Welcome to the Montrose Peace Vigil message board

[Brian]

This is the latest page introducing the Montrose Peace Vigil message board to new visitors. Guests are welcome to reply to any page or create a thread -- you do not have to log in or register to post on this site.

Thirteen of the 16 participants at the Montrose Peace Vigil on June 9, 2017.

Montrose Peace Vigil started in January 2006 -- and we haven't missed a week on the corner since. If you can't visit us in person at the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, CA 91020 between 5:30 and 7 p.m. on any Friday, we'd love to hear from you here, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

When I started this message board in 2008, forums like this were already becoming antiquated.  But I'm sticking with it.  Unlike a website, even those with comments sections, everybody can contribute here on an equal footing.  Just like the corner.

Perhaps your best introduction to the message board is the link below.  Recent Posts is the only place where the ten latest posts from different threads are displayed -- with the most recent post first.  If you want to read more about a topic, click on the blue title of the post to open that thread.

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/posts/recent

[Brian]

Montrose Peace Vigil occupies the corner of Ocean View and Honolulu on July 28, 2017.

"Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register." Those words ride on top of every ProBoards forum. But, as I mentioned, the Montrose Peace Vigil message board allows guests to read everything and post anywhere.  Still, there are advantages in being a member -- among them, you will never need to type another CAPTCHA, and you can always edit your posts.

Because spammers flock to message boards like this, Anni and I had to set up a registration approval process in 2013 to save us a lot of time removing their advertisements.  After you register, you might have to wait up to 12 hours, but often we are able to approve memberships within minutes.  You will receive an automated notification via e-mail with a link to use to come back and Log In.

[Brian]

Some of the regulars demonstrating at the Montrose Peace Vigil on August 25, 2017.

Every Friday since 2008, I write down the first names of the people who hold signs on the corner.  Then I add them up and write brief reports in the monthly vigil threads that are listed in the link below -- the first index page of the Montrose Peace Vigil Activities department -- which is also accessible from the homepage.  Anni posts photos and other members and occasionally guests comment too.

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/board/2/montrose-peace-vigil-activities

At the end of each monthly thread, I average the number of weekly vigil participants and compare that monthly average to previous months and years.  A strange habit, I know, but it's even weirder how close the count always hovers around a dozen.  There are exceptions.  Because of the election and the result last November, we averaged 18 per week.  Fewer spontaneous demonstrators have joined us lately.  But the good vibes and expressions of support from passersby, on wheels and on foot, is more effusively positive than any time throughout our nearly 12 years of showing up at the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, CA 91020.

[Brian]

Dusk at the Montrose Peace Vigil on September 29, 2017.

When we're not standing for peace every Friday, Montrose Peace Vigil regulars are planning other activities around our area, especially the 10th annual Empty Bowls fundraiser at Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church on Saturday, October 21.  And some vigil regulars are training with other locals to form a Pasadena Advocacy Team that will lobby our Congress members to reduce Pentagon spending, under the direction of the Friends Committee on National Legislation.  You'll find more information about those happenings on the first index page of the Community section linked below, which is also accessible from the homepage:

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/board/3/community

[anni]

For the past seven years, Montrose Peace Vigil regulars and friends have marched down Honolulu Avenue with our custom built Peace Train in the Montrose Christmas Parade.  The 2017 parade will happen Saturday evening, December 2. Click on the link below -- our latest annual thread about the Peace Train -- for the rest of the year as we make plans and then report about our march afterwards, sharing photos and, hopefully, new videos too:

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/thread/715/annual-peace-montrose-christmas-parade

Here's the official video cued up to our appearance in the 2012 Montrose Christmas Parade, the year before the Peace Train got wheels.

[Brian]

I got the sign on the left from one of the several members of Foothill Progressives who stood with us at a Montrose Peace Vigil last August.  "No matter where you are from, we're glad you're our neighbor," it says in four languages -- English, Spanish, Armenian and Korean. The motto on the bottom reads: Inclusion, Tolerance, Kindness and Fairness.  (There is no foothillprogressives.com website, but they have an active Twitter account that I can see and a Facebook page I cannot.)  The signs were meant to be mounted on the lawns in front of houses in La Crescenta, Montrose, La Canada Flintridge and Tujunga, where the Foothill Progressives live.  I stick it in the grass on the corner every week.  I've often seen children stop to point at the sign and show their parents.

Like the vigils, this message board is open to everybody.  You do not have to register or log in to post here.  Feel free to click on the brown Reply buttons on the top and bottom of any page, or click on Create Thread in the index for any of the six departments listed on the homepage.  Even easier:  post a Quick Reply in the field at the bottom of any page.  You will just have to type a Guest Name and do a CAPTCHA to prove that you're not a robot.

[Brian]

Members of Montrose Peace Vigil in October 2007 at an antiwar march and rally in downtown Los Angeles.

Nobody could have known in January 2006 when Roberta took a stand against the war in Iraq by herself at the intersection of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, California -- Nancy was the first to join her minutes later -- that so many people would keep showing up to advertise for peace every week since. Over the past several years, Montrose Peace Vigil consistently averaged 12 participants each Friday.  In 2017, the vigils averaged 13 demonstrators per week.

In this first month of the new year, the wars go on -- and the stalwarts of Montrose Peace Vigil will begin our 13th year. So far, we've gathered for 622 consecutive Fridays.  If you cannot join us on the corner from 5:30 to 7 p.m., you are welcome to post on this message board, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

[Brian]

One of the greatest Montrose Peace Vigil stalwarts, Mike, started printing the Department of Defense news releases announcing military deaths and posting them on the corner in October 2011.  He wanted to honor those who died in Afghanistan and Iraq for at least 90 minutes each week, not far from the 50 year old brass plaques in a memorial plot that names the local soldiers who gave their lives in the Vietnam War.  Anni and I still monitor the official DoD website for its Casualty Releases:

www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases

After we display the news releases during the vigils, I post links to them in the monthly vigil threads in the Montrose Peace Vigil Activities section of this message board.  U.S. casualties were up in 2017 throughout all of our war zones -- in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, north central Africa and elsewhere.

Back in March 2012, we taped the death announcements on the flagpole in the Vietnam War memorial.

[Brian]

Most of the stalwarts who came to the Montrose Peace Vigil on February 23, 2018.

When standard time ends this month, the candles will go back into storage. I've never talked to anybody on the corner who doesn't loathe Daylight Saving Time, but it's great for the vigil business.  This month, our signs will become visible again from 5:30 to 7 p.m. every Friday to people in passing vehicles, and larger numbers of pedestrians will stride the sidewalks.

Still, Montrose Peace Vigil made its presence felt all winter -- the vigils have had an average of 15 demonstrators per week since November.

[Brian]

Here are two photos from the Montrose Peace Vigil on March 30, 2018.

This post marks the end of another introductory page.  I start these threads every ten months or so in the "Welcome to Montrose Peace Vigil!" section that tops the homepage.  That way, the message board always offers an overview of our recent activities for first time visitors.

It's easy to see all posts as they're added to the message board, since we average less than ten new ones per week.  Open the link below and check back every few days. It's where the ten latest posts from different threads are displayed on one page -- with the most recent post first.  If you want to read more about a topic, click on the blue title of the post to open the entire thread.

montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/posts/recent