Sandra and her husband John and her brother Mike all founded Concerned Tennessee Citizens. CTC is a grassroots anti war organization that does activism on the local level to try to end the wars of terror on Iraq and Afghanistan. They sponsor demonstrations, work with other anti war/pro impeachment groups, and they're helping turn this once rock ribbed conservative area of east Tennessee/southwest Virginia/northwest North Carolina a little more progressive.
I first saw them on Martin Luther King day when they were holding an anti war protest here in Johnson City. I nearly ran my truck off the road because I was so surprised to see a group of people protesting the war in my area. Then a few weeks later I met Sandra at a showing of the anti war documentary The Ground Truth. My gf and I were so affected by that powerful movie that we joined up with Sandra and her band of progressive peaceniks and we been in with them ever since.
In addition to holding demonstrations and networking with other peace and progressive groups in this area CTC has also sent a delegation, of which I was a proud member, to meet with our local idiot Reich wing Congressman. We asked him to stop supporting the war and to start supporting peace options, of course he scoffed at our requests. The CTC has also done many other worthy and worthwhile things this last year.
So as a way to say 'Thanks!' and as a way to get new folks to meet old folks Sandra and John sponsored a pot luck dinner at their lovely home yesterday. I made my famous, or infamous depending on how you look at it, spinach bacon pasta with light cream sauce (made with fat free milk and fat free sour cream) topped with habenero bread croutons. Others made great dishes like Greek roasted chicken, bean pie, macaroni and cheese, and cornbread, along with many more dishes that I can't remember now.
People sitting around gabbing in the backyard.
More people sitting around gabbing and drinking.
Despite the 90 plus degree heat we all enjoyed ourselves and we ate and drank until we were stuffed. Our friends Vanessa and Joseph, the smartest best looking couple in the world, were there too. We enjoyed talking with them, laughing with them, and I learned never to try to take chocolate cake away from Vanessa, she will stick a shiv in you if you get too close to her cake. Oh well, we all have our own peculiarities.
A big willow tree in the backyard.
The affair was not all eating and joking and laughing however. Some of us did make plans to get a demonstration/march together for later in September. We decided that since the White House will be giving their report on the pro war surge in Iraq in September, that we would offer up a peace surge demonstration/march soon after. We plan to start our march in downtown Johnson City and end it on the East TN State University campus. We're hoping to find a local band to play at the end of the march so we can get a big student contingent excited about joining us. That's all in the works though, lots of work to do to get it off the ground is coming up, I hope we can pull it off well.
Travis and Ann's little girl, the unofficial baby of CTC.
Chester, the mutt so nice Sandra named him thrice but I forgot his other names.
As the day wore on the sun baked us relentlessly and we kept moving our chairs and tables under the big shade trees in Sandra and John's backyard. Some enterprising people went swimming in the creek down the street from the house. Our hostess, her nephews, the dogs, and some of the guests went swimming. I decided to spare them the sight of my pasty white body so I stayed in the backyard and talked with our friends Joseph and Vanessa.
A smart party attendee, Deborah Somethingorother, who wore her bathing suit under her shorts.
Alas, my gf has been having back problems all week and those problems flared up in a big way as the day wore on. We had to leave so she could come home and lay down. All in all though we had a great time at the dinner and we enjoyed the company and most of all we enjoyed the hospitality of Sandra and John. Here's hoping we get that march off the ground in about a month and we can help end the wars as soon as we can.
I leave you with a photo of one of the cool sculptures in their backyard.
4 comments:
Wow! What a review. Let's get that peace march going, people!
Oh yes, Chester, "The dog so nice we named him thrice" is Chester Earl Blankenship - a good old southern name to go with a good old southern dog. He is named Blankenship after a piece of property we almost bought over in the Marshall NC area many years ago, and Chester Earl because he is a redneck. He's pretty lazy unless you offer to throw a ball or give him a piece of cheese. He will paint your house if you offer him cheese.
I feel hot and sweaty just reading about that. It's so humid here!
Sounds like a good time, and I love that yard.
But who's the dude in the long pants and long sleeves? I admire his commitment to proper dress.
that backyard and view are gorgeous! i esp love love love that sculpture!
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