Jen

yee-haw!

I did not get the chance to say that even once in Austin.

After going to SPE (Society for Photographic Education) I don't really think that I have any reason to go back. It was fun though, but the lectures seemed to be lacking the inspiration that I was looking for. I did, however, meet my photo twin - she does nearly the same project I do, and with the same camera, but the images look totally different - and it was cool to talk to her and compare work and techniques.

Austin is very pocket-sized compared to Chicago, but still very pretty - much greener than I expected. Almost always when I travel to a city smaller than my home, I always wonder for the first few hours if I could be happy living there. Of course Austin is very self-sufficient and has tons of cool shops and bars, although I don't think I could stay there. Just as an FYI - 6th street - the main attraction for nightlife - was not at all what I expected and I was kind of disappointed. Maybe it's because I didn't know the right places to go. I dunno.

My first night there, I ended up in an anti-war protest. There is this main bridge on Congress that crosses over the Colorado River. Anyway, I missed the first evening lecture of SPE and my friend, Brian and I decided to figure out what all the noise we were hearing was about. It ended up being the remaining hours of two protests - one that started on the bridge and another that was pushed down by the police from the capital.

Being in the midst of the protest was really a quite amazing experience. It was so easy to be caught up with everything and everyone. I met some many amazing people too, so all in all, it was such a positive experience. Even the cops were quite cool about everything until about an hour into my stay there. That is when things got a bit more tense. At first there was a warning that there would be arrests in one hour due to gathering without a permit. After the hour passed, there was another 15 minute warning to leave before there were any arrests. During this time, I witnessed 2 buses pull up, filled with the Austin police force dressed in riot gear holding batons, and another empty bus, I was assuming, to carry away the arrests.

My stomach dropped when I saw a straight line, as wide as the bridge, marching towards the lines of protestors. At this point, Brian and I figured that it probably wouldn't be a good idea if we got arrested, especially because Columbia fronted most of the bill for this trip, so at the last warning, we decided to leave - unfortunately, it meant we had to leave through the line of cops. I can't tell you how frightning it is to see them all lined up that way, and I feared for the safety of all the protestors that would stay behind for their cause. We were lucky, Brian and I, and a few others were allowed to cross the lines before they began to very quietly, pull person by person from the ground to the bus.

I felt better in knowing that no one got hurt. Thank god.

It an amazing thought knowing how many people were out this weekend wanting the war to stop. I missed everthing that went on here in Chicago, not to mention San Fransico and New York. Doesn't that tell you something? Doesn't it prove that not all of us want a war?