I had my first 'real' political action in a couple of years today. Benjamin, Kori, Todd, Steve-Dave and myself packed ourselves down to City Hall here in North Bay for the North Bay Peace Alliance's peace rally. It was quite wonderful, if a little cold (we got about three inches of snow today). There was between 50 and 70 people there; and I'm ashamed to say I was surprised there was that many. More surprising was that my Developmental Psych prof from last year was acting as sort of the MC for the demonstration. Apparently he's quite active with the North Bay Peace Alliance. He's originally from Texas (son of a preacher man, if I remember correctly) but did his doctorate at UCLA and did a lot of work with inner city children. He was telling the crowd about how the last time he was involved in this kind of a protest he was in LA and he'd never really had to protest in the snow, and was impressed that so many people came out. My 20th century lit teacher was there with her partner and her little daughter (aka the cutest toddler EVER).
Having never been to a peace rally, I wasn't sure what to expect, though the phone call from my parents this morning urging me 'not to get arrested' was a great help. Mostly it consisted of readings about the US and statistics about 'bombing for democracy', mixed with poetry readings, songs (no 'one tin soldier' though) and prayer. The religious aspect of the rally really surprised me. Three of the local reverends/priests/important church leader types were there, and at least two of them led prayers. I wasn't sure what to think at first (my areligious views are very well documented throughout this journal) but ultimately it was good to see the church (in all its various forms) trying to make a difference, and realizing that God blesses more than America and her allies. It was a positive and powerful experience on the whole.
Speaking of such things, I'd like to applaud the Honourable M. Chretien for refusing to bow to the US's demand that the Iraqi ambassador be booted out of the country. Good on you, sir.
Life's been pretty okay other than that. My FTP program won't connect right now, so the school server is probably down, which is kind of a pain in the ass. I have two more days to write a 10 page short story that's a first person account of some aspect of Canadian history. I'm writing from the perspective of a British war evacuee during the Second World War. It's hard to be a twelve year old.
I got Steve-Dave set up to help me out with the paper for next year, which I think will be pretty good.