October 17, 2025: ATtest and PROtest -

Before joining the Emergency Naked Bike Ride last week, my youngish friend called her HR department, just to be sure there wasn’t some policy against such things, and she wasn’t putting her job at risk. The HR person told her she was free to participate, but they would appreciate it if she didn’t wear any merchandise sporting the organization’s name or logo.

She said Okay, will do!

That’s because she has amazing self-control, and could somehow resist the urge to explain what “naked” means.

She wore a helmet, glasses, and a mask, and when she showed me a picture, I couldn’t have identified her. She said the Ride was great except for two things: 1) she didn’t enjoy the rooftop guys pointing guns at them as they went past the ICE building, and 2) she hurt one nipple, can’t imagine how.

Didn't see that coming, did you? Me neither.

I know the algorithm sends each of us crafted info, so maybe you aren’t getting deluged, as I am, with ADVICE about what to do, or not do, for the No Kings protests tomorrow. It’s all over the map.

NO: Don’t go, it’s a trap! Don’t go, it doesn’t change anything! Don’t go, THEY only want attention, and ignoring them will drive them crazy! Don’t go, you should better spend your time and energy doing (fill in the blank).

YES, BUT: Do go, but don’t buy your sign from X, or get your costume from Y, or have anything shipped from Z, because you will be supporting The Billionaires! Do go, but don’t buy any merch made overseas! Do go, but don’t take your phone, and write your lawyer’s name in Sharpie on your arm! Do go, but stay on the very EDGE of the crowd so you can escape! Do go, but beware agents provocateurs who will try to bait you into a confrontation so that the bad guys can justify using force against you and your fellow citizens. Do go, but stay POSITIVE, don’t be DIVISIVE, and don’t carry nasty signs – we want to WIN people OVER.

And then there’s the scolding about messaging:

Democrats/Liberals/anti-Fascists are wasting this opportunity, foolishly talking only about what they are AGAINST, not what they are FOR. Don’t talk about Fascism, only elites and academics care! Talk about bread and butter!

I’m picking and choosing amongst all this: I’m going, but not writing my lawyer’s number in Sharpie. (My only lawyer does wills and estates, and her husband is in the military. I think she’d bail me out, but I’ve never asked.) I’m staying on the edge of the crowd (all crowds, shudder), and vowing not to be baited into a confrontation, though we all know I could easily succumb: I can barely refrain from explaining “naked.”

And I did NOT buy a sign or a costume or get anything shipped. I went to the little art supply store run by immigrants, and I got $5 worth of poster board. So far, so good!

Then, for some reason, I thought about that MESSAGING rant.

Could I make a sign about something I am FOR? How about something that most Americans (according to the polls) are for, or at least, not against? If so, which thing? Could I write anything that wasn’t duplicating thousands of other signs? Could I craft a message that didn’t say or imply, “You morons!”

Tone was hard, but subject-wise, I had an overabundance of choices. I decided not to agonize, because **there is no MAGIC MESSAGE,** and no matter how long I pondered, I wouldn’t find one.

So I just went with these.

I am not dismayed that the first person who saw them said they weren’t very moving. I am sanguine that they are not art, and that I had to shoehorn in the "H" in "WEATHER."

I don’t claim they will be “effective,” whatever that is. I just know it will be inspiring and cheering for my soul to be in like-minded company.

I wish you all a soul-cheering day, whatever you do, or don’t do, and however you do it.

Some organization wants us all to wear yellow.

(Because yellow is MAGIC! No, there's another reason, I forget what.)

I have one yellow shirt, and if it isn't pouring tomorrow, maybe someone will see it.

** The "no magic message" grumble is left over from my long job-hunt saga, years ago, when fellow job-seekers would agonize over what to put on their LinkedIn profiles, or whether to send a hand-written thank-you for an interview. I became unbearably tired of these debates. There was no magic. If there had been magic, we would all have used it. **