It's not what I was made to do, but believe me, I still care

[sovay]

I aten't dead! I have been flat for the last two days and would have continued the practice except for No Kings, but since it turned out the nearest rally was a grand total of ten minutes from my house I walked them to practice my democratically rightful freedom of assembly in the brightly freezing afternoon and was rewarded with the unexpected company of a long-time and little-seen friend who is not on DW and some excellent signs and costumes, of which I confess myself the most impressed by the inflatable riding frog. It was one of a small party on the lesser island of the rotary which included an impressively starred-and-striped Uncle Sam and an otherwise normally dressed protester wearing an American flag top hat. I suspect these rallies of being the one context nowadays in which I do not side-eye the deployment of traditional patriotic imagery. The larger island hosted a solo and determined Make Orwell Fiction Again. I had a chance to compliment the sign against The Lyin King whose black-on-red silhouetting had gone particularly doom metal in the execution, like a kind of psychedelic death's-head poppy. A woman whose jacket was embroidered with dragons and her pants with forests carried signs for herself and her artistically antifascist high-schooler. We had no signs of our own—I said that I was queer and here and that was about what I was up for—but were welcomed onto the curb to wave at the traffic, standing next to No War in Iran. The drive-by honking was heartening and considerable. I felt prudent to have brought earplugs. The crowd meanwhile went wild for the SUV from Cambridge Immigration Law. Making eye contact with passengers and drivers who waved back or thumbs-upped felt as useful as the presence or the noise, especially when it was someone with a headscarf or visibly non-white. The Amazon driver absolutely leaned on the horn as they went through. We were a comparatively small group, but I was not physically capable of getting myself to Boston Common and glad to have been able to demonstrate at all. I want it to mean something beyond the carnival of free expression, although the free expression should not be taken for granted: just around this time of last year was the abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk. I am going to eat some chopped liver on a challah roll and return to irregularly scheduled flatness.

Comments

[gwynnega]

I'm glad you made it to a protest! As usual, I went to the one in Los Feliz, and judging by how much more difficult it was to find parking, it must have been larger than the previous (fairly large) ones. I didn't carry a sign either but wore my People Have the Power t-shirt (then found a woman carrying a sign with that slogan, and we chatted about Patti Smith).

[sovay]

I'm glad you made it to a protest! As usual, I went to the one in Los Feliz, and judging by how much more difficult it was to find parking, it must have been larger than the previous (fairly large) ones.

With sympathies on the parking, I'm glad to hear it! Both that it was well-attended and that you were there.

I didn't carry a sign either but wore my People Have the Power t-shirt (then found a woman carrying a sign with that slogan, and we chatted about Patti Smith).

Nice.

I did not wear any of my protest T-shirts because it felt like 32 °F with wind chill and as we speak is currently, randomly snowing through the sunset.

[gwynnega]

I ended up finding free parking! (Though it was a slightly longer walk to the protest area.)

Predictably, here in LA it was hot and sunny.

[sovay]

Predictably, here in LA it was hot and sunny.

But with free parking!

I just discovered the existence of a memoir by Adele Bertei and thought of you.

[gwynnega]

I just discovered the existence of a memoir by Adele Bertei and thought of you.

Oh, I had only just heard about that!