Turtle's view of Feb. 16 SF peace march

*Turtle's view of San Franni peace march, Feb. 16
..
--circa 11 AM to 12:30pm:
I start going downtown to the assembly area around 11AM,
as do tens of thousands of other folks. The underground Muni's
an uninviting sardine-can full of protesters ["Nobody rides Muni
anymore because it's so crowded"...], so instead I take a bus on
Mission Street, which has to detour, and eventually leaves me at
First & Mission. I can't get to queer corner (Drumm & Market) until
after the group has left. Dejected, I sit on a high place, just
displaying my sign.
Then two queers come by, notice my rainbow flag, and show
me how to bypass the march, semi-circling thru side streets to
catch up with our OUT AGAINST THE WAR contingent, which
shuffles along slowly in jam-packed Market Street.
--circa 12:40 pm to 3:20 pm:
Wearing my mask, I greet Tommi Avicolli Mecca, but I don't
think he recognizes me. He and two other queers carry the
group's main banner; followed by a banner from the Milk Club.
I carry my rainbow flag on my flagpole, and wear my
American flag. I don't even try to undress -- it's too late now, and
my self-confidence isn't high enough today.
The crowded marchers stretch many blocks along Market
Street. From time to time a wave of applause will roll thru the
march, apparently from one end to the other. People in one
block will start cheering, clapping, hooting, whistling, keening,
ululating, rebel-yelling, whatever; then as they are finishing, the
sound speads to the adjacent block, and so forth. If it started at
the very rear of the march, I think a sound wave would take
several minutes to reach the front of the parade, replicating itself
from group to group, person to person. This isn't political, like
chanting; it's apparently just done for amusement, as exultation
in our peace march being so huge and long.
Sights along the way: A beautiful blonde stands atop a trash
bin, displaying a sign to the marchaers passing her:
"Transsexual Vegan Lesbian..." [for peace? I couldn't read the
whole text.]. Maybe this event will get her a date or two? For
awhile, I march just behind a midlife woman in a motorized
wheelchair, on the back of which is a hand-drawn duck, as in
"No duck tape! Fight terror with peace!"
[Language note for unAmerican readers: In modern U.S.
English, "duct tape" has turned into "duck tape" by elision; just
as, long ago, "a norange" became "an orange".]
Many protestors are wearing "duck" tape today, spoofing a
recent government suggestion on how to protect your home from
terrorist attack, with plastic sheeting and duct tape. That should
stop those pesky anthrax and smallpox aerosols, eh?
Two of my fave picket signs:
THIS DYKE WILL EAT BUSH ALIVE.
and
SEX TOYS, NOT WAR TOYS!
After a while, I get tired of shuffling along in the crowded
middle of the slow-slow-slow march, so I retreat to the sidewalk
to watch the parade pass by. Toward the end, to my surprise, I
see my dear friend Barbara, and rush to join her. We walk
arm-in-arm for several blocks, now that the crowd has thinned
out, then she leaves to go home.
Soon I return to the sidewalk, to watch. The march
presumably started on time, at 11AM, from SF's waterfront area.
The tail end of it (marked by police cars and street cleaners)
reaches Seventh and Market circa 3:20 PM, almost four and
one-half hours later.
[Alas, this time I never saw any nude persons,
nor any topfree women.]
-- 3:20 to 4pm: I take off my mask, stash my flags in my
backpack, and trudge into "Da Loin", toward the hotel where
Barbara and I live (separately). Then, around 3:40 PM, I see the
breakaway group, maybe two hundred people (compared with
200,00 or more peaceful marchers), marching away from Civic
Center, through Tenderloin, making the cops very nervous. Whre
are they headed? Will they break windows again? I make sure I
keep at least one ful block of distance between me and them. If
the cops attack them, I don't want to be beaten up by mistake.
-- 4:10 to 5:15 pm: I type up this report for sfBareArea.
[ Altho this is my third day of fasting, I feel okay (thanks to the apple juice I drank last night).]


Freedom until death,
Turtle [seniornude]
16 February 2003
...
[For daily updates on fast,
please go to sfBareArea
[ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sfBareArea/ ],
then click on Files section,
then look for folder entitled
*2003, weblog of a fast
.........