Reno March For Our Lives

Today we marched...again...getting tired of marching for basically the same shit we did in the 60's and 70's, trying to get people to do the right thing and be decent human beings. Which you'd think people would naturally want to do. Just when you think you've got it fixed...

I knew when Sandy Hook happened and nothing got done when a bunch of kindergarteners were murdered, that the government wasn't going to get off it's butt any time soon.

Today's march was in Reno, we made some signs, dressed warm (the kid in her white wolf costume to help draw attention to the issue at hand) and got some coffee!

We gathered outside the federal courthouse in Reno where the kid posed with my sign.

The mask is articulated so the lower jaw moves when she speaks...I just love how she wears her glasses on the outside of the mask so she's a studious-looking little wolf.

Although this little one wasn't thrilled with it and hid behind her sign.

The building and it's intimidating surrounding fence...

Pretty quickly a crowd of at least 1000 (some sources say as many as 10,000) had gathered. We were in the middle and the crowd stretched in both directions as far as we could see.

A lovely mixed group--parents, kids, veterans, grandparents, college kids, teachers...and a lot of dogs! The crowd was friendly and relaxed. Typical of our area, one guy was going for coffee and asked if anyone else wanted anything. It was so cold and windy that coffee was as important as your sign.

And yeah, that's a kid in a T-Rex costume in the background in the middle right.

The organizers had passed out some 'March For Our Lives' signs but pretty much everyone had brought their own homemade sign, too.

And we're off!  We started at the federal courthouse and marched down Virginia Street to the 'Believe' Plaza just across the Truckee river.

'I go to school to get As NOT PTSD'

Appropriately the name of the cross-street is 'Liberty St'.

And yeah, partway there it started to snow! People just groaned and laughed. Lots of people commented to the kid that she was probably the warmest one there.

Hey, I see my pink brain hat down in the corner! I made one for each of us, my version of the 'pussy hat'.

Love the signs...

Snow getting thicker...

But no one quit!

Guy with a truly GIANT gun.

And the T Rex kid with his sign, his mom was along as his handler/protector.

Finally we got to the plaza, where everyone stopped to pet the cute doggy before going in.  First things first, man.

 

The stage on the left. We couldn't get near it to hear anyone so we hung out on the outskirts. There were several tables set up where you could register to vote, and a couple of nice people circulating with petitions they were asking people to sign. Nobody was pushy or rude.

'I've Seen Smarter Cabinets At IKEA'.

The sculpture on the left is a giant mother and baby pair of stained glass whales, a very intricate and beautiful sculpture.

When your message gets lost in your too-busy sign.

I'd taken along some origami doves to hand out to random folks. Most people were charmed and accepted them readily.

But there was one guy (he and his buddy had come up to us and introduced themselves as political science students at UNR), who when I held one out to him drew back his hand like it was a snake about to bite him and asked fearfully, 'What's that mean?' 

Poor soul. I said gently, 'It's a just paper dove. It has no agenda.'

He finally relaxed, smiled and accepted it.

The kid turned out to be quite popular and a bunch of people wanted their picture taken with her. I was glad for her sake that she'd had another positive experience with exercising her rights and standing up for what she believes in.

 

Even this dog, who at first had done a marvelously incredulous double-take and started barking at her.

But all in all, as we were leaving I thought these guys who drove by had the best sign of the day.

'Fuck guns, let's dance!'

I'm with you, baby. And that's how we do it in Reno.