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« Monkisms | Main | Changing the Rhythm »

Gone Protesting.

September 29, 2003

I somehow managed to convince Monk to come with me to the protest. Don't even ask me how, because it was a lot easier than I though, and did not involve bribes in any way...although after he agreed, I did tell him that I would get him some ice cream after the fact. So I spent the morning packing our snack bag and preparing for the day's adventure. Sandwiches, fruit leather, energy bars, water...and when some friends stopped over, I was able to run to the store and pick up some juice, which is a special treat for my kids.

We were late heading out, and just as we got about a block from the bus stop, I saw our bus pass by. Rats. Buses don't run often on Sunday here, so I mentally prepared myself for a 30-45 minute wait at the bus stop. Luckily, there's a bus stop by a church here where they have a bunch of benches spread out under a large, shady tree with rocks all around. The kids were able to entertain themselves by looking at rocks. Monk declared that he was Zeus! King of the Sky! Cole was Hera, who Monk claimed was King of the Sea! (I think he's wrong about this one, but I haven't checked yet.) and I was Hades! King of the Underworld! I got about ten minutes of entertainment factor out of insisting that I was, instead, King of the underWEAR! Well, OK, Cole was entertained by this...Monk just kept getting progressively more pissed off until finally our bus arrived.

Amazingly enough, my friend and neighbor M got on the bus at the next stop. Well, I mean, M is car free, so it's not like it's amazing for her to ride the bus...and we see each other at protests all of the time, so it's not like it was amazing that she should be going to this protest...but, well, I'm not quite sure what was amazing about it, except maybe that we were both running late and that we hadn't talked about attending this protest when we saw each other last week. At any rate, we rode down to the stop closest to the library.

As we approached Wooldridge Park, I was a bit disappointed by the turnout. We sat down to listen to the speakers. Monk didn't seem very pleased, so I was trying to cheer him up by pointing to all of the cool dogs who came out to protest the war. We saw Susan, of comments fame...and when the presenters stopped talking we all got up to march a very indirect route to the Federal Building. I don't usually take the kids with me to protests, and I realized yesterday that it's very difficult for me to participate with them present. I felt very concerned that Monk might have been too hot or not having fun, so I kept asking him if he was OK, and even though he had what looked like a very serious look on his face, he kept saying "I'm FINE mom! Gah!"

It went on like this, Cole asleep in the stroller and monk acting vaguely dissatisfied in spite of his claims of being "fine." until suddenly I heard Monk giggle. I looked over at him, and he declared "I LIKE that sign!" and pointed to the sign that said "Impeach the lying weasels" and had a crudely drawn image of a weasel. We both laughed about it, and Monk seemed to enjoy himself a bit more after that.

At one point, Monk asked me "Is this protest "civil disorder?" And I responded, not knowing if there was a technical DEFINITION of civil disorder, and not really feeling like disorder is necessarily a BAD thing, "Well, no. Civil disorder implies that people are out of order, and we are completely IN order. All of the people here are just using a particular mode of expression because we all feel like we're not being heard." I stopped short of explaining that civil disorder was not necessarily a BAD thing...there are just some things I probably need to save for later. "This is just part of being an American, Monk. I feel like we are all doing our duty here."

This seemed to perk him up a bit.

I have to say that the asshole in the SUV at, I think, 8th and Congress, who felt like a good counter protest would be to sit there and rev his engine threateningly as we held up traffic crossing the street, was a complete idiot. He couldn't have provided a better metaphor - sitting in his gas guzzler, guzzling more gas just to bestow a warning upon people who were walking in the street with no protection save the two or three motorcycle cops separating the cars from us. Brilliant, dude. You really made your point. You'd rather RUN INNOCENT, UNARMED PEOPLE OVER in your car than allow them to have a voice. Love it. You should be president.

Anyway, We made it to the Federal Building in one piece, and sat upon the uncomfortable concrete there and listened to more speakers. I was even more disappointed by the turnout when they called the family members of people who are currently in Iraq to the podium and what looked like HALF of the people present made their way to the front of the crowd. We all heard stories of the family members who are currently serving. Some righteous anger over the various injustices being done to the members of our armed forces...

But mostly I was just barely able to pay attention as I watched my kids run around and around. The pavement at the federal building is seriously some dangerous stuff, and several kids were sporting skinned knees as a medal of honor for having survived a fall there. I was just waiting for Coley to fall down and skin his entire face or something...and at the same time, they were having so much fun chasing each other around that I didn't want to interfere. So I just sat there, silently fearful, but enjoying the sound of their laughter.

And that's pretty much how it ended. We went to the bus stop, rode the bus home. Monk made sure to point out that he booed at the speakers (I didn't hear him boo, but I think he felt like he hadn't staged an adequate counter-protest, and that I might get the idea that he was hip to all of this dumb peace stuff.) I got the kids their promised ice cream and we made pizza for dinner.

Pretty much it's an entirely different scene for me when I bring the kids. I feel kind of restricted and distracted, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But the whole protest seemed very low-energy, and I'm having a difficult time determining if that's because it was a low-energy protest or if it's because I wasn't really able to invest as much of my energy into it as I wanted.

I did get to meet a couple of cool mamas, one of whom I've met before, but never really hung out with. They were people from the old hipmama days. I was pleased about that.

Posted at September 29, 2003 9:13 AM

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Comments

That is exactly my experience when I bring my kids to protests, street fairs, marches etc. It's such a different experience when you go kidless. But it's such a gift to take them.

I keep wondering what my world and life would be like if I could claim that my mom used to take me to anti-war protests (Vietnam) when I was a kid. Well, at least I'm sure I could claim a very different kind of relationship with her if nothing else.

Posted by: suzanne at September 30, 2003 8:13 AM