2026 Life Logs, Day 206: Day of Protests, Then Dinner with Friends
Date: Saturday, July 25, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 73, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I attended the Saturday rally on the Green and then headed to Plymouth for an ICE Out of Plymouth protest near the Plymouth County Correctional Facility. The facility in Plymouth is THE ONLY facility in Massachusetts with an IGSA (Intergovernmental Service Agreement) to rent out 526 beds for immigration detention. ICE pays the Sheriff’s Department $215 per detainee per day (at full capacity for a year that totals more than $40M). According to Amnesty International, immigration detention in the U.S. is unnecessary, rife with systemic abuses, arbitrary, and unlawful under international human rights law. The ongoing protests in Plymouth are to let the Sheriff’s Department know loud and clear that we believe this needs to stop.
So, I arrived at the protest site expecting it to be something like our weekly standouts for democracy on the Falmouth Village Green. But it was immediately obvious that this one was different. There were 6-8 policemen patrolling the edges, and there was a small group of very loud protesters flying flags, waving signs, and who had a leader with a microphone. In the beginning, I observed the young man trying to push the limits by moving his group from standing on the grassy area to pushing toward a policeman standing in front of him on the edge of the very busy highway. The policeman was obviously telling him he had to stay on the grass and I heard him respond that it was his right to be in the street and to be heard. Then I started reading the signs and flags flown by this group and saw that they were flying a huge Mega Maga flag and holding signs that had derogatory statements about immigrants and other minority groups, specifically Muslims. This group obviously had not been invited by the United for Plymouth group. Of course, this group had every right to be there, but the way they were doing it was rude and obnoxious. The leader with the microphone also had a bullhorn with a police siren that screamed over and over. And the whole group was shouting nasty remarks. I thought it best to just ignore them, and I went to the hear Senator Ed Markey give the opening speech. The angry mob of anti-protesters also decided to give up their prime real estate on the street corner and move closer to the speakers. And at least while Markey spoke, they turned off the siren. After Senator Markey spoke, some of the organizers of rally were going around asking people who were willing to move to the street corner to reclaim that position. I decided to do that, as I was not about to let them take back the street corner prime position if it could be peacefully done. Standing quietly can do no harm, so I placed myself right up front. The megaphone siren was still going as the speeches continued, but from where I was standing, things seemed to be settling down. Then, when the speeches had ended, at about 3:15, the young man with the microphone and screaming siren bullhorn started heading back to the street corner. So, I dug in for whatever might come. They were walking right towards me as I was in the entrance to the street crosswalk. When they got to where I was standing the policeman nearby motioned for me to step aside so the anti-protesters could walk though. Good, I thought, they are leaving. As they walked past me, I saw a young woman from Falmouth who is a social media influencer and was one of the speakers at the event, marching right behind them yelling and screaming into her bullhorn things like, “Get the f#%* out of Massachusetts.” And “You are nothing but a piece of sh*#.” And worse. There were also at least two other young women I didn’t recognize who were also following them and yelling. They all crossed the highway and kept walking down a side street. A few minutes later, I left using the same path as the anti-protesters, as my car was parked down the same side street. It was then I noticed that a police car had blocked that street and were talking with the entire group. I left not knowing what was happening, figuring I would find out in online news tomorrow. But the whole event was unsettling as it made me wonder if this is what we are going to up against at future rallies even here on Cape Cod. So far, we have been lucky, but we have to organize and be ready should it happen. And I strongly believe “being ready” is not screaming ugly things at people through a megaphone. We have to be smarter than that no matter how ugly or violent the opposition might get. We do have to be strong, but we do not have to act like them.
There was a lot of traffic getting back across the bridge to the Cape, so when I got home I only had time to change, grab my food contribution, and get to dinner with my dining-in group. We have been gathering once a month for nine years now, and as always, we had a lovely evening together. And the food was fantastic. We had shrimp cocktail for an appetizer, swordfish kebabs and corn salad for the main dish, and I brought tropical fruit salad with sorbetto for dessert. It was a perfect summer dinner. One member, Midge, is headed to Cape Town, South Africa on Monday. She will tour in and around Cape Town and then go on safari. All but one couple has been to Cape Town and on a safari in South Africa, so we added our suggestions to Midge’s itinerary. When she said she was staying at the Victoria & Albert Hotel in the V & A Marina area, I also added that I have a good friend, Bruce Tedder, whom I met in Madagascar and who has an office a few steps away from the hotel. I suggested she look him up as he runs, or at least he did 15 years ago, the big touring catamaran in the harbor.
When I got home, I realized that it has been 10 years, an entire decade, since I last talked to Bruce and his wife Nadine. I first met their 7 year-old daughter, Tristen, when I was snorkeling near Windbird in the anchorage off Nosy Sakatia in Madagascar. I then met her parents and we became instant friends. When Mark died in 2016, however, I simply stopped communicating with them and all of the wonderful friends we made while sailing around the world. I think it was just too painful for me. But tonight, I am going to try and reconnect with them. And over the coming weeks, I am going to reach out to other sailing friends, and re-establish communication.
Here’s a log entry from the afternoon in Madagascar when Bruce and his daughter Tristen visited Windbird. It sums up why I loved Madagascar so very much.
Day 325, Year 5: Why I Have Loved Madagascar
Date: Thursday, September 16, 2010
Weather: Lots of Wind from Every Direction
Location: Nosy Sakatia, NW Madagascar
Why I Have Loved Madagascar by Tristen Tedder, Age 7
Beautiful scenery, fantastic warm water and weather, turquoise water, white sandy beaches, fabulous snorkeling, shell collector’s dream, amazing wildlife and plants, friendly people, great seafood, tasty tropical fruits and vegetables, stunning sunsets, amazing star gazing.
Yes. I think Tristen has summed up the Madagascar experience beautifully so I asked her permission to include her summary in this log. Tristen and her dad Bruce came over this morning to give us a South African briefing. Nadine stayed behind on Pioneer to do more of the packing. They left South Africa in May on the catamaran Pioneer which they were slowly delivering to here. On Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, Bruce, Nadine, and Tristen will fly back to Cape Town after almost four amazing months of travel. This morning Tristen presented her school project to us. She will present this to her second grade classmates back in Cape Town as a summary of her four months of travel. The report was beautifully done and expressed her love for what she has seen in this amazing country. After the little presentation, Tristen and I took my South Africa Lonely Planet and went up to the cockpit while Mark and Bruce sat at the table with the Richards Bay to Cape Town chart. Bruce shared what he knows about the various harbors with Mark and Tristen shared with me the highlights of what we must see near Cape Town. I was absolutely amazed to see her use the Lonely Planet just as I do. When she was looking for the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, she simply flipped to the index in the back and found it in alphabetical order. This is a second grader who uses the Lonely Planet as well as any adult. I was simply amazed and felt a great deal of pride for a little girl that has become a special friend. I think we have just adopted Tristen as a granddaughter to complement our three beautiful grandsons. And I can’t wait to see all the sights she told me about near Cape Town.
Sept 16, 2010–Tristen Presents Her Madagascar School Project
