Squad Log 17: 10-9-25

We launched from our normal meeting spot on a crisp morning with ideas brewing for how to spend the day. Several flyers hadn’t seen one another in a while and the excitement was palpable.

We set out toward the west side of downtown to hit up a favorite record store - along the way we talked about everyone’s lunch ideas and preferences while checking out what was around on the map. When we arrived, they’d moved 5 blocks north!!! We talked about the 5 block walk but it was the opposite direction of our planned lunch spot, so we switched gears and walked across the street to Book People. Some of our favorite places in the city are places where music, books and toys are sold - the staff always seem to have a way with people that make the squad feel welcome, yes. But really that they belong there.

Insitgator side note:

Taking up space in places of business doesn’t feel the same everywhere. Many adults are still ingrained with the societal views that see children shouldn’t be seen during the day.. that they belong in school! They even assume the worst (especially of teenagers) before they see an adult “chaperone”. Our Squad directly pushes back against these ideas and challenges adults to see kids as people, not people in the making.

Making our way around the book store we slowly started talking more about books we like, characters we admire, and cosplay characters and conventions. Everyone has various interests and it’s really cool to see overlaps among new friends and finding out new things through these emergent conversations in the group.

We worked up our appetite and really needed to get more water! We popped into Whole Foods, some people purchased things and others waited, used the toilet and refilled water bottles before heading to the rooftop to lounge and eat.

After lunch, we stopped at a couple more spots that we hadn’t been into — LUSH is an afternoon wakeup just by stepping inside! The smells are fresh, floral and strong.

Some of us waited outside while others explored the scent library of lush, as the employees demoed and showed off fizzy and jelly-like products to the group.

Next door we sat inside the very cool Amy’s Ice Creams and waited for a parent to pick up a flyer early to make an appointment - the instigator shared location and communicated with the parent to make a seamless transition and keep the group moving after.

After Ice cream, group chatter and lots of drawing on the provided paper with ice cream related prompts… We realized the day had gotten away from us and slowly started making our way back east to meet with parents at our designated pickup spot — another epic flight for the books!