Tonight, I was a legal observer for the National Lawyers' Guild and the Portland Legal Defense group at an anti-war candlelight vigil this evening. There were 8 L&C students that volunteered to be there. We did not expect anything to happen, but evidently the police are pretty touchy about the bridges so we made sure that everyone knew what to do and who to call in the event that some arrests were made.
In the end though, for me, it was as moving as it was uneventful, from a our perspective as legal observers. Never have I seen so many people come together for a very worthy cause. Bethany and I ended up walking up and down the bridge talking being surrounded by truly peace loving people (Don't get me wrong...at this point, I think an immediate withdrawal would be irresponsible at best, but still). Bethany and I decided that the best part about the whole event--and there were many wonderful things--was that there were so many children there. I don't remember it being a big deal then, but I remember now what it was like when my mom and her union struck Southwestern Bell and how that has come to be such an important piece of my growing up. I just think it's important to show children not only what it's like to see an outpouring of support from a community, but also just showing children how important it is to be involved in the community.
The hard part was pretending to be neutral, and unbiased during the whole thing. Which I did by wearing my Howard Dean for America t-shirt. I didn't hear him, but evidently B heard some guy in front of us say something to the effect of, "Hey that guy's got a Dean t-shirt on, dammit, I should've worn mine." So Deaniacs are still out there...
I have been dippin' my pinkie toe in the waters of veganism for the past couple of days. It seems like something I could do, I honestly don't know if I have the discipline for it though. Especially since I've recently fallen in love with brie again. But word on the street is you really need someone to kind of show you how to do it, and help you shop and stuff, and guide you into what is good and what isn't so I have found someone that seems willing to do that periodically. This won't be like the vegetarianism, which I did cold turkey (no pun intended) this will probably have to be a very, very gradual thing.
Well it's Saturday night, I didn't do laundry today but I was home before 11:00. There's something very pleasant about having a productive day that I can feel good about, and I know I won't be in bad shape tomorrow morning.
And tomorrow? More homework, and Dinner at the Dean's. Lookin forward to that...should be interesting to say the least. Maybe I'll ask him if there is any kind of affirmative action program for recruiting faculty members that are people of color and other minorities.
