======== Subject: Minneapolis picket - 16 July 1999 From: enfant terrible Date: Sat, 17 Jul 1999 12:55:28 GMT Message-ID: <7mpufv$b7b$1@nnrp1.deja.com> (The events described did not necessarily occur in the same order as in the story. All conversations are paraphrased and not verbatim. Since scienos seem to just love a good mystery, no one's full name appears in this report. :-) ) Sue and I picketed the Minneapolis "Hubbard Dianetics Center" last night, 17 July. As we have done before, we hung out in front of the org so the folks inside could see what we were doing. We were careful not to disrupt pedestrian traffic or block anyone's entering or leaving the "church". We started our picket at 5:30 PM. There were a lot of people downtown for the Minnesota Orchestra's "Sommerfest" concert (their hall is just down the street from us), and the annual Hennepin Ave. Block Party. Consequently, we saw lots of pedestrians, cyclists and bus passengers. We noticed that, despite all the pedestrian traffic outside, there were no body routers shilling for "personality tests" or "free introductory lectures". Sue mentioned that the org had closed up shop at 6:30 the last time she picketed. Hmmm. Are their stats crashing? Sue was armed with her trusty picket sign ("Does the Bridge really cost $360,000?" and "Scientology: Space Alien Scam") and copies of the famous "Xenu" flyer. I brought my copy of Jon Atack's book "A Piece of Blue Sky" and copies of my version of the "Why I Picket Scientology" flyer. I also had flyers made especially for the scienos, which start with "If you are a scientologist, you should think for yourself". As always, the response from passersby was completely favorable. One young couple talked to us for a while. They had never heard of Scientology or of the controversies which surround it. Sue and I gave them a quick rundown on the issues and pointed out the URLs on our flyers where they could get more information. Perhaps because of the orchestra concert, we saw more middle-aged to older couples than we had previously. Our "audience" is usually younger adults. But these couples were completely supportive. Many of them were knowledgable regarding the "church's" phony tax-exempt status. With two exceptions, the scienos' reaction to our presence was not as "interesting" as before... maybe I'm getting jaded. :-) One by one, publics and staff came out to handle us; first a woman named Brenda, then a man I recognized as the one who followed "Xenu the Internet Photographer" during our picket last December, then another man with a snappy blazer and a thoroughly disagreeable valence. Then, "Laurie", an older woman with an accent who had talked to us previously, came out to talk to us. After listening to our stories regarding the church's abuses, she attested to OT7. Without missing a beat, I replied "Cool! Maybe you could tell us about Xenu!" She flinched visibly and changed the subject. Five minutes later, I asked about Xenu again, and she excused herself. Arnie Lerma is right about OTs. Finally, the piece de resistance: two 12 year old boys wearing rollerblades came out of the org and confronted us. One of them said "You know, you are just making asses of yourselves out here. This is a really good place". I regarded the boys with kindly, quizzical expression on my face and said "Where did you boys learn to talk like that? The South Park movie?" At this, the adult scienos panicked and herded the boys back into the org. At about 7:00 or so, Sue and I called it a day. As Forrest Gump says "That's all I have to say about THAT!" Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.