March for Equality and Pride

The March for Equality and Pride was on Sunday. At 11am everyone gathered at the local park to listen to speakers and poets. The poetry was really excellent and featured winners of a "slam poetry" contest who were heading to the nationals. One Native American poet sang a song in Choctaw on equality. There was a black-trans-vampire comic who was hilarious. When she said only nerds wear New Balance I tried to cover my shoes. At least no one was looking at them and thinking "white supremacy."

At noon we headed to the main street, assembled behind banners, the disability trolley, and the percussion band and marched our way down an empty four lane street with police blockades. There was first aid, security, and a guy with a bullhorn leading chants like:

"What do we want?" 

("Equality!") 

"When do we want it?" 

("NOW!") 

"NOW" was what was supposed to have been the response, but most people were yelling, "YESTERDAY!" This march, although not the largest I've been to, was certainly the most organized.

It was fun. Lots of friendly people. Lots of stinky people. Hmmm....

And, of course, for me it was all about the signs. I took a hiatus from painting for a couple weeks since I got so sick last month so I was raring to go.

Initially my friend who is in charge of finding the protests told me it was for Equality. Equality? What kind? Gender equality? Racial equality? LGBTQ equality? She thought a sign saying "Love Not Hate Makes America Great" would cover everything and I thought that would be a good idea so it could be used at a number of protests:

It looks like one of those Valentine candies with the sayings on them. LOL.

Finally I found march information and confirmed was for LGBTQ equality or gay rights. However, during the march we did chant for every marginalized group in America so it did end up being all inclusive, as the world should be. I was inspired. I think some of the funniest signs are for gay rights. I saw one online that read, "Leviticus Also Said, 'No Hair Cuts', But I Guess We Are Skipping That One!" or "If God Hates Fags Why Am I So Cute?" My absolute favorite sign that had me laughing out loud was a painting of Jesus holding his head in frustration and saying "I said I hate FIGS!" HAHAHAHA! Gay people have a sense of humor. (They are gay...) I wish I could be so clever.

Anyway...I jumped into painting and it didn't take long before I became ill and my body hurt all over. Will I never learn? For some reason my mask and other protective gear didn't seem to matter. My body load hasn't recovered from May's overexposure, but does that stop me? Heck no. I decided just in case there were some religious nuts lining the march with "God Hates Fags" and "You Will Burn in Hell" signs, I wanted a protest sign that addressed religion. A counter-counter-protest sign.

Love was our theme for the day. The back of this sign is a rainbow.

Flags...I had no idea there were so many types of flags. Most people know the LGBTQ community uses the rainbow as a symbol. The various colors mean: red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunlight/vitality), green (nature), blue (harmony/serenity), purple (spirit), and some flags add a pink (sexuality) and turquoise (art/magic) with some variation.

Did you know there are flags for bisexuality (pink, purple, blue), transgender (blue, pink, white, pink, blue), genderqueer/androgyny (purple, white, green), pansexual (red, yellow, blue), and asexual (gray, white, purple)?

It amazes me how much I don't know sometimes....

These two ladies hand painted their overalls with every protest slogan and filled them with buttons and patches representing the causes they support. They said they wear them to all the protests and don't have to carry signs! Great idea.

What was really fun is when we got to the rally at the end, there were many really excellent speakers. One woman represented a Black Alliance group and was a minister at a church. She started talking about Jesus and what he stood for "Jesus was all about love...I saw a sign that was perfect. Where was that sign?" She searched the crowd. Whoa! It took a minute to realize she was talking about my sign. I was sitting with my sign laying down beside me so I grabbed it and held it high

She yelled, "There it is! 'Love Thy Neighbor. That's It. That's All. The End.' That says it all!"

LOL! Whoa! Call out!! Very cool. Sometimes I make these signs and I often don't feel like anyone is really noticing them. Fun.

But my sign production momentum wasn't over. I had this urge and vision of one more. I think it's my best one so far and I've decided if I can create a handful of designs I really like, I might make them into cards and give them away as Christmas presents or something. LOL I'm saving this sign for a Black Lives Matter or Immigration protest:

Love it!

Take That Monsanto!

After the MCS presentation we headed over to the Monsanto protest to join around fifty dedicated anti-chemical company people. I was hoping the beauty queen would show wearing her yellow dress and crown fitting right in looking like a queen bee, but she didn't. They had a few chemical-focused booths on GMOs, fracking, pesticides, herbicides, organic food, loud music, lots of people with signs or t-shirts expressing their opinions, and cute little girls dresses as bees carrying "Save the Bees" signs. This one sported a fine pair of tap shoes and her chanting, "HELL NO! GMOs HAVE GOT TO GO!" was far more passionate and energetic than all the adults put together. Ah! to be young and energetic!

