choose your own adventure (part 3)

now: J20 (inauguration day)

you go with the flow. it's 10:30 am now and everything began at 9:00 except for the rally for women's lives. to dupont circle! your group arrives for the end of the rally just in time to join the march. someone suggests that this gathering is all boring liberals and the real action is happening at malcom x park.
http://www.stratecomm.net/~fritz/gallery/j20/012005yy_a

do you stick with the dupont circle march and try to shake things up (p.47) or head over to where "everyone else is" so you feel cooler(p.50)?

(p.47) part of this march is a funeral procession for the american soldiers that have died in iraq. people are carrying mock caskets draped in american flags. most of the people in this march are pretty quiet, but you decide to break out the bucket drum anyway and try to make things a bit more interesting. one of the students from bard brought a bullhorn so your group gets things going in a big way, with the "one! we are the people. two! a little bit louder. three..." chant as you and other protest-percussionists keep the beat alive. one of your wooden spoons breaks in half at the get-go though and you wish you had brought real drum sticks. half a spoon will suffice for now.

marching through the streets of dc feels good. you reach a square where other people are drumming like crazy. your group joins them except for one friend who decides to follow the black flags to the unpermitted black bloc march at logan circle. you join the raucous drum circle for a while, simultaneously dancing and banging the bucket. good times. 20 minutes later griffin gets a call from the black bloc march where fit has hit the shan. the cops predictably showed up in full force and are currently brutalizing the black clad comrades with pepper spray and good old fashion beatings.

do you stay at the hippy drum circle blissed out on drum beats (p.55) or meet up with the maimed black bloc folks who are escaping the melee (p.58)?

(p.58) on the way there you reach an intersection where some excellent street theater is being performed. an abu grahib-style prisoner, replete with black mask/robe, is standing on a milk crate with his arms extended at his sides. to the left and right of this prisoner stands two people from the bush administration (with over-sized cut out masks for identification) dancing and cheering. http://www.stratecomm.net/~fritz/gallery/j20/012005dddd
all four of them are wearing matching "abu grahib fraternity" sweatshirts as a sound system plays classic rock n' roll songs and clips from "animal house." they begin chanting, "toga, toga, toga, toga! toga! toga! toga!" which turns into brutal sounds of torture, transitioned into the anthem "louie, louie"
http://www.stratecomm.net/~fritz/gallery/j20/012005n

dc is filled with supporters of bush as well. many of these republicans are wearing tuxedos, cowboy hats, and/or fur coats to make sure you know which side they are on. some of them walked through this intersection looking down at the street and sheilding their children's eyes from the visceral image of the prisoner abuse caused by their heroes. people can't argue with this powerful imagery.
http://www.stratecomm.net/~fritz/gallery/j20/012005b

the actual inaugural parade is about to begin. do you wait in line to join the rally along the parade route (p.63) or do you continue to roam freely through the streets of dc playing your drum and freestyling songs with your friends about all the cowboy hats, tuxedos and furcoats (p.68)?

*to be continued...