epic weekend

i had a fantastic weekend. tucson was great.

it started friday morning at 6am when we all met at the van. we were on the road around 630 (after stopping at prescott coffee roasters for some morning pep) for our four hour trip to zoe (my professor)'s mom's house (it's actually zoe's house--she lived in tucson for grad school and time after = 16 years, and when she moved, her mom moved in. it's a duplex and two of zoe's friends live on the other side). we ditched our stuff and got lunch at a really good mexican place. then we went to the tucson community food bank and had a tour of their opperation, then drove about 45 minutes outside of tucson to the food bank's farm and talked to the farm manager there. we got back to zoe's mom's house and had some downtime before dinner. zoe drove a few of us (adam, thiel, and i) to a protest at 5pm downtown (it was to oppose the passing of proposition 8 in california and prop 102 in arizona), where we marched over a pedestrian over-pass into a park area with a gazebo and video projector. we had to be back for dinner at 6 so we weren't there for very long (i think it was supposed to go til like 7 or 730), but it was still cool. after dinner, zoe, thiel, and i went to a bookstore on 4th street (which is like the hub of town--lots of places to eat, some trift stores, glass shops, bars, etc.) to hear col. ann wright, who retired from the army after lilke 27 years of service when we went to iraq, and has since been speaking out against the war. she recently published a book about stories of i think torture victims, so she talked about tourture as well as rape in the army. after that, we went back to zoe's mom's house (some of the class had bought beer--zoe said it was fine if we wanted a beer or two, but to not get shitfaced) and chilled out. a few of us (thiel, julie, adam, and i) were inside looking at facebook pictures and swapping stories, while others played cards and had a couple beers with zoe.

saturday morning we had to leave around 7am, because we had to drive about an hour and a half for our activity (after, of course, stopping to get coffee and tea). we drove down to where we were 12 miles north of the mexican border, to san pedro riparian area. we went on a 1.2 or so mile walk around the river and pond. it was crazy to see, because it was this river sourrounded by cottonwoods and willows with tons of bugs and SOOO many different birds, and it's in the middle of a desert. i mean, there's tall grass leading up to the spot with the trees, but it's this desert landscdape all of a sudden interrupted by this crazily diverse area. after that was done, we headed back to town, where we were going to have pizza at zoe's while we hung out with a guy from the sierra club. after mowing down, we watched a 20 minute video on the border wall and he abuse of power that gets it built, and it's affects on the ecological communities, including the one where we had just been. i got a dvd from him for free, so i'm thinking about having it shown at gmc for something. just to inform people, because it's a big deal.

after that, the rest of the day was ours. it was about 2:30, and the four of us in our little group from the night before (thiel, julie, adam, and i) decided to go to fourth street and see what that was all about. i think it was the first store we went in that was a huuuuge thrift store. i found apair of SIQ overalls. we went in a bunch of stores including a vintage clothing store, glass shop, hippie gypsy, just a bunch of different places. we had dinner at a cool place and discussed going to a bar after. i said i was too young to go, but would go back to the house and do some reading if they wanted to go out, but they said we'd just hit up the liquor store so i could have fun, too! so julie and adam went in for wine and tequila while thiel and i walked around the block. when we got back to zoe's mom's house, there were just two people around, and zoe had gone out with her friends from tucson (her mom had gone on a date the night before and wasn't back yet!). adam found two limes in the refridgerator and he, theil, and i had shots. thiel only had like 2 or 3, adam had 7, and i had 6. we played cards on the front porch with dean (another guy from class). i had to be at a church at 7:30 to meet my peace studies class, but they got to sleep in and not leave until 10. incredibly, i didn't have a hangover at all. i guess that's what happens when you don't drink cheap tequila...

so i met up with the peace studies class on sunday morning. we stopped at a cafe to get breakfast and drinks before heading south for our event. they had come up the day before and had done peacekeeping workshops all day. i was disappointed that i missed out, but had a blast with the environmental politics crew. so we drove down to sierra vista (which is right down by where i had been the day before), to protest at ft. huachuca. the event started at 10:30, with speakers and music and such to get folks riled up before the march at 1. during that time, i made a sign: "teach peace, not torture." about 200 people walked the 2.3 miles from where we were to in front of the fort. at the end, we were faced with counter demonstrators that were yelling things like "support our troops," "read your history. take a shower. get an education," "bend over for obama," and tons of way more graphic stuff. it made me really mad that a lot of what they were saying was a. pesonal and b. not even relevant to why we were there and the message we were trying to get across. i mean, i support our troops to the fullest, but i don't support the war, and i don't support them being taught torture. two or three people crossed the street to try to deliver a letter and were handcuffed, but then released. we then walked a little further to the caci building before ending the demonstration. then we drove back to tucson to grab some dinner before departing for the 4 hour drive. we got back to prescott around 11:15ish.

it was a great weekend. really long, though. i have pictures, but my camera died at the protest (so i missed out on some good pictures) and i can't get them from it until i get some more batteries...

it's times like this when i'm reeeeaaaaalllllly gonna miss this place.
i can't wait to come back though!!!!!!!!!!!

stay kind xoxo