Cold pizza and vanilla frappucinos

168 Starbuckses (what IS the plural os Starbucks?) in Manhattan, and not one open at midnight. Bah.
I'm not sure where to even begin about this day. Craziness.
Woke up reluctantly at 8:30 a.m. and we were on the road by 9:30. And by on the road, I mean hoofing it to the site of the action, which was kind of a hike.
We arrived at a large press corral that was about two blocks from where I was supposed to meet my source. We signed in, crowded around a small stage and waited for the "press conference" to begin. As I waited, bored and wanting some action, ahead of me I saw a very familiar-looking man in a red hat. Scruffy face. Jolly, liberal belly.
Michael Moore.
I'll admit, I was a smidge star struck. I got some shots of him and tried to listen intently to the speakers the preceeded him, but really, I just wanted to hear Michael Moore. So sue me.
His speech was brief, satrical and perfect, in my opinion. He opened with, "We're all here because we're happy." What a great opener.
Before the press conference ended, I split from Pat and Nick and headed a few blocks over to meet Tim. I was feeling a bit disgruntled because it didn't look as if I would be seeing any more Kent people that day, which was not good for my story.
However, life is ca-razy, and five other Kent State people joined up with us for the protest. We talked, I got info and we waited for the march to start behind a group of drummers and a massive green dragon who would periodically scream "Raaaaaaar, I want some GOP to eat." Beautiful.
After waiting a very long time, the march got going, and I was able to see these crazy cats in action. Along with the drummers, the dragon was spewing Beastie Boys and Outkast, which made it all the more fun for the dancing protestors in the street. I won't lie--I bobbed my head from time to time.
At one point, Pat and Nick somehow found us and the three of us plus Tim split off to go check out Union Square, the official unofficial end of march spot. Contrary to rumor, nothing was happening. We heard that things were going down in front of Madison Square Garden.
Sure enough, someone had set fire to the dragon and the police had closed part of the street, herding all of the protestors into a small area in front of MSG. We became caught up in all of this, and when I couldn't get out, I decided to call my mother and tell her to turn on C-Span. I'd seen all of the C-Span cameras above me, so I had her coach me as to what was happening and where to go. At one point, I walked in front of a camera man and heard my mother scream "Oh my God! You're on C-Span!" My first national news cameo. Fantastic.
We then decided to head back to the hotel to regroup and work on stories.
(Side note: We have the TV on in our room and I just saw myself on Fox News. You've got to be kidding me.)
While in the room, Nick ran to Best Buy and while he was gone, Tim called me to tell me that massive arrests were happening in Times Square. Cheesy journalism movie-style, Pat and I were out of the room and across town in a flash. In TS, we saw a lot of the familiar bright green Legal Observer hats and nearly got arrested when we got in the NYPD's way. What we missed when we were herded across the street, I was told, is that cops herded a large group of people into an orange mesh pen and arrested them all. I found a woman crying because her husband had been arrested and they had been shopping in the store adjacent to the intersection.
After that, we saw some Columbia journalism students hounding delegates, who were attending Broadway shows. Now, for some reason, the delegates were all given bright red New York Times tote bags, which turned them into the ultimate target for demonstrators to jeer at and chase. I won't even go into the fact that it upsets me that those totes were NY Times.
At one point, Pat and I huddled in with a bunch of other reporters and camera crews around an unfamiliar-looking man as he fought with the over-zealous Columbia journalism students. Turns out he's from Geraldo. That explains why I just saw myself on Fox News. Huh.
After milling around TS for a while, Pat and I headed back to the hotel to try to make our respective deadlines. Nick and I went across the street to a Korean internet cafe to write and send our stories. What started out as a one-hour stop turned into a three-hour deadline scramble. Two stories later, my brain hurts.
After that, I came back and showered because, well, protestors are sweaty and smelly and I was, too. Pat and I then headed out to get some frozen coffee beverages and now, it's time for bed.
I'm sure I'm missing things but damn, I'm tired. This day was so crazy and amazing that I almost completely forgot that it was my 19th birthday. What a way to spend it, eh?

--Beth (posted by Nick, until she signs up to blogspot)