That was different. We went to march on the capitol to protest an education bill that cuts charter school funding. Victoria and I are experienced marchers, but this was not DC and this event was super-organized by an advocacy group. We gathered, made posters to carry (no sticks allowed on the state house lawn) and walked a couple of blocks, on sidewalks, to the governor's office building. The only familiar element was the fact that the governor was not actually there. We are accustomed to shouting at empty offices.

The things I've come to expect but did not see: giant puppets, people dressed as caribou dying in the street, Uncle Sam on stilts, Jesse Jackson. No music. No chants. No funny smells. Oh well. No opposing groups, either, although that would have been fun.

We dropped off notes at our representatives' offices, which was simple and quick except for the fact that the house offices are in a building with elevators and it was also Lobby for Equality day so we hit a bit of a traffic jam. And a lot of the office workers we ran into we actually ran into--I was with a very active 6yo who tends to twirl as a method of locomotion.

Another familiar element: dueling crowd counts. The organizers feel that 4,500 people attended the rally. Here's the Dispatch story.