It looks like Evan and I are more or less in agreement about the recent string of anti-judith butler hysterics on the editorial page of the YDN. That makes me feel smart.
This weekend has been much better than the last one in terms of personal wellness, and i may even be ready to resume sporadic blogging.
The mass rally in Atlantic City yesterday was awesome. I actually managed to get up at four in the morning (actually 4:10 - think i missed my first alarm) after a near-sleepless and somewhat miserable night of movie watching (the bizarre but watchable Saved!, (in which Macaulay Culkin and Mandy Moore deliver startlingly good performances in a movie which feels like it lost too much of its spark at the mandate of studio censors, Sweet Sweetback's BadassssssssSong, which i didn't finish 'cause i tried, unsucessfully, to fall asleep, and finally that old stalwart of masculinist retail employee existential angst, Clerks.) (I'm particularly baffled by Saved!'s climactic prom scene's use of The Replacements' "Skyway," but i'm inclined toplace blame for this on Michael Stipe, who produced the film,) and worrying about my grandfather, who was hospitalized friday, but who seems to be doing much better today, thank god.
At first, i couldn't sleep on the bus, so i listen to Dig Me Out and Meadowlands on the ipod. When we hit northeastern Connecticut, i saw a billboard for New Alliance Bank and became so incensed by hatred for all things Zaccagnino that i promptly fell asleep, and, after stirring briefly in bridgeport, lost consciousness until we hit the cross-bronx expressway. Joey, a business agent for my local and a former Geso organizer from the Div school who works next to me and is an all-around great guy, and i got into a conversation about Ipods, Paul Westerberg, and Husker Du, and we ultimately rolled into Atlantic City right on time.
The first thing i saw when we rolled towards the parking lot was the stage. The second thing was Wendi Walsh, who was intrepidly directing foot traffic onto the staging grounds, and as we rolled down the street towards the parking lot, there were Michael and fran, and Bill Granfield from Local 100 (where i interned two summers ago.) Serge and I carried the banner and led the cadre of folks from the local in front of the stage and past Antony, who i was pretty happy to see even though i forgot to tell him that the world needs Yaleinsider. I heard the booming and unmistakable voice of the rally MC, and that's when i realized that there was no way in hell these strikers were going to lose, because when Scott Marks emcees your rallies, then there's no way you can possibly lose. Raynor's Yankee boosterism aside, the rally was good, and in particular, hearing from the strikers was really powerful. Wyclef's performance was amazing - better even than the one he did at the IWFR rally a year ago. Ready or Not, Casino industry...
It was great to see all the New Haven crew and the folks from 34 and 35 and 217 - Bob and Laura, Duane and Beth, Jeremy and JCC, Cathy and Deb. It was also great to see all the GESO folks (there were quite a few of them) and hear from Mary Catherine and Mary and Kristie about how much ass GESO is kicking right now. Those guys rock.
The bus ride back was actually pretty fun, despite the hour long conference call i had to be on until i got disconnected by a tunnel and the insanely long delay before the GWB. Good to talk to scharff too. I feel like i have a much better sense of how the organizing staff here work, and reminiscing about New Haven with Joey and Katharine, (including the aborted plan to walk to Steve Matthews' house from the Milford Pilot truckstop) was a good way to pass the time. Finally getting home and falling asleep was exquisite.
Today was good too - I walked out to arlinton massachusetts and back, i talked to Katie on the phone, and i feel less frantic and besieged. The loneliness, while persistent, also seems manageable for now, and hopefully i will eventually find folks here to hang out with and figure out the grad school stuff (Denning, call me back!) and figure out how to run boycotts against tow hotels and stay sane in the process.
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