Families and Individuals Join in Anger and Frustration

By MARC SANTORA

For every young man with an unorthodox piercing in a seemingly painful place, there was an elderly woman who walked in the midday sun for hours.

For each wildly costumed, madly gyrating, drum-beating protester, there was a family that had made the trip into Manhattan together to march as one.

And for all the chants denouncing President Bush as a terrorist, for all the obscenities screamed full throated, there were just as many people, young and old, who expressed in more subdued tones their anger with the Bush administration.

Whether it was a mother who has a child fighting in Iraq or a father wanting his children to see history in the making, the march past Madison Square Garden yesterday had the distinct feel of a family affair.

Susan Catalano, 66, and her daughters, Adrienne, 34, and Victoria, 39, had come to their opposition slowly. But the three, all from New York, marched enthusiastically.

"I was in support of the war in Iraq when it began," Adrienne said. "Although, at the time, my mother said not to believe all the hype."

She smiled, hand on her mom’s shoulder, and said, "Older and wiser."

Victoria held an umbrella over her mother’s head to shield her from the sun on the cloudless afternoon. She said her mother was a registered Republican who does not vote along party lines.

"I think people are really fed up with the war," said Victoria, who works as an assistant to an investment banker in New York City. "I think people feel really duped."

Adrienne agreed, saying: "I don’t like the war. They tied the war in Iraq to the war on terrorism."

Although Adrienne said she believed that herself, she said she now feels betrayed. "Where is bin Laden? Al Qaeda attacked us, so why are we in Iraq?"

Dorothy Miller, 84, of the Bronx, and her husband, Alex, 86, looked like they could have been heading off to a Florida vacation.

She wore a floral button-down shirt that flapped in the breeze and a bonnet pulled tightly on her head, while he held her arm, camera slung around his shoulder. It had taken the couple two hours to amble the 10 blocks from 23rd Street to Madison Square Garden.

Mrs. Miller, whose husband was in the Army Air Corps during World War II, said: "We don’t do this often. But what is happening in Iraq is really just terrible."

Members of the Larson family worried that they would not be able to get into the city to make the march because of traffic and security. Peter Larson, 50, said they had decided to drive from their home in Burlington, N.J., to Staten Island and take the ferry over.

Mr. Larson was joined by his wife, Michele, 40, and their children, Andrew 13, and Kirsten, 16. They were part of a group called Military Families Speak Out.

Mrs. Larson said they had been going to various rallies since Sept. 11, 2001, but when a good friend’s son died last February in Iraq, it drove home how much the war is costing average families.

Kirsten said that among her high school friends, nobody is very concerned about politics. "But the other day someone brought up the draft," she said. "That got everyone excited, I guess because it affected them personally."

Among the thousands of people marching were many bearing signs with messages like "Draft the Bush twins,’’ and: "My kids are in Iraq Mr. Bush. Are yours?"

At the end of the parade, marchers carried 1,000 cardboard coffins wrapped in flags meant to represent those killed in the war.

Nearby, a group calling themselves the "Raging Grannies" sang songs that spoofed Mr. Bush, set to familiar melodies. For instance, to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic,’’ they sang: "No more lies from Dick and Georgie/We deplore their wartime orgy."

The Daniels family from Vermont woke up at 3 a.m. to make the drive into the city. Bryan, 38, and his wife, Terri, 42, were joined by their children, Taylor, 14, and Callie, 11. They also had their dog, Ellie, named after Eleanor Roosevelt.

"We felt we had to come to make some kind of statement," Mr. Daniels said. "We know there are a lot of complaints that there is not a lot of a difference between Bush and Kerry, especially regarding Iraq, but there are small differences that could have a big impact."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/30/politics/campaign/30families.html