It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of
a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into
privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing
algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the
planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread. Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times. More than three years ago, on January 20, 2001, I joined thousands in protest as George W. Bush was inaugurated the 43rd President of the United States. It was a cold day that broke into a chilling rain as Mr. Bush prepared to occupy the White House, but I remember being hot with righteous anger as I emerged from the DC Metro at Dupont Circle to hoist my sign in furious dissent. Most of the speakers at Dupont Circle that day stoked the crowd's fury, reminding us of the particular slings and arrows of the Florida election debacle. At the moment of our highest collective dudgeon, Doris Haddock took the stage. Popularly known as Granny D, and currently running as a candidate for Senate in 2004, Haddock refused to merely validate our anger. Instead, she employed rhetoric in the most civic sense, seeking to temper our anger with strategic assessment and pulling us out of the missed opportunities of the 2000 election to refocus us on a task we could yet accomplish. I was fortunate enough to record her speech that day, and on the occasion of her decision to run for the office of Senator from New Hampshire, I am proud to share with you the words she spoke that day. Return to the Irregular Times Main Page
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