San Francisco High School Students Fast for Peace

As I recall from my younger
years I used to spend spring break eating Dorritos and watching TV. Some
of the students at Gateway, Miramonte, and Mission High (all in San Francisco),
decided to do something with more meaning. They organized the 2003 Spring
Break Fast: Teach-in for Peace and Education.

For four days they have fasted
in front of the San Francisco Federal Building to protest the US invasion
of Iraq, interventions in Colombia and the Philippines, and the fact that
oppressed people don't get a spring break.

The In Crowd

While on my way to photograph
the group I noticed a defaced Coke vending machine. The cool guy asking
if you are thirsty now says "No War" and seems to be missing
a tooth.

Perhaps the cool dude and his
crew will join the Spring Break Fast protesters after he realizes that
he is contributing to the general callowness of youth today as well as
to tooth decay.

I arrived just as the group
of students (and Gateway High Math teacher Andrew Rose) were ending their
fast. I sincerely hope that they are indicative of the younger generation.
If they are perhaps the future will be better than the recent past.

There were also a group of
people participating in a continuous vigil that began at the start of
the Iraq invasion. Apparently, three members of the Margerin family have
been at the vigil in front of the Federal Building for the last five days.

The dedication both groups
are showing, in the face of the media's claims that we have won the war,
is inspiring.