On The DL

Grandmothers Against the War

by Joe Pelone

Thu., June 19, 7:30 p.m., free, Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane, 215-844-1870, bigbluemarblebooks.com

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Joan Wile has spent nearly five years protesting U.S. involvement in Iraq. She's 76. "It doesn't matter how old you are," says the founder and director of NYC-based Grandmothers Against the War. "You can still be effective and make a difference."

Tonight at Big Blue Marble Bookstore, Wile will read from her new book, Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies & Standing Up For Peace ($14.95, Citadel Press), which chronicles her adventures holding weekly vigils, getting arrested in Times Square and marching in D.C. Marlena Santoyo, a member of Philadelphia's Granny Peace Brigade, will join her to chat about local anti-war efforts, and following a Q&A session, you might also hear a song or two.

A professional songwriter and playwright, Wile has written about 10 protest songs for her fellow grandmothers, including "The Granny Jail House Blues" and "Grandmama for Obama." "Sometimes they just flow out," she says. "Usually if something motivates me, I can whip it out."

Those who can't make the reading can catch Wile's vigils for the soldiers every Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in front of Rockefeller Center in NYC. With President Bush on his way out, though, Wile may soon be packing up her protest signs.

"My only goal in organizing Grandmothers Against the War was to try to stop the war in Iraq. If that ends, that would be the end of my involvement with the grannies," she says. But that doesn't mean she'll actually — shudder — retire. "I'm starting to write a new musical. It's about Bill and Hillary, and that's all I'm going to tell you."