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Finally I'm getting my email together... first some catching up. I took a trip to DC and went camping... these are described below.
The DC trip was quite a whirlwind. First of all this whole idea was from a friend of mine from undergrad, Anna. She lives in LA and asked her when would be a good weekend visit. She suggested we go together to DC for the World Bank and IMF protests. Heck, OK, I'll do that. With the help of her Mom who is a travel agent off we went.
We met in St Louis briefly and flew to Baltimore. We stayed with my highschool friend Beth (who lives a block from the Library of Congress!) The second night we stayed with Michigan friend Shawn and her husband up in Rockville. Very nice accommodations from both!
Instead of discussing the ideas of protests which are frustratingly underreported and ignored I will continue that trend and mainly talk of the mechanics of the protests. They are a bit easier for stories anyway (I have and will of course oblige policy discussion requests, I have a lot to learn on this stuff.)
I'll have you know I edited out a page worth of stories, but some I left: To give a feel one time Anna and I (with Beth) came upon a place where an officer had tried to push his way through a barricade. Another officer showed up and diffused the scene. He asked who to talk to so as to get permission to pass through the barricade. Someone replied, "Ask everyone!" (10 to 20 people on the line with linked arms were listening.) So the officer stated his case (a University security guard had been at work 16 hours and wanted to go home, his replacement would pass in the opposite direction.) Everyone murmured that it would be ok, and a woman on the line said, "How about an apology?" Everyone agreed with that, then I was distracted as the legal observer called in to report the shoving incident (using my cell phone.) Apparently all went well, and talking a few minutes later to two police officers was illuminating. They said they couldn't understand why he tried to push his way through, "He's a supervisor, he's trained not to do stuff like that."
While walking about, one heck of a big surprise occurred. One of my fellow Missoula grad students came up to me (Jeff). I didn't even know he was in DC! He's doing statistics stuff for the census.
Near the Vietnam Memorial, Anna and I were watching tourists go by, ate some food she brought. A field trip of highschool students passed by and as they did I heard a teacher tell one of the students, "Why don't you ask them." I perked up and asked if they had a question. Well it wasn't quite the political question I was guessing; they wanted to have their pictures taken with us since we were protestors (our signs were lying next to us saying "Jobs with Justice" and "Bust the World Bank or Bust" - I thought of that line and Anna wrote it up.) A big group of them gathered around taking turns holding signs having their pictures taken. I reminded them to read up as they left, it was a lot of fun. Then as they left and were just out of earshot... a park officer and two park rangers came up to Anna and I. They explained to us that no political signs of any kind were allowed in the area (around the memorials). We were apologetic and they were pretty understanding, they were saying that they've even had to prevent veterans groups from having rallies there. It was nice of them to wait until the kids had left so we covered our signs and made our way to the Lincoln Memorial
Monday was a rainy day with a lower turnout so an impromptu parade formed. Once again the crowd was adamant about being peaceful. When one person was tapping/hitting parked cars, several people moved to ask him to stop.
Other stories of course, but another time I suppose. The media coverage in the Washington Post was actually pretty good, other articles I read were a bit disappointing (such as in The Economist, a magazine I like.)
Also worthy of a few stories is my hike on the Lost Coast. I was getting tired of talking about camping and finally decided to do it. I didn't start hiking until 5pm (oops, but it was a four hour drive to the trailhead - assuming one knows where the trailhead is). I had hike 5miles to get to the first camping site. I arrived with several minutes of light to spare, I'd say about 15. Some highlights: I never camped in the same valley as anyone else - I did see a few groups though. I was chomped on by a tick (and have since read up on tick-borne diseases.) A sea otter was on the shore one night and in the morning the same otter (I can't tell them apart, but I think it was the same one) was a few hundred feet down the shore. To anthropomorphize its actions I would describe it as a hazing ritual, his/her comrades were riding the waves watching to make sure this new member did the deed of laying uncomfortably on the shore. Toward the end of my 24mile 45 hours I was somewhat anxious to get to my car ("don't twist an ankle" was my most common thought.) On the trail were two elk where eating and they were not interested in moving (giving me dirty looks as I got close). Being outweighed at least 8 to 1 by each one I tried to go around them. One of them cut me off as I was emerging from the trees and brush, but as if figuring out what I was doing backed off and resumed eating. I emerged to find a flat tire, but that's another (and somewhat boring) story.
In other news, things look good for a job down in Santa Clara (suburban hell though.) I'll start looking at some places to live further south in the Bay. I'm meeting new, interesting people (there's an understatement) and still puttering along.