O Canada

At work. I’m into being a patriotic, pro-democracy/ anti-Mump American these days, but should I wear this to Saturday’s protest? It is patriotic to love 🇨🇦 your neighbor.

Cheese rules.

(First time I’ve posted an AI picture.) Sent me by my friend Ms Chocolate in Wisconsin, “the dairy state”. That’s the state Capitol in the background. (It’s funny, I know that street view well though I’ve barely been there in decades.)

Come together! And "don't f*** with moms"

More good news from April Fool's Day!
Representatives from opposing parties are working together for a sane, humane cause:
allowing proxy voting for House members who become new parents.
Yesterday, these Republican and Democrat reps brought the House to a halt.

"We said don't f*** with moms," Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla)
Via


With Sen. Cory Booker's mega-speech in Congress calling on Americans to fight back against Mump, and Susan Crawford winning her place on Wisconsin's Supreme Court, that's THREE good things!

And . . . coming up in three days on April 5, this Saturday:
massive "Hands Off!" protests against Mump & demonstration for democracy
[Hands Off has an interactive map you can click to find your local protest.]

"Dictators, fascists, and authoritarians of all stripes — Trump, Putin, Orban, for example — hate solidarity. They don’t want us to join together. They’d prefer that we cower alone. They want us to feel powerless and afraid. "
--Robert Reich

885+ protests across the US ^ and in cities around the world

"Democracy is not a spectator sport."
If you can't go... SUPPORT FROM HOME.
It matters.

"Amplify the message and encourage others.

• Share and repost news, information, and videos.
  Several 50501 and Indivisible groups have a social media presence.
  Find one in your state and amplify their posts.

• Encourage others! Comment, send thanks and praise, and leave an encouraging messages.

  * Pester your elected officials. Call, write, show up.
  
  *Donate time, money, talent....
  
  *Sign petitions.

  “In solidarity we have power."
  --From Robert Reich

Wear buttons and pins, put up signs, talk to people, write, email, make some noise...
As Cory Booker said, BE BOLD!

On, Wisconsin!

 Oh thankgod—and the Wisconsin cheeseheads! My home state!

Best April Fool’s ever—today, anyway, the joke’s on you-know-who.

I am overwhelmed – – I am/we are not used to so much good news.

Brave Like Booker!

 Are you following Senator Booker, speaking right now?!

I weep with joy and respect: Here at 3:30 pm CST, Senator Booker (D—NJ) is in his 21st hour of a speech-marathon on the Senate floor.

Another sane lunatic good person!  I love him.

“Booker, who took the floor on Monday night at 7 p.m., said that he planned to disrupt 

‘the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able.

‘I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis…These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such,’ Booker said.”

———————

I don’t know where we’re going or where we’ll end up, but I am incredibly heartened that we are not going there without some passionate people nutty enough to stand up for us, for good. 

He invites us to be that crazy out-of-the-ordinary do-gooder in our own sphere.

Is that a halo???

Marz told me this is happening, which also makes me happy. I love getting news from people in my life who care.

5:35 PM: I’m watching him live on YouTube right now—amazingly he’s still totally articulate, interesting, and speaking extemporaneously with passion!

7:15PM Senator Booker just finished his record breaking 25+ hour speech – – it was really moving, impressive, inspiring, brave, cool cool cool, and I feel blessed to have been in this moment of history with him and all the people listening. Like you! ❤️❤️❤️

I am wrung out with the emotion of watching that for less than four hours– – I can’t imagine how he feels!

Well done!

BITE BACK: bink's Coup-coup bird, & other posters

We like to exercise our self-evident right to The Pursuit of Happiness, and that includes having FUN with protest art!
Taking into account protestors in London (Trafalgar Square, 3–5 pm!) and other places around the world, surely there’ll lots of fun signs this Saturday (4/5).

"BITE BACK"

While I was painting a cat on my poster board [[yesterday's post], bink (who had a stinkin' head cold) was painting her trademark terrier. . .
going after a "coup-coup" bird:

____________
I like that we are seeing the re-clamation of the American flag--
I first noticed it on the cover of Beyoné's album, Cowboy Carter.
Some Black people shun the flag, but others say,
"Hey, we BUILT this country!"

