DC Peace Rally photo album #2

RAGING GRANNIES AT THE WASHINGTON, DC
"END THE OCCUPATION/BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!" RALLY & MARCH
OCTOBER 25, 2003

(click on thumbnails to see photos in a larger format)

Saturday, October 25, 2003

We Raging Grannies arrive at 15th St. & Pennsylvania Ave. just before the marchers do. For the next two hours we sing and sing and sing some more. It is gratifying to see the expressions on the marchers' faces as they hear our satirical songs. The diversity of marchers is most encouraging. EVERYONE seems to be out on the streets on this warm October day.

After the march is completed, we Grannies are pretty weary. We decide to walk/scoot over to the outdoor cafe where some of our number had eaten lunch earlier in the day. It is a favorite of mine too, and is on G St. between 17th and 18th Sts. By now it is just after 3 PM and most of our Grannies don't have to meet their buses until 5:30 PM. On the way we stop and sing a song to Concepcion (Conchita) in front of the White House. For me, this is the highlight of the day. Yes, it has been great fun to be "celebrities" and to sing to thousands of people, but no one's face has radiated joy like Concepcion's does as we sing to her on this sunny autumn afternoon. Happily, Thomas, her co-founder of the Peace Vigil, is there too. Grannies Joan, Mabella and Ruth lag behind the others because they are so deeply moved by Concepcion and her 22-year stand for peace. None of the Grannies had heard of her before. The other Grannies are out of sight by the time we get going again. Since it was my suggestion to eat at this particular cafe, we all assume I know how to get there. Never assume ANYTHING!! By the time we've trekked all the way to 20th and G without seeing the cafe, my companions decide they'd better go meet their buses. By now I am utterly exhausted...even though I'm the only one who's been sitting down all day. I find a secluded courtyard on the George Washington University campus, and eat this morning's bagel and cream cheese and drink my carton of orange juice. Except for a Super Protein Odwalla juice, I've been too excited to eat all day. It is now 4:30 PM. After a little rest and refreshment, I feel much better, so I turn back toward the Washington Monument to see what, if anything, is going on. Even though there are still some folks milling around, it looks like the scene of a party that is long over. I meet (and am photographed by) a documentary filmmaker from Baltimore, read what has become an impromptu Wall of Resistance surrounding the Washington Monument, connect with a tired-out group of staff members from Omega Institute in New York, watch the sound system scaffolding being dismantled, wave to Sister Who whom I'd met earlier, and talk with a mother and her two children who had come down from New York City to sell peace/justice/anti-war buttons. By the time I get back to the hotel I am so tired that I need help taking off my sweater. What a day!!!