Writers and readers who care about free speech are appalled by the Patriot Act. On Saturday, April 12th, 2003 writers Ursula K. Le Guin, Eileen Gunn, L. Timmel Duchamp, andGobshite Quarterly editor RV Branham participated in a protest and read poems and stories like Duchamp's 'The Forbidden Words of Margaret A.' and Gunn's 'It's Time to Play Tricky Dick.'

Despite the caliber of the readings and the readers I'd say the high point was when we got to the library and a hundred or so of us streamed in to subvert any investigation the FBI might be running at the library. We checked out a hundred suspicious books, including How to Build a Nuclear Bomb, Understanding Islam, and Teach Yourself French.

The low point of the event? Probably when I was leading chants at the end of the march.

"Ban bush not bombs," isn't exactly a great chant. Neither is "How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood."

Portland Peaceful Response Coalition
Artists and Writers Against War
Portland Bill of Rights Defense Committee

An associated press story about the protest fails to mention the reading at SW Salmon and Park, but does get some of it right. Although I don't think anybody fell asleep at this protest. Still, you have to like the wonderful logos they come up with over at KATU

Around 2 p.m, about 400 people stopped at the steps in front of Multnomah County's Central Library. Kathleen Juerguns strummed her guitar and sang a song titled "Patriot Act Blues" into a megaphone.

The audience clapped to the beat while children threw paper airplanes and several people wearing pink tie-dye shirts waltzed down the sidewalk. Some people let out loud cheers, but one man fell asleep on the grass, snoring.

After a poetry reading, several protesters checked out books that, according to several activists, the government might not want them to see.

Entire Hack Job Here.

Here's a link to the list of 'subversive' books that we checked out. This list was born from my own head while I did a library catalog search. Nobody knows what books the FBI is watching out for, but these seemed like good bets to me. If there is a book you think should have been on the list but wasn't, here's what you should do. Go to the library, check out the book, and then write to Ashcroft that you've checked the book out despite his best efforts. These people can't be allowed to dictate what we read.