• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Women's Legacy Project
  • Home
  • About
  • How To Curate
  • Our Collective Legacy
  • Writing Online Memoir
  • Blog
Women's Legacy Project > Blog > CREATE > Blogging & Writing > Hundreds of Thousands March

Hundreds of Thousands March

Written by: womenslegacy
Published: September 25, 2005 -- Last Modified: September 25, 2005
No comments yet

This is the first moment I’ve truly had to myself when I wasn’t exhausted and writing after midnight. I’m not a quick writer. I like to ponder and choose and rearrange and mull. Interruption is far more of a distraction to having the internal dialog that is writing than noise or passers by. The March was phenomenal, amazing, fantastic. As is always the case; it is difficult to know the true number of participants other than by processing crowd density and area covered from aerial photo processing. At one point a wave of active processing passed through the crowd as a message “CNN reports 600,000.” The permit was for 100,000. Some papers report 150,000. Others, 200,000. In any case the march was huge. Not as large as the march for women’s lives — closer in size to the marches just before the Bush regime invaded Iraq.

The waiting was hard, and a few cross words here and there were exchanged about positioning of banners and the bumping of signs and other trivialities, but 99.9 percent of the time there was a cooperative, calm determination, and appreciation of the jester in culture that greeted CODEPINK as we marched. I won’t go into the specifics of the line up of the CP rally at Freedom Plaza, or the hours of waiting near the ellipse for the march to start. No time right now. The only snafu was that the march snarled when its course turned at too sharp of an angle in too small of a space for the massive size of the march.

The most notable chants, signs and groups will get talked about over the course of the next few weeks as I process the event — but for now I’ll just mention a few. CODEPINK of course was a highlight! The huge pink collection of balloons tied together into a 15 ft. tall peace sign that lead the CODEPINK contingent was almost float/parade-like. (And that is a good thing. — I’ll do an entry on that later.) The sense of playful jestering that is essential to CODEPINK touches people in a way that anger cannot. Our drop dead gorgeous cheer-leaders/majorettes were a hit.


I also saw a group –NOT CODEPINK– doing “boobs not bombs” and the group of three people that depicted the devil controlling puppet reigns attached to bush and cheney was extremely effective.

I missed Steve Earle and really all of the music afterward, but collapsing on the grass near the Camp Casey on the Mall turned out to be a great synchronicity when I spotted Lee (from Tucson) and Arlington allowed me to connect with friends from Chicago for a great dinner. I am always amazed by the breadth and depth of the experience, intellect and humor of CODEPINK women whenever a group gathers together.

More later, but now I have to figure out how to get from here to American University for training for tomorrow’s lobbying actions. Then I want to hear the 4-6 panel of Stop The Next War Now author’s at the Green Fest at the Convention Center. And I’m not sure about this evening. Perhaps another dinner, perhaps some time writing and collecting thoughts.

More soon.

buildpeace.blogspot.com

Categories: Blogging & WritingTags: Blogging & Writing

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org
Previous Post: « synchronized paddleboating and umbrella twirling
Next Post: Arrest fest, cooperation, and individual style »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Ending, and Beginning
  • For Our Daughters
  • Stand and Write
  • Context and Little Things
  • A Month is Just a Month… as Time Goes By
  • Processing Two Very Different Deaths
  • A Dehydrated and Delusional Friend Found Wandering in 100° Heat
  • About Women’s Legacy & Hill Research
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Archives

Powered by
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
View my Flipboard Magazine.

© 2023, Nancy Hill, Women's Legacy Project of Hill Research Services, LLC

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT