Lots going on
So I made a new friend this week, Tami the Cosmic Gardener. She is a rad activist in Vancouver, BC. I just finished reading a book that was based in BC, called Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator.Today I tabled for October 22nd at the Chicano (Xican@) Moratorium observation in SF. During the October 22nd speakers (I think it was the Ayala family, Mesha from the Idriss Stelley Foundation, and Rita from October 22nd (who also represented the annoying "world can't wait until the rcp's november 2nd demonstration"), I was having an in-person chat with ibm from THE OTHER SITE. It was a nice talk.
We didn't have any info about the local coalition that people could take home with them. What the fuck?! And I couldn't get ahold of Rita for HOURS, even though she had said she would be at the park all day. Then she wouldn't go to the office to get the frickin flyers. I was trapped at the table because there was noone who could take my place. Noone! I asked Rita's husband (who was at the world can't wait to increase the boredom table) to keep an eye on the table while I went to the Barrio Defense Cmte/Justice for Julio Ayala table to see if they had flyers about October 22nd, and when I came back he didn't have his eye on the table at all. Hello, the books and t-shirts, and even the buttons, cost money! I brought it just enough money to pay the vendor fee.
Anyhow, early on in the afternoon, this older black guy comes up to the table and says he wants a Stolen Lives book, but doesn't have the money with him. I have him write down his contact info. And guess what name he writes? Bobby Seale. No Fucking Way! I had never seen him up close- I guess that's why I didn't recognize him. So I like begged him to shake my hand.
Sometimes I think I should leave the coalition or we should disband it. I could tell her we are disbanding it and forming a new group that is not under the leadership of the RCP. We could try to keep the same phone number and office, and call it the "Bay Area Coalition to Stop Police Brutality," or some acronym that spells out BayCop. But I am hesitant to do it. It would require a lot of work, a lot of organizing with people I haven't worked with before, a lot of long meetings...
Another idea I have is to set up a coalition to stop police, or a coalition against police, or a coalition against law enforcement. Or something like that. An explicitly anti-police network. It could be a place where people share ideas and ask for help on projects that are about living without police- Copwatch, security organizations, etc. And talk about or do things related to resisting the police state. Somehow or other. I just would want the right people to do it with.
The other thing that happened today was that when I was leaving Rainbow Grocery with my housecleaning supplies, Jess from the garden called. She said that they had talked about getting a rooster from Spiral Gardens, and that there was one available that very minute, and was I opposed to getting one? Well, why the hell not? Everything is a learning experience, right? So I got to the garden a Sunday evening's BART trip and lots of walking later (an hour and a half?) and there is a rooster in the garden!! Apparently he had already raped all 6 chickens. He took forever to calm down at bedtime. In fact, he got up on the roof of the coops and... flew over the fence. He went into the little hothouse and from the outside it looked like he was bouncing off the walls. Poor okra plants. James showed him who the man around the garden is and locked him in the coop (where he tried to rape chickens who were roosting). So for an hour as the sun went down (and after), we added about 30 inches of fence (vertically) all the way around the chickens' enclosure. Sigh.
I can't wait to go see him tomorrow! do roosters eat something other than laying formula?
PS- when we left the garden, we locked our new combination lock for the very first time. what will the community's response be? stay tuned!
posted by mahtin @ 11:11 PM
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