Back to the US of A!

I made it back to Berkeley safely Tuesday night after nearly 24 hours of travel from London. I've spent the last two days recovering from jet-lag, resting up, and enjoying the ability to sleep in the same place for more than one or two nights.

Today I joined my cousin and we attended the anti-Prop 8 rally at city hall in San Francisco. The event is currently headlining the NY Times website, see it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/16protest.html?hp

I remember why I love San Francisco: When the people are upset, they take to the streets... Peacefully, and with style, no doubt. With signs ranging from "No more Mr Nice Gay" to "Love not H8" to the young man holding a sign saying "Wait, you want ME to marry your daugter?!" , events today were passionate, creative, and from the heart. While the mood of both the rally and subsequent march were upbeat and often comical, there was no denying the underlying urgency: Basic civil rights of many thousands of Californians were taken away on Nov. 4th, and the loss was a harsh slap in the face to the gay rights movement.

Speakers urged protesters not to single out or blame any one group for the loss on Nov. 4th, and encouraged a path of nonviolent resistance in the ongoing quest for equal rights. One government leader reminded the crowd that the same words defining marriage as between a man and a woman were voted into California's family code in 2000 by a margin of 22 percentage points. This year, the same words were added to the constitution by a margin of only 4 points, an 18 point gain in voters against the definition emboldened by Prop 8. "Next time", he said, "we're going to win". (Not an exact quote, but that was the idea)

Rock On California...

Ireland

I made it! A train from London, a ferry to Dublin, another train to Cork...

I'm off to find the village of Bunmahon (along the "copper coast" near Waterford), the last known residence of our O'Neill family before their emigration to the US in the 1870s... Wish me luck!

Cheers! (And yes, the Guinness really does taste better here ;)