Miami Dispatch: 11/15

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MIAMI -- I wake up early, after about four hours of sleep, to finish some e-mail and pack up as today we move into the houses we've rented for the Pagan Cluster. But I am flying off to St. Petersberg to speak at a rally. Ruby and Brenda drive me to the airport, and I actually have time to sit down and eat breakfast there. I don't think I've had a sit-down breakfast since I arrived here!

Diane picks me up at the Tampa airport and drives me to her lovely wooden bungalow with a yard full of birds in St. Petersberg. She points out the ospreys and cormorants on the light poles as we drive across the causeway over Tampa Bay. She is French Canadian, part of the local Women in Black group that is sponsoring me here. She has done years of work in Haiti and tells me that the banyan trees are the home of loa, or the spirits/Gods of Voudoun. She has tamed jays to eat out of her hand, once nearly tamed a woodpecker but didn't like its long snakey tongue. We sit and drink tea and role up newspaper batons for the training. Then we go downtown, eat a quick lunch at a Greek restaurant, and go to the rally where I will be speaking. I'm going two for two now -- my second actual meal of the day.

The rally is in a small park, and the glaring hot lawn in front of the stage is empty but quite a lot of people are gathered in the shade. Women in Black, the Green Party, Southeast Friends of Reclaiming, and a few other groups have tables set up. I meet John, who has organized the rally -- his very first effort at such a thing--and has done a great job. I wander around, listen to speakers, sit and talk to people. Then I get a call from Lisa -- Charles, Pablito, Ryan, Sara and Henry have been arrested. She isn't too sure of the details but thinks they were passing out flyers. The news is upsetting. I know they are all strong and experienced and they'll be fine, but I'm feeling a pang of loss, and worry. Charles has been bottom-lining so many responsibilities, he'll leave a big hole if he is in jail for a couple of days. Pablito just arrived yesterday. I call Mer, who is a great support person for these actions and has access to my home computer and ask her to post a call out on my lists.

It's been so sweet at the convergence center the last days that I'd been able to put aside that uneasy sense of hostile forces surrounding us. Now the pit of my stomach and I have a bit of a dialogue about the upcoming actions. There have been many times when the police used harassment and intimidation techniques in the lead-up to the actions and then let us have space on the day itself, when our numbers are strong. That could happen here. And a lot of really worse things could happen, as well. But none of them scare me like the thought of what will happen if we don't show up, don't contest this ministerial, don't challenge this grim vision for the world.

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