In reference to the trip to suburbia to protest at an absentee Jordan landlord's home, I'd like to contribute my memories. In the 80's, I lived in a very slowly gentrifying neighborhood in St. Louis. Some of the local activists were unhappy with some of the landlords and invented the Golden Bedspring. It was an eponymous bedspring inserted into a wooden base and spraypainted golden. After alerting the press, they would arrange a convoy of the neighbors to the landlord's home, parade up and down the sidewalk for 20-30 minutes in hope of getting some of HIS neighbors curious, then march up to the door and present the award, and deliver some sort of verbal blast. The one time I went along, our target was not home or decided not to answer the door. But we all had a good time and considered it a success anyway. Long term, not being a neighborhood insider, I don't know how successful the GBSA was but it did serve as a rallying point for those frustrated by silence in their efforts to get a dialogue going. It may be worthwhile to try something similar here. Mark Greenwald, the Wedge
