Newsletter #5: Meet, Sing, and March on March 1 in Rockland

Written By James Cook

The Audacity: Creative Action Together | AudacityCAT.com

Newsletter #5, February 26 2025

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Contents:

  1. On March 1: Meet, Sing, March! 

    • 10 AM: MEET AND ORGANIZE at 345 Broadway, Rockland, ME 04841

    • NOON: PUBLIC SQUARE SINGING at Park and Main in Rockland

    • 12:30 PM: MARCH to Knox County Courthouse to demand redress of grievances

    • ADVERTISE: tack up these posters around town

  2. Photos and Videos from the Die-In February 22 in Camden

  3. Photos and Videos from Songs for Democracy February 22 in Rockland

  4. NEW! Share Your Creativity Publicly in The Audacity Space


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1. On Saturday, March 1, Meet, Sing, and March!

The Audacity is participating in a statewide day of action in three parts on Saturday March 1. Saturday, March 1 has been declared a statewide day of protest with actions taking place in each of the 16 counties of Maine. In Knox County, The Audacity is holding three events in succession in Rockland, Knox County's seat of government.

March 1, 10 AM: Mass Meeting at the First Universalist Church, 345 Broadway, Rockland ME 04841. During the Civil Rights Movement, meetings were held right before actions, and we'll follow that lead. Our in-person mass meetings are essential not only to move people into action, not only to get people connected to planning, but also to get new ideas rolling into the thick of things. Everything that The Audacity is doing happened because somebody said "someone ought to," and then somebody signed up to work on it.  If you've got an idea, bring it to the meeting.  If enough people jump on board to organize your idea and it fits within our mission, it'll happen -- grassroots democracy in action.

Note: this meeting is not sponsored by the First Universalist Church; we have rented the space. Please park your car in the lot behind the church on Court Street, or across Broadway in the MacDougal Park lot. You also can park on Gay Street. Parking spaces for those with limited mobility are available in the back lot. You also can drive up to the front to let people out.

March 1, 12 Noon: Sing Out at Chapman Park, corner of Park & Main Streets, Rockland.  We gather every Saturday at Noon as long as Trump remains in the White House, and all those in peaceful opposition are welcomed to join us. We will sing songs of protest, resistance, freedom, and a better world. Teach a song you learned when you were young, learn a song from social movement veterans, and sing together in community.

Parking is available next to Chapman Park, half a block away by the railroad tracks adjacent to Trackside Restaurant, and another half-block away at Harbor Park.

March 1, 12:30 PM: March to the Knox County Courthouse at 62 Union St, Rockland, ME 04841.  The Knox County Courthouse, two blocks from Chapman Park, is the local seat of government and therefore a fitting place for citizens to peaceably assemble and petition for redress of grievances, and my, do we have some grievances. As we march from Chapman Park to the Courthouse, we will sing Joshua Blaine's song:

No one is getting left behind this time

No one is getting left behind

No one is getting left behind this time

We get there together or never get there at all

When we have assembled at the steps of the courthouse, members of The Audacity will read aloud the offenses against the nation by the forces of authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption in the first month of the Trump administration. We will record and broadly disseminate a video of the reading of this list.

Be there to make an impact, but don't just be there: help others hear the word so they can come too and lend the impact of their presence.  Posters and graphics for the day are part of this newsletter are available below.  Please print out a few and either hand them to friends you know or tack them to your nearest bulletin board.


2. Photos and Videos from the Die-In February 22 in Camden. In Camden, the Theater Working Group put together a successful, provocative die-in with the theme "People Are Already Dying" that was covered in:


Read our round-up of the day in Camden with photos and videos from the scene here: https://audacityspace.org/photo-video-and-media-coverage-of-the-audacitys-2-22-25-camden-die-in/


3. Photos and Videos from Songs for Democracy February 22 in Rockland. In Rockland, members of The Audacity met at the corner of Park and Main Streets at Noon and rehearsed songs of democracy for the first half hour.  At 12:30, we strolled up the sidewalks of Main Street to the Strand Theater to greet conference-goers breaking for lunch and serenade them with pro-democracy songs. 

Singers were so energized that not one, not two, not three, but four members of the group wrote up their own original songs and brought them to the group. We captured one of them, "We Don't Want No Illegal Kings Around Here," on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q4G4_YNc08 . Also watch video of us walking merrily back from the Strand, singing "This Little Light of Mine." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSAs2PJEfxc .


4. NEW! Share Your Creativity Publicly in The Audacity Space. Eager to get your original political information, visual art, performances, and writing out into a public space?  Visit our new secondary website The Audacity Space at http://audacityspace.org .  Request a free account and you can start sharing your work with the world for free online, and enter into discussions and responses to others' work too.  To request an account and start adding your voice to The Audacity Space online, visit https://audacityspace.org/join-the-audacity-space/ .  There’s a video right on the front page of The Audacity Space that walks you through how to post your art, news, and perspectives.

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See You Saturday!

-- James Cook, facilitator, The Audacity

James Cook
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75 Grievances for our Congressional Representatives from members of The Audacity, March 1, 2025

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Midcoast Group The Audacity to Welcome Camden Conference With Songs of Democracy