march 4 day of action

here are a few photos from the day of action march for education. a BIG group of parents, school staff and kids marched down potrero hill to 24th and mission, waving signs and chanting, kids chit-chatting about webkins and darth vader. we got honks, waves and smiles from sf general nurses, store owners and walkers, huge grinning enthusiasm from a woman drinking out of a brown paper bag, and car-blocking and loud honking form ms. evangeline. as we reached 24th and mission our little group became hundreds, people stretched out mission street as far as we could see. there were kids in strollers, kids chanting in spanish, crazy skeletons and giant marching paper mache puppets from sf state. we saw our friends from leonard flynn, buena vista, fairmount. mr. tracey played his drum, lots of union-led chanting, and the kids were amazing troopers--miles walked all the way to the civic center. my favorite sign said "I Can't Believe We Are Still Protesting This Crap".

there were thousands of people at civic center and a somehow upbeat mood. are we all just in denial as our society is starting to collapse? is there any money or any way things are going to get better? lots of signs about taxing the rich and corporations, educate not incarcerate, and children are the future. it all makes sense but can grassroots efforts like this change anything? people seem so excited and hopeful. lots of talk about repealing the 2/3 majority. we will see. my friend told me about a teacher at school of the arts who told her teenage students not to go to the march because it was a waste of time. is it ok to teach kids to be cynical and passive? i don't think so.

i guess part of me is still very hopeful about the future, but i think a lot of things will be rough for a while. in our little world there is a lot of love for the kids. i marched so long my feet hurt and i had to take a bath with my "tired old a*& soak and take some advil.

messed up as this all is i am glad to be here right now.