We do not claim it is perfect, nor spotless--of course not!––and neither are we,
but it is OUR dirty laundry, and we'll fly it!

I incorporated it on the back of my NO KINGS cat poster.
"Should I clean it up?" I asked bink.

"No, it looks like a Jasper Johns flag," she said.

I know Ignore Alien Orders from Joe Strummer of the Clash, but it's from 1960s San Francisco: A couple stoned musicians supposedly came up with it when discussing,
What to do if aliens take over Earth?

__________
Sister, who does a lot of sewing, was stitching an applique sign!
In process: a pink slip for Trump: "You're Fired!"

I texted her that we are carrying on in the style of our father, who was serious (he taught political science) and silly.

She sent back a photo of him carrying a sign for himself running for president on the Oregano Eradication Party---a joke with his neighbors because he was battling wild oregano ("fairly invasive") in his yard that summer.

He's in his early-eighties here:

The photo is him in his pajamas at the ocean.

Are you making a sign?

Pissed-off Pink Panther vibe

 I am well pleased.

Acrylic paint on poster board (3 ft. x 2ft)

Restoration and Reclamation

I. Honey Mustard, Restored

"I can see in two different sizes!"

Honey Mustard was missing an eye, so now one is little & gold, and one is big and blue.

Oh, my, she was DIRTY.

After the bath: nyah, nyah!

"My innermost being is restored!"

 

II. Protest Poster: This Flag Is Ours

Will try the cat on one side "No Kings, Only Cats"?

Thinking of something with the US flag--
I love how people are claiming that---
it's Mump who is anti-American,
whose ideals are alien to ours!

Of course we do not always live up to our ideals, 

who does?
but they are the stars we steer by,
and we'd be fools to let them be obscured.

Print in process: cat says NO

Working on this print for the April 5 protest. I see it’s going to be international too!

Family and friends have lived with  cats off and on, and I’ve house-sat a lot of cats, some of whom I loved, but I wouldn’t say I’m a cat person. Still, I admire that nobody says ‘no’ better than a cat, and I’m sort of amazed that the cat’s expression here is just what I wanted.

I drew from different pictures of cat art. Still want to carve a decorative border.

This is fairly small. I’ve seen small signs be effective, but maybe I’ll see if I can paint a large version on poster board. I don’t know though, when you get a face just the way you like it, it’s almost impossible to reproduce, and I’m really pleased with this particular cat.

Cats say no.

And another cat, a clay tile. Cats sell well.

Yesterday I learned that Mick Jagger was inspired by The Master & Margarita to write "Sympathy for the Devil".
 The Russian stanza!
"I hung around St. Petersburg/ Anastasia screamed in vain".

The devil in Jagger's song, like Bulgakov's, is not a sexy beast, he is more  like Stalin, Putin... (and "you and me"). 

If a reader knew nothing of Stalin or Jesus, what would they would make of The Master & Margarita? Pontius Pilate is a character---do modern people know who he is?
The novel would probably still be a fun romp.
The cat stands alone!
___________________

Time to garden?
I don't garden, but I did see my first green shoots coming up, so I gathered some oddments for a display. I brought home a big pot for geraniums--the one effort I make toward outdoor beautification.
However, after reaching 70º yesterday, today it's in the 30s and supposed to snow.

This display ^ is a jumble--mostly plant pots--and an unrelated UNDERWOOD typewriter.

"Where's Tom Hanks when you need him?" a customer said.
People like that TH collects typewriters. One said I should mail one of my typewriter prints to Hanks, but I don't have a special feeling for him.
There are many other people I should write to first.

I did send "You are made of stars" to Rep. Al Green, to thank him for standing up to Trump.
I  wrote to Rev. Mariann Budde again too--a star print. After her inauguration sermon, for too long it seemed she was the only one with public power who was going to say anything.

I'm hopeful that next week's April 5 protest will be big. A friend who's active in Indivisible told me 800 actions are planned for that day, all around the US.

I have not settled on an idea for a protest poster. I think something new for me--not Star Trek again.
I like the idea of a cat...  The Cheshire cat? "We're all mad here."
I just discovered, Cats saying NO is a meme.
That would be sufficient.

First though... the Wisconsin supreme court election this Tuesday, April 1--the one Musk has spent millions on.
An April Fool, for real.