From: Betty Wood, Green Party of Cortland

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The Cortland Community for Peace had about a dozen people there, many of them Greens. We featured the 5 quilts that I made that showed pictures and identification information about NYS military people who were killed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Liberation, uh, Freedom. Each photo and id was surrounded by 52 flags of either Afganistan or Iraq, to acknowledge that war has casualties on both sides, with the people of Iraq and Afganistan having many more casualties than the invaders. The American flags are as seen from the top of a flag draped coffin.




The Syracuse March and Rally had about 2500 people from all over the
state. The speakers and music were inspiring. The march was several
blocks long. At the rally, the greatest ovation was for the Iraq
Veterans Against the War, the group that called for the action.

There were many creative signs and some street theater. There were a
half dozen or so tables. One artist used 4x8 particle board as canvas
for half a dozen paintings that used photos from the NY Times as
inspiration. Each painting had a paragraph or two identifying the
inspiration and the artist's comments on it as a statement of the war.
Many, many groups participated.

The Cortland Community for Peace had about a dozen people there, many of
them Greens. We featured the 5 quilts that I made that showed pictures
and identification information about NYS military people who were killed
as part of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Liberation, uh,
Freedom. Each photo and id was surrounded by 52 flags of either
Afganistan or Iraq, to acknowledge that war has casualties on both
sides, with the people of Iraq and Afganistan having many more
casualties than the invaders. The American flags are as seen from the
top of a flag draped coffin. This, in fact, was the inspiration for the
project, i.e. when the flagged draped coffins of the returning dead were
made confidential and they became statistics. The quilts were very well
received with many people looking for neighbors or family members.
Others just looked. Many photos were taken. I was interviewed by
several reporters: 2 from Syracuse Post Standard, SU Daily Orange
(student newspaper), Channel 3 TV, a Rochester student web site reporter
(www.rocloop.com), and several SU journalism students. Others in the
group were also interviewed (I have no details).

Syracuse police were much in evidence during the march for traffic
control. Otherwise, they were out of sight. I saw no attempts at
intimidation.

It was a beautiful day and a successful march and rally.
Congratulations to Jessica Maxwell and all those who worked with her for
a job well done.