the mellow tigger's musings

Tomorrow, I expect to write some thoughts about the recent No Kings protest. Contrary to popularization online, it is only the 2nd largest single-day protest in the USA. (sources: Britannica and Wikipedia)

Today, though, I'm in a good mood at the huge and peaceful protests nationwide (even worldwide). One of the curious features of this protest is the collection of inflatable costumes, intentionally expressing the stark contrast between the reality of this very American activity and the characterizations by our Republican government leadership. These constitutional law professors agree (YouTube) with this protest strategy to undermine the propaganda, and this psychologist and retired Army Colonel agrees that it's very effective to disable the attempted "projective identification" from Republicans.

Here is a nice part of the AI-generated lyrics:

"Just a man in green, facing odds. But when the gas rolls in, he don't run away.
He just croaks out loud. Not today.
Ribbit, ribbit. Ribbit, let freedom sing. It's a funny old way to do your thing.
With a smile and a hop, you can make your stand in a frog zoo, holding freedom's hand.
With the chicken, the shark, and the unicorn parade, we all march proud in the frog brigade.
...
They ain't breaking windows or burning cars. They're laughing at the law with electric guitars.
Cause humor, my friend, is a protest too. When the worlds gone mad, you can still stay true.
Ribbit, ribbit. Ribbit, let freedom sing. Ain't nothing so strong as a silly thing.
If the world gets dark, don't be afraid. There's light in the laugh of the frog brigade.
...
Some folks say it's foolish pride, but they ain't seen that frog inside.
Standing tall in a storm of hate, somtimes you got to look strange to be great.
You can't fight fire with the frown and fear, but a big green frog can make it clear.
Love's still louder than a flashbang sound, and a good laugh shakes the battle ground."

I hope you're in a good mood too, watching YouTube videos and other social media about yesterday's massive protests.

Today's theme song is just mood music for background play. No words, just soft jazz music and the image of an otter as barista at a coffee shop.

Why this choice today? It was shared amongst coworkers on Friday, and I just learned of it today. My supervisor also sent me a message that May 15 Friday was my 2-year anniversary at work, but I was away as part of my "weekend" schedule at the time, returning today as my "Monday". This song is meant to help provide a calming counterbalance to what I've complained for 2 years is a highly stressful job position. As evidence of this stress, I learned today that the guy I trained in October for this job is moving back to his old job. So, after half a year he decided that his former department was better for him. I'm sorry that he didn't want to stick around, but at least he's still staying with the university.

So, I've mentioned for 2 years how stressed out I get, I'm losing my trainee to his old job soon, and coworkers shared this nice stress-relieving music for jazzy vibes.

Enjoy the music. Peace. :)

About 2 weeks ago, I selected "Alice's Restaurant" as the theme song of the day. I quoted from the Wikipedia page about the song, "Guthrie considered the song as relevant in 2015 as it was in 1965, particularly in that millennials and Generation Z were, much like the Baby Boomers of his era, beginning to coalesce as a bloc in opposition to the "very sophisticated manipulation" from major authority figures and institutions of the era, something that Guthrie believed Baby Boomers would find familiar."

I closed by stating, "Still relevant."

Today, social media has been flooding with more (and more) photos of the accused killer that I mentioned yesterday. Amongst the thousands of comments to this Reddit post of one mugshot is this gem of nested replies:

"Why does he have like 9 mugshots in 24 hours?"
> "And a full bodyshot while in a holding cell."
> > "With wallet-size on sale in the lobby."
> > > "8x10 black and white glossy's out by this afternoon?"
> > > > "They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and they took twenty-seven 8 x 10 color glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us."

I'm greatly entertained when I encounter another mind that runs in the same grooves as mine. It sure feels like somebody is trying to sell us a narrative. Now, I'm off to listen again to Alice's Restaurant while I eat dinner.