Wire Story
Protesters use Internet to find housing, each other
By Logan C. Adams -- Scripps Howard Foundation Wire, Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON - Many of those traveling here to protest at this week’s inauguration will not be staying at hotels or with people they know in the capital, but with complete strangers.
And many of them have linked up through Web sites such as counter-inaugural.org and drivingvotes.org, which devote space to matching protesters with free or cheap housing. Political motivation was the main reason for most of those offering housing, but hosts also wanted to help people in general.
“I want to help those who are coming from far away to be able to participate,” said Kim Louth in a telephone interview. Louth, who said she is over 40, is a federal employee who offered room for two people in her house in the suburb of Poolesville, Md., but may take in four.
“I feel that it is in the spirit of community to let others come and stay,” said David Plevan, 30, via e-mail. “It is impossible to get hotels, and if you could they are outrageously expensive.” Plevan, who lives in the D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights, worked for a company that produced events for Democrats during the election.
One concern for hosts is safety, as they are welcoming people they’ve never met into their homes. Many check references and continue a dialogue via e-mail and telephone. Some of the online posts include rules on length of stay, pets, substances and behavior.
“If somebody whips out their, like, crack pipe, I’m going to be pretty upset, but I don’t expect that to happen,” said Shannon Daspit, a third-year law student at American University. “People are coming to D.C. to protest. I don’t they’re coming here to, like, rage in some stranger’s house.” Daspit will host six people in her three-bedroom, 1 ½ bath townhouse.
“It’s a little bit scary because you don’t know who you’re opening your home to. It could be anybody,” said Louth.
Some of those who posted online ads received more responses than they expected. Holly Shulman, 22, a political consultant in the District, posted a few months ago that she had room for three people in her apartment in the convenient and trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood. She received more than 200 inquiries.
“I’ve actually done this before,” Shulman said. She said she housed almost 30 people for a protest last spring. “That was easier because I lived in a house, and now I have a studio apartment.”
Shulman plans to have 10 people stay with her, and while she is disappointed with the current administration, she does express bipartisan feelings.
“If someone who was coming in for the inauguration was a Republican and wanted to stay with me, that’d be fine, too,” she said.
Many hosts plan to join their guests to protest issues debated during the election, including social inequality and the war in Iraq.
Jen Turner, 20, an American studies student at American University, and her three roommates will have four guests in their dormitory room. She intends to join three of her friends as “radical cheerleaders,” or what she calls “an interesting sort of political theater.”
The Radical Cheerleaders use chants and actions to raise awareness of such issues as women’s rights, environmentalism and anti-capitalism.
By Logan C. Adams -- Scripps Howard Foundation Wire, Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON - Many of those traveling here to protest at this week’s inauguration will not be staying at hotels or with people they know in the capital, but with complete strangers.
And many of them have linked up through Web sites such as counter-inaugural.org and drivingvotes.org, which devote space to matching protesters with free or cheap housing. Political motivation was the main reason for most of those offering housing, but hosts also wanted to help people in general.
“I want to help those who are coming from far away to be able to participate,” said Kim Louth in a telephone interview. Louth, who said she is over 40, is a federal employee who offered room for two people in her house in the suburb of Poolesville, Md., but may take in four.
“I feel that it is in the spirit of community to let others come and stay,” said David Plevan, 30, via e-mail. “It is impossible to get hotels, and if you could they are outrageously expensive.” Plevan, who lives in the D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights, worked for a company that produced events for Democrats during the election.
One concern for hosts is safety, as they are welcoming people they’ve never met into their homes. Many check references and continue a dialogue via e-mail and telephone. Some of the online posts include rules on length of stay, pets, substances and behavior.
“If somebody whips out their, like, crack pipe, I’m going to be pretty upset, but I don’t expect that to happen,” said Shannon Daspit, a third-year law student at American University. “People are coming to D.C. to protest. I don’t they’re coming here to, like, rage in some stranger’s house.” Daspit will host six people in her three-bedroom, 1 ½ bath townhouse.
“It’s a little bit scary because you don’t know who you’re opening your home to. It could be anybody,” said Louth.
Some of those who posted online ads received more responses than they expected. Holly Shulman, 22, a political consultant in the District, posted a few months ago that she had room for three people in her apartment in the convenient and trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood. She received more than 200 inquiries.
“I’ve actually done this before,” Shulman said. She said she housed almost 30 people for a protest last spring. “That was easier because I lived in a house, and now I have a studio apartment.”
Shulman plans to have 10 people stay with her, and while she is disappointed with the current administration, she does express bipartisan feelings.
“If someone who was coming in for the inauguration was a Republican and wanted to stay with me, that’d be fine, too,” she said.
Many hosts plan to join their guests to protest issues debated during the election, including social inequality and the war in Iraq.
Jen Turner, 20, an American studies student at American University, and her three roommates will have four guests in their dormitory room. She intends to join three of her friends as “radical cheerleaders,” or what she calls “an interesting sort of political theater.”
The Radical Cheerleaders use chants and actions to raise awareness of such issues as women’s rights, environmentalism and anti-capitalism.
posted by Logan C. Adams at 1/19/2005 11:52:00 AM
1 Comments:
The correct slang term is "jury-rigging." I don't know where you midwesterners got "jerry-rigging," other than the racist form my roommate was using, but jury-rigging is the "real" form of the slang word.
Good article!
Heart, Jocelyn
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