Pillow Fight

I haven't seen anyone with pillows yet," said Bill as we walked along a city street toward Pershing Square. Temperatures reached the 90s this week in LA but today was cooler, with temperatures only getting into the high 60s.

"Me neither," I said, while we waited at a traffic light, "they must already be at Pershing Square."

We continued walking and were relieved to see a few people with pillows as we entered the park.

Today was international pillow fight day as developed by the urban playground movement. I'd never heard of this group before, but I definitely like the idea of gathering a bunch of people in an urban space for a pillow fight. Apparently no permit was required from the city!

The pillow fighters were mostly gathered in the northern part of the square and there had to be a few hundred people attending. A decent number of younger people were taking part in this fight which was billed as an all ages event. Those kids! They were hitting hard as anyone! And they looked like they were having a great time.

The center of the pillow fight was something of a vortex of pillow fighters. People rapidly hitting anyone in reaching distance with a pillow. A woman on some guy's shoulders hitting people! Toward the outer edges were more subdued pillow fighters. Bill and I entered and stayed in this region of the fight. Turns out its really fun hitting strangers with pillows. Everyone was smiling. More than hitting people I really liked when people hit me! That doesn't surprise me and I'm not sure why. Probably it felt like I was being included or accepted by people? The need to be accepted, it follows me even to a pillow fight! Bill said he had the same experience.

While pillow fighting with Bill and strangers, I saw a woman dressed as a Derby Doll - someone who participates in the roller derby league. Working up my nerve I said..

"Hey! Are you a Derby Doll?"

"Yes I am," said the woman pointing to where it said Derby Dolls on her shirt.

I told her how I went to a Derby Dolls game a few weeks ago and she told me about how there's a game tonight and on April 16. I said I'd go to one of them.

After a bit more pillow fighting and gazing at the feathers which fell like snow from peoples' exploded pillows, Bill and I headed home. Definitely the most memorable time I've had in Pershing Square so far.

Hollywood Sign Hike

Today, marking the birthdate of Cesar Chavez, a civil rights activist who utilized nonviolence as a means to improve the lives of Hispanic farm workers in the United States, I got a day off from work. Fun! Even better that the day off is for a revolutionary relevant to today's happenings. Way to go California.

I briefly attended a rally at Pershing Square that union members staged in an effort to prevent cuts to the bargaining rights of unions - this rally was in response to the union losses that occurred recently in Wisconsin. It was held on March 26.

Tons of people were there. Very inspiring.

Bill and I walked up to the Hollywood sign today. My friends Roxanne and Fritz gave me a gift of 50 City Walks in Los Angeles just before I moved to Los Angeles. This gift consists of 50 cards, each about twice the size of a standard playing card. Every card describes a walk to take in or around Los Angeles. On one side of a card is the name of the walk and directions on where to start and things to see while taking this walk and on the other side is a map. Great gift! It's kept me going out and exploring.

I created a map of mine and Bill's walk, using the Hollywood Sign card that came with this gift as inspiration. In the map I made there are differently colored lines to indicate the steepness of the trail. As you can see we walked along below the sign, next time we will walk the higher trail!

The walk was fun and a bit strenuous at parts. There were a number of other people out enjoying the hike and we saw a couple of horses and riders.

"Lots of the people we've seen look really fit," said Bill after we had turned around to head back to the car.

"I agree," I said, "I've noticed that we must look like we're from downtown."

Meaning we weren't perhaps as geared up as some other folks seemed to be for hiking a dusty trail - that or we were just less trendy. Either way.

Here's a picture Bill took at the point where we turned around to head back.