We went to the Mayday Parade, and it was awesome
It has been too long since I've posted anything here. I too have been succumbing to the low-attention-span, click-and-go format of Facebook, like so many others before me. I do still have ideas I'd really like to write about in my journal, but it's so hard to find (OK, to make) the time for that.
Anyway! This past Sunday, cold and windy though it was, Erik and Cecily and I walked to the Mayday Parade and Festival, which takes place every year here in our neighborhood of Powderhorn Park. It was one of the first things I read about this neighborhood online, before we ever left San Diego.
Even though it was so cold, and Cecily's hands got all red because we hadn't brought mittens (and she refused to keep them pulled back into her coat sleeves) - I was really glad that we were there. (As I type this, I'm actually wearing my Mayday Parade T-shirt, which I got for being a volunteer to help take down the Labyrinth.)
This was the perfect celebration for me in many ways. It has that neopagan feel associated with Beltane (the reason, incidentally, that Erik and I chose to get married in early May). There was even a properly beribboned Maypole set up in the middle of said Labyrinth.
Yet, at the same time, due honor was also paid to the fact that May 1st is also International Workers' Day. The whole Liberal political spectrum was represented there, from Keith Ellison and Al Franken (both of whose hands I got to shake!) to some wackier factions, including a guy from the Ecology Democracy Party who suggested to me that Minnesota should have its own currency, separate from the dollar. (Huh?)
A lot of the banners and posters were balm for my wounds though, as a member of one of those maligned teachers' unions and, more generally, of the basically-screwed nonwealthy class in America. "Income of Top 400 Families = Income of Bottom 150 Million Citizens," said one, and another, "Government of the richest 1%, by the richest 1%, for the richest 1%." There were people marching against war and homelessness, and in support of women's and LGBT rights, healthcare, and solar power. Oh, and there were NO gas-powered vehicles in the parade, except for the police cars at the extreme start and end. Everything else was powered by human power - walking, bicycling, stilts, wagons, and a sled on wheels.
Here are some pictures I took, as promised to my dad, who only reads LJ, not Facebook. Yay for Mayday and for us living in this neighborhood! (In Madison, it'd be the Willy and Jenny Street area, for sure.)
Anyway! This past Sunday, cold and windy though it was, Erik and Cecily and I walked to the Mayday Parade and Festival, which takes place every year here in our neighborhood of Powderhorn Park. It was one of the first things I read about this neighborhood online, before we ever left San Diego.
Even though it was so cold, and Cecily's hands got all red because we hadn't brought mittens (and she refused to keep them pulled back into her coat sleeves) - I was really glad that we were there. (As I type this, I'm actually wearing my Mayday Parade T-shirt, which I got for being a volunteer to help take down the Labyrinth.)
This was the perfect celebration for me in many ways. It has that neopagan feel associated with Beltane (the reason, incidentally, that Erik and I chose to get married in early May). There was even a properly beribboned Maypole set up in the middle of said Labyrinth.
Yet, at the same time, due honor was also paid to the fact that May 1st is also International Workers' Day. The whole Liberal political spectrum was represented there, from Keith Ellison and Al Franken (both of whose hands I got to shake!) to some wackier factions, including a guy from the Ecology Democracy Party who suggested to me that Minnesota should have its own currency, separate from the dollar. (Huh?)
A lot of the banners and posters were balm for my wounds though, as a member of one of those maligned teachers' unions and, more generally, of the basically-screwed nonwealthy class in America. "Income of Top 400 Families = Income of Bottom 150 Million Citizens," said one, and another, "Government of the richest 1%, by the richest 1%, for the richest 1%." There were people marching against war and homelessness, and in support of women's and LGBT rights, healthcare, and solar power. Oh, and there were NO gas-powered vehicles in the parade, except for the police cars at the extreme start and end. Everything else was powered by human power - walking, bicycling, stilts, wagons, and a sled on wheels.
Here are some pictures I took, as promised to my dad, who only reads LJ, not Facebook. Yay for Mayday and for us living in this neighborhood! (In Madison, it'd be the Willy and Jenny Street area, for sure.)