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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

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

More on simple consciousness

Smokers are on the rampage! They are cherishing their right to smoke randomly as if it is guaranteed in the constitution - maybe somewhere next to the right to bear arms!

I can't believe the non-smokers are silent, at least at the g.a.'s, but not behind people's backs, complaining about smokers. I seem to be the only one putting out that we should have smoking and no smoking areas. Several smokers have told me to my face that if they can't smoke anywhere they want, they're going to leave.

I want to show them the way. grrrrrrr

Then the fuckin plastic water bottles. I'm really bummed Keith from Food Not Bombs is leaving. He is at least conscious and attempting to act accordingly.

I mention to people that we should really try to encourage contributors to give us minimum 5 gallon containers of water at the VERY LEAST! We should be conscious about what gifts we accept. It is not easy to tell someone "no thank you" who is enthusiastically giving us products that are made by slave labor or that we are killing people to get their oil cheap to make plastic or products that will take 10's of thousands of years to biodegrade.

But it is the opportunity for them to learn and grow, as well as for us to walk the talk, if we really are concerned about ending wars for oil and protecting our Mother Earth, yes? Just the simplest thing we can do. NO PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES!

Keith is allowing me to post a sign but you might think I was depriving people of a basic necessity instead of trying to save lives, end wars, & seek equity. grrrr

You won't need much!

What will YOU need to come to D.C.? Not much! We have:

PLACE: We have a 4 month permit to occupy Freedom Plaza at 13th & Pennsylvania Ave!

FOOD: We have Food not Bombs keeping the food tent open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

WATER: We have a large water truck!

BATHROOMS: We have portapotties, lots of toilet paper, many businesses with bathrooms close by

HOUSING: We have an almost empty women's tent, we have other tents with room for one or two

HOUSING: We have the CodePINK truck/camper for those who need more shelter

LEGAL: We have lots of awesome lawyers & legal support

MATERIALS: We have banners, paint, art supplies, posters

DONATIONS: We even have some donations - we can always use more, especially as the rains are starting!

MEDICS: We have a First Aide tent open 24/7

MEDIA: We have TONS of media - main stream, alternative, international, local!!!!

HEARTS, MINDS & SPIRITS: We have plenty of hearts, minds, & spirits

So what do you need? Bring as little as possible, bring the possessions you don't mind sharing, most of all, bring BODIES! You'll need (altho we'll help supply you if you can't lug stuff): warm clothes (altho the weather has been hotter than California, it rained a little today, warm, pleasant sprinkles!), water bottle, cup, plate, spoon/fork/chopsticks, rain gear.

What do we need??? BODIES!!! BODIES!!! BODIES!!! Womyn, as well as men of color are VERY under-represented here! Bring your fierce activist self, your fighting spirit, your determination to change our country - before we drop yet another bomb, before we invade yet another country, before we spend another billion on wars and occupations!

So PLEASE get on the bus, the train, the plane and come to D.C. NOW!

p.s. This is the time we could REALLY use a CodePINK Activist House again! maybe you know someone who would like to jump in and contribute in this way? Take advantage of the buyers market? Anyone want to work on this?


Womyn's Area

I work all morning on craigslist trying to find us tents for donations. I find a canopy type of tent with sides that can come down, a 10'x30' structure that we especially need for these rainy days! But the guy wants $100 bucks for it. I email the organizers but never hear back from them.

I find a womon who will donate a tent and mattress for us if we can pick it up. YEAH!!! For the womyn's tent area. I want to provide tents for womyn who come and an area for womyn to gather & sleep together.

The CodePINK art area is full of men, including one with a dog who tried to refuse to leave when we were having a women's circle.

We have three tents now, including the big 10x10 tent, so hers will make 4! A nice comfortable women's village size!

Some of the men are expressing their disapproval. UFB! I'm sure they'll have better things to worry about soon.