Wednesday July 27

Five to start the hour, nine at the end. A young woman passing by said, "Thank you".

Tuesday July 26

At the start there were two, at the end seven. An every-day participant is going on a month-long vacation and will be missed.

Monday July 25

Two people to start the vigil, nine at the end. Today, talking about the shootings in Norway, we realized that the massacre is in one sense comparable with the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center: the 76 people killed in the shootings are a higher percentage of Norway's population than the 2,977 people who died in the Sept 11 attack are as a percentage of the United States' population.
We hope that Norway's response to its tragedy will be more healing than the US' military response to the Sept 11 tragedy has been.

Sunday July 24

Six or seven people at the vigil today. One vigil-er announced a contest, for the best short response to the "one-finger peace sign" flipped by some passersby. Ideas? Bring them down to the vigil.
The decision of the judges is final. :)

Saturday July 23

Two people at the start,  eight at the end. Today the courthouse vigil was the face of Corvallis to a newly married couple who stopped to ask directions to the post office and a Nevada family looking for a restaurant serving healthy and locally grown food. And we enjoyed a birthday celebration for one of the vigil regulars.
Today in Albany the peace group exhibited a hooked rug remembering all the deaths, American and Iraqi, since the official end of combat in 2003. The rug is 140 feet long(!) by 3 feet wide.

Friday July 22

Three people at 5:00PM, eight at 6:00. For a second day, we hung a line of peace banners above the sidewalk, with "peace" written in half a dozen languages.
No one encountered the Interfaith Peace Walk during the day. We wish them well on the rest of their pilgrimage.

Thursday July 21

Four at the beginning, eight at 6:00PM. Some discussion of the hot weather in the eastern United States; while we wondered if summer would ever come to the Willamette Valley, most of us escaped from the sun into the shade. :)

Wednesday July 20

Four at the beginning, nine-ish at the end. One of "our" students from Western Oregon University paid us a visit, along with a friend. Also, we had a visit from an occasional but faithful vigil-er who stops by whenever she finds herself downtown about 5:00PM -- hugs all around.

Tuesday July 19

Three to start, ten or eleven at the end. We got more information about the walk which will pass through Corvallis on Friday. It is not the "Longest Walk", but an Interfaith Peace Walk -- for a nuclear free future and in respect for Mother Earth. The walk starts in Eugene on July 20 and ends at the Trident submarine base in Bangor Washington on August 8. This is the first reminder at the vigil that Hiroshima Day is coming soon.

Monday July 18

Thirteen people for much of the hour. About the halfway point an SUV pulled into the parking space by the northern "platoon". We are nervous about visitors in SUV's, but this time the occupant was a veteran representing the "Longest Walk", a long-term project for peace which will be passing through Corvallis on Friday. We did not get any other schedule information, but maybe there will be an opportunity to visit.

Sunday July 17

Four people at the beginning, eleven people [and four dogs :)] at the end.

Saturday July 16

Six people, no bikes, an interesting conversation about life without air conditioning.

Friday July 15

Eight people, six bikes. Several participants regularly come on bikes. Today's bicycling majority is evidence for a lovely summer day in Corvallis.

Thursday July 14

Half a dozen at the beginning, a dozen at 6:00PM. An uneventful hour, some reflection on the discussions with the soldier visitor yesterday.

Wednesday July 13

Three people at 5:00PM, maybe nine at 6:00. A bit before the end a soldier stopped by, a man who served two tours in Iraq. Some of his friends died in Iraq. He wanted to talk about a couple of our signs, "VETERANS FOR PEACE" and "THE HEROES ARE THOSE WHO REFUSE TO GO TO WAR". The question which he most wanted to talk about was, in as close to his words as I remember: "A young man who joins the army to defend his country, who goes to Iraq, who takes a bullet for you -- do you think that young man is a hero or not?" Although the talk went in several directions, we never really answered the question. The conversation was at least courteous, which is different from some of the vigil's other visits from opponents. At the end of the hour some of the vigilers shook hands with him, some left displeased. I wonder, beyond opposition, what is the vigil about? Confrontation? Compromise? Conciliation? Likely it will be an ongoing question.

Tuesday July 12

Four people at the beginning, thirteen at six o'clock. An uneventful day.

Monday July 11

Five people at 5:00PM, thirteen of us at 6:00. We missed the regular Monday cookies, but we had a visitor from Monmouth in celebration of a friend's birthday.

