Tonight I went to Reverend Billy's First Amendment Mob at the World Trade Center PATH station. I showed up a bit early so I walked outside and watched people being arrested and carted away in police buses. Then the guy next to me flipped his cell phone open and started reciting the First Amendment. That was my cue. I flipped open my phone and headed down into the subway. I was a little shakey at first, but then the words started to flow, and I started to hear other people around me doing it too, which was motivating. The commuters were definitely confused. A group of cops appeared and began to survey us, but we kept on reciting. Revered Billy was of course there too, with a megaphone in hand. Finally, at about 10 of 7, we all started getting louder and louder, and FINALLY we shut our cell phones, Rev. Billy raised his megaphone, and we all started shouting the First Amendment as loud as we could, for ten minutes straight. The place is cavernous (click here for pics), so our voices were nicely amplified. It was exhilerating. First Amendment in action! We then erupted into cheering and clapping and Rev. Billy started singing a song and people were chanting "Peace! Hallelujah!" He does this every Tuesday apparently. I will definitely have to go again. It was so awesome, and I'm especially glad to have done it during the RNC. I had to do something while that horror show was in town.

Rev. Billy has a book called What Should I Do If Reverend Billy is in My Store? The title is a reference to the "interventions" he stages at Starbucks, using tactics like "cellphone operas" along with scripts such as Death By Latte.