Code Pink Journals CodePINK Journals

Work 4 Peace,Hold All Life Sacred,Eliminate Violence! I am on my mobile version of the door-to-door, going town-to-town holding readings/gatherings/discussions of my book "But What Can I Do?" This is my often neglected blog mostly about my travels since 9/11 as I engage in dialogue and actions. It is steaming with my opinions, insights, analyses toward that end of holding all life sacred, dismantling the empire and eliminating violence while creating the society we want ALL to thrive in

Saturday, March 04, 2006

West Virginia Angel Activist

I'm only in West Virginia for a minute - AND it's getting dark.

I notice a car has pulled along side of me. The passenger is taking pictures with a cell phone. Then the driver & passenger start waving & smiling at me. They fall back, I assume to take more pictures, and then they head in front of me.

They slow down, put on their blinker and take the next exit. On instinct, I follow and pull into the nearest turn-off. A young, white women jumps out of the car after she has zoomed by me into a parking space, and runs to my truck.

Wow, Angel says over and over. I'm SOOOOOOO happy to see you, she exclaims. She tells me about how hard her and 5 of her friends have been working to try to organize to end the war, there in the little corner of West Virginia.

She tells me how they can't find a place to meet: there's not a church who will allow them to meet in their building; nor a library in the town or a coffee shop. None of the businesses will give them meeting space.

The most radical shop in town, a local tie-dye t-shirt business run by a hippie white woman with 5 children, refuses to print anti-war t-shirts for them - she is afraid it will cost her business.

I tell her about CodePINK and she wants to vigil right there, on the corner of the freeway off-ramp and the local business strip. But it is dark and freezing - and she has a two year old daughter sleeping in the back of her car.

I promise to put her on the CodePINK list, give her all the flyers I can find, and promise to come back through & help her organize CodePINK if I can. We hug each other and part, happy we took the time to talk. peace, sam

Heading to NYC & International Women's Day Weekend

I don’t know where time has gone, these past couple of days – I wanted to head for NYC yesterday, Friday, but I didn’t get out of Atlanta until the wee hours of Saturday morning.

This past Tuesday evening, I made my first delivery in Huntsville Alabama. One reason I’ve hated traveling thru the south has been the noise of the land – it seemed to me that the tortured souls in the south were keeping up a constant screaming. This trip, the land seems hauntingly quiet – no birds, no insects, no whatever making any sounds, drowning out my thoughts and filling my being with despair.

I noticed the silence driving thru Mississippi and now Alabama – even Georgia is silent. Maybe because it is spring – or maybe because the spirits are finally at rest – or they’ve finally fled?

When I got to Atlanta after 1:00a.m. Wednesday morning, a soft rain was falling, steaming up the dark night. I had intended to vigil Wednesday evening, but I laid down for a nap & didn’t wake until after the vigil was over.

My daughter has taken me to the Bodies exhibit. It was as fascinating as it is disturbing. Human bodies exposed, standing, system by system – from skeleton, to organs, to nerves, to circulation – which is the fascinating part. The disturbing part is who are these people? Where did they come from? What did they die of?

The exhibit is so human yet lacking in anything human. We don’t know if these people have donated their bodies to science or if they were slowly killed by plastics replacing their cells. None of them appear to be diseased – except those organs on display that are pointed out to be diseased. None of them appear to have suffered a trauma that killed them – no obvious bullet holes, knife wounds, or car accident evidence.

We spent hours examining the nervous system meticulously spread out over a skeleton; and the amazing circulatory system appearing like complexly-shaped bright red cotton candy, the brain, the fetus. And I’ve spent days feeling unsettled – images of these human beings crossing my consciousness & I wonder if they are in limbo.

I wonder wherever these bodies came from, is it right to do this to the human body? Especially given the atrocities the society we live in is capable of committing.

I’m heading to NYC inland this time – I’m not going up to 95 and the eastern seaboard. I pulled out in the early darkness to about 3 yeses in Georgia – one white guy passes and lifts his hands off the steering wheel with a ‘whaaat?’ kind of gesture – I guess he’s a negative.

South Carolina I receive my most no’s – I believe that is typical – it is three to three, yeses, to no’s and one fuck you which tilts the balance to the negative side. I’ve noticed only 3 george stickers on cars, the most so far across the nation. I’m seeing really few gw stickers this time – maybe cause I’m mostly on the highways.

I’m only in South Carolina for a minute, and North Carolina for a little bit longer. I get mostly yeahs in North Carolina, 12 in all, including one trucker. The no’s or thumbs down are 4, and the fuck you’s are 3 – the most I’ve received in one state thus far. One is a duet, white father & white son is unison with identical scowling ugly faces flip me off as they drive by. I grab my ‘nice christians’ sign & flash it at them – hopefully they see it.

Virginia is such a pleasant surprise – it feels like California, people are so happy to see me. I count 34 yeahs, including 2 truckers and only 1 fuck you and one thumbs down!

Off to West Virginia, a bit of Pennsylvania and then New Jersey! Peace,sam