Wow

Well I am a bit stunned by what happened in the St. Patrick Day Parade in Colorado Springs while we were gone.

Colorado Confidential has some really good articles here and here. I recommend that you read them. I am really frustrated that our local news isn't reporting the whole story - I personally felt that the group having a permit to be in the parade and that they marched last year in the parade is an integral part of the story. It makes me really sad to see our news portray these people as weird-o hippies. Yes, a lot of people who are willing to stand up for Peace are weird. I will not argue with that. Speaking up against the status quo takes a certain type of individual. An individual who is less concerned with how people perceive them and more concerned about communicating their beliefs.

If more "normal" people take the steps to speak up and disregard peer pressure - we will all be surprised who is against this war. I was impressed with 5/30 news program covering a Moveon.org vigil in Pueblo yesterday. They gave time to the "normal" looking Moveon.org members who spoke about the high cost of human life and suffering the four year old war is causing. But then 5/30 went on to dismiss the weirdo protesters in the St. Patrick Parade - so whatcha going to do?

(write 5/30 when they don't report the whole story. I do :)

But our trip to Taos was really fun........We attended the peace rally with a new friend - Peace Frog, a decorative percussion frog we bought in a gift shop before the rally.

There were a lot of hippies, students, regular peeps - approx 200 people I would say. (I didn't take pictures until the rally was winding down). There were some really good speeches, poetry, and spoken word performances. And we all marched through the streets in the end to take the message to others. Here is a pic of the Codepink peeps:

In the end it was a really surreal, but good experience. Once we put into action our sadness and frustration at this war, we felt a bit better. We will continue to speak up.

Afterwards we got some yummy foodstuff with our special friend:

Overall, Jeff and I had a good (and much needed) vacation. I love traveling, and I especially love traveling with Jeff.

Peace (frogs)