Wednesday March 30

Four people to start the vigil, eleven when the clock chimed six. A couple of children went by with two-handed peace signs! And the trees in front of Benton County Courthouse are blooming today.

Monday March 28

Four to start the hour, nine at the end. We shared gummy bears and cookies. An infant in a passing car gave a definite peace sign and raised our spirits -- thanks to him and his family!

March 25, Friday

Four, then me as the second round of clock tolling 5 chimed out.  One left, one arrived. With two more coming from opposite ends of the block and two more needing to leave 10 minutes early we closed with five on a sunny afternoon.  This started to read like a 'story problem' from grade school math and it seems it needs to end with a question: what was the maximum number standing vigil on 3/25/11?

Thursday March 24

Two people to start the vigil, eight of us at the end of the hour. The rainy weather brought a rainbow, and a passerby brought a flower from the star magnolia at the end of the block.

Wednesday March 23

Four people to start off the vigil, but one faithful sign, Troops Out of Afghanistan, was missing. Nine people at 6:00PM.
Now the United States is involved in another war in Libya. Someone asked, what (should/could) the United States do in that situation? Any thoughts?

March 22, Tuesday

11 standing in the sunshine.  beast & beauty:  the angry man with his jacked-up brown pick-up truck revved his engine to spew the clouds of black exhaust as he passes us.  what is his message? beyond an expression of hostility is there some commentary?  he used to do his angry drive-by frequently; it has been many weeks without seeing him.   there is some talk about the early weeks of the vigil and the overt hostility experienced.  we then notice that a day of sunshine brought the buds on the nearby cherry tree into  promising fullness.  what beauty balances the neighborhoods where our wars rage?

March 21, Monday

Bright sunshine, billows of white clouds to the North and a sharp toothed wind out of the West; first we were 4, then 5, then 4 and eventually 12 stood witness to the madness of war and the beauty of homemade cookies - thinly crisp buttery good chocolate chip. Thanks to Charlie.
 The busy wind sparked dark humor about radiation coming on the prevailing winds or is it coming to California - more of the hazardous folly of human hubris.  It seemed the first 30 minutes brought us more angry faces and hostile gestures than I've seen in months.  we speculate that such attitudes are whipped up by our latest/newest detonations of lethal weaponry over a new target nation.  Then a shifting demographic brought us waves and cheers and Lucky 13 hauling plywood South gave us his regular short air horn hello.  2 beautifully smiling children leaned from their windows to wave enthusiastic gestures of peace.  will they know a world without war?

Sunday March 20 - Vernal Equinox

clouds and a faint drizzle.  10 + 1 four legged friend.  happy birthday sung to Cheryl.  two young males: one with video camera one with saxophone, dancing shoes and a high stepping attitude played us a fine prancing/dancing tune. well, we may have been an incidental audience as the Benton County Courthouse is an elegant backdrop for photos and films but the act was fun and the music lively.
Fresh militarism to mourn.  Did we learn nothing in these ten miserable years of disastrous warfare?  Was there any irony in the bombing of Libya on the 8th anniversary of 'shock & awe' over Baghdad?

Saturday March 19

Today it has been eight years since the United States attacked Iraq in 2003. The most obvious function of the vigil is opposition to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, so this anniversary is an important to us.
Together with the Corvallis chapter of Veterans for Peace, several vigil folks organized a memorial event, to remember the casualties of the war on Iraq. After a busy day, and the end of the memorial about 3:30PM, today's vigil felt like almost like a homecoming, a return to a familiar, known space.

