Monday, February 6, 2017

My Protest Purse

I made a post about protest bags several years ago-

http://alia-gee.blogspot.com/2012/02/protest-mom-list.html?m=1

I mentioned my "protest purse" to other protest parents yesterday, and they asked what was in it. I realized some things had changed, so here's my updated thinking. 

I no longer carry around tiny tents. In my "regular" purse I carry sharpies (for editing pro Trump graffiti) and will be adding hand sanitizer  (thanks to a recent article that mentioned you can remove some graffiti with it). But mainly it's my purse and has purse things in it. 

I was given a new purse at Christmas- larger and more waterproof than my regular purse- and I've made it my official Protest Purse.

It contains, generally:
 
2 huge sharpies 
1 small notebook
Ricola
1 water bottle
At least 4 cereal bars (2 for ProtestKid, 1 for me, 1 for emergency mutual aid to the parents of the crabby toddler next to us) 
Chocolate bar (celebratory chocolate on the way home) 
Noise makers  (coach whistles, zills. I may add drumsticks for turning police barricades into music opportunities. We'll see.)
Headache medicine (see noise makers. I'm human)
More Ricola 
Some balloons (cheerful, compact, can be inflated and covered with protest message and they make it easier to find ProtestKid in group photographs) 

** I keep my wallet, phone, chapstick and Asthma medicine in my pockets. And also emergency Ricola.... I need to buy stock in their company

There is room to throw extra things in there (a pussy hat, perhaps), depending on the protest. But those things are what I need to keep me and ProtestKid going for 2-4 hours in a generic protest situation. 

In my medium sized backpack, we bring extra liquid (2 bottles of water or Gatorade) and stuff to share- if you read my "protesting with kids" article, you know that is really important to me. After jfk last Saturday night, I had run out of Ricola, so we brought hand warmers and heart cookies when we went to the rally at Battery Park the next day. 

Those are my basics. What are yours?