Los Angeles Codepink Style

Tzadik and I wake up way way way before sunrise (if we ever went to sleep at all) and depart for Los Angeles. The scene of the two of us driving to LA on the Five is a joke: we are so tired that we switch drivers at almost every gas station we pass and Tzadik eats a whole loaf of Mana Bread to stay awake (at least that’s the excuse he gives me when I wake up for my driving shift hungry). I have to be on a conference call during our drive over the Grapevine, during which my phone keeps cutting out. In LA, Tzadik drops me off at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the National Educator’s Association convention and I meet Dana, Tiffany, and Medea as they’re leaving for Medea’s lunchtime talk with the Peace and Justice Caucus. I spend the afternoon tabling for CODEPINK wearing a pink cap and gown and passing out pink mock diplomas that read “Diploma or Death Certificate?” and have tips for how to incorporate counter-recruitment into high school curricula and how to give students the resources they need to make an informed decision about enlisting in the military. People are very receptive and interested in finding out about CODEPINK. A few days later, we find out that the NEA has passed two resolutions about the militarization of schools and the protection of student privacy.

In the afternoon, I have a one hour interview with a radio station in Columbia, Missouri. I speak about CODEPINK’s 4th of July actions, the recent news that the National Guard has created a surveillance unit to spy on anti-war activity and our response, the changing tide of opinion around the war, and countering military recruitment. Several callers express their support of CODEPINK. We talk a lot about the issues around a US pull out of Iraq and the fears people have about ensuing conflict in the region. I do the entire interview on my cell phone in the huge car garage of the Convention Center.

In the evening, Jodie hosts a book party at her home in Venice. The room is overflowing with people eager to hear about how to stop the next war now. Jodie, Medea, Fernando, Nadia, and others speak. It is both difficult and inspiring to bear witness to Fernando and Nadia’s accounts of the death of their children as soldiers in Iraq. By the end of the night, Tom Hayden has modeled the pink rocker wig, and Gracie is doing a mock book signing. I leave Jodie’s house feeling very, very grateful to work with such an inspiring bunch of women.