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When I was a baby lawyer working in Washington, DC, I was grateful to build avenues for expression both within—and also beyond—my legal practice and work in the non-profit arena. My first grassroots organizing project in the nation’s capital was the DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency [ [link removed] ].
Performing antiwar poetry and music in public spaces was always a joy, and it embodied many of the reasons why direct action can be so compelling. In addition to building community, reclaiming public space, promoting dissent in the face of bipartisan militarism, and allowing observers (who we routinely invited to take the mic) to step into the role of creators, it also sparked any number of essentially random connections.
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One of my favorite was with David Cobb, who I knew as the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2004. David had worked as a lawyer and activist in Texas, and went on to serve on the Board of Directors for the Green Institute, and the Sierra Club's national Corporate Accountability Committee. He has also worked as a Fellow with the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, and as a Principal with the Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy (POCLAD).
Back when I had first moved to Washington, David didn’t know me from a hole in the wall. But sometime in maybe 2005 or 2006, we met in the streets of the capital when he happened to cross Dupont Circle (a public park inside a traffic circle flanked by subway stations and ringed by bars & restaurants) during one of the poetry insurgency’s lyrical ambushes. We were happy to hand him the mic, and I recall feeling elated when he nimbly picked up right where we had left off.
David & I have stayed friends ever since, and his vision continues to inform and inspire my activism.
David shares his formidable insight into law, politics, and activism through an insightful podcast also available on Substack at Redneck Gone Green . Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 11) at 3pm Pacific Time, we’ll reconnect for a live discussion exploring some themes in my recent writing.
You’re welcome to watch on YouTube [ [link removed] ] at your convenience, and also to share questions and comments if you join the live webcast at 3pm PT.
I hope to hear your’s this Tuesday!
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