The writing challenge called for three about yourself and three about others, but I just have one. I'm a rulebreaker, yo.
Yesterday was, of course, another No Kings protest. Saint Paul had the flagship gathering, at the State Capitol. Bruce Springsteen showed up to sing his new song, Bernie Sanders came and talked way too long lol, and Joan Baez and Jane Fonda put in brief appearances too. I had been talking with friends about going, but in the end I figured it was going to be a lot of walking, a lot of standing and still no guarantee that I'd even be able to see or hear the speakers. So I decided to go to the neighborhood gathering. A half mile walk, so easy.
HWD decided to join me, so he left his weekend job mid-day and drove home. He arrived about 12:10 pm. Only then did I realize that his intention was to make a sign for himself before we walked over to the 12:30 pm demonstration. I groaned. Amazingly, he did bang out the below sign in about 20 minutes. But then he was dawdling, I got impatient and he said "go ahead I'll catch up". He actually didn't arrive for quite a while - it turned out he felt required to have something on both sides of the sign. I can just imagine him sneaking back to his paints and markers in the living room, once I was out the back door. 😂
PS he is shorter than me, but not as much as this looks - I'm up on the boulevard and he's down in the street.
Anyway, assumptions. We were standing at a busy intersection with our signs, I'd say about 60% of the passing vehicles gave us a friendly honk. Then a big shiny brand new pickup went by and he honked! I was surprised and then in my surprisement I realized that I have a stereotype that anyone driving a great big pickup is MAGA or at the very least, conservative. Sorry, pickup drivers! 😨
The gathering was a bit of a disappointment - I would say less than a third the turnout of the one last fall. I don't know if that was because it didn't get listed on the No Kings web site or just because people decided to make the effort to go downtown because they wanted to see the big name speakers. At any rate, we left around 2 pm and then at home I watched the live stream on TV. I was sorry to miss the vibes of the big gathering but I feel quite sure I was able to see and hear better on TV, haha.
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In Oklahoma, in our rural area, trucks are the norm. Gravel roads, livestock and heavy work encourages trucks. Conservative or liberal or in between has nothing to do with our choice. We haven't owned a car in decade or two .... Trying to remember. Anyway no car because our gravel road is rough. Tears cars up too fast.
Very understandable! I guess I’m thinking more of the phenomenon of people who live in the city and yet still drive a big pickup. They can’t all be contractors! 😊
Looks like the protest got a huge turnout. In Japan, a photo at a rural gas station was going viral for blaming the orange idiot for no gas.
Well...they're probably not wrong....
OH MY, that was an all-star lineup at the state capitol for sure!
Any chance you were assuming the honking pickup driver was honking in support, and not anger? 😄
Well, that's a valid question.
We do have little pop-up demonstrations on a pretty regular basis around here. For example there are some hardy regulars who hold signs at an intersection in my neighborhood from 4:30-5:30 every day. So I think people are generally on to the norm that honking is for support.
The people who didn't like us rolled down their windows and shook their fists. 😂 (only one or two that I recall)
@smartasswoman Ok, since fist shaking in the norm for showing non-support, I understand your assessment. (And really, this was more being a smartass since the theme here was assumptions.)
My assumptions on oversized pickup trucks are similar to yours and tbh, the stereotype fits... at least it does here in the mid-Atlantic where nobody truly NEEDS one.
Nationwide showed a pretty good turnout... I especially enjoyed hearing about the smaller rallies held in deep red areas!
Those people going to the smaller rallies in conservative areas are a lot more brave, TBH.
I hear overall that were many No Kings protests with a high turnout, which was heartening to hear.
The big Saint Paul one was estimated at 200,000 people. Naysayers were saying "that doesn't compute, that's half the population of Minneapolis". Well, our metro area overall is about 3 million and people came even from outside of the metro, so to me it's plausible.
I would make the same truck assumption as you.
I guess the really visibly MAGA ones help to create the stereotype.
Thank you. 🙠Thank you. 💖 Thank you.
I am short, too. I often stand in the street. 😎
Not sure what you're thanking me for, but you're welcome.
@smartasswoman ---
For going out and doing what I wish I could.