We marched from the meeting place right down main street ten blocks to the community farmer's market. This made me a little nervous as blocking traffic on a busy Saturday afternoon is anything but safe, however, it guaranteed to get attention. This is how it's done. I love this town filled with passionate people who rally every weekend about something they feel strongly about and usually right down main street!

What I found a little contradictory was too many people stunk to high heaven of laundry detergent. Really? Are they that unenlightened to think toxic chemicals are bad, but toxic laundry chemicals are just fine? Needless to say, it became too much. Still, I did my part, marching to and fro with brain fog and nausea wafting over me like a bad flu. Stupid. Maybe my protesting days are over? I keep thinking if it's outside I can stay out of the toxic air stream, but I get hit too often and every little hit compounds into overexposure. I can only take so much....

Climate Change March

April 29th was Climate Change Day across the country. Washington, D.C. had 200,000 marchers. Our normal protest venue had the annual Procession of the Species on the same day which conflicted not in terms of theme, but in RULES so the local march was held in a neighboring small coastal town that has been fighting for quite some time on the crude oil pollution problems besides various other environmental concerns involving timber, shellfish, and environmental protections of the rainforests.

Turn out was about 100. For this tiny town out in the middle of no where, that was actually kind of impressive.

The woman in the photo above is wearing a blue t-shirt that says "Think While It's Still Legal". That would make a good sign!

For the rally we were located in a park surrounded on one side with incoming tourist traffic and on the other side outgoing tourist traffic.

Although the Dump won this area, obviously not the popular vote! One idiot yelled, "Get a life!" One protester yelled back, "We have one and we want to keep it." LOL!

Love the brightness of my signs, but I'm getting too verbose. My favorite sign for the day was "Remember When Lying Was Wrong?". We marched through the tiny town, back to the park, and then my friend and I took a detour and left.

We had bigger plans...

The Counterprotester

On April 22nd, in honor of Earth Day, marches supporting science were happening all around the United States. We have an incompetent president who thinks climate change is fake. Well, he believes anything he doesn't like is fake and then lies about everything else. What a ridiculous man! So anyone who opposes this stupidity (or 60% of the country) are called to protest and support the value of science in whatever way they choose to express themselves.

My friend and I have committed to march and rally in every protest for the next four years or until the Liar-in-Thief is impeached, whichever comes first. I am in charge of signs. She is in charge of dates. Although I appreciate her constant enthusiasm and motivation, she never gets the dates right. LOL! She always thinks there is a march when there isn't and when there is a march, she doesn't think there is. It's been a challenge. She gave me two days to get signs ready for the Science March. I had about a day to ponder and research for design ideas before I had to get busy.

Painting with acrylic paint is toxic, but this paint is durable, and most importantly, waterproof once it dries. The rain here is relentless so there is always a 99% it will rain during any given rally. For health reasons I vowed not to replenish my acrylics so the last of my twenty-year-old supply of acrylics has left me with some ugly colors, colors I never used to use and still would rather not. My early signs with the old paints were ghastly gross. My commitment to protest for the next four years was justification for buying a whole new palette of fresh acrylic paint! So joyous! But toxic nevertheless. These new colors seemed to be less smelly than the old stuff. This could be due to a better more modern formula? Or perhaps because they are newer? Or cheaper with less toxic chemicals? Or just wishful thinking. Good lord, I love to paint! And these bright colors are incredibly inspiring making my signage excessively verbose. I have a lot to say.

So I pondered...how do I feel about science? Science is responsible for inventing art supplies. Hooray for convenience. I love my television, computer, and car. We've made astounding progress in curbing pollution and protecting the environment over the last fifty years. I enjoy water quality except when the chemicals are poisoning me....hmmm.

I pondered through the night...didn't science create chemicals? Perfumes, colognes, pesticides, herbicides, formaldehyde, petrochemicals and car exhaust, water treatments, biological and chemical warfare...just to name a few without listing every chemical on the planet. It's good to have laundry detergent, but didn't science also make it stink?

I felt conflicted. Yeah, science has been good for society in so many ways, but science has also been very irresponsible. If someone gave me the option of giving up my television, car and computer if all perfumes would disappear off the face of the earth, I would make the trade in a heart beat.  I considered not going to the protest. No one wants a negative naysayer marching along side of them. Some of those radicals might beat me up. My friend kept assuring me, "This is really about climate change and the environment. Concentrate on the goodness of science as a fact during a presidency determined to spread alternative facts."

