Walk the Line

I thought marching in circles for 4 hours would be tiring, but there's something more tiring:

Mostly standing still for 4 hours.

I'm not sure what it was, but they could NOT get the WGA Easters to march in a continuous loop on the first day of the big 2007 Writers Strike. We'd shuffle forward a few steps and the whole operation would stall. It was like trying to show zombies how to moonwalk.

Most people are accustomed to walking lines, but not as many can handle a simple loop. I think it was the continuous motion that was throwing people. Their bodies are used to stopping and going when they're walking on a line. A line takes on a life of its own. A zombie life.

Our first day of striking brought out the big numbers, East and West.

At Rockefeller Center, I was marching with Tina Fey, Griffin Dunne, some SNL writers and cast members (Amy Poehler, Seth Meyers, Will Forte, Akiva and Jorma from The Lonely Island), writers from all the NY-based shows (Conan, Letterman, Colbert, Daily Show, 30 Rock). Apparently, John Leguizamo was there earlier. A despised teacher I had for one semester at NYU whose name I couldn't even remember. Tom Fontana, of course. And a lot of other people who were probably big deals who I couldn't place.

In the West, the picket lines are at all the different studios. They've got more member numbers than us. Our picket line will be at a single location for each day.

Tuesday, it's going to be at Silvercup Studios, in Queens.

I didn't sign up for it. I signed up for Wednesday afternoon, at Chelsea Piers. Rain + Queens = rough-sounding conditions. But I'm actually on the fence. Could be cool to see Silvercup...

Then again, I could use the extra writing time. Especially if I'm going to go back to a desk job next week... story to be confirmed...