Friday. Today the kids pretty much acted like it was a 'home day' here. Naomi did her work for today yesterday so she didn't have anything from school to do this morning. So she was up and out and Juliet followed shortly. She came back in at 10 for an hour for her Spanish tutor but then was off again. JP worked a half day and then headed to the golf course with some colleagues.
I did some checking in with work, and after a bit I took a break and went down to the basement while I had a free minute and the children were occupied, to make some signs for the Needham Black Lives Matter protest and march today. They had reached out to teachers for support as well as artists looking to put the posters in the school after. I had a few ideas and so I got some old canvases and painted over whatever was on it, in black. While that dried I sketched out a few ideas. I really love the iconic Love sculpture by American artist Robert Indiana. And so I wanted to do that with the BLM fist for one sign. For the other sign, I had seen a post on Instagram today about something they are doing in Israel. In jewish culture when someone dies you say "May their memory be a blessing." But what I saw said "May their memory be a revolution." And I think that's pretty fitting. So I reached out to the Rabbi's to see if the Hebrew I saw was correct, because I only saw it on Instagram that one place, and no where else on the internet did I see it. So the Rabbi's responded saying what it meant in Hebrew and how to pronounce it, complete with audio recording of the Rabbi saying it in Hebrew for me! So anyway. I sketched and then I measured where the paint would go and then I started. Juliet came down while I was doing all this and she wanted to paint too. So her and I painted away. She painted a picture of her and her friend Sophia having lunch together at school. Sophia is a black girl. And she wanted to show how her and Sophia get along and how they both should be treated equally. While the base coat of this painting was drying, she too got out a pencil and did some sketching. She drew her and Sophia on the swings at the playground.
Around 1:30 Juliet had a play date and was done drawing & painting. She played with her friend Sophia for 2 hours before we had to go to Needham.
Meanwhile Naomi was outside playing with the neighborhood kids. She ran by the house at one point and I managed to throw a ham sandwich in her face so she had food in her! I told her we were leaving for Needham at 3:30 and she wasn't excited about this but told our neighbor where and why we were going. She said we were going to protest and march for black people and how they should be equal to us. So as I was getting ready packing up snacks, water, sunscreen, their bikes, helmets, signs. Naomi was over the neighbor's house making a banner for the march. And I guess the neighbors wanted to go so bad they asked their mom if they could go.
We got to Needham and it was hot. The kids got their bikes/scooters out and I got all the signs and snacks. We parked at the high school on the top of the hill and we then walked down the hill to the field. I saw several staff members but was focused on not losing the kids. We went down and made our way to the back of the field for social distancing and for room to ride the bikes. The whole thing was run by students. 8 or so students spoke about their experience at Needham High School. It was very moving and raw. It was powerful. Then they opened it up to anyone else who wanted to speak. Meanwhile, the kids were off scootering with the neighborhood kids. Naomi came over and had to go to the bathroom. So we ran over to Sudbury Farms for the use of the bathroom. By the time we came out the march had started. So we walked through the crowd to our stuff and then got the tail end of the marchers. We walked down Highland to the Police Station and then circled back to the Town Hall. Naomi was upset that she couldn't hold her sign and scooter. But then she got over that. I had to run to keep up with them. I saw and chatted with several colleagues that I passed along the way. Once at the Town Hall I realized I was supposed to be at a school committee meeting! So I Zoomed into the meeting while at the protest! More people spoke and then they did 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence. Everyone kneeled on one knee. The kids and I sat and they had a snack as I voted on stuff in school committee! My call ended as the rally was breaking up so we headed back to the car.
We were tired and hot. We got take out subs from our favorite sub shop in town and then after dinner went up to bed. The kids were a bit riled up and so I told them to get ready for bed while I walked Pip. I got back and they were almost ready for bed. Once they got all their stuffies in their pajamas and in bed with them, they were ready. JP just got home to say good night to them. As it was such a nice night out, we went for a walk and then he pushed me in the swing. We came inside to the kids not asleep but hopefully they will be soon!
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