honks from the passing cars, trucks and buses but a lot more positive hand gestures from those inside -- peace signs, thumbs up and all kinds of waves. The weather was beautiful, as were the stalwarts who came to advertise for peace: - Jan. 7 - 13
- Jan. 14 - 11
- Jan. 21 - 9
Keeping track of our attendance never explains who we are, what happens or how it feels to be there, but I do it anyway. The average for our fifth anniversary month so far is one person more than December and one fewer than the average for 2010. Our numbers used to be boosted by spontaneous participants, especially teenagers. But lately, all of the faces are familiar. Bless the two dozen or so folks who keep coming back to stand for peace and justice every week in the middle of Montrose Shopping Park.
|
|