xiphias | Not an April Fool's joke: who's available on April 14th?

Not an April Fool's joke: who's available on April 14th?

On April 14th, the "Tea Party" right-wing movement is going to be holding a rally on Boston Common, and Sarah Palin is rumored to be planning to attend.

kpht has suggested the perfect response.

Hold a tea party.

Let's make this happen. On April 14th, when the Tea Party Bus arrives at Boston Common, let's greet them with people having tea and cookies and little finger sandwiches, beautiful china, and frilly hats. Can we get hundreds of people on the common to drink tea in a deeply civilized and refined manner?

I want this to happen.

Who's with me? Who can take some time on April 14th? Who has access to nice china, good tea, and beautiful clothing and is willing to wear it in a good cause?

The suggestion has been made that we're going to need battery-powered boom boxes playing classical music, but I'd rather have real string quartets there.

Let's make this happen.

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They're going to be on the Common, rather than by the Harbor? Don't they have any sense of propriety? (Well, obviously not.) I like the idea of joining you for tea, but need to avoid any gatherings where there is likely to be heavy police presence. So, probably not. Can you bring low-tech but civilized-looking apparatus for boiling water? Or would it be better to make tea at home and bring it in a thermos?

I would like to warn you of a potential problem. I'm not at all confident there won't be actual tea-partiers wearing frilly hats and drinking tea on the Common. It's HARD to make fun of a group as far off the deep end as the tea partiers. It may not be possible to exaggerate their silliness to show disapproval or disagreement, when their silliness is so all-encompassing.

Damnit I want to do this and I cannot figure out how to get me+baby there from Billerica.

I have a fucking top hat and tailcoat.

If it's only a transit problem, maybe there can be a ride board? (I'm down in DC so not a help.)

It may not be possible to exaggerate their silliness to show disapproval or disagreement, when their silliness is so all-encompassing.

There is that.

I think we would need liberal cred identification as well, per adrian_turtle above.

Or a thermos of hot water with which to make tea.

I'm having some wonderful memories of the Gatsby Tea that was part of the Napier Art Deco Festival: http://pics.livejournal.com/vvalkyri/gallery/0000kxd2

Xiphias: A couple other worries, one of which is whether you might run into Issues with Police, given that the teabaggers likely have a permit and the drinkers mightn't. (I don't know the laws there. ) How safe do you feel with good china interacting with crazies?

I love the idea of the common being filled with card tables and tea drinkers such that the baggers don't have a very good place to gather. But I guess the common /is/ bigger than that...

I love that idea!

I don't have a problem with that. If people don't get that this is a counterprotest, well, it's STILL a picnic on the common drinking tea, and is worthwhile on its own merits.

If you wanna do it, we'll find a way to make it happen.

No permit is needed to have a picnic, of course.

A thermos of hot water is not at all an acceptable solution. This concept requires GOOD tea, and that requires enough hot water at a high enough temperature. For the teas that I tend to like, that means boiling water.

Still, I am convinced that this is a problem that can be solved.

[here via

lilairen]

Timing? I'm working that day, but work a 10-minute walk from the Common, so might be able to make it over for some window of time.

What level of signal-boosting is OK for this? Folks-we-know? Mailing lists/public posts? Random people on the street?

:continues her devil's advocate work, in wondering whether someone might call boiling water a weapon:

I don't know of many battery operated teakettles, but I used to have a battery thing that could jump the car and also had a plug for short term otherstuff use. (I still have it but have somehow lost the charging cord.) Anyway, a bunch of those might let folk plug in electric kettles. The solar things that can charge a laptop -- are they strong enough to power a kettle? I'm sorta figuring not...

I will talk to family about things.

It is within the realm of the possible that I could catch a lift to the T in the morning, and would have to pack enough baby supplies to manage whatever time is in the interim.

I am thinking hard.

Also pondering petits fours.

All of the above. I really want this to be BIG.

artan_eter suggested the steampunk LARPers, who I imagine you would have contact information for? They would have appropriate costuming.