Friday, March 18, 2011

One day until the eighth year anniversary of the U.S.A. invasion of Iraq!  Today at the vigil a tall young man introduced himself saying he was not from here and could he ask, "why are you here?"  Indeed, why?  He is an exchange student from Chile (thus he is not unfamiliar with US militarism and wrong-headed meddling in the sovereign affairs of other countries).  He was somewhat amazed when I told him the vigil story of a decade of daily vigil simply to say what our government was doing in Afghanistan & (later) Iraq was immoral, illegal - etc..  He commented that in Chile protests become riots and there is little of conscience involved.  He wanted to know does the vigil have an impact - is it helping.  My reply: clearly not on any policy level.  However, people passing see us & are reminded - no matter how they react - that we are at this very moment killing people.  It is far too easy to forgot that we are at war - unless you love someone who is or was involved.  As we talked I invited him to join us - "oh, no that would be forbidden" his host family is "very conservative Christian" and the contract he signed as an exchange student prohibits his involvement in such activities.  His friend, self-indentified as a patriotic conservative Christian said he is less conservative than his family and education would have him be.  He has questions.  [Questions can be transformative - can't they?] I ask him how he reconciles "Thou Shall Not Kill" with engaging in war? The American boy spoke of defending his country as an exemption. The Chilean boy said he was never a Christian but believed in God & he wondered how it was that shall not kill became a conditional rule.  How is it that it is wrong to kill unless your family or country is threatened?   Later, I asked the local boy what it meant to him to be patriotic.  "To be willing to serve his country, defend it from enemies."  Willing, I ask, to kill another family's child - for that is all an enemy in fact is.  I wanted to suggest he find the song "Universal Soldier" and listen to the lyrics, but the conversation diverged to the attacks of September 11, 2001 & the  mythology of enemies and terrorists.  The American boy was less informed than the Chilean who had a more sophisticated political perspective.  The conversation spun through the convolutions of media rhetoric and factual information arriving at the fact that the majority of the hijackers were Saudi men.  Why then did we attack Afghanistan?  And, what were those lies that took us into Iraq?  The conversation was bubbling along when I took my leave of the remaining group.  Why did we 8 stand in vigil today?  For many reasons - but one of them was answered by the young exchange student with his mission to talk to us despite rules he had to break:  to raise awareness, to provoke thought, to start conversations about war.  If enough people talk together about the truth of war maybe we will learn to chose other paths....

Thursday March 17

Four people in front of the courthouse at 5:00, eleven at the end of the vigil. We celebrated St Patrick's Day with Girl Scout cookies.
We are happy to interact with passersby (and drivers-by) at the vigil. And we also appreciate comments, thoughts, questions about the vigil or this blog.

Wednesday March 16

Five people at the beginning of the vigil, thirteen at the end. Showers, and a rainbow in the east.

Tuesday March 15

A stormy day in Corvallis, but the weather was quiet during the vigil hour. There were eleven people at 6:00PM. Several untiring activists left immediately for the "Defend the American Dream" rally two blocks away.

Monday March 14, 2011

Four people at 5:00PM, eleven when the hour ended. Milder weather, so that a number of cars passed with the window down -- and sometimes a peace sign.

Sunday, March 13

The first day of Daylight Savings Time. Today's vigil was much lighter than yesterday. Four folks at 5:00, then people trickled in until there were nine at the end.
The signs arrived late. Even before they arrived, passersby acknowledged the vigil with honks and peace signs. Maybe the first ten years is the hardest?

Monday, March 7

Quiet on the curb,  8 of us.  And, fresh made biscotti plus numerous supportive passersby.  One bright orange log hauling truck gave a blast of the air horn and a friendly wave from the drive.  A small girl in the back seat waving a 'peace sign' gesture was so eager to be seen she lowered the car window to give a bigger wave.  People seem to want the acknowledgement of a wave in reply to their supportive signals....

Sunday, March 6

Slim numbers both on the curb and passing by - not unusual for Sunday and 3 of our stalwarts were out of town.  8 tonight.

Saturday, March 5

Sunshine, laughter and shared concern as Ed and his emblematic VW van (which is the storage and conveyance of a plethora of signs - 10 years of varying sentiments for peace, challenging war) are absent.  We discuss his situation as we select our signs and 2 becomes 4 then 5 and soon 7, 8, 9.  People in cars wave, flash us the peace sign.  We catch up, there on the curb.  Now we are 10 and a dog.  Now 11.  Oh, yes - there are brownie's  from the friendly woman in the red mini-van.  And,  here is our 12th companion, standing in community reminding those who pass - "in this moment our nation is at war."

March 3, 2011

Four people at the beginning of the hour, eight when we stopped at 6:00. A WWOOF family, working on an organic farm south of Corvallis, stopped to talk for a little while.
(WWOOF is World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.)

March 2, 2011

Six people at 5:00PM, eight at 6:00.

February 28, 2011

From four to eight people. Attendance went up and down on a rainy afternoon -- but the cookie man came. :)