Life in the Box: Sayings on Signs
May Day Protest 2025
I wrote earlier about using creativity in political protests, for letters to the editor. This is a follow-up. I always take photos of the signs at the protests I attend, and there were some pretty good ones at our May Day protest this year. I wanted to do one with puppets and photos of Putin, Trump, and our Iowa national congress-people. But alas, didn’t have the artistic talent or time to get those photos. So, I just went with a factual sign.
I printed the words in Photoshop onto regular paper, and taped them to a piece of cardboard. It had been pouring rain on the way there, so I also put a plastic bag over the whole thing. Some of the signs were mostly words, well-edited. Some of them were well-done hand made. Others were just pure home spun. Some were profane, others polite. Some were re-runs from the Hands-Off protest the month b efore. Some were referring to outrages I didn’t know about. Some I didn’t even agree with. But if the TV stations and reporters show up, it’s all good. And, it’s also good to be with others who share the burdens of this era.
Here are some of my favorites.
Note: I have done some thinking about whether to post photos of people’s faces or not. I decided to blur faces, despite the fact that being a public face is important to protests. Images on the web are “forever” and I don’t want to contribute to anyone else’s troubles, seeing as how a few protesters in our nation have already been deported. That’s what I’m protesting, in fact. Safety first, though.
Nancy Heather Brown is a retired, Emmy Award-winning television producer whose career has included interviewing, writing, narrating and editing for a span of four decades. Today, she enjoys learning new things and reflecting upon the creative process and life issues, both inside and outside the box. Her opinions are her own, and are not necessarily those of this web site. She’s now showing photos on Smug Mug: https://nancybrown.smugmug.com/
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