Rich and Strange Aeons

 
Image: albino loon (one of which has been spotted near Minnesota) melting ICE with LASER EYES by Cat Saint-Croix.

I have to say that I also really love the outpouring of art that has been happening. 

Speaking of art, last night I happened to see that a group of my Hamline-Midway neighbors were gathering at a random street corner to sing. The idea was just to gather in a low-risk way so that some very little children could join. Also, in hopes that if there were neighbors nearby in hiding from the gestapo, they could hear our voices. The temps are dropping here, so there weren't very many of us. Probably a dozen? But we stood together in a circle and raised our voices and sang old protest songs, some hymns, and even one pop song ("Lean on Me.")

Did it stop ICE? No. Was it extremely cathartic? Fully. Did I heal my soul a little? Yes, it helped. 

In my effort to do SOMETHING every day, I'm hoping to join one of the pedestrian bridge brigades today. It's at an awkward time for me (right when I need to get Shawn from work), but, if nothing else, I might spend some time making a poster or two. 

It's funny because we are absolutely a metro area under seige, but it is also fully possible to go through your day and not see anything? My grocery stores are open--even Shanghai market. Shawn is going to work. Mason is applying to law schools, going over to his uncle's to do handiperson work... life is kind of going on, while also very much NOT for so many of us. 

 
Image: the "don't tread on me" snake being beheaded by a laser-eyed loon with the Minnesota flag on its chest (created by Andrew Prekker).

You know I love my laser-eye loons and I could not have been happier to see this art pop up on my Facebook Feed. Andrew is selling this art on Redbubble and I bought a t-shirt immediately. (Feel free to click the link and get your own merch.) For those of you new to my journal, I posted about Minnesota's collective enjoyment out of imagining that the red eyes of the loon could (and should!) shoot laser beams in the past. My library card has a loon with lasers shooting out of its eyes and we NEARLY had a state flag with a loon shooting laser beams out of its eyes.

One thing I have learned while living in a police state is that I need to do one good thing a day or I go out of my mind with stress. Today, when I realized I was just pacing around the house trying not to doom scroll, I found out that Smitten Kitten (for out-of-towners, this is a sex positive, trans and queer owned sex shop) has been acting as a distribution center for people who are in hiding from the gestapo. They put out a call for diapers, etc. So, I hopped in my car, bought a few things at my local Menards, and then drove over to drop them off. Just feeling the energy in the shop, being greeted by people still excited to see my queer D&D t-shirt (actually ConFABulous, which I talked to the person about potentially coming to this next year)... it felt good, maybe even kind of normal in a This is NOT normal sort of way?

Right now, at 6:30 pm,  I'm going to go throw on my coat and go sing with some neighbors. I am, apparently, someone who needs to DO.  

Stay strong out there, everybody!