(no subject)

I'm off to a protest in a few minutes. (At the Austin capitol, specifically.) It's rather exciting; I haven't ever been to one before, despite many instances of thinking I should, or I might, or so forth. But this time, I'm going with a friend, so there's no "Oh, wait, I got busy and forgot" failure state to hit.

As it looks like we'll be standing outside in full sunlight, I'm packing several water bottles and some snacks. Sunscreen is on; I'll be wearing a hat; I've got good shoes and my orange shirt. I think I'm about as ready as I can get.

We'll see how it goes! I'll shake my fist a few extra times for those who would like to be there today and can't.

(no subject)

And lo, I have marched!

We got there plenty early, as we got very lucky on parking and could head directly over to the capitol lawn. From there we bummed around for more than half an hour; at one point I got shanghaied into passing out fliers, which was fun. And then we marched, marched, marched for something over four miles, with a great deal of chanting. The ones I heard:

Men: "Whose choice?" Women: "Our choice!"

"Kill the bill!"

"Texas women (/healthcare /women's rights) are under attack, what do we do?" "Stand up, fight back!"

"What do we want?" "Choice!" "When do we want it?" "Now!"

"Keep it legal, keep it safe!"

"Show me what democracy looks like!" "This is what democracy looks like!"

I can't really say how many people were there. We took up about half the street in width, with how the police had it blocked off for us, but that was with gaps and clusters and people shifting back and forth. There were at least two blocks of people ahead of me, and two or three behind; more than that overall, I think, but I could only make out that much at certain corners and tops of hills. The group was about 30% men, give or take 10%, many of them apparently unattached to any particular women. Several people showed up with children, toddlers, and infants. Some folks had dogs. There were little old ladies with white hair, though most of us were in the college to middle-aged range.

Two little girls on the sidewalk held up signs wishing for the return of Ann to take down Rick. We hear ya, kids.

The vast majority of the people we passed on the street were supportive. Lots of waving and cheering and smiling, lots of picture taking. (There were some counter-protesters back at the capitol during the hour leading up, but I didn't see them after that.) The only two hecklers I noticed were, rather hilariously, straight out of villain casting for a film of The Underdog Makes Good. Two white dudes dressed like stockbrokers out for the night, standing on a balcony, shouting, "Why do you hate babies?" and laughing over it. I think if you're that much of a villainous caricature, it's time to try a little harder.

I took a lot of pictures, but they're all blurry and a bit angled, and they get blurrier and less coherent as the march got darker. So I'm not sure it's worth the hassle to upload. But I'm certainly glad I went. And it was definitely good to go with friends.