Issue #65, January 2004

May Day: May 1, 2002, Chicago. Noonish. Downtown

Here we are on May Day. It was our first action, before we had a mission or a platform and far before we had choreography. We had a half of a plan, to join with a larger demonstration and incite a roving dance party. We anticipated there would be little dialogue or information about women or people of color, and we anticipated that if there was, it would be pretty boring stuff to read. So we busted out Donna Summer's "She Works Hard for the Money" on the boom box and we made flyers about the wackness of the wage gap. When we got downtown, we saw that there was no larger protest to join. So we decided to go ahead and make a spectacle and have a dance party in and of ourselves. We had no context or 'cred' — just some tight pink pants. It was like a roller coaster: the first spot where we set the boom box down and danced and handed out flyers, we did not know what to expect and we were scared. At the next spot, we were getting bold and handing flyers out to cops. By the third spot, we were turning cartwheels and feeling like "Let's go again!!!"

The Pink Bloque is based in Chicago. For more information about us and to see the rest of our actions online, visit: http://www.pinkbloque.org