Today is May 1st. May Day. Seattle had to deal with a lot of riots last year and in previous years so police presence was increased today. And it seemed to have paid off. I don't really think too much about what this day signifies and that was apparent when I got home from work.

Now, the past couple days there has been a band practicing outside the building across the street. It's some kind of community center or something; I have yet to figure out exactly what it is they built there. But there was definitely some rehearsing going on. So when I heard them playing again today, I didn't think much of it. . . until things started getting louder. People were cheering and there was obviously more than just the small band out there. Is there a festival going on at this community center?

I look outside my window and see a crowd of people gathering on the side of the street, people in the street with cameras and motorcycle cops circling in and out of these people. There's also a chopper hovering overhead. WTF? To me, this looks like a parade. A parade on Jackson St?? Okay, you have my attention. I take to Google to find out what's happening. I search Seattle May 1st parade. Nothing. It's giving me parades that are scheduled later in the year.

I search May Day activities and it brings me to a news affiliate with a May Day March interactive map. I click on that and receive my answer. It's a March of protesters, peaceful ones, that are starting in some park and heading toward the Federal Courthouse. So I sit back down and more or less wait it out. After another 10-15 minutes, the noise quiets and the chopper moves on. It's finally quiet enough to where I can take a nap.

The work day was busy, but not so much that it made me feel rushed. Just busy enough to pass the time. Hopefully tomorrow isn't like that because I don't like being busy on my Friday. I guess we'll have to see what happens.

Until then. . .

My political science prof gave a little talk today about how the US is the only first world country that doesn't celebrate Labor Day, which reflects our politics. We are kind of pro-business but anti-union as a country I guess, so we don't really take care of our working class citizens or acknowledge them formally.
» randomjunk on 2013-05-02 12:47:56

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