I will show you fear in a handful of dust

[lapsedmodernist]

Fear can be narrated eschatologically or quantified statistically.

I wish I were in DC with my friends today. That is all.

Comments

[saintpeg.livejournal.com]

I protested the first coronation of W in 2001. It involved standing in the freezing rain for several hours until I couldn't feel my limbs anymore. I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about repeating the experience this year.

I guess I did get some satisfaction when watching F9-11, however, when I caught a glimpse of my favorite sign from the protest. It was a huge black one, nearly as tall as its bearer, with a single, gigantic word spray painted in white:

NO

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I like that. Some of my favorite signs were from the UFPJ protest last August, with the best one saying "Stop Torturing People You Freaks." It was very colorful. You were there when I saw it, do you remember it?

[saintpeg.livejournal.com]

I do remember it. During the early anti-war marches, I thought it was really interesting that there was this new wave of ironic protesting that I can't imagine existed in the 60s -- like people dressed in feather boas with signs that said "War is SO Twentieth-Century!!"

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mean like Glamour Cheerleader Squads or whatever? Is that ironic or just sassy? Because generally when I think about ironic protests I think of, like, Billionaires for Bush and other Swiftean "satirical" performative activists like the Yes Men. I guess now we need to talk about the relationship between irony and satire!

[saintpeg.livejournal.com]

No, these were like, "Glam Rockers for Peace" or something. And yeah, this version of irony was of course different -- and far less sophisticated -- than the Billionaires and Yes Men. I guess I thought of it as "ironic" in relation to the "sincere" protests of the 60s. Not that the new protesters are insincere of course, just sincere in a more relevant, contemporary way.

By the way, after looking again at those pics from the march last September, I was reminded to tell you that I had Baltika in the Moscow airport (speaking of time warps). I found it rather tasty!

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Baltika AND snow storm! I don´t suppose you had vodka for the full trifeca? I was thinking about your layover and about what a bummer it is that Sheremetyevo-2 is so far away from the city, otherwise you could have gotten a transit visa and galavanted around Moscow for a few hours. I mean, wasn´t your layover like 8 hours long?

[saintpeg.livejournal.com]

Actually, we bought a bottle of Russian vodka from duty free for the family in Ahmedabad. It was a wet party in a dry state. That sounded creepier than I intended.

The layover was indeed about 8 hours -- yet not totally torturous. Sheremetyevo was somewhat more entertaining than I was prepared for. We spent a lot of time in a weird cafe on the upper level called the Taj Mahal (?!), which was decorated with silver tinsel and ceramic chandeliers. It was all very Lynchian, except with 70s decor.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

heh, look at seltix's new icon!

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

as seen here, along with you, my dear
http://www.livejournal.com/users/anthrochica/192402.html

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

I was wondering how were were today.

I just listened on the radio, and I am so simultaneously sad and sick. Almost even more so than with the election.

Take care.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I don't have a fever like I did on election day, and now I kind of wish I did.

[seltix.livejournal.com]

couldn't be in dc, but i have dressed in mourning.

[seltix.livejournal.com]

some heartwarming pockets of boo's all along the parade route. but i was extremely disappointed by the lack of projectiles at either the motorcade or the shrubbery. at least last time a few eggs made it through.