Sunday July 10

Eight people for much of the hour. On the hot afternoons recently, there has been a clear division between the sun-lovers and the shade-seekers.
I see that we missed mentioning another new sign which a visitor from China gave us last week: he wrote "peace" in Chinese characters. The sign has an inconspicuous label at one edge "up↑".

Saturday July 9

About ten people at the vigil today. The cooling breeze was more than welcome. There were several small-group conversations, but no one focus to bring us all together.
One participant brought a new sign written in symbols, not words, "peace equals dollars". To me it raises an interesting question: if people believed that peace was less costly than war, would we stop having wars?

Thursday, 7 July

Brisk winds from the West with cooler temperatures, brownies & cookies from "The Woman in the Red Minivan" a fine way to mark the end of the first week of July.  13 people with some going and others coming.  Since the time change to daylight savings the clock on the courthouse tower has added music to the hour counting chimes.  It was an odd situation at first as if there was a student up there practicing random bits somewhat out of key - but the practice has recently shifted to performance with a shaky "You Are My Sunshine" yielding to an increasingly tuneful "Happy Days Are Here Again."
The underline seems to have a mind of it's own, sorry.  
I mention the music at vigil closing because this evening three folks linked arms for a random chorus line dance.  Another act for the touring show?

Wednesday, 6 July

The heat clustered the 9 of us in the shade again today.  A young woman sitting on the bench some 15 feet (more perhaps) away was popping gum with a rhythmic snap that was remarkably loud.  She could put that Hollywood stereotype of the slang talking gum chewing waitress into a new context.  Her 'talent' inspired a display of ear wagging, tongue twisting, nose wiggling, mouth popping, cheek thumping antics.  "We could go on the road!"  "Might have to take some time off from the vigil and pile into the (vigil's trademark) VW van."
Another young woman road slowly by on a laden bike; she was clearly a traveler.  She paused at the edge of our group.  She and a few other "girls" (her self-descriptor) are riding their bikes to San Francisco.  They  car-pooled from Massachusetts to Cougar, Washington and the Rainbow Gathering. Then started on their bike trip.  at that moment she was headed across the street to Browser's Books to find "a good read.

Tuesday, 5 July

Oops, a day late here - the vigil was on time.  5 pm found us gathering in the shade of the lovely cherry trees.  15 folks to stand for peace and listen to various shared tales.  The community, which is the vigil, thrives on the small conversations; they are the threads weaving us together.  I am noticing this flow of words today as I am thinking much about silence; wishing I'd remembered the virtues of silence yesterday when the angry young man brought his well honed aggression into my (our) faces.  I used to stand with Women in Black in NYC and there learned that silence is strength in the face of hostility.  That hour of silence in the midst of rush hour on 5th Avenue taught me how to let words dissipate into the air.  I can't imagine this vigil in silence for 5 hours a week; but I can reclaim the promise to not escalate tension with my words.
I am a bit haunted by the stance the young soldier took as he confronted us - very much the posture of someone expecting danger and accustomed to using his body language to intimidate.  Was I seeing what the Afghans see when an American soldier talks to them?  Minus the armaments, of course.

Monday July 4

Independence Day at the vigil, four people at 5:00PM, fifteen at the end. Halfway through the hour, drawn by an upside-down American flag, a man who had served in Afghanistan (and perhaps in Iraq also) stopped to challenge our presence. He was offended, and the talk was loud and passionate. From his personal experience, the visitor was sure that life in Afghanistan is better than it was. I heard nothing from the man's quieter companion.

Sunday July 3

Four people at the start, fourteen at the end. Two young men on bicycles brought us drinks from MacDonald's as a gesture of support.

Saturday July 2

A day even livelier than usual at the vigil. Today the government of Greece turned back the Audacity of Hope, the ship sailing to Gaza from Greece. Several activists around Palestine issues joined "the regular crowd". More, one of the regulars is having a family reunion, and all the family joined us, making up about half the vigil.
And, though the vigil continues to get lots of support, a couple of passing cars advised us that we should "GO HOME!"

Friday July 1

About ten people to mark the first of July. Three Western Oregon University students, as part of a project for their class "Causes of Peace", visited the vigil and interviewed participants throughout the spring. One of them is going to graduate school in Edinburgh Scotland this fall; he and one of his colleagues paid a goodbye visit to the vigil. We wish all of them good fortune.

Thursday June 30

About a dozen people today. A couple from Lebanon stopped by after visiting the bookstore across the street. One of them commented that she had hoped that electing Obama would have been enough to end the war in Afghanistan. We had hoped so, too.