On Friday morning I got on the train and sat down across from a man in his 50's. Our eyes met, and we both broke into wide grins. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper crane on a string. He stood up to exit the train - and handed me the crane. I said "1,000 cranes?" "I've only made about 100." He said "Will you be there tomorrow?" "Yes I'll be wearing my wings." I replied "I'll be dancing in front of the band." We smiled again and he stepped off. I looked down and realized that it was made from a 1040 tax form.

Saturday's anti war march was beautiful, electrifying, creative, and empowering. I rode down to the starting place with my mom and Bill on our bikes, I told them where to meet me at the end, and went to join the medics at the front of the parade. I basically marched with the journalists - they had a place in front of the big banners - and since we were medics, we got to slide in under the wire. I was also wearing my angel wings - which the organizers immediately recognized as a lovely symbol to lead the march. Two of the organizers shepherded us along as we inched down Market St. It was really more of a peace crawl.

As we were standing around waiting, I noticed a gang of people walking towards me and immediately recognized Martin Sheen in the center. He walked right up to me and I said "I wish you really were the president!" and he held out his hands and said "Let me kiss you angel!" He gave me a kiss - and I thanked him for all the work he does, and he thanked me for being there. Our eyes held for a moment and he said "Would you like this poster? Someone gave it to me." I accepted the NO WAR poster - and as he walked away, I gave it to someone in the crowd. Martin Sheen rocks.

The march spilled into civic center - where celebrities, politicians and activist spoke to the crowd, and on the outskirts people danced and played music and bought political t-shirts (yay!). The feeling in the air was peaceful and happy, and no dissent was apparent. The news reports that evening were ridiculous - filled with interviews of "counter-protesters supporting the troops" and broken Citibank windows. Probably the best way to support out troops is to work for peace, and the best way to end war is to stop giving money to multinational corporations. During political actions, vandalism is usually very specifically directed at the big bad guys, and I'm not going to cry for Citibank or Starbucks if they have the truth graffitied on their front door. There is a huge debate in the movement on whether vandalism can be considered non-violent. John Sellers from the Ruckus Society puts it best "It's all about context - if you see a bunch of kids in black smashing windows - it's threatening. But when Jose Bove (the great French activist farmer - and my hero) drove his tractor into McDonalds while the townspeople danced and sang around him - that's not threatening. Same tactic - different context."

Besides, the vandals and the "patriots" were miniscule compared to the rest of the protest - it was huge! They were expecting between 150,000 and 300,000 people - and the notoriously conservative Chronicle reported 500,000. Half a million people in San Francisco. And yet, our politicians seem to be deaf to the opinions of the world. What are they thinking? Well - I think that our "elected" officials are possessed by evil spirits. Really.

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