gigantical entry that you SHOULD read
I don't care about your fucking break, mine was totally better.
early Saturday morning, Miss Heidi and I set off for L-L-Lansing. the ride there was fine. the parking was not. went into an open parking garage, came back to my car this morning to find a $25 ticket. pffft.
anyway, walked randomly and then found Hubbard and found LEE! who rocks beyond reason. then we got on a bus and went into Lansing for a protest against a Nazi rally that was being held at the capitol. seriously hands down the most amazing experience of my entire life. Heidi and I both took a bajillion photos.
there were over 500 cops there. on foot (in riot gear), on bikes, motorcycles, horses, and packed into cars and vans. we even saw a minivan full of cops.
the free press said that 11 people got arrested. the times herald said 16. somewhere in there...anyway. we saw all of it. I was like 3 feet away from people being arrested. the first arrest was right next to Lee. a nazi was walking past and one of the boys passing out pamphlets threw them at him. he was immediatly thrown against a wall and "cuffed" (cable ties). one girl had been told not to cover her face with a bandana because there's a law in Lansing about it or something. well she did anyway and when I cop tried to break into the crowd to pull her out people resisted and about 3 people were arrested. there were at least 2 other occasions when people were arrested, I don't know the cause of either of them.
there were a lot of really awesome people there. as I look at my pictures I remember each of them and what they were doing. they were amazing.
my favorite person there was a girl with a sign that said "I <3" (big red heart, not a computer heart). at one point she was in front of the whole group and she was singing the star spangled banner and crying. Heidi and I hugged her and Heidi kissed her on the cheek.
there was a guy there that apparently preaches in front of one of the buildings at MSU every day. he was yelling at the protesters and telling us we are going to hell. the protesters made signs and yelled back at him. they only succeeded in shutting him up for a couple of minutes.
after the nazi rally was over, the protest started to move down the street. the police wanted to break us up and get threw so cops on motorcycles started driving through. one of the banners didn't move out of the way so he drove through it, broke the pole and drove off with the banner stuck to the front of the bike. at one intersection they blocked us off and as we stood there waiting to see where we would go, there were at least 50 police in full riot gear running at us in formation. Heidi went "ooo we're scared!" and a cop went "Oh you like tear gas?!" double you tea eff.
at the next intersection we moved to, there was a police van that I guess they were transporting some of the nazis in (yeah, the nazis got full police escort). someone was throwing rocks and they broke a window on the van. I can not believe we didn't get tear gassed right then.
we moved on and started going towards Eastern High School where there was supposed to be some Diversity thing. when we got there it was blocked off by about 30 State Police cars. so we decided to head back. found a bus and went back to Lee's. we were at the protest almost 4 hours.
we watched part of Bubba Hotep. I want to finish it. or maybe watch the whole thing because I didn't pay much attention.
then we headed over to the REGGIE SHOW. fucking, free Reggie show. what more can I ask. well, maybe not having to listen to bad music before Reggie. and maybe not having a very awkward conversation with Aaron. but other than that, I wouldn't have changed anything.
when Reggie was starting I told one of the security guys that I was from the MSU newspaper and he let me behind the barrier to take pictures. if the lighting hadn't been completely crazy they might have turned out pretty well. I got a few cool ones. which I will post laaaater.
after the show, Lee, Heidi and I went to climb trees. well, Lee climbed trees and we watched. then we went to Michelle's and hung out and talked lots and it was wonderful. Lee left (sadface) and we started to go to bed. Michelle's drunk roommate fell off of her bunk and fuckin smashed her head. she didn't die, and she woke up this morning...so I guess she's alright. Heidi and I slept on the futon. but we did not spoon. sigh.
we left this morning to get the Heidi home in time to go see her Gran.
and I put all my photos on my computer and got super pumped about it.
and now you should look at some of my protest pictures. I'm only posting around 20 of them, check them out.
first guy who got arrested.
preacher guy
my favorite person
I think this is my favorite picture
I heart my zoom lens. but I didn't catch them doing their salute.
it apparently takes 5 cops to arrest one person
I liked this kid a lot
all the other cops on the side were pretty chill, this guy wouldn't take his hand off his gun
drums
some hippies showed up
and oh yeah, this kid is fucking awesome.
reggie pictures tomorrow probably.
