daily dues

surprise! i spent an hour on the streetcorner this morning.

it was fairly uneventful.

before i even got to the corner, a hostile man shouted "get a job!" a little while later he drove back the other way and shouted it again. why is it that these jokers are never at a job when they shout this at me?

scripture man was there. we waved at each other.

there were a lot of people who do not know how to use a four-way stop. maybe there is a remedial class for them, along with those classes on how to use a door.

one grey minivan went through the intersection westbound without even bothering to slow down, and i'd have to estimate the driver was going forty miles an hour, which is pretty firmly in violation of the speed limit in williston village.

there were some waves and some thumbs up. there was a guy who honked the "shave-and-a-haircut" thing.

two thuggish young men went by, hooting and aggressively flipping me off.

there's a feeling to a lot of these interactions. not everyone who waves is a supporter. sometimes a wave is simply someone who wishes to recognize that i am there and to recognize our shared humanity.

not everyone who flips me off are thuggish. i realize that what i am doing makes some people angry. that's to be expected, and a flipped bird from a person who is particularly angry, while it is not a classy gesture for church ladies to be making is not alarming or particularly saddening.

but there's a frat boy mentality to rape culture, the idea that a woman standing up against harassment or assault is an affront to them, an impediment to their ability to own and dominate other people, particularly women.

these guys are the heart of the problem. they are precisely why it is important to make this stand and keep making it until either something is made better or until i am laid in my grave some decades down the line.

but while the scariest and most prominent of the rape culture supporters are mostly men, it is important to note that many of the most outspoken against rape culture are also men.

it gives me hope for the future of people in general.

the last thing that happened before my ride came to pick me up was a man who slowed down coming through the intersection and looking at my sign he said "don't they all?"
"one would hope not", i said.
"yeah, that's the thing, though", he said, waved, and drove on.

tomorrow is the festive opening of sunday school for the season.

i am looking forward to seeing if the fraudulent pastor has learned how to use a door.

i have new songs to sing.

i'll see you on the streetcorner.