Minutemen Action figures

Today was a blessedly light day. An excellent lecture on Congress in the morning, and then, yah! free time and extra blankets. Combined, they made for an excellent nap. I feel almost normal again now.

When I woke up I visited the library, described, perhaps not inaccurately, by one of the staff members as 'Stalinist' in appearance. It is certainly tall.

You will notice, if you look hard, the statue at the bottom. He is, of course, a 'minuteman', one of those selected from the Massachusetts militia for their youth and speed, and whose role it was to be fully dressed and armed, ready to defend the state, within one minute. 1645 was when they first got cracking.

They are also the mascot of U Mass, and, I think, the state of Massachusetts. There are minutemen everywhere:

Fashion minuteman, from cover of Harper's Weekly, 1876

Money minuteman.

Basketball Minuteman (name of the team).

I saw a couple of these guys today on campus. There is 'Basketball camp' going on at the moment in summer break. They were really, really tall, with silky maroon shorts and singlets, and long white socks.

Class of 1950 Minuteman, in U Mass grounds.

He isn't little - he'd be two of me, which gives you an idea of how big the library is - 28 floors.

Nowadays, on the other side of the country, the 'Minutemen' are those led by arch anti-immigrationist Jim Glichrist, a 'passionate defender of the First Amendment of the American constitution' and passionate opponent of 'aliens'. They have taken it upon themselves to patrol the U.S. Mexican border www.minutemanproject.com/ and harrass employers they believe are hiring illegal workers:

Radio minuteman (for Graeme).

Resolute Californian minuteman (with walkie talkie

and video camera)

Irvine, CA, minutemen protesting at a building site that used 'alien' labour. Comes with poster:

When I visited Andrew and Brandy in Irvine in 2005, Jim Gichrist was standing for political office, and there were election posters for him stuck in lawns all around the neighbourhood.

Tomorrow, Boston. With luck I'll be able to get a decent cup of tea.