I Feel Good Today
Not healthwise. No, healthwise, I feel like crap with con-crud dueling with "7th week of what should be a 6 week Remicaid cycle." But that is not important right now, because in non-health-related ways, I FEEL LIKE A FUCKING ROCK STAR.
I do! I even got applauded! But I'll get to that in a sec.
So, I am pet-sitting for mentia999 as part of our "you sold me my car so cheaply, I almost feel guilty about it" deal. On my way home from their place, I saw protesters outside of the Pleasant St. Planned Parenthood holding up signs and chanting. I very nearly pulled over right then to debate with them, but I knew our oil guy was supposed to be showing up today between noon and four, which meant I had to hurry home so I didn't miss him and have them postpone our boiler getting serviced again.
Since I couldn't stop and explain right that minute how and why I believed they were wrong, I decided on my way home that I would set up a counter-protested and it would be EPIC and AWESOME and many other adjectives that meant 'epic' and 'awesome.'
So I went home and busied myself with arts and crafts, making a few signs I thought would be awesome and epic enough for my protest. I posted my super-brilliant counter-protest idea on Twitter looking for anyone available who would want to join me, but most of my Twitter-friends live far away and have 9-5 jobs and things. So it was gonna be me, by myself, against the throngs of anti-choice protesters.
My response to that? LET'S DO THIS THING. *slides on cool-looking sunglasses*
...Of course, 'doing this thing' had to wait until the boiler guy came and went, so around 3pm, I was able to grab my signs and head back to Pleasant St. I had made two; one that was funny to people who lived on the internet and one that was accessible to more people. Mostly, I made the first one because I continually suffer from the delusion that I am hilarious.
Anyway, I show up and am greeted by three old men and one middle-aged woman, all of whom appear to be white and middle class. I mention this only as a demographic counter. They seem to be quite pleased to see me, until I hold up my signs, stand a little ways away, and begin chanting "For women's reproductive rights? Stand with the PPA!" About ten or so minutes later, they leave. Possibly because they were only scheduled to be there until 3:30, possibly because I scared them off. I'd like to think it was the latter, because then I can say that I am very fierce and adept at scaring old people. There's a trophy for that, right?
So then I was just a one-woman protest for about a half an hour. At first, the folks in the building would kind of glance out the window and then skitter by, I'm fairly certain they have a "Do Not Engage" policy regarding protesters. But then one woman stopped and really read my sign and began waving. Of course, I frantically waved back, probably looking like an idiot. But I wanted these people to know that I was with them, I stood by them. That there were people who were willing to stand out in the cold for their cause, too.
I looked away for a bit to keep chanting and holding up my signs for passing cars. Something flashed in the corner of my eye, so I glanced back. There, in the window high above the street, a whole line of PPA workers were standing in the windows. One waved to me. I waved back.
And then they applauded.
I don't know how many of them there were. Ten? No more than twenty, surely. But they all took time out of their jobs to stand at the window, wait for me to look, and applaud me. I just wanted to yell, "Don't applaud ME! YOU'RE doing the hard work! Day after day after day! You guys deserve it, not me!" But they were across the street and inside, several stories up, so I had to settle for shaking my head furiously, applauding, and pointing back at them.
As for the people on the street, I got many different reactions. Several thumbs up and honks, all of which I assume came from people who read my signs. Several head-shakes, thumbs down, and one or two middle fingers coming from people I assume just saw me protesting and jumped to conclusions. One woman with a whole car full of kids was stopped behind a bus. She gave me a giant smile, a thumbs up, and told all the kids to give me a thumbs up, too. One old guy came up and chatted with me, letting me know he was on the other side but was glad to see 'a young person come out and stand up for something.' I assured him that I was very rarely reticent to let people know what I think and then we got into a debate about where the PPAs money came from, which he staunchly insisted that abortions were their primary funding. Another old guy came over later to ask me when the candlelight vigil was to be. I showed him my sign and politely told him that I didn't know. He seemed really confused by the Kanye sign and wandered away muttering.
By four, I was freezing and getting a headache, so I packed it in. No one was in the windows anymore, but I waved anyway and headed back to my car, still flashing my signs whenever anyone drove by and shouting, "For women's reproductive rights? Stand with the PPA!"
And now I'm home, curled up in blankets and huddled next to me heater. I'm still cold and my throat hurt worse than it already did, so I grabbed some DayQuil and whatnot, but you know what? I still feel pretty epic. And awesome.
