2003-02-19 - 9:03 p.m.
I feel weighted down with a slight head cold, but it is any suprise after spending most of last Saturday in the freezing cold, along with what felt like half the city, trying to raise voices in opposition to war? Most of my friends and classmates are sick, classes filled with sneezing, coughing, nose blowing. It's no wonder. The state of the world is running us into the ground. I don't think I can hope for health until certain toxins are removed from the (political) system.
But enough of the vaugeness. What did Saturday teach me? That the state will try to flex its institutional muscle every chance it gets- hiring so many cops to herd demonstrators about the east side, preventing us from even reaching the anti-war rally, all in the name of our own "protection".
Or as one demonstrator put is, "So we're allowed to have a rally, but we're not allowed to get to it?"
I wanted to feel hopefuly, but I felt overwhelmed and tired. I felt lucky to go with my friends, to be able to link arms and weave through the crowds of signs and drums and all those things that come with a protest. But if Manhattan can be filled up with anti-war protesters, from 49th street to 86th street, from 1st ave to 4th ave, that's a hopeful sign, isnt' it?
Later that night, I indulged a guilty pleasure of mine and went to see Sleater-Kinney play. It turned out to be the most instructive part of the day. I let myself unselfconsciously sing along to all the songs and dance as best as I could, packed in with 16 year old rock show goers (I knew I was older than most of the people there, just by the very fact I could see over most of their heads). I found a huge release in this, letting all the rage and frustration of these times lead out for a little bit. And I realized this:
Art is crucial to social change.
Art is emotional, communicative, is a place for expression and release. Art is a way to imagine and express our visions for a better world, a world we will never see in our life times. Art is life affirming, something I desperately need right now.
I have to laugh at myself, finding this at a big rock show, but feeling the emotional salience of art, the desire to create, it keeps me going through these times.
