okay so..."demonstrations," right?

well aware it's a loaded term--loaded it myself--but given that the task in both cases is to show up with like-minded people and make a little noise, there's not a lot of daylight between a rally and a rave now is there? 

either way I did a little of both this past weekend.

as any interested observer knows, Saturday was the worldwide rally against the world's most dangerous rogue state and sure I was up until 2am the night before raising hell at Sanctuary, but I was duty-bound to throw a fist at fascism on the day.

...and so, some:30 in the morning I dragged myself out of bed and suited up for my latest demonstration...after all, the first step is showing up.

wait, actually as an organizer--you're probably gonna wanna organize a demonstration at some point--the first step is promotion!

don't just think you can click a few buttons and have people appear, hit the streets (if you are physically able, if not your collaboration starts here) and get in mfs faces! 

make sure everybody knows date, time, dress code...maybe for blacklight, maybe for black bloc, all depends.

on gameday you wanna make sure you have everything you need...a sign with information about your cause or band is always helpful, but you also wanna wear some comfortable dancing shoes, maybe a mask if you're either immunocompromised or extra-festive and definitely some water...not all demonstration venues provide water.

clothes with pockets--aplenty--are preferable for obvious reasons. even hear people carry first aid kits in case or pepper balls or mosh pit misadventures but I'm not THAT responsible, that's more a ZiZi type of thing.

once you're there you can just kinda vibe and meet the people who are also cool enough to enjoy what you do in your spare time but if the spirit moves you, a speech is also usually on the table!

not everybody's cut out for public speaking--some fear it more than death, which is silly--but if you do choose to pick up the metaphorical mic, the rules are simple:

-keep it shortish

-say it with your chest

-don't be visibly reading from some sheet

-style points count

-no apologies

every speech you've ever ignored has failed to account for a majority of these concepts...we've all heard someone drone on and on while reading words they don't believe enough from some sheet or screen and sure on paper it's a great speech but they're just talking and talking wa-wah wah wah wah-wa wa wa-wahhhh

...so maybe throw a little crazy up in there, mfs love crazy.

whatever presentation style you choose, what's non-negotiable if you choose to open your mouth at a demonstration is that your soul must come cascading out.

getting every word perfect is so much less important than making sure they penetrate the skin...nobody really remembers WHAT YOU SAID, they remember HOW THEY FELT when you said it.

definitely get the hits in, don't be afraid to Say The Thing, mfs also love that. yeah these are some of the same songs from last week but shieeeet they'll hit even harder next week if you know how to sell 'em!

when you're all wrapped up with your remarks be sure to thank the audience for listening since they (mostly) offered you the courtesy to briefly pause their daily scroll.

if you did it right, you'll even pop up on their feed later.

lastly, whether you spoke or not you ABSOLUTELY wanna go out and talk to people afterward...this is the foremost reason for your attendance, otherwise this meeting could have been an email.

see, the point of a demonstration isn't to meet up and sing cute little songs and march around in a circle looking cool...certainly part of the package, but it's not the main objective.

the idea is to meet in person some of the only people that will stand by you when the time comes....we assemble not to demonstrate our clever slogans and cool outfits, but the potency of human connection.

we hope you'll join us at another demonstration real soon.

all power to The People.

--Flor!!