Pic above was from my last protest in Oregon. I donated my signs, over a dozen I’d made, to Indivisible Forest Grove. As I was leaving, I noticed only 2 or 3 were left; the others had been picked up by other folks. I bequeathed my No Kings tee and frog headband to my good friend, Carollee, and gave away my poster making materials via a buy nothing group on Facebook.
I was too young to protest the Vietnam War, but I do remember seeing a lot of protests on the tv during the news. My parents were not activists in the sense of protesters, but they gave me a strong awareness of fairness, equity, and civic responsibility. As an adult, I admit that I didn’t join any protest movement as I was raising my family. I did, however, vote in every election including the oddball ones in off years in July. I have signed petitions online and in person, written postcards and emails to my elected officials, and attended town halls. I remember teaching my children when they were little how we vote by taking them into the voting booth with me. They also saw me study sample ballots and research candidates and ballot initiatives. That last part I learned my lesson on during the vote for Knoxville City retiree benefits vote in the 90’s. Those ballot initiatives are usually worded so confusingly. Forget double negatives, that one had a triple!
In later years I joined the Women’s March in Knoxville and also began writing letters to registered voters who had not voted in recent elections via https://votefwd.org/ – a highly effective way to reach people. Non-partisan – they reach out to all previous voters to urge them to vote again. And, they do not endorse any particular party or candidate.
When protests began again in April 2025, I joined in for the first Hands Off. One was held within walking distance of my home in my small town. There were probably 50-75 attendees and I knew about a dozen of them. We didn’t have enough people to continue, but some of us began attending those in a nearby town with a larger population. These are honk and wave at the big intersection where the city’s flagpole is situated. Protesting underneath the American Flag is something special. It pains me immeasurably to see the direction the current regime is headed towards, and pains me even more to know that so many Americans do not see or comprehend what is happening. I did attend one overpass protest in the big city, but avoided the huge ones down by the river and by the ICE detention center. I’m old, don’t run fast, and need a nearby bathroom!
I’ve attended all three (so far) No Kings protests, with the first one being held in the weekend I was in the D.C. area. So I folded my No Kings baner so that it couldn’t be read by TSA agents and packed it in my suitcase and took it with me. A friend and I protested on an overpass leading into D.C. from one of the major highways.
One of the most moving moments came when I happened to be driving by while high school students were doing a walkout in our county. I always carried my signs in my car for easy access. This particular school has a large Hispanic student population. There were many students without signs, so while I was stopped in traffic I beckoned one over and gave him my ICE protest sign. He was very grateful. I did not take a picture of him with the sign to preserve his privacy. He had a big smile, but I ugly cried my whole way home after that.
Adventure Activist 