Isaac Mizrahi once described Kate Moss’ outfit as “beyond the beyond of the beyond” … and that’s exactly how we felt about NO KINGS. It was exhilarating, noisy, HOT AS HELL — and an undeniable demonstration of peaceful patriotism.
And the flash mob? It was a blast! If you missed it, here’s a snippet of one of our three (!) performances:
Jessica Gardner (Instagram: @burdie_g) created a fun video for social media, too. Check out how the crowd joined in to dance with us — the folks in those inflatable costumes caught on pretty quick!
Feel free to share either one of these, btw. We all did this together!
📸: Mason Simpson
Yeah, this timeline still really stinks. But last Saturday was INCREDIBLE and we’re so grateful to all of YOU who joined us (or who have joined us since then! Welcome!). We’re excited to keep finding ways to show up together to make an impact.
Austin’s updated crowd estimate is now around 40,000, which is DOUBLE the crowd at the June protest❗️Tangible proof that more of our fellow citizens agree that Trump’s actions are incompatible with democracy.
Huge thanks to Rachel Lomas, who gifted us with that eye-catching purple banner in the photo above. And thanks to Tanya Freach for dropping everything to design it!
Thanks also to all of YOU, who passed out beads and crowns, danced (even if you felt a little unsure about it), carried a banner, and “sparkle strode” with us down Congress. And all of you who couldn’t join us but were cheering us on in Signal, who helped buy supplies, who developed and refined those awesome arts guild banners!
The whole day felt like a celebration of connection and community, and that’s because it WAS. We did it together!
(P.S. if you’d like to chip in to help replenish our stock of purple beads, the easiest way is to Venmo our treasurer, Christy Milner. THANK YOU!)
So … NOW What?
Now we channel the energy and excitement into effective action leading into next year’s midterms!
What does that look like? First, our FORWRD-To-Win committee will have opportunities for us. At our meeting last week, they collected ideas for creative campaign-supporting projects. They’re sifting through our thoughts, and we’re excited to dive in to whatever they cook up!
We’re also mulling over some new ideas that we’ll share with you in the coming weeks. (Should we take the flash mob on the road? Pop up at farmer’s markets and then register people to vote?) And as always, if you’ve got an idea for a project we can take on collectively, we’re all ears.
Calling All Video Editors
One idea that’s bubbled up after this week is creating short video content we can share on social media. The fair use limit for copyrighted material is 90 seconds … which gave us an idea for videos set to songs like, say, “Not Your Stepping Stone” or “Who’s Sorry Now.”
The possibilities are endless ….
If you enjoy creative projects, research, video editing — come on down, this one’s for you! We’d love to put together a new standing committee that creates content like this regularly — we’ve got our own Instagram account, after all, we might as well USE IT.
A Big Cool (Exclusive!) Opportunity
We’ve been given the opportunity to host a small sit-down conversation with Gina Hinojosa, exclusively for FORWRD-ATX members. This isn’t a campaign event; it’s a civic gathering — a chance to ask questions and learn more about her campaign.
The gathering will be Wednesday, November 12 from 5-7 pm at a home in Central Austin, and space is extremely limited … we have somewhere between 10 and 15 spots.
Would you like to attend? Please send us an email with a quick note that tells us
Why you’d like to meet Gina. Are there any specific issues or ideas you’d like to raise? Anything you’d like to get out of the experience?
How you heard about FORWRD-ATX. If you have thoughts about your specific engagement points with us (calendar? meetings? these emails?), please share them. (Market research, friends! The more we know, the more effective we can be ….)
FULL TRANSPARENCY: We’re not going to “pick the best answer,” so please don’t stress about it — we’ll figure out some lottery to select attendees (like drawing names out of a hat). But we would like to know more about you — and we’ll share your thoughts with Gina’s campaign.
We’re hoping to host more of these candidate conversations in the future, too! We think it’s a great idea.
BORDERLAND Documentary Screening
REMINDER: Our awesome Hyde Park neighborhood group is hosting a free screening of the documentary “BORDERLAND-The Line Within,” on Sunday, November 9, at 4 pm, at St. George’s Episcopal Church. A Q & A and follow up talk with Jennifer Long, the director of Casa Marianella, will follow the screening.
🗓️ Calendar Highlights
For Friday, October 24th: If you pick just one thing on this list, BE SURE TO VOTE!
💜= FORWRD member recommended
Local Austin events (in person):
💜💜💜Through Friday 10/31, every day 7:00 AM-7:00 PM EARLY VOTING!! Let’s get out and do what we do best!! Exercise our right to vote! Early voting runs from October 20th- October 31st. (**Sunday hours are 12-6 PM) This is a great election to get another easy rep in to strengthen your voting muscle!! 💪Check the website for polling locations and hours plus sample ballots (DO YOUR RESEARCH!!). Questions about voting? Send us an email at [email protected].
💜Saturday, October 25th 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Dialogue Across Divides with Braver Angels. Learn about the psychology behind, benefits of, and tools for having successful conversations across differences with Dr. Becca North.
💜Saturday, October 25th 6-8 PM Documentary Screening: Las Patronas with Austin Sanctuary Network Learn about Las Patronas, a group of women in Veracruz, Mexico who deliver food and water to Central Americans riding on the infamous train La Bestia en route to the United States in hopes of a better life. Email [email protected] with questions!
💜Sunday, October 26th 1-3 PM HandsOff Central TX Book Club: Cultish Join HOCTX for an interview with the author, Amanda Montell. Cultish is a very digestible read that equips us with tools to recognize “the set of linguistic tricks cult leaders use to coerce and manipulate members.”
💜Sunday, October 26th 2-5 PM Protest Printworks Live Printing Event Head over to The Brewtorium and pick up some very cool local art printed right before your very eyes - tees, posters, cards, etc! You can follow @protestprintworks on IG to see some of the designs!
💜Sunday, November 2nd, 4-5:30 PM IG Influencer CivicSage with the Rosedale Huddle Indivisible Rosedale Huddle (IRH) presents a conversation with political commentator and social media influencer Civicsage. Seats are limited so reserve now!
Even the kids are clowning on this president 🤡
