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What’s a Portland Mom to do when her husband and oldest daughter are away in Medford for a soccer tournament during Memorial Day weekend? Why take her youngest daughter out to experience her first protest, of course!

In the spirit of protesting GMOs and Monsanto, Zelda and I armed ourselves with art supplies, constructed a few homemade posters (pictured above) and repaired to the Lloyd District for some Democracy in action. And, we would be remiss if we didn’t credit Alexander Rokoff for giving us permission to use some of his images from the War on Nature painting series. A huge thank you, Alex, because everyone loved that sign! (Click to enlarge and see the sign on the left inspired by his art work.)

After finishing our stint, I filmed the melee that was the finish line, condensing it down into moments that were memorable for us, including:

• For my parents, the bee protestors. At 11 seconds.
• Dude in sunglasses, shorts, and backward baseball cap who takes off running, flips a double bird, and yells, “Fuck Monsanto!” At 15 seconds.
• The cute older lady with the dog that Zelda and I met riding the streetcar to the protest. At 20 seconds.
• The guy in the construction/hazmat suit finding love. At 26 seconds.
• The mad scientists. At 40 seconds.
• The woman with the pig snout and the bunny ears. At 45 seconds.
• The Portlandia exacta…a protestor in pajamas (there’s always someone running around in PJs in Portland), and a circus performer contact juggling crystal balls (another Portland staple). At 56 seconds.
• Alexander Rokoff admirers digging his artwork on our sign. At 1:07 minutes.
• Requisite drum led chanters. At 1:30 minutes.
• Protest selfie!! At 1:51 minutes.
• Matching hazmat suits for this couple. At 2:02 minutes.
• Corporate exploitation of protest to expose hot thirsty walkers to yerba mate drink. (Which, incidentally, tasted nothing like a real yerba mate.) At 02:14 minutes.
• Wonderful woman with retro camera documenting us documenting the event. At 02:19 minutes.
• Free chalk! At 02:27 minutes.

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