J.J. and I attended our first anti-war protests yesterday - what an experience!

The first was (supposed to) be held at noon outside the U.S. embassy downtown. Unfortunately, the word didn't really get out and it ended up being about twelve of us, all from the same school, a somewhat unbalanced homeless man and an elderly man with a giant bilingual sandwich board sign - yeah, sorta odd. In any case, my friend Tema was interviewed by a woman from the Canadian Press about the whole situation, I have yet to see if anything she said made it into the papers.

An Iraqi man approached us while we were there. He explained that he was born and raised in Iraq, and expressed sincere appreciation for our protest. We broke the gathering up at about 1:30 and J.J, Tema and I made our way to the bookstore to buy some well-deserved coffee. At the coffeeshop we ran into our new Iraqi friend and he insisted on buying the three of us coffee as a way of showing his gratitude for what we were doing for his country. After many "No, that's too generous" and "I really couldn't sir" we sat down with our coffee and our generous friend walked out onto the street. I don't know if it was the blend, but it tasted better than any coffee I've ever had.

I left for class, and the three of us met up at 5:30 for the big protest. We made our way to the U.S. Embassy, slowly winding our way through the market and meeting up with a group coming across the river. I heard later on the news that there were 700 of us, but it felt like way more. J.J. and I had made signs earlier, his read "Peace 3:16" on one side, and on the other "I love peace. So should you!!", I wrote "Talks not Tomahawks" on mine.

It was pissing rain, and completely miserable by the time we reached the embassy. It was absolutely exhilerating, I was screaming anti-war slogans at the top of my lungs, my vocal chords were straining. Beside me there was a small girl with her mother, both chanting along with us. The little one didn't have a sign, she didn't know all of the slogans but she kept on making both her little hands into peace signs. She was wonderful, her hands were soaked (and cold I'm sure) but everytime she seemed to tire she would bring her hands down, blow on them, and them raise them again. What a trooper! She epitomized the entire protest for me.

It was moving. People of different backgrounds, languages, ages all united for one purpose. I saw fellow students and professors there. One guy even asked me and J.J. to pose for a picture with him, adding that it was his first protest.

If you are able to be involved in anything similar in your area, please do so. It will be an experience you won't soon forget.

Signed Grrl Friday

And so it's begun. Get involved, be proactive, protest, write letters and get the message out. "Pre-emptive" strike or not, this is not the way to go about things, like a lone cowboy fighting for the "good" of the world. This member of the world doesn't want a narrow-minded, trigger-happy capitalist making the decisions for her or the rest of the world. Once again, I urge you to watch the System of a Down video for their song "BOOM!" - it'll make you think. The following is a letter I received from my boyfriend J.J.

Peace
Signed Grrl Friday


Dear Grrlfriday,

Just this evening I found myself once again giving thought to the recently passed "Moment of Truth". I was reflecting on Bush's fateful remark that "[whatever you do] do not burn the oil wells." At the time I was struck by the sheer idiocy of the comment, thinking that it made the US's hidden agenda anything but that. I found it hard to believe that some of the most intelligent men and women in the country could make such an obvious blunder: sharing with the world that their motivations behind invasion involved greed of an unspeakable magnitude. But then it occurred to me: these political advisors are not intellectual cripples, their intelligence and deceit runs far deeper than I ever could have imagined. If for a second we have the courage to assume that Bush is not an imbecile, we are left with nothing to believe but the fact that it was his intention to say this and not a republican blunder.

To explain...The Iraqi regime is very selective in the information they allow their people to see, rest assured though, they allowed the Iraqi public to see Bush's above remark so that they might see with certainty that it's their oil he wants. This of course would lead the Iraqi populace to do the precise opposite of what Bush asked: to burn the wells. But why then would Bush have said this if he knew it would lead to the wells' destruction? Why indeed?

Consider for a moment that Iraq has the second richest oil reserves in the world, making it one of the world's largest supplier. Also remember the law of supply and demand: when supply goes down, demand and consequently price go up. So if all of a sudden Iraq's oil supplies went up in smoke, world wide demand and price would rise.

