The Aerie
I was having kind of a down day until I went out on the Nicollet Mall at lunch and encountered a PETA protest.
A young woman was protesting the mistreatment of animals by sitting on the ground wearing only a pair of panties and holding a sign labelled "All animals have the same parts." Various labels were affixed to her figure, evocative of a steer on a butcher's chart.
Now for the record, I am in favor of any form of nonviolent public protest, particularly one that places undressed women on my path to lunch.
And I had to admire this young lady, who was sitting in 22 degree weather surrounded by crowds of pitiful, pudgy, middle-aged businessmen taking low-quality snapshots with their cellphones. I am considering sending them money to encourage them to hold a much larger protest, sometime this spring when it's warmer.
[UPDATE] Better pix here.
The police eventually arrested her, but very, very slowly. Her male counterpart seemed to have already been confined to the back of a police squad car. At least, there was a man in the back seat with a police jacket draped over his shoulders. As I passed by on my way to lunch, I heard the fellow calling from the back of the car.
"Hey, am I under arrest?"
"No," replied the cop, never taking his gaze off of the dangerous fugitive still sitting on the sidewalk in her panties.
"Can I get out of the car?"
"No."
As I continued down the block, a passel of TV cameramen (yes, all men) passed me, jogging the other way with their huge cameras on their shoulders.
Half an hour later as I approached from lunch it appeared that she was finally being led into the back of a squad car to thaw. At least, the football scrum of camermen shuffled over to the squad car and remanied crowded around it.
And my lunch?
Hot and spicy Thai chicken. With meat.
But in honor of this brave young woman, I was totally ashamed while I ate it, and didn't enjoy it at all.