Monday. The students need to write an essay. The class plan reads source driven essay. The campus paper has been running stories about the recent renewal of a pouring rights contract between the university and Coca-Cola. Across the top of the class plan I have written Seattle Protest with several question marks. The students arrive, settle and begin the write in response to the question, "What does Pouring Rights mean?"

The class discussion following the writing revealed that the students had not heard the phrase before, therefore it was instantly boring and unimportant. This is a media audience's logic. Tried to refocus the discussion to trade agreements and the impact of contacts and the effects of consumerism. The class decided to pursue the question further. The class divided up into teams; their task was to count all the soda machines on campus.

The Protesters (link to a description of ) surrounded the convention center and barred the delegates from entering. The meeting, which still had no set agenda, was delayed for a full day. The protesters, in effect shut the meeting down.

The students, by and large, forgot to do their home work, didn't think once about trade agreements and drank at least two soft drinks from vending machines. The students didn't watch the news, or read the paper.

Tuesday. I slept late. No class. With my coffee the NYT version of the protest. The media sounds surprised at how sensible the protesters are, as through they don't believe it. As though they are waiting for the event to blow itself out of scale.

The protesters got started early, crowds filled downtown. All the bus lines were diverted 50,000 + barred the delegates for a second day. By noon the police were teargassing everybody. Trying to drive them out of the city, tear gassing residential areas, busses, everybody.

What we heard first was that an "anarchist" broke the window of Starbucks with a trash can and that an assault had been launched on Nike Town. There was on one picture that clearly involved tear gas. The Internet posts were countless picture of people running from clouds of teargas.

I stay up late reading web reports and checking out pictures, reading webcasts from the Urbana school representatives. And my students, what do they do to pass this time?