WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON, TOM?

This picture above was taken after the four of us on the left had just been released from jail. They are from the left Carolyn Coe, Mary Beth Sullivan, Mary Donnelly, me, and then our good friend Richard Rhames who was the first person to meet us as we left the jail. Richard is a vegetable farmer and Maine's top public access TV activist who films most progressive events and then puts them on his TV show in Biddeford. He has a wonderful dry Maine sense of humor and is one of my favorite people in the state.

(Click on the link in the headline above for a TV news clip of the arrest.)

Last night was the annual Peace Action Maine supper which about 300 attended. I was given their annual Peace Maker Award (the individual award) and Maine Veterans for Peace was given the group award. After receiving the award I got up and led the group in singing a song I had adapted for the occupation of Tom Allen's office. I took an old labor union song, "Which side are you on?" and changed some of the words and it went "Which side are you on, Tom?" We sung it in Allen's office and in the paddy wagon after getting arrested. As the police took us from Allen's third-floor office in downtown Portland about 9:00 pm on Wednesday, a group of about 30 supporters had assembled and people entering the nearby coffee shop also stopped to watch the show. Our supporters sang the song too as we were loaded into the paddy wagon.

Several folks told me the song has gotten inside their heads and they have been singing it to themselves a lot these last few days. Glad to hear that.

We just took the morning off and went to the beach for a walk with some friends. Nice sunny day though the wind kicked up by the ocean. Our dogs loved it. The entire parking lot at the state park was a sheet of ice like an ice rink. Very fun to slide along as the dogs pulled us toward the sandy beach.