Wednesday, January 21, 2009

meaningless rant



Downtown

9x12 linoleum blockprint on paper

certainly not the crowd that was in dc yesterday for the inaugriation. it is amazing that there was any order at all ..or could it have been that ther was simply no room for being disorderly.

twice i have been to dc. both times with the "run for the wall" a motorcycle group of mostly veterans that begins in california and travels across the nation on motorcycles to join in 'rolling thunder' ...a parade and demonstration held in honor of and to bring attention to pow/mia's...pows from all wars who are still unaccounted for. we rode only a few hundred miles each day for we stopped and placed wreaths on memorials alon the way and at va medical centers to honor those veterans and we stopped at schools sometimes letting the kids sit on the bikes. we camped each night along the way.

i got on one year here in bessemer as they traveled past the 19th st approach headed to chattanooga. another year i met up in meridian mississippi where we slept at the rodeo arena.

that year we rode in the rain all the way and spent memorial day weekend in the rain in dc. when i got on there would be maybe 100 or so bikes but picking up riders along the way we wouls end up in roanoke with maybe 600....where we joined another part of our group who had taken the northern route. in dc various clubs and groups joined us until on parade day we filled the pentagon parking lot.

all in all it was quite a interesting and moving experience....especially as the first time i went it was the memorial day following '9-11'. maybe ill post some photos sometime.

i didnt know what i was going to write when i sat down here but this wasnt even in my thoughts til i mentioned crowds in dc.

i went up to the studio earlier just to...???.. in spite of the cold i decided to paint just a little. as i was about to quit i picked up an atomizer to spray some water and tho it was full it didnt spray. the water in it was still frozen. i asked my self "self what in the world are you doing up here?." and i closed up and came down the hill and put another log on the fire.

more later maybe....im having some coffee now


From the promise land in Lipscomb Alabama
Where golden eagle table syrup and buffalo rock
Flow freely
And the train whistle blows

1 comment:

Joe said...

I've been to DC a few times. One "big crowd day" was when the AIDS quilt was on display probably in 96 or 97, I can't remember for sure. I teamed up with ACTUP and other activists to form a ring around the capitol. We could have completed the ring, but they made us move further away...I think "they" made us do that so we would not completely encricle the Capitol.

The other time was during the "Million Man March" was was not. I was attending a vet conference at the time. Interesting, trip, in more ways than one.