From 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. today, ladyhawke and I protested the Minneapolis org off of Nicollete Avenue. Pictures of my sign will arrive soon, but one side read "Inquiring Minds Want To Know Who is Xenu? www.xenu.net" and the other side read "Hey Buddy, Want to Buy a Bridge? $360,000+ www.xenu.net.

Over the two hours, we had hundreds of onlookers, handed out dozens of fliers, had about ten conversations and about ten handling attempts. I smiled and posed for every picture, including the one where the lady threatened me with trademark infringement. My response "Fair Use Ma'am, Fair Use"


We had another lady dare us to give her our driver's license if we were brave enough. My response was "Discretion is the better part of valor."

Another man named "Don" claimed that he had been in for 38 years and I was handing out false data. I really get the sense that he was a good-hearted, yet misguided man. The end of our conversation ended with "Don't worry, you won't impede my progress on the bridge." My reply "I hope not, you sure as heck paid for it." That seemed to aggravate him at the end of what had previously been a pleasant conversation. Don, if you are reading this, I really hope you come to your senses and see what scientology really is.

Other handlings were more subtle and few of them lasted for more than a minute or two. Over 70% of our protest time was unimpeded. We also got a few hoorahs, a few taunts and a few people seeing us as nutcases, but it comes with the territory. In any case, it was very fulfilling and I intend to repeat this in the future.

Forgive the lack of organization in this post, but I am just getting it all out there.

The pictures arrive!

They are down below, but I have a few things to add.

There was one thing that was SICK and TWISTED that happened that I was just flabbergasted at. While passing by the door, I saw a couple of little boys there with coursebooks in hand. I felt sad, then moved on. After five minutes or so I was talking to a passerby and I heard "Ma'am? Ma'am? That's not true." I look to my right and there are the two boys with no adult with them. They sent the children out to do their dirty work. I couldn't believe it. Well naturally I wasn't going to say anything critical to them. I just said "Well I'm exercising my free speech. Say, look at that toy you have there? That's neat." And got them a bit distracted.

I was so upset that they sent those kids out to us. I got so mad at that.

The $cns there were pretty funny though. This guy came up to us pretending to be a passerby (he came from behind us) and started asking questions. It was SO OBVIOUS he was a $cn. So sad, but you can tell in their eyes and the body language. When "Don" was handling us, his eyes just looked so sad and dead. I wanted to cry. So this guy asked us questions (they all ask the same thing...have you known someone in the church? is this first hand experience?...then he finally said. "Well I'll just go in and see for myself" and kind of laughed. I took the tone to mean "Bet you didn't know I was with them!" I knew as soon as I looked at him LOL. Sad.

I smiled proudly for the cameras that came out. She asked me to turn my sign around so that the "Slanderous" statement was showing ($cientology Kills).

It was an overall great experience. I talked to so many people. I'm always so shy and introverted and being back in my home and in my own little world I can't believe I did it.

Oh...another question they asked a few times was "What organization are you with?" "Are you getting paid for being here?" I said, "I'm just here as a concerned citizen."

Another man with his son (I assumed it was his son) came up..pretending to be a passerby too. But his questions were the same, so I think he was $cn. As they walked along afterwards I saw his arm around his son with his head bent toward him as if speaking to him. Probably saying we were liars and were criminals. Made my heart sad.

A funny moment was some woman was passing by. Rough looking older woman and she saw our signs and said in a real disgusted voice "Scientology, oh that crap!" and walked on. There were so many people that agreed with us.

Quite a few people thanked us for being out there and said they admired us for what we were doing. It was such a good feeling. Some people clapped as they passed across the street...people gave us thumbs ups...it was great.

But more importantly we got the message out. A lot of people did think it was just alien stuff and that's it, but we got to tell them about the darker side and passed out a lot of fliers.

Now on to the pics!!!

What would a picket be without getting your picture taken??



funkmr ready to go:



Guess they have no money to fix their windows (sorry about the glare...hopefully you can see the cracked glass at the top and bottom):



funkmr:



Me (ladyhawke):



funkmr with "Don":



I was feeling left out so he talked to me next:



And these were the last people we talked to. Personally, I couldn't figure out if they were $cns or not...

Thanks, funkmr and ladyhawke. Good show!

Way to go Funkmr and Ladyhawk!!!! The trolls may be marauding the opinions and debate board, but the real critics are out there picketing, being cheered by passersby, and saving people from a waste of time and money or worse.

That's 3 weeks in a row of picketing by people on this board!!!! I hope the momentum keeps going. It's going to be a great summer. You guys rule!

Excellent, Funkmr and Ladyhawk! Excellent!!!!!

You guys rock.


Sarah

well ,well seems to me there's actions in the us of a ,mimetism good job you've done guys
in the old world we're awared to and keep on acting ,
say guys anytime you 've got the opportunity being in europe it'll be a pleasure to picket around ,
bravo , free xenu , free suri ,free katie holmes ,free all the victims
may the farce be with you ,bravo !!!!! zoro le vengeur pas toujours masqué

Bummer that I don't live in Minneapolis any longer. Would have loved to have joined you. Excellent work. Truly excellent.

entheta_nyc

Great work ladyhawke & funmr!

Thank you!

Funkmr and Ladyhawke

Good on you for picketing.

Great photos.

Opter

Nice job both of you!!!!! I'm so sad about the little boys!!!!! I think you handled it very well.

bravo ,good job all in action and reaction that's good for all the critics everywhere on teegeeak , gooood so goood !!
may the farce be with you
zorro le vengeur pas toujours masqué

Awesome pictures, great report!

Thanks for picketing and please keep up the good work. Believe me, it will have long lasting effects.

Patty