We're covering political toleration (and the criticisms of toleration such as conflict theory) in class and I decided to share with students some examples of recent protest (Occupy Wall Street, a campus one re: anti-tuition increases / program cuts in the SUNY 2020 legislation, Tea Party, Anti-War, Anti-Illegal Immigration, the Wisconsin union protests, Westboro Baptist Church protest and counter protest) to make the material more relevant to them. Another midterm question has presented itself!

Bob had a meeting in NYC yesterday, and after it was over he went to the protest and took the above image and several others. He's really intrigued by the protests, jokes that we would have been there when we were young. This photo is a favorite, because the conflict theorists would agree very much with the message - but at the same time they would criticize the method as serving only to pacify dissenters, benefit the elite, and make an unfair system seem legitimate. It's an awesome image in that regard.

So I scouted out at least one each of all the above rallies, including one from this article about the protest this week on campus over tuition increases. That reminds me, I received an email earlier in the week telling us that UUP did not endorse allowing students to leave class to attend it. Good thing for me that these things are always on Wednesdays, a day I don't have class, since they are invariably held at 1 p.m.

The unrest does not surprise me. This is what happens when the economy sucks for so long, things are tight, people can't get jobs or borrow money.

On a happier note, busy weekend in the works. Friends are visiting. Also, going to Goold's Apple Festival.

And finally: on Wednesday, I picked all the remaining cucumbers, beans, and green tomatoes. For the past two nights, I have covered the eggplant (I already picked them but there is still a blossom that I am cheering on with little hope of results), basil, impatiens, coleus, zinnias --  while the marigolds, parsley and oregano got covered just by virtue of being near the more delicate. We wound up not having a killing frost, even though it was good sleeping weather. But my plants are safe for several days now, since it is going to be warm. (After this, I will let them go.) We haven't turned on our heat, but I have been keeping the fireplace on for Sophie. Her futon is right in front of it.