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03/17/2003 Entry: "Vigil at Lincoln Memorial"
I attended a candlelight vigil at the Lincoln Memorial tonight. I estimate about 1,500 other people present, with a very wide range of age groups represented. There were lots of kids. The picture above was taken from the top of the Lincoln Memorial steps. Probably about quarter of the people still had lit candles at that time. That's the Washington Monument in the background.
After the vigil, there was a walk to the White House. I was near the edge of the group at the time, so I was one of the first people to reach the White House area. By that time, the police had shut down access to Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, as well as Lafayette Square Park. For a good part of H Street I walking alongside a cop rolling out yellow Police tape along the entire length of the park. About that time a surveillance helicopter showed up, and stayed in the area about 20 minutes.
All in all, I recommend the candlelight vigil for any other introverted protesters out there, who otherwise would be overwhelmed by the mass of people at a large march. The vigil is by design an introspective, quiet protest format, plus it's dark out, so the other protesters aren't as noticable One bit of advice would be to bring a paper or plastic cup, and poke the candle through a hole in the bottom of the cup. This will protect the flame from the wind, and give the melted wax somewhere to go. I had brought no cup, so I ended up spilling wax on myself a couple times during the night. Ouch !
(Update: The Post says only 400 people were present. I guess they were just counting the peace activists, and not the thousand other normal non-activists who were also there. Also, Sorry if the picture looks all black. It looked fine at home. Hopfully I have time to fix it tonight.)
