Dealing with a Braying Donkey in Their Backyard

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"First they give us a concentration camp, and then they won't even let us hang our signs!" the well-known activist protested. "In this post-September 11 atmosphere, free speech is equated with terrorism."

This journalist heard an officer radio in for reinforcements, and just when arrests appeared imminent, the banner was moved to a different wall, and Code Pink's anti-war speech was allowed to continue. An emotional Fernando Suarez, of San Diego, told of losing his son Jesus, a Marine who was killed in Iraq on March 27, 2003 when he stepped on unexploded U.S. munitions. The Mexican family had emigrated from Tijuana in 1997 so Jesus could reap the benefits of serving in the American military.

"My son and 900 other boys and girls died for Bush's lies, and my question is 'why?'" Suarez asked in passionate, heavily accented English.

Why the Orwellian Free Speech Zone, Why the war in Iraq and Why not a just, democratic society are questions protestors will be asking here all week. Meanwhile, everyday Bostonians lashed out at the city's lockdown in their own nuanced ways. Mark Pasquale, owner of the Halftime Pizza joint located across the street from the virtual war zone had unveiled a banner, stating, "D.N.C / Thanks For Nothing! / Go Bush" in response to the convention's decision to feed all the delegates, cops, journalists, and groupies inside the Fleet Center, thus depriving him of deep dish revenues. Many locals, like the Tompkins family, planned to leave town, or camp out with friends or relatives in the suburbs until the hoopla is over at the end of the week. And over at Fenway Park the tension reached a boil on Saturday night.

As is the case with any Boston headache, the hated New York Yankees baseball team was at the heart of the problem. Pinstriped prima donna Alex Rodriguez, who chose playing in the Bronx over the Red Sox this year, had nasty words for the Bostonians after he was hit by a pitch in the third inning of Saturday night's game. The beefy catcher Jason Varitek punched A-Rod in the face with his mitt, and what followed was a bench-clearing, dust-raising, bloody musical fit for Broadway.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry made a surprise appearance at Fenway Park the following night, a move that virtually begs comparisons between this hard-nosed baseball team and its embattled city.

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