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mihmo.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
davis_square1) do you have a permit?
2) the west somerville library is CLOSED on weekends.
3) i really don't know what your cause is, but i don't understand how you intend to further it by banging and screaming outside my window. this is a residential area. the square is just two or three blocks down.
4) *please* shut up. my stereo doesn't go up any louder and i still hear you.
2) the west somerville library is CLOSED on weekends.
3) i really don't know what your cause is, but i don't understand how you intend to further it by banging and screaming outside my window. this is a residential area. the square is just two or three blocks down.
4) *please* shut up. my stereo doesn't go up any louder and i still hear you.
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 08:10 pm (UTC)the din was not even noticeable inside the building (admittedly our windows were not open).
i am grateful to live in a neighborhood that hosts such things, brings a certain liveliness (to the square or the sidewalk in front of the library or whatever) to my domestic life.
viva la drumming! viva la sidewalk protests!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 09:38 pm (UTC)it could be that this small gathering was located at the library because the repeal of state income taxes would greatly affect funding for such institutions as libraries.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 01:47 am (UTC)viva la drumming! viva la sidewalk protests!
Wholeheartedly seconded.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 01:53 am (UTC)Living in a house where you can't hear drummers 30 feet away and telling others not to complain about noise is like living in a luxury air-conditioned condo and telling other people to not complain about 100+ degree hot summer days.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 03:46 am (UTC)i suspect, however, that people who are annoyed be such goings-on have a n ear for hearing it no matter what the volume.
i'm not easily annoyed by social action so it didn't worm its way under my shut windows and through my extra thin walls.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 05:29 am (UTC)i just don't think screaming like that is cool and i put it on the same level as angry cellphone man. it was inappropriate given what the group was apparently trying to do. i think civil protests are okay, even if they involve banging and screaming if banging and screaming is appropriate for the cause. i don't think in this case it was:
* this was not in space relevant to the topic they were protesting/calling for action. it was a residential area, on a sunday, right next to three churches. you could argue that state income tax being taken away would hurt the library, but it seems stupid to 'protest' outside of a building that is CLOSED because you're not really going to attract a decent ongoing flow of passerby to gain the attention of since the building isn't in active use, only annoy the neighbors who have to live with you making all the fuss and the few passerby who likely live in that residential area. basically they were working with a fairly static audience.
* if a protest has something to do with say a law being passed or not being passed, it seems a public place like a courthouse or city hall would be an appropriate venue for a loud protest since that is where the place of action for the decision is. sometimes it's done to get the attention of the people inside. if it's a protest like a strike, then the appropriate place is outside of the workplace at which the strikers are protesting working conditions.
* if a protest has something to do with people voting on something, and there is no one focal point of the call to action (like this one), it seems to me calmly interacting with passerby on the street in a less residental / more central and public area would have been far more appropriate than screaming and banging. All of the other folks with something to say about the upcoming elections or just general social causes (greenpeace, DNC, question 4 folks have all approached me calmly and politely in the past couple of weeks) have taken this approach, in the center of the square.
yes, i read "corporate media and the threat to democracy" in college, i understand that having public spaces in which to speak and engage with your community is really important. i just think this one was extremely poorly done and really hurt more than helped anything.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 01:32 pm (UTC)i feel that it was in an appropriate location given the subject of the protest. the protesters were not out to inform the library users but instead those that are as yet unswayed. using the library as a backdrop is appropriate. as to holding the protest on a sunday next to three churches- i should hope that the increased traffic flow on that corner on a sunday would be self-evident for someone who lives there. i even disagree with your claim that we live in a residential area. i realize that you feel strongly about this because you have made this point several times, but i must point out that my residence is the only one within shouting distance. surrounding this one building is an insurance office, a library, three churches, a hair salon. there is one lone building behind us and then ciampa manor. that is hardly a strictly residential area. in addition, this corner hosts a major through street that is lined with noisy vehicles at most times of the day. to cast this corner in the light of a peaceful suburban haven free of noise and bother is grossly misleading. the protests were held in the daytime, in the middle of the afternoon not at a time when the majority of time when people would be sleeping, and since they were not that loud to begin with, there was really no great hurt done with respect to location and timing.
