A nice doomsday

Pennsylvania Avenue, at the membrane between the White House and reality. In the foreground is the last surviving "peace park" vigil, as it has stood since 1981. By the late 1980s, there was a dense colony of protest-shelters down there. Since I left DC thirteen years ago, the Avenue has been closed to traffic and the vigils cleared out. ... Miraculously, this one remains. I moved back to the DC area last summer, and the park is still haunted by the shadows of those who used to live there, with their signs and leaflets. Where there was once a unique micro-culture, there is now the stale taste of suburban laundry detergent and disposable cameras. "Peace Park" has become "Lafayette Park" once again, but we still have Concepcion and her Doomsday sign to keep us humble.