March 17, 2004

Braintree to Newton

Walking for peace past the General Dynamics plant in Quincy.
Subwaying for peace.
Urban walking for peace.

We walked from East Braintree to Quincy Center where we took the subway to Fields Corner in Dorcester. Walking through Dorcester and Roxbury, I got the sense that the wish for non-violence was more tangible to people's lives in these areas. Near Dudley station, I approached a group of men to give a walk pamphlet to one of them. One guy jumped up and thanked me for doing the walk. His son was recently killed by a stray bullet at Dudley Station, and he was still mourning his death. He told me about a planned walk in the Dudley Square area for April, and thanked me for walking for non-violence. It would have been great to have a discussion about finding peace with a group from Dudley Square, I'm sure it would have added fresh perspectives to our walk and the issue of finding peace.

Meeting with David Cohen, mayor of Newton, who gave us a warm reception.

Then we walked to Albany Street and the proposed site of a bio weapons lab to be built on the BU medical center grounds. Activists are up in arms about this proposal, check out the Alternatives for Community and Environment web site for the reasons. After a wonderful lunch at Haley House in the South End, we bundled up, preparing for a late winter storm forecast for the area. We walked through Kenmore Square, past BC, to the Newton City Hall. There we met the mayor of Newton, and engaged him in a dialog about nuclear war and the bio weapons lab proposal, while we presented him with a peace packet. After dinner we split up to go to our home stays. With around 6 inches of snow on the ground, I got my boots out of the van to prepare for today's walk.

Posted by Craig at March 17, 2004 06:46 AM | TrackBack