The problem with chemical sensitivity is a majority of the population doesn't have a clue what it means. They don't know their perfumes are poisonous or their laundry detergent might cause asthmatic symptoms in innocent bystanders. Concentrating on the goodness is what everyone does and that only impedes public education. I had something to say. Could I say it without being too negative? Probably not. I tend to be negative as a default.

So. Incredibly. Bright.

Notice the word "HAPPIER". That's my attempt at a positive spin. I am HAPPY, but I could be HAPPIER.

Only one person challenged me. She came up behind, "Excuse me! Excuse me! It's not science's fault, you know."

"Are you thinking chemicals weren't created with science?"

She stuttered, "Well, I don't think the chemical companies are the fault of science." [As if science is a person....]

"Chemical companies use science to create the poisons," I said as I flipped my sign over and pointed to the "Perfume is Poison" sentence. (I have a lot to say so I opt for double-sided signs!)

Flip side. I have the best signs! LOL!

"Well, OK, but it's the greed of chemical companies that are at fault."

I pointed to the "People B4 Profits" sentence on my sign. I love a sign that speaks for itself. I hardly had to say a thing.

"Well, OK...."

We continued discussing perfumes. She said she didn't wear them but she did still buy some scented products.  I nodded while she babbled waiting for a break so I could jump in.

"This is the purpose of my sign. It's not to holler about how horrible science is, but to create conversation. Science isn't perfect. In the wrong hands it has been disastrous. Most chemical companies care only for profits regardless of their products' ramifications on human health or the ecosystem. That's my point. And this is most definitely science, but perhaps not a side of science anyone wants to applaud. I'm glad you voiced your opinion so we could share. If others read my sign and it makes them wonder and think even without speaking their mind, I have succeeded."

We parted at that point. She was my only challenger. It was estimated there were about 5,000 people marching and many were snapping photos of my signs. I'm hoping they would show up on other websites and blogs and spread the word that Chemical Companies are Poisoning Us and Perfume IS Poison. It's all about communication.

As I'm standing at the rally listening to a speaker, someone with perfume got a little too close. Immediately I felt dizzy and nauseated. We moved. This is the risk of group gatherings. I wonder if they even read my sign. Or if they did read it and purposely moved closer? Perfume wearers tend to feel personally assaulted if you tell them they stink. No telling what they might do. That is the risk of disclosure, communication. It's a double-edged sword.

Next week is the Climate Change Protest!

Ides of Trump

Today, March 15th, is the designated "Ides of Trump" postcard protest.  It is based on the Ides of March when it was foretold that Julius Caesar would die a horrible death...which he did. Everyone who opposes the Dump and his sexist, racist, xenophobic policies was to send a 4 x 6 postcard to the White House voicing their opinion on whatever topic they want to address.

I sent five postcards. I thought it would be important to voice my displeasure at his anti-environment policies. Poor air quality means I can't function let alone breathe.  I thought five was a lot until I read someone in San Francisco sent 800! That's a lot of stamps! I made mine out of some old manila file folders and felt pens. It was a fun.

Then I realized it might not be a good idea to send them from a Trumptard infested county. Ratholian trailer trash are untrustworthy liars anyway, but Trumptard Ratholians are deplorably untrustworthy. I mean, look at their leader. He can't stop lying for a minute. So I drove an hour and a half to get out of Rathole in hopes the postal workers in the neighboring county were honest liberals who would do their jobs and send my cards.

JOIN THE REBELLION!

Women's March Olympia 1/21/2017

The Olympia Women's March expected about 2,500 people - they got 10,000! I was one of them! Because the organizers expected so few people the route was very short...by the time we got back to the beginning, there were people still waiting to start. Lots of people chanting and singing, carrying signs and wearing pussy hats. I regret I did not have my own pussy hat. Everyone was very cheerful in spite of the rain, but even the sun showed up for about an hour!

There was a designated protest song posted on the march's website. I practiced it, but then I couldn't find anyone who was singing! So I went searching and found my people. Here is the YouTube version of the song, written and sung by Melanie DeMore called "Put One Foot in Front of the Other." It's very catchy. I'm happy I got the chance to join a sing-a-long!

I am very happy to be on the right side of history and this was an outstanding opportunity to be with like-minded, intelligent people.

LOVE STILL TRUMPS HATE!