Notices by Warren Senders (warrensenders@mastodon.world)

Man With Sign, January 20, 02025

It's brutally cold out here this morning, and furthermore it's technically a holiday. But I'm out here anyway, because what other response can I offer to the moment? I arrive at 7:31, a soloist (Craige is sensible and stays home), with heat packs in my boots and gloves, and I set up something different for the occasion.

1/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QP8i-O2DfI
#ClimateChaos #ClimateChange #CitizenActivism #HindustaniMusic

The reverse of my big sign is now painted entirely black, and combined with a blank black foam core board it makes what I hope is a clear non-message on this last day of American democracy. Traffic is very light, but I get some responses every now and then as the few drivers go by. John Gallagher shows up midway through the hour and takes a number of images and videos, one of which is attached below.

2/

I am singing only the first line of "chalo jawoon puchhiye" in Puriya Dhanashri in Ada Chautaal at a moderate 105 bpm. It's too cold to take out my phone and consult my notes, so I content myself with going back and forth between iterations of this mukhda and various improvisations. The bandish is still not terribly familiar, so I work on getting it to flow, lengthening and shortening syllables to find the boundaries of phrasing.

3/

John connects a wireless mic to my jacket and films me from various angles, and eventually the hour comes to an end. Thanks to the chemical heat packs I'm not frostbitten, but there have certainly been more comfortable mornings here on Roosevelt Circle. As I am packing up John and I talk, wondering about the future and what it holds. We are both terribly worried.

4/

There are no words for the sorrow and anger rebounding inside me at this moment. I had always hoped to be able to bequeath my daughter (and the younger generation in general) something more substantial than the same struggle against the same goddamned fascists we were fighting then. Resistance is an honorable inheritance, but still.

I will be on the road tomorrow, as always.

Man With Sign

end/

Man With Sign, January 15, 02025

It's chilly out here, in the low 20s F with a bit of a breeze. I walk up to Roosevelt Circle at 7:32, greet Craige, and set up my messages. Today I'm holding up WE MUST BE BETTER ANCESTORS, leaning on the guardrail and resting the sign on my knee while I sing.

1/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvTjihJKmIA
#ClimateChaos #ClimateChange #CitizenActivism #HindustaniMusic