And now a trivia question: what US President from Texas has a family who's fortune is tied up in the oil industry? If you guessed George Bush Jr. you're absolutely correct! It seems I was mistaken; I underestimated Bush, chalking up his remark to pure buffoonery. So to all of your readers, be warned: do not underestimate this man, he cloaks his evil plans under the guise of idiocy and unless we make use of our wits, they go by undetected.

It is now 8PM Wednesday evening and the killing is about to begin. May god have mercy on the souls of the innocent, but especially on the fearless leader who directs the killers in the sky. God bless America indeed!

Sincerely,
JJ

War Is Over
(If you want it)
-John Lennon and Yoko Ono

I have just finished watching the new video from System of A Down, directed by Michael Moore. Please, I implore you, watch this video. Regardless of where you stand on the looming war, it will resonate with you for a long time.

I am totally flabergasted with the insane amount of political rhetoric that the US is shovelling out. I feel helpless and empowered at the same time. There are protests planned around the world, all we can do it wait until the skies begin to fall.

The United States is obsessed with creating miniature versions of itself around the globe. Time and time again it has involved itself in unecessary conflict - Korea, Vietnam, Invasion of Kuwait. The government has yet to realize that it has taken them over 200 years to get where they are, and that back then there was no assimilation-driven country ,like the modern, US to help them out with the war with Great Britain. God forbid that other countries be allowed the same rights to natural evolution as they were.
I am in no way supporting the the current Iraqi regime, many atrocities have occurred, and will continue to occur. A dictator should be stopped, but through democratic means and with the support of the populace. Alot has been said about the Iraqi people's suffering throughout the regime, but little has been said about the immense suffering that the Iraqi people have and will suffer due to the war.

Nothing is said about the UN sanctions on things such as medical and food aid. Nothing is being said about the suffering that the innocent men, women and children will suffer due to the United State's toddler-like impatience.

All we can do is wait.
Please, do something about it today, we DO have power.

Signed Grrl Friday

I hope everyone's enjoying the new image I added to the layout yesterday - trust me it's only the beginning. I downloaded a kick-ass program and the layouts going to change ALOT soon, I just have to try and keep my focus on school for three more weeks, and then I can blog all I want. I'm going to try to include a monthly photo-journal and a store with a few select items for your shopping pleasure.

Sorry to be so breif, but for some reason my Dad's still up at 1 am, and I don't know how much longer I'll have the computer for. Look for a new >>geurilla activism article coming tommorow.

Signed Grrl Friday

Hey, it's me again: the most irresponsible blog owner in the world! What can I say? I've once again failed to maintain my wonderful little piece of the information super highway.
Many things have happened since I last wrote - the most significant is probably my complete inability to maintain my good start I had this semester. I was telling J.J. the other night that I feel like I'm in a big hole - partly dug by me and partly just been placed in. I feel like I have way too much to do in the time that remains in the school year. I'm way behind in my readings, and I've missed so much class from just sleeping in late.

The worst part about it all is this overwhelming feeling of helplessness. I've been crying ALOT lately, just from frustration and anxiety. I still owe the university over 1800.00 dollars, and unless I spend nothing in the next two weeks I won't be able to pay them and if I don't pay, then I have to wait until my debt is paid to sign up for fall classes. The worst part of it all is that my parents don't know this, and I have no idea how I'll be able to explain why I haven't been able to sign up for classes.

What can I say, I'm terribly irresponsible: with my studies, my time, my money, my responsibilities in general. I really sincerely believe that as I am I have zero chance of getting into teachers college next spring, at least I'll finally have my B.A. - only after working for six years on it. Geesh...

Other than uncontrollable crying and anxiety things with me are fine. I've begun writing children's stories again and wrote one the other night about J.J. and his cat Tipper. I've also become obsessed with Robert Munsch's website - which I think everyone should check out. I'm trying to write as much as possible with the hopes of coming up with something publishable.

I'm taking requests so please ">email me with requests - I will gladly fill them as practice. Please include a characters name and any sort of event/characteristic that you'd like me to write about. Every time I make a call for emails I never get any, so please - this time I'm begging - email me, I really need the practice. I may even post some of the good ones.

Signed Grrl Friday