Peace Rally Day: Saturday, February 15, 2003; SexyLatinDancers

2003-02-18 - 1:42 p.m.

As I mentioned on Friday, United For Peace organized a peace rally here in New York City, and in another 300 cities, or so, worldwide.

We started off with BW, constantly whinning and bitching. First how I was taking to long to get ready�I was not about to go out there without at least three layers on me�it was cold! And I planned on being there for awhile�.Then I heard bitching about how Bloomberg had conspired to have the subways backed up with PURPOSELY scheduling construction on the same weekend as the rally (even though construction has been advertised for the past month and will be going through the end of March). Then she�s bitching that the train is taking to long. Finally, I looked at her and said, �Damn, you�re in a whinny mood today!� She looks at me like I just slapped her across the face. For my effort to shut her up, I get a condensed tirade of everything she�s been bitching about for the past hour. When she�s done, I look at her and say, �You know what? Those are things you can�t control. Why do you want to continue to build up bad energy on things you can�t control? You can�t change them, bitching about them is not going to make them go away or change them, so chill out. Again, with the abused-puppy-dog-look. I honestly think her anxiety meds are not working anymore, or she stopped taking them, who knows.

We get to the rally, after quite awhile. I have to tell you, I have never seen so many people in the subways before, ever. New Year�s Eve had nothing on this. Once we got above ground it was so packed, all we could do was move with the crowd. We had called Jay and Mar to meet us, and we really tried to find Jay. We called her, but she was still on a bus. We just went with the crowd where it took us. We ended up on Third Avenue. It was funny when we heard on the radio that crowds had stopped traffic on Third Ave and 52nd�hee, hee, guess where we were? Smack dab in the middle of that intersection. I bet officials were kicking themselves. Organizers had wanted to do a nice little march. They really wanted to start from the UN, but that was quickly shot down due to security reasons. Then they tried for a march starting from 49th & 1st going to Central Park. If that had happened, there would have probably minimized the disruption of traffic. As it was, 1st Ave got packed, and then people spilled onto 2nd Ave, then 3rd, were we were at, and when we decided to take a lunch break, we noticed that Lexington Avenue was being overtaken, too�this was a little after 1:30.

Don�t believe what those politically inclined bastards said, there must have been around 500,000 people. I was so pissed off when I heard the NYPD saying that there was 100,000 there. What bullshit! Maybe at 49th & 1st there was 100,000, but not overall. It was such a fantastic atmosphere, and my favorite part was seeing so many middle class families there. Of course groups like Greenpeace were there, but so were the Sisters of St. Agnes, and so were Mr. & Mrs. Smith from Middleton, NJ with all their kids. So don�t believe all the crap you see on the news about there being a bunch of trouble. There were people on crutches, wheelchairs and strollers. There were hippies and, yes, a few crazies, but over all there were just normal people wanting to be heard.

When we were on our way to lunch, I noticed that Mar had called. We met her for lunch and then BW went home. Typical. So much for the great activist. Mar and I went back to 2nd Ave, and after being stuck there for a while made our way west. We ended up at Lexington and 51st. There was more stopping traffic, hanging out with the drummers, more chanting and singing. It was a good rally, I�m getting my pictures developed, and I�m going to post them. I have picked the new Goddess-approved protest sign:

Mar and I hung out until about 5:30 and then we went to warm up by drinking cold beer at a near by pub. By the way, here is my plug, don�t forget to sign The Women�s Peace Vigil, United for Peace Petition.

I honestly can�t remember what I did between that time and the time I was at the new neighborhood Brazilian Bar. I can tell you I danced a LOT that night, and I had this one guy who was an absolute dream to dance with. At one point and time I overheard a man comment, as he pointed at us, those two are just SEXY to watch. Well, what could one expect? I am a Goddess in Training, and this guy looked like a young Jimmy Smits. We left the bar around 4:30 in the morning. Yes, I was sober by then�despite all the hot Hungarian wine I drank and because of all the dancing I did. Is there anything more sensual than dancing to hot Latin beats with a great (hot-Latin) dancer?? Um, maybe, but not that night.