Crazy Day...
Jul. 4th, 2006 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badstarSo we got up early today and Steph, Jesse and I drove down to Caryn and Will's, had breakfast and from there left to go first to Silver Spring, and then hop the Metro from there to Farragut Square in DC. The rally started at noon, there was a bit of music before the speakers. I'll try, but I know I'm going to miss a speaker or two...
First speaker was Rev. Barry Lynn from Americans United For Separation Of Church And State...I'm sad to say I can't remember much of what he said, but he had some good thigns to say.
There was another gentleman who was a pagan clergy person, but I didn't catch what his affiliation was, and don't remember his name unfortunately (there were a LOT of police, ambulance and fire sirens around the square today) but he spoke of one of the first things that he had done, back in the mid-80's was to help bring the Wiccan faith to prisons in Colorado for prisoners who wished for that option as their religion, and how when he was flown into CO, the person who picked him up and was in charge of driving him around the state to various prisons was a Pentacostal minister who told him that as far as he was concerned, Satan was getting into his car, and asked him not to speak to him. Over the course of the week, there was bad weather and some other mishaps (being stuck in between two doors of one prison due to a power out) and the minister kept saying that it was his God who was trying to prevent him from bringing Wicca to the prisons. Well, he spoke to a panel of government officials and got a system in place, the first in the country.
Caroline Casey, who is a radio host (I'm not sure of the details, but I plan to look for it) spoke of trickster spirits and deities...this was another one where she said so much, I didn't really get to process it all but it was worth hearing. I know that much.
Selena Fox talked about working with Roberta Stewart and how she had first filed the request for the pentacle 9 years ago and the process and bureaucracy she's been through since then. She also spoke of Liberty, and the Roman goddess Libertas who stands above the dome of the US Capitol building, and led a few short chants.
H Byron Ballard, who has organized the only interfaith event in the nation for three years now on the National Day Of Prayer spoke- with great humor- about incorporating religion into government- all of them. And the idealist picture that she painted was great in theory. But she was very clear that no, this is not practical and most people just wouldn't be down with that sort of change and went on to speak more about why we need to keep religion separate from government. She was definitely my favorite speaker, and has inspired me to see about starting an interfaith event here in Baltimore for the National Day Of Prayer. I spoke to her afterwards and she was very enthusiastic about helping with whatever she could to have more interfaith events take place.
Roberta Stewart, the wife of Sgt. Patrick Stewart spoke...her story was really sad. she didn't find out that the pentacle was still not approved for memorial plaques or headstones until she went to Arlington National Cemetary and found the place on the wall where his was supposed to be...the other four men that were in the same hellicopter with her husband all had plaques with symbols of their faith, but he only had a blank space. She showed some photos, and spoke about the effort that she's made- she took up the fight with stronger intent when Rosemary Kooiman died a few months ago. Rosemary had been trying to get the symbol approved for her husband, Abe's grave marker as well but had passed on before she could see that happen. Roberta is determined to see this happen in her lifetime.
The last speaker was Phyllis Curott, who is a well known author in the pagan world. I've not read any of her books, and frankly, the blurbs and interviews that I've read of her make me feel like I'm falling into diabetic shock, but to hear her speak was another thing altogether. She was very passionate, very vocal, sarcastic, and- well, she said it herself though not in so many words, verbose. They actually had to give her a signal to wrap it up. Most people that I talked to wanted to hear more. She was speaking mostly on the religious right's attempts to take over government and establish theocracy and how they're actually a lot closer than most people realize. She may have sounded like a raving lunatic conspiracy theorist, except for the fact that she was quoting directly from the people she was speaking against...and I have read or heard a number of things that she quotes from their sources.
After that there was some drumming and general socialization. I spoke to a number of people, including a fire performer who was touring the country, and someone that I supposedly met at Playa Del Fuego- I don't remember, but he remembered me. We all swapped contact info.
I very briefly met Phyllis Curott...there were maybe three peopple waiting to speak to her in front of me, and suddenly five or six more just kinda appeared to one side and started jumping in in front of everyone else. And then one particular individual kept interrupting everyone else who was trying to speak or ask questions, including putting herself right in front of me in the middle of a sentence....the environment was pretty chaotic, but there was just no calling for that. I was about to say "excse me but I've been standing here for ten minutes, long before you came up and interrupted me in the middle of trying to ask a question" when she walked away saying she had to speak to someone else, so I got my turn. That was about the lowest point of the day.
After it was all over, a huge group of us went back to Silver Spring to a Burmese restaurant called Mandalay. I've never had Burmese food before (Caroline Kenner tells us that Silver Spring/DC is one of only three metropolitan areas in the country that have Burmese restauants. The food was amazing, and not too terribly expensive- dinner, appetizer, drink and split a dessert for about $25. Dessert was pineapple ice cream served in a small, hollowed-out pineapple. I think both Steph and I could have died happy on the spot.
We hung around the restaurant for about three hours. It seemed like a LOT less than that, but the clock doesn't seem to have lied. I spoke to Byron about the interfaith prayer event, Selena Fox sat down and started talking, Roberta Stewart came by...it was this huge community meet and greet. I'm really happy to have attended this event, and to have met the people that I met today.
There's another meeting tomorrow with the VA at 3pm. They're planning to get more insistent about getting an answer. So, thoughts, prayers, lit candles, if you do any of that...tomorrow at three pm eastern time.
For those who weren't there...itsounds like there's a pretty decent chance that the audio will eventually be available somehow. It was all recorded. I know I want failes (or at least transcripts) of some of those speeches...
Oh...and with the exception of one rather intoxicated- er- local, no one bothered us. Many a passerby saw what was going on and stayed to listen. Thwe whole thing went very smoothly (except for some audio glitches, but those were minor and quickly fixed.
First speaker was Rev. Barry Lynn from Americans United For Separation Of Church And State...I'm sad to say I can't remember much of what he said, but he had some good thigns to say.
There was another gentleman who was a pagan clergy person, but I didn't catch what his affiliation was, and don't remember his name unfortunately (there were a LOT of police, ambulance and fire sirens around the square today) but he spoke of one of the first things that he had done, back in the mid-80's was to help bring the Wiccan faith to prisons in Colorado for prisoners who wished for that option as their religion, and how when he was flown into CO, the person who picked him up and was in charge of driving him around the state to various prisons was a Pentacostal minister who told him that as far as he was concerned, Satan was getting into his car, and asked him not to speak to him. Over the course of the week, there was bad weather and some other mishaps (being stuck in between two doors of one prison due to a power out) and the minister kept saying that it was his God who was trying to prevent him from bringing Wicca to the prisons. Well, he spoke to a panel of government officials and got a system in place, the first in the country.
Caroline Casey, who is a radio host (I'm not sure of the details, but I plan to look for it) spoke of trickster spirits and deities...this was another one where she said so much, I didn't really get to process it all but it was worth hearing. I know that much.
Selena Fox talked about working with Roberta Stewart and how she had first filed the request for the pentacle 9 years ago and the process and bureaucracy she's been through since then. She also spoke of Liberty, and the Roman goddess Libertas who stands above the dome of the US Capitol building, and led a few short chants.
H Byron Ballard, who has organized the only interfaith event in the nation for three years now on the National Day Of Prayer spoke- with great humor- about incorporating religion into government- all of them. And the idealist picture that she painted was great in theory. But she was very clear that no, this is not practical and most people just wouldn't be down with that sort of change and went on to speak more about why we need to keep religion separate from government. She was definitely my favorite speaker, and has inspired me to see about starting an interfaith event here in Baltimore for the National Day Of Prayer. I spoke to her afterwards and she was very enthusiastic about helping with whatever she could to have more interfaith events take place.
Roberta Stewart, the wife of Sgt. Patrick Stewart spoke...her story was really sad. she didn't find out that the pentacle was still not approved for memorial plaques or headstones until she went to Arlington National Cemetary and found the place on the wall where his was supposed to be...the other four men that were in the same hellicopter with her husband all had plaques with symbols of their faith, but he only had a blank space. She showed some photos, and spoke about the effort that she's made- she took up the fight with stronger intent when Rosemary Kooiman died a few months ago. Rosemary had been trying to get the symbol approved for her husband, Abe's grave marker as well but had passed on before she could see that happen. Roberta is determined to see this happen in her lifetime.
The last speaker was Phyllis Curott, who is a well known author in the pagan world. I've not read any of her books, and frankly, the blurbs and interviews that I've read of her make me feel like I'm falling into diabetic shock, but to hear her speak was another thing altogether. She was very passionate, very vocal, sarcastic, and- well, she said it herself though not in so many words, verbose. They actually had to give her a signal to wrap it up. Most people that I talked to wanted to hear more. She was speaking mostly on the religious right's attempts to take over government and establish theocracy and how they're actually a lot closer than most people realize. She may have sounded like a raving lunatic conspiracy theorist, except for the fact that she was quoting directly from the people she was speaking against...and I have read or heard a number of things that she quotes from their sources.
After that there was some drumming and general socialization. I spoke to a number of people, including a fire performer who was touring the country, and someone that I supposedly met at Playa Del Fuego- I don't remember, but he remembered me. We all swapped contact info.
I very briefly met Phyllis Curott...there were maybe three peopple waiting to speak to her in front of me, and suddenly five or six more just kinda appeared to one side and started jumping in in front of everyone else. And then one particular individual kept interrupting everyone else who was trying to speak or ask questions, including putting herself right in front of me in the middle of a sentence....the environment was pretty chaotic, but there was just no calling for that. I was about to say "excse me but I've been standing here for ten minutes, long before you came up and interrupted me in the middle of trying to ask a question" when she walked away saying she had to speak to someone else, so I got my turn. That was about the lowest point of the day.
After it was all over, a huge group of us went back to Silver Spring to a Burmese restaurant called Mandalay. I've never had Burmese food before (Caroline Kenner tells us that Silver Spring/DC is one of only three metropolitan areas in the country that have Burmese restauants. The food was amazing, and not too terribly expensive- dinner, appetizer, drink and split a dessert for about $25. Dessert was pineapple ice cream served in a small, hollowed-out pineapple. I think both Steph and I could have died happy on the spot.
We hung around the restaurant for about three hours. It seemed like a LOT less than that, but the clock doesn't seem to have lied. I spoke to Byron about the interfaith prayer event, Selena Fox sat down and started talking, Roberta Stewart came by...it was this huge community meet and greet. I'm really happy to have attended this event, and to have met the people that I met today.
There's another meeting tomorrow with the VA at 3pm. They're planning to get more insistent about getting an answer. So, thoughts, prayers, lit candles, if you do any of that...tomorrow at three pm eastern time.
For those who weren't there...itsounds like there's a pretty decent chance that the audio will eventually be available somehow. It was all recorded. I know I want failes (or at least transcripts) of some of those speeches...
Oh...and with the exception of one rather intoxicated- er- local, no one bothered us. Many a passerby saw what was going on and stayed to listen. Thwe whole thing went very smoothly (except for some audio glitches, but those were minor and quickly fixed.