p(ost).s(cript). holy crapper, it's not friends only!
early Saturday morning, Miss Heidi and I set off for L-L-Lansing. the ride there was fine. the parking was not. went into an open parking garage, came back to my car this morning to find a $25 ticket. pffft.
anyway, walked randomly and then found Hubbard and found LEE! who rocks beyond reason. then we got on a bus and went into Lansing for a protest against a Nazi rally that was being held at the capitol. seriously hands down the most amazing experience of my entire life. Heidi and I both took a bajillion photos.
there were over 500 cops there. on foot (in riot gear), on bikes, motorcycles, horses, and packed into cars and vans. we even saw a minivan full of cops.
the free press said that 11 people got arrested. the times herald said 16. somewhere in there...anyway. we saw all of it. I was like 3 feet away from people being arrested. the first arrest was right next to Lee. a nazi was walking past and one of the boys passing out pamphlets threw them at him. he was immediatly thrown against a wall and "cuffed" (cable ties). one girl had been told not to cover her face with a bandana because there's a law in Lansing about it or something. well she did anyway and when I cop tried to break into the crowd to pull her out people resisted and about 3 people were arrested. there were at least 2 other occasions when people were arrested, I don't know the cause of either of them.
there were a lot of really awesome people there. as I look at my pictures I remember each of them and what they were doing. they were amazing.
my favorite person there was a girl with a sign that said "I <3" (big red heart, not a computer heart). at one point she was in front of the whole group and she was singing the star spangled banner and crying. Heidi and I hugged her and Heidi kissed her on the cheek.
there was a guy there that apparently preaches in front of one of the buildings at MSU every day. he was yelling at the protesters and telling us we are going to hell. the protesters made signs and yelled back at him. they only succeeded in shutting him up for a couple of minutes.
after the nazi rally was over, the protest started to move down the street. the police wanted to break us up and get threw so cops on motorcycles started driving through. one of the banners didn't move out of the way so he drove through it, broke the pole and drove off with the banner stuck to the front of the bike. at one intersection they blocked us off and as we stood there waiting to see where we would go, there were at least 50 police in full riot gear running at us in formation. Heidi went "ooo we're scared!" and a cop went "Oh you like tear gas?!" double you tea eff.
at the next intersection we moved to, there was a police van that I guess they were transporting some of the nazis in (yeah, the nazis got full police escort). someone was throwing rocks and they broke a window on the van. I can not believe we didn't get tear gassed right then.
we moved on and started going towards Eastern High School where there was supposed to be some Diversity thing. when we got there it was blocked off by about 30 State Police cars. so we decided to head back. found a bus and went back to Lee's. we were at the protest almost 4 hours.
we watched part of Bubba Hotep. I want to finish it. or maybe watch the whole thing because I didn't pay much attention.
then we headed over to the REGGIE SHOW. fucking, free Reggie show. what more can I ask. well, maybe not having to listen to bad music before Reggie. and maybe not having a very awkward conversation with Aaron. but other than that, I wouldn't have changed anything.
when Reggie was starting I told one of the security guys that I was from the MSU newspaper and he let me behind the barrier to take pictures. if the lighting hadn't been completely crazy they might have turned out pretty well. I got a few cool ones. which I will post laaaater.
after the show, Lee, Heidi and I went to climb trees. well, Lee climbed trees and we watched. then we went to Michelle's and hung out and talked lots and it was wonderful. Lee left (sadface) and we started to go to bed. Michelle's drunk roommate fell off of her bunk and fuckin smashed her head. she didn't die, and she woke up this morning...so I guess she's alright. Heidi and I slept on the futon. but we did not spoon. sigh.
we left this morning to get the Heidi home in time to go see her Gran.
and I put all my photos on my computer and got super pumped about it.
and now you should look at some of my protest pictures. I'm only posting around 20 of them, check them out.
first guy who got arrested.
preacher guy
my favorite person
I think this is my favorite picture
I heart my zoom lens. but I didn't catch them doing their salute.
it apparently takes 5 cops to arrest one person
I liked this kid a lot
all the other cops on the side were pretty chill, this guy wouldn't take his hand off his gun
drums
some hippies showed up
and oh yeah, this kid is fucking awesome.
reggie pictures tomorrow probably.
p(ost).s(cript). holy crapper, it's not friends only!