The Vets Gulf March has started (a few photos)

[noamnety]

My daughter and I drove down from Michigan and landed in Mobile Alabama this evening. We knew we were heading in the right direction when we passed this bus on the highway:



We're set up for the first night in a warehouse, and most folks are laying out their bedrolls on the cement floor here, since the ground outside is fairly muddy at the moment. When we got here, the floor was set up with the Eyes Wide Open display.



Those are just the boots representing the National Guard, it doesn't account for the other troops killed in action.

Photo from a candlelight vigil tonight:



If any of you all are along the gulf coast, please come out and join us for either a leg of the march (going from Mobile Alabama to NOLA), or for one of the speaking events along the way. Our schedule and the location of our stops is at: http://www.vetgulfmarch.org/article.php?list=type&type=4

Speakers include members from IVAW, Veterans for Peace, Cindy Sheehan, etc.

[babylonsister]

1. Thank you for sharing, and my heart is with all of you there. nt

[WilliamPitt]

2. Outstanding

[SeattleGirl]

3. Wonderful. I wish I could be there.

I'm glad you and your daughter could make it.

[noamnety]

8. My daughter is spending her first spring break here

It's kind of funny traveling with her for the first time as equals, now that she's formally an adult. It's a new experience for us - we've done a few local Women in Black marches, but nothing like this. It's a good glimpse for her into the way some people just make things happen. When the Eyes Wide Shut display was being packed up, one person was originally loading the boots into bags and carrying them to the van to be loaded - and out of nowhere suddenly 30 people appeared, each grabbing a bag to load, without being asked, so the task was instantly done. It was a small normal thing for me, but she commented on how interesting it was to watch it just happen.

[SeattleGirl]

11. I know what you mean -- my daughter is 26 now

and though I am her mom, and she is my daughter, we are also equals on many levels. We went to our first protest toether (my first as well as hers) last September in Seattle, and it was a blast. She is very politically aware, as is her fiance, so we have some great conversations.

[alphafemale]

19. My daughter is also doing this.

I'm really proud of all these young adults who seem to "get it."


:patriot:

[SeattleGirl]

27. So am I. My daughter and her fiance have a lot of friends and

all of them are politically aware, and active to one degree or another. I just love it!

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Oh thank you for sharing!

Keep us posted. I so wish I could be there with you.

[RagingInMiami]

5. Are you marching with them?

My friend, Camilo Mejia, is marching as well. He was the soldier from Miami that was jailed for refusing to go back to Iraq.

[noamnety]

9. Yes, we're marching the whole way

and your friend was actually one of the draws for us.

My daughter's cousin, who is 8, has a class project where they had to draw a person, "Flat Stanley", laminate them, and mail them to someone who isn't local. The recipient (my daughter, in this case) agrees to photograph them around town, including some background about the setting, and some social studies stuff is encouraged. When the photos are mailed back, the student does a class presentation.

I would pay just about anything to see the teacher's face when little Ben pulls out photos of Flat Stanley riding the Impeachment Tour Bus, and explains to the class what that's all about. :evilgrin:

If we get Flat Stanley in a photo with Camilo or Cindy, that will be the icing on the cake.


ps - sorry for any typos, I'm a bit sleep deprived at the moment but am trying to edit them out as I go.

[RagingInMiami]

10. Excellent

I'm looking forward to seeing more photos.

[DemReadingDU]

15. That would be sooo cool, Flat Stanley w/Cindy!

K&R

[noamnety]

26. flat stanley with channel 5 news

just to the right of the reporter, you can see him in the window:



I know it's a silly thing to be dragging it along, but the thought of a child in the remote upper penninsula of Michigan doing a class show and tell on this is pretty exciting, small though it may be.

[babylonsister]

6. Pls. consider recommending this for reminders. nt

[merh]

7. I'll be looking for you on the 16th - I'll be in Biloxi, probably right

by the Town Green area.

Thanks so much for this thread and all you do. :patriot:

Pmail me if you need anything.

[babylonsister]

12. Nominate, please! nt

[niyad]

13. thank you so much for sharing this, and for everything all of you are

doing with this event. Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

[Hekate]

14. K&R Godspeed to you all

:hi:

Hekate

[HeeBGBz]

16. k&r - Wish I was there

Hope to see more pictures of this event.

[egadsbrain]

17. K & R! Outstanding!

Thank you for posting. We'll be marching with you in spirit! :patriot:

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Thank you

This is great.

[Just Me]

20. That bus is so damn cool!!!!

Gawd, I wish I could get down there to see ya'll!!!! :(

Nevertheless, I am so grateful for your activism! :yourock:

[intheflow]

21. I'm taking tomorrow aftrnoon off to join them in Gulfport.

I think usedtobesick will be walking, too. I'll be sure to post some photos tomorrow night!

[malaise]

22. I share your pain

Thanks for these...keep 'em coming.

[Burried News]

23. K&R

[babsbunny]

24. hope the weather is holding up!

I wish I was there!

[noamnety]

25. new photos

We did a short walk this morning. I was walking next to a woman who lived in Mobile 40 years ago, and left right when the civil rights issue was at its peak. She talked about being a senior in high school when her school was forced into integration. It was a school of roughly 3000 people, and when they integrated, they added two black students. She was in the group that protested against integration initially. She was holding signs one day when she saw the two students race out of the school into an escort vehicle, and saw the looks on their faces. That was when she realised the impact of what she was doing, and she became an activist after that. She hadn't been back to Mobile since then, until now.

We had a few one-fingered peace signs from the locals while walking through town, but far more support than anything else. One woman I met, from Mobile, said there isn't a very active peace movement in the area - and was hopeful that having us here would start wheels in motion for that. They have an issue here with media coverage. One policeman driving past us flashed us a peace sign.

We took a lunch break at the memorial in town. Here's the current IVAW contingent from our group:


Eyes wide open was set up again at the memorial:



A side note - it appears our camp sites and exact schedule is a bit fluid, so if you are planning to join up with us, take a few phone numbers of the website with you, so if we aren't where you expect us to be, you can figure out where we hid. Also, if you are bringing a car, they have a shuttle system set up, so the folks taking cars with them drive in a caravan up to a park point, and the white rose bus takes us back to the group. So you can walk a leg with us and not be stranded miles away from your car.

[Pastiche423]

28. Can't thank you enough for sharing

What a wonderful thing to do w/your adult daughter!

Since I do not travel well, I appreciate your journey and any photos you can post.

[noamnety]

29. AP has picked up the story

http://www.forbes.com/business/businesstech/feeds/ap/2006/03/14/ap2593766.html

New thread in the morning. For now I'm going to log off, and huddle up with my still warm laptop in my sleeping bag.

[4morewars]

30. You and your daughter rock !

:yourock: