signs of the times

A friend texted me yesterday, asking if I'd be at Boise's No Kings protest. Another good reason to ride my bike in this gloriously fading October! (All the LMM scarfing and sere and hazes happening.)

Technically a blue city in a red state, Boise, Idaho, feels and is more complex than that. I can feel the mix, riding around: self-sufficient mountain residents, hipsters (they're still here!) on station-wagon bikes, ranchers, west coast transplants, just regular people with bootcut jeans and worn, western hats, Y2K revivalists, survivalists, mountain bikers, university students, people with no particular brand, Millenial men with 70's moustaches and haircuts. Plenty of us who would identify toward conservative (some far), plenty of us who would identify toward liberal (some far), plenty of us unwilling to be put in a box.

I saw a "conservative and disgusted" sign. I saw an "imagine being afraid of diversity but not of dictatorship" sign. "OMG, GOP, WTF"made me laugh. "No Faux King way" also. "You are my neighbor, not my enemy" was on one sign and seemed to be the theme.

Some of my favorite signs:

Love is resistance.

Are we great yet? Cuz I just feel EMBARRASSED.

Let the warning ride forth once more: tyranny is at our door.

These women agreed.

One man jokingly commented to me on our (the crowd's) "unruliness," as we all excuse-me'd and pardon-me'd around each other. I'm in awe of the humans.