i agree, also, with the tactics of the protesters. interacting calmly with passerby in the square can only reach so many people and only those who pass by in the square. the protesters were not after the people in the square, there were after the people in the cars. many more people pass through davis square in vehicles than on foot. it is important to realize, also, that the socio-economic differences of those who own cars and those who do not could be a major influence on whether this particular issue is supported or not supported on a ballot. the protesters made a wise decision to broaden their target. personally, i loathe when people come up to me in the square and interact with me about social issues by making conversation. i am all for meeting my neighbors but i don't think that a one-by-one activism process is efficient at all and can't help but to think that rather than lobby for a signature on a greenpeace petition, those people could instead be lobbying for systemic change in more meaningful ways (i.e. legislative change or mass public support).
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 07:26 pm (UTC)if you're not actually a user of the library, then why would you care if funding for it is cut? you don't use it so it won't effect you.
" i should hope that the increased traffic flow on that corner on a sunday would be self-evident for someone who lives there."
the 'protest' was well after all three churches let out in the morning. the white church on the corner usually has an evening sermon as far as i can tell (they are actually quite loud themselves) but the protest again missed this influx of people.
"but i must point out that my residence is the only one within shouting distance."
wow i wonder if you are confused about which somerville library branch we are talking about, then. must not be the same one. i am talking about the west somerville branch in davis. there are several frame houses with apartments in them (some have dentists' offices on the first floor, some are purely residential) to the right of the library, a large apartment building with probably some 50 odd apartments in it directly to the left of the library, and many other frame houses and condos behind the library. across the street is morrison i think which is also a purely residential street. that's a lot of residents to be disturbing.
"surrounding this one building is an insurance office"
which insurance office are you talking about? the one that is next to the T station two blocks down?
" to cast this corner in the light of a peaceful suburban haven free of noise and bother is grossly misleading."
it's on the edge of the square. it is a quiet area. there are far more residences than businesses on the block the library is on. once you get into the square, there are no residences on the ground level. that is not so for this particular block.
"since they were not that loud to begin with, there was really no great hurt done with respect to location and timing."
they were extremely loud. they were banging on drums and screaming at the top of their lungs. you must have not been around for that part. it lasted about 20 minutes. all of our windows were shut, and my stereo would not turn up any higher than it was at and we still could not drown them out. my stereo is pretty damn loud.
" the protesters were not after the people in the square, there were after the people in the cars. "
then their selection of place to stand was quite poor. better would have been the island in the center of the square where cars from the 4 or 5 different roads that dump into davis would have passed by. even better, the route 16 mass ave extension or maybe the island in the middle of the powderhouse square rotary.
" i loathe when people come up to me in the square and interact with me about social issues by making conversation. "
however, if they come up to you and you are not interested, you can easily avoid them or tell them you are not interested. if they are banging on drums and screaming outside of your window, there is not much you can do but deal with it or start a confrontation.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 11:32 pm (UTC)i am neither confused by where i live nor swayed by your opinions.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-28 12:37 am (UTC)here's your award!!!! and the crowd goes wild!
{"`-'"} (o o) ,`Y'. / ,-. \ (_)| |(_) /`_'\ (_) (_)no subject
Date: 2008-10-28 12:40 am (UTC)I don't think either of us is interested in listening further to the so-called arguments we are putting forth.
Feel free to argue on and on, though, and maybe someone will pick up where I've left off.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 03:28 am (UTC)all my windows were shut.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 05:26 pm (UTC)In related news....
Date: 2008-10-27 02:27 am (UTC)Re: In related news....
Date: 2008-10-27 10:07 pm (UTC)Re: In related news....
Date: 2008-10-28 12:38 am (UTC)http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1508297.html?thread=17072585#t17072585
oh wait a minute i guess you're not used to people admitting they did something stupid and you like to pretend they didn't!
no subject
Date: 2008-11-03 04:00 am (UTC)