In case you missed it, the Candle4Tibet light protest was last night at the Boulder County Courthouse on Pearl St. The ceremony was one of hundreds worldwide, and the pace of the protests hasn’t slowed, apparently.

As the start of the Olympics drew closer and closer, the protests seemed to be more visible and frequent, ranging from Phill Bartell and friends hanging a banner on the Birds’ Nest (go, Josh!! Rising Tide is now my new favorite tattoo parlor and will be inking me up when I get my next tattoo) to self-immolation outside the Chinese Embassy in Turkey. While on the one hand, the fact that the IOC gave the Olympics to the Chinese smacks of pandering to markets for big business, at the same time, this has potential for some serious blowback on the Chinese government considering that the protests have gotten more of a spotlight than the games have. The big question that remains, though, is whether many of the protesters, and the media, have the steam to sustain this energy for the long haul; not just Olympic week, but until conditions in Tibet, Myanmar, and Darfur have finally changed. Therein lies the hope. If the protesters and media can keep up the heat, maybe China will get out of the kitchen.