The 11th Annual Kingston Soap Box Derby

Probably one of the best things about Kingston is the annual Artists Soap Box Derby, which completed its 11th year today. The event just has the most happy, harmonious community feeling. I can't think of a Kingston event that better represents 'the people,'—the creative spirit, the vision for a better world, laughter, the beauty of the historic downtown, the streets teeming with people, all the restaurants packed, entries by kids, the celebration of gravity, feet, wheels, all the good simple ways of moving things from one place to another.

I and the family reached the muggy hill that leads down to the Rondout Creek a little late. "You missed a really good one," a friend standing next to us said. "It was a teenager in an easy chair watching "Survivor" on TV, a sign on the back with a quote from Pete Seeger about the importance of living life instead of watching it. The title of the entry is Children are Our Future."

The first one we saw was one of my favorite entries: a U.S. Army tank (scaled down and made of plywood spray-painted olive green) driven by a skeleton holding a machine gun, rock music blaring from inside. As it passed it ejected red, white and blue confetti. The Soap Box Derby always comes across as a predominantly eco/peace-type crowd, so when everyone cheered and clapped it was in support of the message, not the machine, but it felt strange anyway to clap, so I held up two fingers and wished I'd had the nerve to start up the "live in peace" verse of "We Shall Overcome." It was great to see a soap box related to the Invisible War.

I was struck by the invisibility thing when I went to the Ulster County Fair a couple of weeks ago. As I looked around at the T-shirts and foodstands and booths, there was no sign anywhere of it—strange, considering the scale of the war—the loss of life, the devastation at every level, the cost in dollars, the size of the forces. Then last week, Cindy Sheehan set up camp, and a peace vigil took place near our house. I found several people I knew and dozens more I didn't, all lined up at the edge of a tiny park along a major avenue, holding up signs that read "Peace," "Bring the Troops Home," "Stand with Cindy." Passing cars honked now and then; some drivers put two fingers out their windows, or shouted the odd nonsequitur "Go Bush!" It felt really good that people were Outside and Visible, which hasn't happened since the last vigil, when the number of dead U.S. soldiers reached 1,000, about a year ago.

Upcoming in our county: A September 11th Commemoration in the form of a Peace Path. Folks in Woodstock, Kingston and New Paltz will line major thoroughfares for two hours with pro-peace messages. It's being organized by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills Social Action Committee, Women in Black, and local churches.