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(Date Posted:03/25/2003 23:45:22)
Last Thursday I had to make a court appearance in the town of Willits, about an hour and a half to my south. I was waiting in the lobby for the courtroom to open in a seat opposite the Sheriff? window. My parents own property out in the woods near Willits. When I was a kid, my dad named it "the town that time forgot."A man walked in and up to the window, a bit agitated, and said: "There are people over by Safeway dressed up like Muslims"(I? assuming he saw a demonstration of Women in Black - like Garberville, Willits has a large tye-dye set contingent - no longer the straight redneck town it was, the old greasy spoons on main street have been replaced with neo-hippie boutique shops and coffee houses that sell sandwiches with organic vegetables on them)."I can? see their faces and I don? like it. There? no telling what they?l do!"I couldn? hear what the woman said from the other side of the plexi-glass, but I could imagine. He repeated, "but they?e wearing masks!" I listened closely, but from where I was her response sounded something like the adult voices on Peanuts cartoons.The man stormed out saying, "Fine. I? calling the military. They?l take care of it."After I was finished with my court appearance, I drove over to the Safeway (Pretty daring of me, don? you think? We all know that the Willits Safeway is a prime terrorist target). By the time I got there, the Muslims were gone. All that remained were two leafleters, an older man and a young woman. I warned them about the impending military strike, bought some Matsoh and frozen blueberries for my kid, and drove home.
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From American Splendor
Student to Harvey Pekar: "It"s hard enough trying to convince people that socialism is a good thing without basing your argument on some abstract theory of human nature. Plato tried and failed. Fourier tried and failed. Marx tried and failed. Sartre tried and failed."
Harvey Pekar: "Well maybe I c"n learn from their mistakes."
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