First off, thanks to those of you who offered suggestions--though I'm not quite sure what it means that more than one of you suggested some version of that lemon/salt water/cleansing diet.Today's New Thing comes courtesy of my infinitely inventive friend Tim, who suggested I picnic on the roof of the parking garage at the airport. It just so happened that my father arrived from New Jersey and that the sun actually came out here in Oregon, so I had the perfect opportunity.
My dad's name is Chase and he's aptly named--the man is always on the go and is, therefore, up for anything. As such, he enjoyed a picnic surrounded by a wire fence and what appeared to be a prison tower. "I feel right at home," he said.
Chase is in town for his annual pilgrimage to enjoy ten days of avant-garde performance art at the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art's Time Based Art Festival or TBA. We kicked off the event by taking part in a Protest Over Nothing, in which hundreds of us marched a mile carrying blank signs.
The seeming pointlessness of it reminded me of Groucho Marx singing "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It." Come to think of it, spending time with my father always reminds me of Groucho Marx.
4 comments:
Your protest against nothing reminds me of an experience I had in France 20 years ago. It was a year rife with strikes in France. I was staying in a small town in Southwest France, and we had to use tiny back roads to get to Bordeaux, because striking farmers had placed frightening-looking farm machinery at every autoroute exit and entrance. When we finally got to Bordeaux, our car was stopped by an enormous parade of strikers. I could understand the word "strike!" on their signs, but reading other signs just confused me. "Who's on strike?" I asked a Franchman standing near our car. "The unemployed," he replied. Wow. The unemployed are on strike. What a country.
I have never heard of a protest over nothing. Very Creative! How were you able to get to the roof of the parking garage. Can anybody go up there?
I can't decide whether carrying signs that say nothing supports nothing or opposes nothing.
Hi Mark, What a fun concept, 365 days of doing new things...do I see a book deal-
Cornelia Seigneur
www.writermom.net
www.corneliaseigneur.com
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