  Today I experienced a renewal of faith in the American people. Upon arriving at the parade with Bryce and Irene, we saw the BACP float just as the parade was starting.
I had planned on not marching, but seeing Alex, Chris, Erik, Mike, and Slick Rick protesting was too much to sit out of and I joined them at the forefront. John, Bryce, and Irene proceeded to join us. As we marched, we got many more cheers and peace signs than boos. The boos were mostly from old men and rednecks, the cheers from ordinary citizens. We got flipped off quite a few times, swore at, called "cowards" (as if these conservatives would march in front of all these people), and me and Erik were sprayed by a fire hose.
All in all, a fun time. The jeers from the (mostly) ignorant only strengthened our cause. What is the point of saying to a twelve year old, "You little red-headed bitch! I'll show you what's right!"? My tactic was to look at the biggest hecklers and smile as widely as I could at them. Plus, during the parade I got to scope out where everyone I was looking for was at. I didn't say anything about psuedos in my post. They weren't trying to be punks, indeed "What's Left of the Flag to Me" is a folk song, and I was just using it as an example of how everything gets corrupted and turned into something I don't like anymore. ...at Battle of the Bands, Erik yelled, "Emo sucks! ", and Hannah said, "Better an emo kid than a pseudopunk.
" That made me laugh. Oh, and the hecklers told us that they hoped we got drafted. Don't they get the fucking point? The reason we are protesting is because we want the killing of each other to stop. I don't see what is cowardly about wanting peace. I don't want to die or kill, and I don't want anyone else to have to either. Afterwards we all went on the hill, got the best spot, and sat there for four hours.
A bunch of people came through the grass, we saw the fireworks, and afterwards Gail wouldn't let Chris go to Bryce's house because she thought we were going to go get wasted or something, and everyone ended up going home. Hawkeye and Jeff seem to have gone AWOL. I have a whirlwind social schedule, but I still find time to blog. I'd like to know what is going on with everyone, as I hate using a telephone. On the agenda for tomorrow: swimming. On Tuesday, I get paid the fattest paycheck ever, and I plan on buying gas, CDs, and books. So I have that to look forward to. Rock over London, Rock on Chicago. 
