(From the AP: “They’ve been portrayed by the president as violent left-wing radicals and used to scare suburban voters. But an AP review found most of those arrested in U.S. protests look like regular citizens caught up in the moment — many are young suburban adults.”)

Hi, Mandy here. Soooo, we were at this place downtown, me and Jenni and Todd and Justin. We hadn’t all gotten together since like forever because of COVID lol.

It was an awesome night, nice and warm, and everything like felt like normal? We had some drinks and some bruschetta although Todd wasn’t eating the crusty bread part because he’s doing, like, Kato? Whatever that diet is where you don’t eat carbs. So he’s basically just eating little tomato pieces. Anyway it was totally chill, but then I see everyone is looking up from their phones, and we’re all looking at each other, like, do you hear that? (We all had AirPods in.)

Something was coming around the corner, like, a group of people saying something. Was this a parade? Jenni googles whether there was a parade scheduled for tonight, like a circus thing? But before she gets her results we see them.

It’s a bunch of guys dressed in black with signs and umbrellas, and they’re, like, chanting? I got it on my phone, and I think it was something like “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Oligarchical Capitalism and Its Inherent Systemic Oppression of BIPOC and Non-Heteronormative-Paradigm Gender Non-Conformity Has Got to Go,” or something, and I’m like, whatever —

Then I look at Jenni and she is like, hypnotized. The parade had stopped right by our table and she’s like making serious eyes at this one marcher, he was short and kinda pasty tbh and carrying a skateboard, and I always thought anyone over 18 who’s still skating is probably going to be working at a CBD store or selling gummy-bear edibles to kids, nothing against cannabis, I’m glad it’s legal but it’s still kinda for losers, you know? And I know Jenni hates stoners, she was always into the jocks, but she’s looking at this thin dude like her life just changed.

“I don’t know what he wants,” she said in a kinda trance voice, “but I will follow him anywhere.”

Then they start chanting again, and it was, I think, “Whose Streets? R Streets!” Which was wrong because R Street was two blocks over and I thought maybe they were lost? But then and you will not believe this but I swear, one of them took a rock out of his backpack and threw it through a window of the Gap store, and everyone cheered.

“That’s wrong,” I said, and I felt bad because that was judgy of me I know, but I used to work at the Gap and I liked my co-workers. The manager was even okay. They’d have to clean that up.

“No big deal,” says Jenni. “They have insurance. Trust me. My dad’s in insurance.”

“Yeah but someone has to clean that up. And the glass gets on the clothes and maybe someone buys a sweater and gets cut later?”

“You’re a tool of the ruling classes,” Todd says. What? I look at him, and he’s got this strange excited fire in his eyes. “I know we’re just hanging around downtown to escape the stultifying milieu of our soul-sapping suburban lives,” says Todd, and yes I know, that’s so Todd, but this was different somehow? “I have this sudden welling of passion for a cause I’ve barely spent any time thinking about. The sight of these people, their manifest passion, makes me think we should find a store and set it on fire.”

“Awesome,” said Justin. “And let me just say that several of those androgynous people have made me suddenly question my own identity, and I am now going to change my pronouns to ‘they.’”

“You are?” I say and feel bad right away and say, “They are?”

“They have,” he said with sudden conviction, and I like haven’t seen him so certain about anything since he — sorry sorry they decided to change majors from communication to marketing. Or the other way around. Anyway now I’m feeling this strange like tingle too, and as the parade starts to move again, I feel like I should go with them? The old me would have said hold on you’re parked at a meter, you should probably go check how much time is left, but new me is like, joy and purpose might be mine if I go in that Gap-store broken window and take something?

I guess it was just the heat of the moment — literally the heat, the crowd had set fire to the restaurant where we were sitting — but we just got up and joined them and started marching and chanting and throwing things, and IDK it felt like I was part of something for the first time, so we went inside the drugstore and Todd jumped over the counter and got some lighter fluid and we went to the bookstore next door and drenched some stuff and set it on fire. We all did a group pose for the ’Gram and called it a night, went back to the car and drove back to the boring burbs, laughing, like, what was that about.

You know how you get caught up in something and go with the moment and you’re burning a restaurant and the next day you’re like, okay, we were in the moment, but then it turns out it was for justice? That’s awesome. I wonder if I can put it on my intern résumé for Goldman Sachs.