For many, many, MANY reasons, I am proud to stand with Planned Parenthood of America.
I do! I even got applauded! But I'll get to that in a sec.
So, I am pet-sitting for mentia999 as part of our "you sold me my car so cheaply, I almost feel guilty about it" deal. On my way home from their place, I saw protesters outside of the Pleasant St. Planned Parenthood holding up signs and chanting. I very nearly pulled over right then to debate with them, but I knew our oil guy was supposed to be showing up today between noon and four, which meant I had to hurry home so I didn't miss him and have them postpone our boiler getting serviced again.
Since I couldn't stop and explain right that minute how and why I believed they were wrong, I decided on my way home that I would set up a counter-protested and it would be EPIC and AWESOME and many other adjectives that meant 'epic' and 'awesome.'
So I went home and busied myself with arts and crafts, making a few signs I thought would be awesome and epic enough for my protest. I posted my super-brilliant counter-protest idea on Twitter looking for anyone available who would want to join me, but most of my Twitter-friends live far away and have 9-5 jobs and things. So it was gonna be me, by myself, against the throngs of anti-choice protesters.
My response to that? LET'S DO THIS THING. *slides on cool-looking sunglasses*
...Of course, 'doing this thing' had to wait until the boiler guy came and went, so around 3pm, I was able to grab my signs and head back to Pleasant St. I had made two; one that was funny to people who lived on the internet and one that was accessible to more people. Mostly, I made the first one because I continually suffer from the delusion that I am hilarious.
Anyway, I show up and am greeted by three old men and one middle-aged woman, all of whom appear to be white and middle class. I mention this only as a demographic counter. They seem to be quite pleased to see me, until I hold up my signs, stand a little ways away, and begin chanting "For women's reproductive rights? Stand with the PPA!" About ten or so minutes later, they leave. Possibly because they were only scheduled to be there until 3:30, possibly because I scared them off. I'd like to think it was the latter, because then I can say that I am very fierce and adept at scaring old people. There's a trophy for that, right?
So then I was just a one-woman protest for about a half an hour. At first, the folks in the building would kind of glance out the window and then skitter by, I'm fairly certain they have a "Do Not Engage" policy regarding protesters. But then one woman stopped and really read my sign and began waving. Of course, I frantically waved back, probably looking like an idiot. But I wanted these people to know that I was with them, I stood by them. That there were people who were willing to stand out in the cold for their cause, too.
I looked away for a bit to keep chanting and holding up my signs for passing cars. Something flashed in the corner of my eye, so I glanced back. There, in the window high above the street, a whole line of PPA workers were standing in the windows. One waved to me. I waved back.
And then they applauded.
I don't know how many of them there were. Ten? No more than twenty, surely. But they all took time out of their jobs to stand at the window, wait for me to look, and applaud me. I just wanted to yell, "Don't applaud ME! YOU'RE doing the hard work! Day after day after day! You guys deserve it, not me!" But they were across the street and inside, several stories up, so I had to settle for shaking my head furiously, applauding, and pointing back at them.
As for the people on the street, I got many different reactions. Several thumbs up and honks, all of which I assume came from people who read my signs. Several head-shakes, thumbs down, and one or two middle fingers coming from people I assume just saw me protesting and jumped to conclusions. One woman with a whole car full of kids was stopped behind a bus. She gave me a giant smile, a thumbs up, and told all the kids to give me a thumbs up, too. One old guy came up and chatted with me, letting me know he was on the other side but was glad to see 'a young person come out and stand up for something.' I assured him that I was very rarely reticent to let people know what I think and then we got into a debate about where the PPAs money came from, which he staunchly insisted that abortions were their primary funding. Another old guy came over later to ask me when the candlelight vigil was to be. I showed him my sign and politely told him that I didn't know. He seemed really confused by the Kanye sign and wandered away muttering.
By four, I was freezing and getting a headache, so I packed it in. No one was in the windows anymore, but I waved anyway and headed back to my car, still flashing my signs whenever anyone drove by and shouting, "For women's reproductive rights? Stand with the PPA!"
And now I'm home, curled up in blankets and huddled next to me heater. I'm still cold and my throat hurt worse than it already did, so I grabbed some DayQuil and whatnot, but you know what? I still feel pretty epic. And awesome.
For many, many, MANY reasons, I am proud to stand with Planned Parenthood of America.