Well, the Republican Convention is starting to hit town. It's unlikely to figure much in my posts to Worldchanging over the next week, even though I will probably be steeping myself in media coverage, and perhaps out taking a few photos myself.
It's an interesting moment (as the Chinese curse goes, "May you live in interesting times"), and I urge you to check out varied viewpoints on what goes on here.
I can't even begin to count the number of web sites across the media spectrum, from the Gray Lady herself, aka the New York Times, to the New York Independent Media Coalition, that will be tracking the upcoming hilarity and madness. I'll amend this post with links as I find particularly admirable outlets.
First off: N.Y. Newsday's GOP Convention Page. I admire the tabloid enthusiasm of this crazy, image-rich layout. It gives equal time to protests and official events, and there is a handy guide to wi-fi hotspots in outdoor locations around the city.
They missed one of my favorites, though: Pier 63 Maritime, off 23rd Street on the far west side.
Aug 28 Update:
New York public radio WNYC will be doing on-the-ground coverage of the RNC, as they did for the DNC last month. Usually smart and entertaining.
Sept 1 Update:
You can hear a pin drop at the GOP's official RNC Interactive Bloggers site.
(thanks, xian!)
Sept 2 Update:
Well, I've been less active on this than I expected. It is that deadly condition: media fatigue. The Republican mouthpieces crow, the Democrats seethe (albiet that this is more entertaining for me, personally), the mainstream blunders onward, ignoring the protesters because there was not enough violence.
Meanwhile, I hear a helicopter even as I type. Stories coming out about police treatment of arrested protestors have been frankly dismaying. There is a lot of work to do in this world, folks.
A few bright spots of ProtestArt @ RNC, courtesy of our pals at boingboing:
John Perry Barlow's dance protests: "After four missions, Dancing in the Streets has exceeded my fondest expectations. It was my objective, as it usually is, that we afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, and this is what we have been doing by all appearances. We generally make the credentialed Republicans we encounter visibly nervous and spread good will and humor to most of the rest, including the police, who could well use it at the moment. People dig it when they see other people dancing in incongruous places. The most surprising people will join in, falling on the dance with a kind of hunger."
Protest roundups from geek readers of boingboing
And a few more wonderful things:
Ruckus Society/Operation Sibyl's fabulous banner drop off the Plaza Hotel on Friday, August 26.
Eyes Wide Open: Moving installation by American Friends Service Committee. Rows of empty boots and shoes, representing the U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians, respectively, who have died so far in the war. It makes the case for peace as eloquently as any rhetoric ever has.
The resurgence of ACT UP, with their creative, non-violent infiltration and naked protest. Inspiring!
Shout-out to the Sierra Club's vigil at Ground Zero to protest EPA deceptions about the environmental conditions in lower Manhattan, and a visible presence in the A29 march. The other national environmental orgs all had good reasons for skipping the scene here in NYC, but here's how it read to this New Yorker, Big Green Groups: like the all-too-common disdain for cities and urban life that plagues the environmental movement. Wilderness and wild things need New York City, where we use less energy per capita than any other citizens in the country.
