The Fracktivists Cross the Delaware

Oh, werd?
After months of frantic organizing, letter writing, and occasional text blasts to everyone in my cell phone, we can exhale. The Delaware River Basin Commission decided to delay the scheduled vote to open the river basin to fracking. Huzzah!

On Monday, what was to be a day of mass rallying and civil disobedience became an unexpected celebration hosted by Josh Fox of Gasland. Speakers from Dimock, PA came to ask the crowd for help replacing their drinking water supply. The Catskills Mountkeeper displayed his grizzly mountain beard. And, as Chief Gentlemoon of the Lenape Nation looked on, not one, not two, but three speakers invoked the image of Washington crossing the Delaware at Trenton to push out the "occupying foreigners", the Hessians. Oops. (Also, if "Washington Crossing the Delaware, at Trenton" isn't already the name of a condo development in New Jersey, it should be.)
I don't know about fourth grade history in other states, but in New Jersey, Hessian-hating is one of the best parts of elementary school history. That's our Boston Tea Party moment. It was a nice touch to link Monday's surprise victory in Trenton to the famous icy ambush of legend, but can we all agree to not use "occupying foreigners" language un-ironically again? At least not when the Chief of the Lenape Nation is standing behind you?
The rally concluded with a march to the Statehouse featuring (at least, *I* think "featuring") NJEF Montclair's fabulous, glitter-covered, Jersey Shore themed signs. If there is one thing we do well in the Montclair office, it is making political protest fun.
Josh Fox approved.