Olivia has a religious friend who invited us to her church to listen to a presentation of Christmas carols. We went, and the singing was fairly accomplished, though mostly we were in the lobby with a restless Oliver and some other parents and their too-young children. When we left, it was to the sound of helicopters overhead. Olivia said how interesting it was that the minister had mentioned Jesus coming to heal a "broken world" only for us to walk outside and immediately experience that broken world.
Later, while I was walking the dog, I saw the anti-police violence demonstration come up. I stuck around outside for a while and then later decided that I'd follow and try to catch up to see what's happening. I had my phone and took some pictures. See?
Even years ago when I was more fully involved in street politics, I always felt a little alienated from the goings-on. Partially I was preparing to become a writer even then, and always thinking "What am I feeling right now? Why am I afraid, or brave, or confused? What does everyone look like? How can I use this?" Partially, street politics can devolve into nonsensical battles over inches, symbols, and moments. We held the street for X hours, stopped one shipment of Y for Z days, have taken over a building here for N months! But then...
And partially, well, there's a great line in the Howard Waldrop story "Thirty Minutes Over Broadway!" that goes something like "I take a long view on merely territorial conflicts."
Anyway, I have a Storify of the evening's tweets and pics if you're interested.
Later, while I was walking the dog, I saw the anti-police violence demonstration come up. I stuck around outside for a while and then later decided that I'd follow and try to catch up to see what's happening. I had my phone and took some pictures. See?
Time to mobilize, eh? And they say irony is dead. pic.twitter.com/niG1UMhefD
— Nick Mamatas (@NMamatas) December 8, 2014Even years ago when I was more fully involved in street politics, I always felt a little alienated from the goings-on. Partially I was preparing to become a writer even then, and always thinking "What am I feeling right now? Why am I afraid, or brave, or confused? What does everyone look like? How can I use this?" Partially, street politics can devolve into nonsensical battles over inches, symbols, and moments. We held the street for X hours, stopped one shipment of Y for Z days, have taken over a building here for N months! But then...
And partially, well, there's a great line in the Howard Waldrop story "Thirty Minutes Over Broadway!" that goes something like "I take a long view on merely territorial conflicts."
Anyway, I have a Storify of the evening's tweets and pics if you're interested.