You can bring almost no disposable diapers, and buy them on arrival, often. They are bulky.

WHich reminds me of a non-sleep-related post I wanted to make to

plan_survive.

I would love to be in on this, but for three small problems:

1. I have not the proximity to Boston, being in Tennessee.

2. I have not the wardrobe.

3. I have not the liking of tea. Even the smell makes me vaguely nauseated.

However, I think it is a brilliant idea (albeit with complications as noted by

adrian_turtle), and I hope that it flies.

I think a Thermos of tea is a perfectly acceptable thing under the circumstances. This is theater.

Oh heck, the 14th is a Wednesday. That makes it particularly difficult for me to get there from Baltimore.

But *if* I could get there, I could bring our silver tea service, and a couple of pounds of Khalami Assam tea. I would also wear proper formal morning attire, early Victorian style, with the frock coat and the striped cravat, and striped trousers, and a top hat.

I will keep an eye on your preparations, and see what I can do. It'd be wonderful.

What time on Wednesday? I could show up besuited and in my Doctor Who coat, acting very proper.

For some, it may be theater.

For me, it's a chance to drink tea and wear nice clothes and eat sandwiches. Honestly, for me, the more I think about this, the more it's about having a tea party, and less about protesting The Tea Party Movement. Look at this! People I like, from my LJ and from b0st0n, are all talking about showing up to the Boston Common, dressed nicely, drinking tea, eating sandwiches.

At this point, the presence or absence of Sarah Palin is totally secondary to how much I'd enjoy myself there.

OH MY GOSH! If I didn't live a million miles away from you.... heck, if I just had the kind of disposable cash that would allow me to hop a plane and GET to you, I totally would. This is a great idea, Ian. I am supportive from the other side of the country!!

Do you have one of those teapots that maintains heat with a tea candle? I don't think they go for brewing tea, but might do for a dignified way to restore it to decent temperature?

Oooo! I'm in! This sounds like fun.

Good tea can be brewed at home and put into a thermos, then poured and served on the Common.

Edited 2010-04-02 00:05 (UTC)

Wednesday is usually my busiest day, but if I can reschedule people then I will try to be there.

One thought: coffee instead of tea? I actually prefer drinking tea, but one thing that's been amusing me about the Teabaggers all along is that (as you know, Bob) the Americans drank coffee to be patriotic at the time of the Revolution. The Tea Party people claim to be harking back to the Boston Tea Party--but (unless my recollection of US history is entirely off) that was about throwing tea-as-symbol-of-Britain into the harbor. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong on that.

(And yes, I've seen a little about the Coffee Party that's been forming recently. I'm not connected with that in any way, and haven't decided whether I want to be.)

This is the kind of thing that makes me wish I lived in Boston. (I'm working on it.)

The Gatsby Tea looks like it was lots of fun!

It was. And the black and white picture is a lindy hop club. Had fun doing Lindy on the grass with them.

They both look awesome. Where did you find such fabulous people?

What time is this all happening? I can come down around 5, but not before, as I'm working that day.

Agreed, I was just going to suggest this be crossposted to the different Steampunk communities on Livejournal. Facebook might also be a good bet.

... I wish I was in Boston. XD

I am on entirely the Wrong Coast for this, but I will drink excellent tea that morning before class, in solidarity.

I love this idea! Wish I lived closer. :)

I need more information about timing, expected duration, where people will be gathering, and so on. I hope you'll make a post somewhere with that information. (I don't have facebook, so if it's there I can't see it.)

That sounds awesome! I'll made a huge and frilly hat out of protest posters, so that I can still Tea Party at the tea party!

I think you may be misunderstanding The Tea Party movement. It's not about drinking tea. Initially they were mailing in tea bags to their representatives to, yes, call forth the memories of the Boston Tea Party. They were arguing against bigger government and more taxation & attempting to link it to one of our memorable historical moments.

Date:
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Time:
10:00am - 1:00pm
Location:
Boston Common

That's all we've got so far.

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Not an April Fool's joke: who's available on April 14th?

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