let's boldly kick ass

Have a sex drive

Support other people's right to have sex

Support other people's rights to talk about and/or depict sex and sexuality

Engage with art explicitly depicting and/or discussing sex and sexuality

Create art that explicitly depicts and/or discusses sex and sexuality

Beat someone to death with your bare hands in the dead of night

Grapple with what you've done as lights flash in the distance

Dig a shallow grave

As you lay the last shovel-full of dirt, catch the glint of metal in the corner of your eye

Rush toward the gun, eyes wild and shovel forgotten

Grapple less figuratively, fighting to get the upper hand, clawing with teeth and dirt-covered bloody nails

Kill a second person with your bare hands

"The hat is customizable," he said, struggling with the velcro patch on the front. "If I need it, I have an ICE one too. I pick based off the business i walk into."

"Customizable is an important hat descriptor," I said. "what can I get you?"

"You wouldn't believe how offended people get these days," he said. "And I'm supposed to do something about it if you're offended? You chose to be offended!"

"We all have hundreds of thousands of decisions everyday," I said. I thickened my accent. "That's what my stepdad always said. But I can make one easier - we have a delicious Ethiopian roast available."

"Like if I told you you have a bull ring," he said, "because bulls have rings in their noses. Is that offensive?"

I laughed. "I've heard that before."

"It's a joke, but people get offended. Maybe you're offended."

I looked at him. I smiled. "You aren't trying to offend me though, right?"

Of course he was. I was being friendly and the friendlier I was, the faster he switched topics. He was saying anything inflammatory he could think of to see if I'd take the bait. After about 20 minutes of my redirecting and deescalating, he settled into a more normal interaction. He took up too much of my time showing me a product I'd feigned mild interest in to get him to stop talking about getting accused of inappropriate behavior at work. When we finally disengaged, he spent 10 minutes trying to catch my eye again. When he failed, he left.

There's this new breed of customer who insists on trying to incite political conversation through their clothing and, when that doesnt work, their snide little comments. If I owned my own business, maybe I would have given the guy the fight he wanted. But I work for a corporation and I love paying my bills so I deescalated.

Boy am i glad that the con has a facebook page so i can post this photo:

"Growing Around Grief"