[Peace-discuss] AWARE's July 4th Float - Check THIS out!

[Ricky Baldwin]

We reached consensus at our first planning meeting for
this year's anti-war float in the local "Freedom
Celebration"!  Here's the idea (remember this year's
parade theme is "Caring for Our Communities"):

The float theme (thanks to Carol and Matt) is
"Billions for War, Pennies for Our Communities" -
that's printed in big letters on a banner on either
side of our perennial haywagon.  

On the flatbed we have covered beanbag chairs wrapped
to look like huge bags of money, at least one in a
wheelbarrow.  Someone perches on each of the other
bags - one 'Daddy Warbucks' type guy in a suit with a
top hat that says Halliburton, a Pentagon-looking type
with a glass of champaign and a fist full of dollars,
a generic politician (because we're dissatisfied with
both parties) with cash out the, well, you get the
picture.  Other props on the float include a big oil
well spewing out black gold, a cartoonish Cadillac cut
out of cardboard and painted (pink?).

Along with the float we have folks walking with
beggar's cups - a doctor, a patient with a crutch, an
older person "begging" for fair pension, a teacher, a
prisoner in striped uniform, maybe Paul King in
uniform "begging" for fair benefits for vets, one
person wearing a cardboard box painted like a
'mom-and-pop' store losing out to corporations, etc. 
Occasionally the bigshots on the bags of money toss a
few pennies... or maybe Daddy Warbucks has a go at one
of the cups with an old-fashioned vacuum cleaner ...
(maybe we have another rich guy on the float with a
sign that says "I love my tax cut...")

We think these folks should be pretty cartoonish, to
emphasize the symbolism, but also be labeled for
anybody who doesn't get it.  We also talked about but
need help with ways to depict other members of our
larger community, like soldiers in Iraq without the
proper equipment and Iraqi civilians deprived of the
benefits of their oil/reconstruction contracts/etc.
 
Behind the float we have a banner and marchers - the
banner says "The Cost of War" and folks carry signs
reinforcing the theme that the war is costing us in
human lives, money, and civil liberties.  Other signs
advocate for spending on Human Needs not War.

We need volunteers to portray these characters and to
help with 'some-assembly-required' aspects, and, of
course, more input ASAP.  We have four weeks to put
this thing together, and that time will pass quickly. 
We aren't trying to top last year's performance --
with the third prize trophy and all -- but we don't
want to miss what always turns out to be a golden
opportunity to reach hundreds of people that we don't
thru other means.  It's always fun, it's always worth
it, but it's always a bit of work getting things
ready.

So ... let us hear from you, please!



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