04/24/04 00:00 | 364 W The Exception to the Rulers Midwest Express
The Democracy Now! crew produced the show from a studio in Hollywood then dashed off to the airport, to bring the Exception to the Rulers book and media tour to the Midwest. Our first stop was St. Louis, with a benefit event for KDHX radio and dhTV, the public access television facility for the city of St. Louis. The event included a speaker representing MoveOn.org's new book and a spirited presentation by acclaimed media analyst and activist Bob McChesney. Bob has a new book out as well, The Problem of the MediaThe following morning, Amy again joined Bob for the opening plenary of the Union for Democratic Communications conference and then sped off to make the benefit event for WEFT in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois.
There was an excellent turnout for the WEFT event, with 200 people coming out on a beautiful Spring afternoon. Station manager Mick Woolf made the crew feel at home, and managed to work in a visit to the Urbana-Champaign Indymedia Center, ucimc.org Hear audio of her interview on WEFT here and see pictures here
A late-night drive got us to Yellow Springs, Ohio by 2 am, and after a too-short sleep we were on the campus of Antioch College, where Amy was shceduled to give the commencement address.
She was first interviewed by Vic Micunas for Miami Valley Community TV, a public access station that recently began airing DN! Vic is very active in Yellow Springs with the effort to restore radio station WYSO to the community (see keepwysolocal.org )
We flew to Minneapolis to a benefit for KFAI. The St. Joan of Arc Church was set up to seat 1200, but 1500 arrived, enduring a long line in the rain on a Saturday night, which was also Mumia Abu-Jamal's 50th birthday (April 24th). Many thanks to Birchbark Books, who handled the book sales. That is the independent bookstore owned by author Louise Erdrich.
Amy went the next morning to join in the Pacifica Network's live coverage of the March for Women's Lives, which is said to have drawn over 1 million people to the Mall in Washington - perhaps the largest march in US history.