#STL Tower Grove Pride was pretty awesome.

i tabled for the DSA for a few hours and had a great time. for one thing, people were actually engaged and interested in what we had to say, and none of it felt like a hard sell; i had some interesting conversations with folks who were on different levels of engagement and very few shied away.

for the other, everybody was in a *good mood* and genuinely happy to be there in the sunshine in a safe environment, being themselves, wearing whatever, feeling welcomed, just...vibing. i don't think i've ever experienced anything like that before, on this kind of scale.

in any crowd, i always have my head on a swivel unless i feel generally at ease. today was no exception, i kept watch for people who stood out, but not for the sake of standing out--people dressed "normal" or visibly trying to blend in while looking nervous or frightened or angry. i was expecting shit-disturbers, and while i'm sure there were some (a comrade found a guy handing out Chick tracts), the worst i witnessed were some perplexed and bored-looking dads. everywhere else i looked were people experiencing joy and community with no filters or worries or social shields up, and i nearly cried thinking about it on the drive home. *i want this,* for everybody, forever.

the only really negative thing--and it was a source of hilarity for my group--was the presence of a Libertarian Party tent a few spaces down from us. i was tempted to march down there and go all Niedermeyer on 'em. "WHAAAAT THE HELL IS THAT? IS THAT A RAINBOW GADSDEN FLAAAAG???? IN YOUR PRIDE TENT????? WHAAAAAT DO YOU WANNA DO WITH YOUR LIIIIIFE?" (libertarians are unable to answer "I wanna rock" because they all think they should be the lead singer and nobody wants to play bass.)