From an email started by Gene Elder. Feel free to pass it on!

When Norway was occupied by Germany in 1940, Norwegian women began to knit RED caps for children as a way of letting everyone know that they did not like what was happening in their country, that they didn’t like having their freedom taken away by the Nazis. Similarly, in Denmark, women knit red-white-and-blue caps (colors of the Allies) for the very same reason.

The result was that whenever Norwegians and Danes left their homes — to go to the store, to work, etc, they could see that THE MAJORITY opposed what was going on in their country. As you know, both countries organized effective Resistance efforts and changed history — everything that happened began simply by wearing red! (or the colors of the Allies, in Denmark).

1. BACKGROUND: I believe, as many of us do, that at the very heart of our democracy is our right to oppose certain policies of our government. Increasingly, our Government is redefining “freedom” in ways that make too many Americans perceive that it is risky to oppose his policies — and, in particular, current inroads about individual freedoms and policies in the U.S. and abroad. However, many of us DO oppose what our government is doing to individual rights– and I have an idea that will allow all of us to recognize each other very easily so we can see that WE ARE THE MAJORITY.

2. SO… I have been thinking that it’s time to take action in a way that is effective and easy for all of us to do: Just wear red every Friday between now and election day. Wear a little or a lot– just be sure that when you leave your house to go about your day — to work, to school, to the store, to the gas station, wherever you go in your daily routine — that everyone who sees you will see that you are wearing red because you believe in freedom and you don’t agree with our current administration’s policies at home and abroad. I’m really certain that we’ll see that lots of us wearing red for freedom — because WE ARE THE MAJORITY. We just need a way to show each other who we are!!! Between now and election day, ask everyone you know to wear red for “Freedom Fridays”.

3. I have already spread the word to friends and have had a very enthusiastic response. This email has been forwarded around the country by many who receive it – feel free to send in on.

WAH. OH THE TEMPTATION! Should I watch the Yahoo POA movie clips or not? A scene in Eternal Sunshine was slightly derailed for me because I saw it a couple times beforehand in interviews with Elijah Wood, and Pippin’s song in RotK was even more powerful for me because I knew the song existed, but I refused to listen to it beforehand. So my more logical mind is telling me that I don’t want to watch the PoA clips, as I have been so good so far, but everyone is talking about how wonderful they are and I’m already so close to the breaking point as it is. Gah, will someone invent a time machine already and make it June 3rd/4th RIGHT NOW?

And Babysitting Week is over! Wow. They were beyond adoreable today. If only I had figured out how to get them to read earlier! Why did this attempt succeed when all other efforts to encourage reading failed? We relaxed outside, enjoying the perfect sunny day, just reading. Molly didn’t watch a minute of TV and didn’t get tired of every activity two minutes in! Rachel was a babysitter’s dream! What have I done, oh lord, to deserve these girls today? And as an added bonus, the parents pay exceptionally well, so I am rich, rich, rich! Oh, today is a good day!

Not sure where to start. Haven’t blogged decently for a couple days, due to sitterdom. Um… let’s see. Life lessons of the past few days!

  1. Trying to convince a terrified 7-year-old that thunderstorms are not scary is not nearly as cute or fun as one would imagine.

  2. Finishing Wicked and watching The Wizard of Oz (at the behest of said 7-year-old) the same day is not recommended.

  3. Which reminds me! Rebecca and Tanja, go here.

  4. Seeing Marcelina without glasses is unsettling.

  5. I am beyond awesome at lasertag and beyond painfully awful at Dance Dance Revolution.

  6. Rachel and I are supercool, as we cunningly managed to get a large percentage of the room hooked on Firefly. Of course, as the most vocal in their appreciation of the show (read: Marcelina) are now rabid Jayne fans, I am quite curious as to what they’ll think about “Ariel.”

  7. Chungy and I have grown apart a lot more than I realized. That was a shock.

  8. But her mom makes awesome omelettes in a very tight time frame. I never imagined I would like onions in omelettes, much less bell peppers, but wow, that omelette rocked.

  9. I am now quite convinced that my inability to remember names and faces is the result of some Eternal Sunshine-like memory erasure debacle. When running errands this afternoon, outside Barnes and Noble, a girl my age called out my name, and we small talked for five minutes, and I still have no idea who she was. Am I really that out of touch with my surroundings?

  10. I feel like there should be a tenth. Um… after over two years, the theme song to Arthur still makes me twitch violently. And searching my blog for a recap link, I realize I never blogged about it, probably due to excessive mental trauma. Maybe I will eventually. (Edit: Oh! I did post! A bit. Ici. Halloween 2001!)

And now I’m going to read some of “A Hat Full of Sky” now (finally acquired today) and go to sleep, because staying up until past 4 and waking up to have to face the kidlets isn’t cool.

P.S.: Elphaba jokes “Yero my hero.” So shouldn’t “Fiyero” be pronounced fi-YEER-oh and not fee-YAIR-oh?

Gah, why am I so bad at remembering May 25th fandom-related activity?

Lilac for the Pratchett fans.

Of course, I plead the 11th, which is “Excused From Being Capable of Rational Due Thought Due to Being Exhausted from Minding Psychotic Trio All Day, After Starting the Day by Waking Up An Hour and a Half Earlier Than Usual and Running 5 Miles and Forgetting to Stretch Afterwards.”

*snores loudly*

National Towel Day? Today? No, someone told me it was this Friday… I even marked it down on my schedule thing. Wasn’t it supposed to be the last Friday of May?

*checks websites*

AAAAUGH. So it’s officially now “May 25th”? That’s what I thought originally! Wah! I have been unintentionally unfaithful! I shall carry my towel proudly as I venture forth to B&N to purchase “A Hat Full of Sky” and rationalize my egregious mistake with the logic that a Sensible and Dependable Babysitter Should Not Carry Around a Towel For Fear of Turning the Poor Kidlets’ Young Minds… bah, even rationalization fails me! Oh, the shame.

*runs to closet to find a towel to compensate*

Oh, the leopard print…

WOO!!! Someone just mentioned on LJ that RotK:TR comes out tomorrow, which reminds me: A Hat Full of Sky comes out in the US tomorrow, too! *does a little dance*

Just watched Bush’s speech on the future of Iraq. Gawked shamefacedly at just about every other sentence, marvelling “Did he just SAY that?!” Now have massive headache. Will recount epic babysitting tales later. Ah well. Mother of kidlets pays quite nicely, therefore am rich! Woohoo! (Or at least, will be by the end of the week.)