It was my second weekday at clinic, and weekdays (the one’s that I’ve been around for) have a much different atmosphere.

There were three escorts (myself included) and about 7 or 8 protesters, give or take a few – 2 chasers (Donna and an older dude who may be a painter or something?) and a few prayers, plus some who kind of chased but mostly played it cool. No cops.

It was really different in that usually on a Saturday morning there’s enough going on that you aren’t so up close and personal with just one or two protesters.

This morning I used tactics I would normally use (putting myself in-between the chasers and the clients/support people), but they were a lot less effective without a larger group of escorts.  So I found myself mostly just talking with clients/support people and walking along side them, not really effectively blocking Donna from touching or talking to people. It was frustrating, but better than being very aggressive, in my opinion.

Also because of the weekday dynamic, you have to deal with the same protesters over and over again. You can’t block Mary for a few minutes, then hang out with Donna, and then stand in front of Angela, and in between all of that talk to different escorts to dilute the whole thing. You’re dealing with the same couple of people for a few hours. Yikes.

But, to look on the bright side, you also get to know some awesome escorts a bit better, because you have more time with them, too, and are able to chat more than you would on a Saturday.

One cool thing that happened today was that a person came and spoke with us – they had been a client a while back, and wanted to get our stance on why we escort. Most of the clients were in by then, so we got the chance to have a nice conversation with someone who was pretty passionate about their beliefs. Eventually we said “You know, you’d be a great escort!” and it sounded like she was considering it. It was nice to get a fresh perspective on the stuff that goes on outside the clinic.

I’m going to go back to bed.

-F