Big Oil Protest

This afternoon I walked the mile to Temple and Ocean to participate in an anti-big oil protest. Didn't seem right to drive to an anti-big oil protest, right! A beautiful day, the kind that makes me think I could easily spend the rest of my days in Long Beach. The protest took place in Bluff Park, overlooking the blue, blue waters of the Pacific.

Over the course of two hours, perhaps 25 people showed up. Mostly middle-aged and elderly folk, though there were a few young anarchists/punks. Three of the four protesters were friends of mine: James, Diana, TJ, and Peter Matthews, who has been running for Congress on a progressive agenda for a quarter century and will be a write-in candidate to oust Laura Richardson in the upcoming election. It's times like this when I think, "Maybe I am out of the mainstream. I mean, out of a town of 480,000, if four of 25 protesters are my friends!"