Brian
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Post by Brian on May 2, 2022 23:00:48 GMT -8
As we begin page 4 of this thread, I'm here to report that Montrose Peace Vigil continues joyously every Friday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on the northwest corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue in Montrose, CA 91020, advertising for peace and justice near the Vietnam War memorial. We have received almost unanimous goodwill in the past eight weeks since Ukraine was invaded by Russia, while we remind passersby when we can that U.S. troops remain in Iraq -- the U.S. invasion and then three-year old occupation was our impetus for starting the vigil in 2006.
Although the average number of vigil participants decreased when the Omicron variant hit last November -- eight to ten weekly demonstrators in each of the five months since then, compared to the dozen we had for many years -- we've had a lot more spontaneous participants joining the regulars lately than we had during the first two years of the Covid pandemic. Hope you can make it too!
This old fashioned message board is still the only online presence of Montrose Peace Vigil. At least you can read it on your phone. Here is another way to get an overview of what we're doing: Buried at the bottom of the homepage is a useful hyperlink -- Recent Posts, copied below -- which shows the latest posts from any thread on this message board, starting with the newest. If you want to read more about a topic, click on the blue title of the post to see the rest of that thread.
montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/posts/recent
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Post by anni on Jun 2, 2022 7:36:22 GMT -8
Some of the 14 demonstrators who came to the Montrose Peace Vigil on May 27, 2022.
For less candid -- and frankly, much better -- photos from last Friday, check out this post:
Then scroll up that page for brief reports about the wonderful vigils we enjoyed throughout May, one of which was blessed by six spontaneous participants. Peace is breaking out in Montrose!
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Aug 1, 2022 23:00:38 GMT -8
That 38-second montage beautifully captures the scene and most of the 16 participants at the Montrose Peace Vigil on July 8, 2022. Thanks to Justeen Ward -- not just a longtime vigil regular, but someone who drives the farthest to get to the corner! -- for making the video and posting it on You Tube. Recently, Justeen has been creating short videos of local cultural events -- here's the link to her You Tube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCEg4VQYA4bxv8ic-CGTUZ8g
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Post by Brian on Sept 4, 2022 23:00:17 GMT -8
In the Community section of this message board, you'll find threads about recurring local events such as Walk and Word, a one hour hike most Sundays in Deukmejian Wilderness Park followed by a Bible discussion, and the vigils continuing on some Saturdays in Eagle Rock that will mark their 20th anniversary in November. Other recent happenings included monthly documentary screenings on Zoom by Topanga Peace Alliance and the first pride festival in Sunland Park. Here's the link to the first index page of the Community section -- which is also accessible from the homepage: montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/board/3/communityFeel free to promote your event there -- even if you are a guest. You do not have to log in or register to post. Just click on the brown Create Thread button on top of the index linked above.
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Post by anni on Nov 3, 2022 15:38:37 GMT -8
Mike engineered the framework that put the Peace Train on wheels in the 2013 Montrose Christmas Parade.
After a two-year absence because of the pandemic, the Montrose Christmas Parade returns Saturday, December 3, 2022. Again, we will march with our custom built Peace Train -- Montrose Peace Vigil's 11th consecutive entry in the biggest local event of the year. Keep track in this thread on the message board:
montrosepeacevigil.proboards.com/thread/1379/peace-train-montrose-christmas-parade
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Post by anni on Jan 3, 2023 8:48:23 GMT -8
Nina, Mike and Russell getting ready to lead the Peace Train in the Montrose Christmas Parade.
To say that the Peace Train was a tremendous success in last month's Montrose Christmas Parade is one thing, but we can show you how the crowds felt. The link below has the goods: the first three videos uploaded on You Tube by spectators on the north side of the street followed by the official video shot on the south side, all cued up to the moment the Peace Train appears.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Mar 5, 2023 0:41:14 GMT -8
Work Is Over!: We celebrated Nancy's retirement with a new sign at a Montrose Peace Vigil in January.
It's been months since I last updated Montrose Peace Vigil's attendance figures in this thread. Starting in October 2022, the vigil has averaged about a dozen participants each week -- our historical average turnout -- rebounding from the eight to ten peaceniks per week during the months affected by the Covid pandemic.
After seeing lots of passersby last spring who were inspired to pick up a sign by Russia's war against Ukraine, we've had few spontaneous demonstrators. In prior years, small groups have joined us to protest the war in Artsakh and mass shootings here, to name just a couple of issues, and large groups of local Democratic activists opposing Governor Newsom's recall stood with us on the corner for weeks in 2021.
So vigil attendance lately has been populated by a rotating cast of regulars. I looked through my weekly vigil reports and counted 28 long-time attendees who came to the corner at least once in 2022. As a reminder, we stand on the northwest corner of Ocean View Boulevard and Honolulu Avenue near the Vietnam War memorial in Montrose, CA 91020 every Friday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. without regard to the weather or holidays -- we haven't missed a vigil since January 2006. Please stop by sometime if you can.
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Post by anni on May 2, 2023 13:11:14 GMT -8
If you count the photographer's shadow, this photo taken before the sun dipped below the Verdugo Hills depicts nine of the 13 participants at the Montrose Peace Vigil on April 28, 2023.
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Post by Brian on Jul 3, 2023 23:00:15 GMT -8
I wish I could open the Montrose Peace Vigil message board to instant registration by new members but spam is still a problem -- and AI could make it worse. Spammers advertise their links on message boards like this one to boost their ranking on search engines. I set up all new registrations to require approval by Anni or me a decade ago, so I was surprised last week when someone from Budapest, Hungary was able to register directly while we were sleeping.
The new member immediately posted in the "Canyon Hills housing development" thread, just saying "Thanks for the great information!" I looked up the IP and e-mail addresses and saw that they were associated with dozens of recent spam posts but decided not to delete the account yet. The next day, the member logged in again and edited that post, replacing it with a link to a long tutorial about social media websites. That's a clever strategy that would escape most moderators' attention. One of the folks who reported this spammer on the Stop Forum Spam website thinks it's an artificial intelligence bot.
The message board wasn't hacked. How did this happen? I found out that ProBoards updated its administration software, wiping out my old settings. So I've restored them. New members will still have to wait a few minutes, or a few hours at most, while we look up their IP addresses. Folks with no record of spamming will get an automated e-mail with a link to come back and activate their membership. Guests can always post immediately by using a CAPTCHA -- we've never gotten any spam through that method.
Please feel free to speak your mind. The only posts that we've deleted in our 15 years were entirely commercial speech.
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Post by Sharon W on Jul 4, 2023 6:51:50 GMT -8
Thank you both for your vigilance.
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