XPost: seattle.politics, seattle.general, talk.politics.misc   
   From: spcgill@redstone.guess   
      
   In article    
   !Jones  wrote:   
   >   
   > >Have you ever gone to a protest, Headley?   
   >   
   > In December of 1968, I found myself on the road from New Jersey to   
   > Washington state along what would soon become Interstate 90.  The   
   > Vietnam War was in full swing and the United States, having seen the   
   > light at the end of the tunnel, was harshly polarized and pouring men   
   > into the fray by the thousands.  The orders in my duffle bag contained   
   > my ticket to Vietnam.   
   >   
   > Back in those days, a young person could hitch-hike easily; this was   
   > particularly so if the person were wearing a military uniform... as I   
   > was.  Thus, I had cashed in my travel voucher, pocketed the money, and   
   > hit the road riding my thumb.  I arrived in Akron, OH the first   
   > evening; there I met some students at Kent State University who   
   > invited me to a party.  (This happened over a year before the   
   > unfortunate events of May 4, 1970 would indelibly etch the name "Kent   
   > State" upon our national memory.)  At the party, I met a young lady   
   > (actually, several years older than I, I being barely eighteen) who   
   > was a college organizer for the Students for a Democratic Society, a   
   > left-wing political organization.  She was clearly trying to recruit   
   > me; I enjoyed the attention she paid to me.  The next day, she   
   > departed for Notre Dame where she was organizing a large anti-war   
   > protest; since I was going west, I rode along... thus, I arrived in   
   > South Bend, IN late on a winter's day with a blizzard bearing down   
   > trying to find the location of the big protest.   
   >   
   > Anyone familiar with Notre Dame well knows that it is an institution   
   > not famous for its liberal philosophy; therefore, an SDS organizer   
   > should not have expected a warm welcome, yet, the anti-war crowd was   
   > out in full force... all twenty or so of them.  Then the Notre Dame   
   > security forces showed up; OK, one of them did, anyway.  He stayed in   
   > his car across the street.  We marched around for a while singing   
   > anti-war songs; however, I didn't know the words to any of them.   
   > After a while, we arrived at the night's climax: the draft-card   
   > burning!  But we had a problem: nobody had brought a draft-card.  They   
   > thought I should have one (unless I were really an undercover cop),   
   > but all I had was my mess-hall pass from Ft Dix... so they decided to   
   > burn that instead.   
      
   Stupid fuck.  Your ass would be on latrine sniffing duty until   
   you got   
   out for that kind of shit.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)