Published on May 20, 2012 by MediaLube

CHICAGO — Thousands of protesters marched through downtown Chicago on Sunday in one of the city's largest demonstrations in years, airing grievances about war, climate change and a wide range of other complaints as world leaders assembled for a NATO summit.

The protest, which stirred worries about violence in the streets, was largely peaceful until the end, when a small group of demonstrators clashed with a line of police who tried to keep them from the lakeside convention center where President Barack Obama is hosting the gathering.

The protesters tried to move east toward McCormick Place and threw objects at police. Some officers responded by swinging their batons. After more than an hour, the two sides were still locked in a standoff, with police blocking the protesters' path and the crowd refusing to leave. Some protesters appeared to have blood streaming down their faces. Authorities were seen carrying a few people away from the scene.

Esther Westlake, a recent graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, marveled at the size of the crowd. She said she had been involved in antiwar marches before the war in Iraq in Chicago, but had never seen one this big.

"It's crazy. There's so many people here," she said. "Having NATO in town is kind of exciting."

But some participants wondered whether the protest agenda was too unfocused to get the diplomats' attention.

"It seems like there's so many messages and people aren't really sure what they want to get accomplished," Westlake said. "People just need to figure out what their argument is going to be."

She worried that some protesters participated simply "to do stupid things" and cause trouble.

Some participants called for the dissolution of NATO, the 63-year-old military alliance that is holding its 25th formal meeting in Chicago. It is the first time the summit has been held in a U.S. city other than Washington.

Diplomats at the meeting planned to discuss the war in Afghanistan, European missile defense and other international security matters.

"Basically NATO is used to keep the poor poor and the rich rich," said John Schraufnagel, who traveled from Minneapolis to Chicago for the march. Since the end of the Cold War, he said, the alliance has become "the enforcement arm of the ruling 1 percent, of the capitalist 1 percent."

Peace activists joined with war veterans and people more focused on the economy. Marchers assembled at Grant Park with signs denouncing NATO, including ones that read: "War(equals)Debt" and "NATO, Go Home."

But the crowd was mostly filled with protesters whose primary concerns had little to do with the discussions at the summit.

The march lacked the size and single message that shaped the last major protest moment in Chicago, when nearly half a million people filled the city's downtown in 2006 to protest making it a felony to be an illegal immigrant.


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I am late to work every day, I might get fired soon.

Also I forgot to tell you how general director asked me 10 questions about the hotel and before that made me study all night and still was not pleased at all with the result.

All girls gossip about me, and one of them comes to me and tells me all about it. It is sad how I act nice to people and they talk that way behind me like I am a horrible person.

Life sucks.

write a sentence and i'll make it a three sentence story.

go!

thanks to 2 trips to the derm, 3 trips to the pedi, a trip to the allergist, endless creams, ointments and oral meds, this is how Colin's skin is maintaining now-a-days <3





some days are better then others, but i think the days of utterly uncontrollable eczema are gone

See. I did not lie.

Click.

Work safe. But you might never be the same.

As of tomorrow we will have been here for a week.

I don't know wtf I was thinking.

The whole reason we moved was so Joey and I could go back to school. He didn't get in and I can't afford to go. So... awkward.

I've been sick the entire time we've been here. Some of that is surely just stress/anxiety/self-induced, but I'm pretty sure there are some other things going on. Too bad I no longer have health insurance. So you know, nothing I can really do about it. I do have an appointment at PP tomorrow, which is going to cost me $65. That might not seem like a lot, but it is for me. Then I'll have to start paying for my birth control each month, which I was previously getting for free.

Joey and I haven't discussed yet what we're going to do now. Obviously work, but I don't know if that means here or where we were initially going to move to. I know we could, but I really don't want to live with his parents for another year. I feel like such a leech. That and omgpanichowtheheckdoyougetajob?

Hopefully I will break out of this stress/anxiety/depression soon and get on with my life. Everything just seems so overwhelming at the moment. Most of that is physically feeling too bad to do anything. But I also wish we just had one thing to anchor onto, to give us some sense of orientation with which to direct our lives. I feel like we're just... floating.

I don't know. Had we stayed in Chicago, Joey would have a full-time job with benefits, and I wouldn't have had to shift my entire life around. On the other hand, I was starting to get restless there. I would have always been wondering "What if?" about moving and it's not like I would have found work any easier there. I also think this has made me a bit more appreciative of what Joey went through when he quit his job and moved to Chicago for me. I think I understand now why he was depressed for awhile (until there was more stability, anyway).

I'm sure things will get better with time. I just wish I knew what to do now!