MISFIT DOC: Know Your Town Hall Protestors: Constituents, Paid Protestors, or Poltergeists

What kinds of clothes are being worn at the Town Hall?

A. Regular looking pants and shirts, dresses. The occasional sports jersey.

B. Costumes from the wardrobe department of a protest-financier’s production company.

C. Shrouds.

At your Town Hall, what sorts of things are you hearing?

A. Angry, passionate demands of, “Don’t take away my medical coverage!” or, “Do your job!”

B. Whispers amongst the masses of, “How much are you getting paid to be here?” while checking their annotated scripts. 

C. Chants/incantations.

What kind of behavior are you seeing at the Town Hall?

A. People feeling upset, nervous, and angry. 

B. Big arm gestures. Exaggerated movements. Men holding their suspenders while talking. People bowing after they ask their questions.

C. Far too much fading in-and-out of the material world. Levitating.

Check the social media accounts of your Town Hall; what are you noticing?

A. People live-tweeting comments from citizens.

B. Selfies of people kissing wads of cash outside of the town hall venue.

C. Increased use of the ?? and ? emojis. 

Some Town Halls have been held without actual congressional or senatorial members present. If this describes your Town Hall, what are folks using as a proxy-representative?

A. An empty chair, to signify the lack of accountability they see in their representative.

B. Various people taking turns as the “Representative”; notes on the performances by other members in attendance.

C. The body-less soul of the representative, summoned by dark forces. 

After the Town Hall, where are the crowds dispersing to?

A. Local late-night diners, or their homes.

B. Pizza party at Cathy L’s house – her mom is out of town and they have a lot of Pay-Per-View channels.

C. Vanishing in a cloud of screaming hell-smoke up towards the ceiling – which opens into a portal to Cathy L’s house.

Marissa Maciel is a writer and illustrator, with works published at The Hairpin, The Toast, Queen Mob's Teahouse, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency. @standardtuber

Submit a comment