BACK TO OCEAN BEACH

May 25, 2010

Dear Everyone,

I'd have to be blind to have NOT noticed that whenever I send an email to this list, no matter what my topic is, the #1 response that comes back reflects the theme you'll spot in these quotes I've lifted from a recent batch of responses:


"I was in the very middle vertex of the letter 'M' at the first "Beach iMpeach" -- Curt (Orangevale, near Folsom)

"Thanks again for all the wonderful times of 'Impeach on the Beach' gatherings." -- Pablo

"Those days making letters on the sand were fun." -- Lucinda, from Stinson Beach

"Any time you want to spell words in the sand, count me in." -- Tammy


Anyone who attended the Beach Impeach events, including me, remembers them quite fondly. No endless haranguing. No loudspeakers. No anger. Just sand and sky and crisp ocean air and people of every age and shape and shade. Plus a BIG message we could all believe in. A helicopter ("Is it really coming?") and a shot at being in the news and maybe even influencing the course of world events -- and, at minimum, a guarantee of being immortalized in miniature on a postcard. But I think we mostly remember joining briefly with a happy tribe that none of us previously knew (and might not even have wanted to admit) we were a part of. Did the Beach Impeach events actually happen, or did we all dream the same unlikely dream?


Anyway, for the past couple of years I have been thinking that it would be a not-bad idea to have a Beach Impeach-style get-together at Ocean Beach once a year. There is always a message that needs to be spelled out. Sometime around the summer solstice seems to make sense. And not long ago, I put in an application for 1,000 of us to go back to Ocean Beach on Saturday morning, June 26.

I've still got some legwork to do to make this "official," and I've got a couple of stories I want to tell about the process of how this came about. And while I've got some pretty strong ideas about the content of the big message, I'm going to solicit your input.

But all of that will have to wait for another day, very soon. Tonight I just want to give a decent heads-up -- right now we've got one full month. Please save the (full moon) date of Saturday, June 26. Arrive BY 10:30 a.m., please -- helicopter overhead at 11:00 sharp. That's the plan. Now let's see if I/we can make this happen.

Please excuse me if I don't quickly respond to all emails. And if you know anyone you think should be part of this email list, please forward this to them -- or direct them to the "Subscribe to newsletter" link on the "About" page of my website: http://www.bradnewsham.com/

Excited,

Brad
newsham@mac.com
415-305-8294


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