...but these goshdarn protestors are really really really pushing the limits on my definition of violent @_o.

Allow me to explain further.

For those of you who don't know, I go to LaSalle University, which is a school in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. Running straight through our school's campus is 20th Street. 20th Street is usually fairly busy, as it crosses a major road and eventually leads to a way of getting to Route 1 which in turn will take you to downtown Philadelphia or out of the city completely. This of course is much to the chagrin of us students, as we have to cross 20th Street to get from the dorms to the academic buildings where classes are held.

Recently, there were a few hit and run incidents of students and faculty members getting injured on 20th Street. Most notably was a prominent member of the faculty, and a Christian Brother(the religious order that runs LaSalle) being killed while attempting to cross 20th Street coming out of the library.

Realizing that this was a danger to student health, the school appealed to the city to give them jurisdiction over the section of 20th Street that runs through LaSalle property. The city didn't want to do this however, as that would cause too much of a backup. So instead, they agreed to make 20th Street one-way going Northbound only during the segment that passes through the school. Southbound traffic could easily be re-routed through nearby Ogontz Avenue.

I remember reading about this over Winter break and being happy, as I wouldn't need to leave so early for class anymore. I got to school and lo and behold, the street was indeed now one-way.

The next morning I was startled and awoken hours before I normally would by loud nosies coming from the street below(my dorm has windows looking out onto 20th street). There were 5 protestors around the intersection of 20th and Olney holding up signs and chanting "SAVE 20th Street. SAVE 20th STREET!" One of them had a loud megaphone and was holding a sign that said, "HONK TO SAVE 20th STREET" which apparently was the disruption of my sleep.

Now, if these people wanted to waste their time protesting something that really is not worth protesting one way or the other, fine. Go them. It's their right. But not only is it impolite and rude for them to wake me up at 6:30 AM when I don't have class until 10 AM, it's also not likely to endear me to their cause very much.

They were out there every morning of last week, screaming away. Some mornings it didn't bother me, because I had to get up that early for my morning classes anyway, but there was always some bleary eyed person who hadn't gotten enough sleep because the protestors endless prattle just would not allow them any respite.

We had a brief period of peace over the weekend, and they were silent on Monday as well. But this morning, I was awakened by an even more blaring sound then usual.

One of the protestors had set up a giant speaker and was playing Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Because Martin Luther King had a dream of two way streets for all, right?! That has to be the greatest bastardization of that speech I've ever heard. To make matters worse, I learned from one of my professors when I went to class that none of these people lived or worked, or had any reason to ever pass through Germantown. THey were all from other parts of Philly and had been sent to Germantown by a rival councilperson so that they would get TV airtime and make the councilwoman of our district who approved making 20th Street one-way look bad.

Urge...to kill....rising