#not participating exactly but will have a mini haul around that time

[mspoodle1]

🎡🍭🎡

[afishtrap]

I have questions.

These have been bugging me. Maybe I’ll get lucky and someone (koff @caramelcheese koff) has an explanation.

1. Shiro’s in prison for a year. Yet he doesn’t end up with a beard to his chest, and his hair is still neatly cut. The leaked shots from S3 of Matt look like Matt’s hair has grown, though. How could Shiro stay neatly pressed (at least from the shoulders up) while Matt’s the one who can’t find scissors?

2a. Why are none of the paladins ever strapped in? It’s like the animators are thinking the cats are just big cars, and everything’s operating on a linear, horizontal plane. When the five first find the blue lion and it proceeds to scamper in mid-air (including twists), all of them should’ve ended up splattered across the interior. Including Lance. (I’ve been in a van that rolled off the road and over a 30′ drop. Think frog in a mixer and you’re pretty close to the results.)

(okay so yeah I come from the Gundam and Macross worlds for mecha, and I’ve done my time in Yukikaze and Sidonia no Kishi which are more real-world jet-pilot SF influenced than super-mecha, but still, strapping in is pretty much mandatory. If the animators didn’t want belts, they could still have gone with the pilot getting suctioned in, like S2 Gundam 00 or Escaflowne. but really, all five floating out of their seats? and no additional seats/straps for passengers? this isn’t a mini-van, people, it’s a big box that can go in any direction at any time and this bugs the crap out of me)

2b. Clearly none of the animators have actually done anything that requires wearing a helmet. Like, say, riding a motorcycle (or piloting a plane). Shiro’s helmet coming off ‘cause he’s rolling down a hill... that could happen with a bike helmet, but if it happens with a full helmet style like the paladin’s, then something is seriously wrong. I can’t watch that bit w/out wincing. A helmet that style coming off is bad news. Really bad. Like, not possibly not making it out alive and/or brain-crushed bad.

3a. Am I the only one giving the side-eye every time Allura protests (mostly in S1) about how the Alteans were a great and wonderful people, her father was a great man and a great father, etc etc? Zarkon can’t have always been pure evil if Alfor worked with him, which raises the question of whether Alfor was so pristine and perfect, too. Plus, Alfor agreeing that he’d made a mistake (in sending the lions away) squeaks the door open, at least for me, to the chance that Alfor made a few other mistakes, too.

3b. I mean, people just don’t up and go to war for no reason, unless the motivations here are so flat and boring as to be that Zarkon just woke up one morning pure evil. This is fiction: it’s supposed to make sense, so there must be another side to this story we’re not getting told. Something makes me wonder if “the dark history of the Paladins” isn’t just the fact that Zarkon was one of them.

4a. Yes, Zarkon is apparently an imperialist -- expanding his military borders constantly -- and definitely participating in some old-school colonialism (ie the Balmora). But there also seems to be an extended part of his empire that’s going about its business, ie the space mall. If he held supreme power, why go to all the effort to build super-secret galaxy stations that only his military can find? He’d just hand out some reason for that military base, people would shrug, call it the cost of peace, and carry on. The only reason to hide that would be if he has someone to hide it from. Which might just be ‘to make it more difficult for our main characters to find’ plotholey, or it might be a signal of greater powers beyond Zarkon.

4b. Zarkon’s destructive power seems to have escalated exactly as Voltron shows up. From the way Haggar talks, it’s been a long time of R&D and she’s only just achieved robeast technology. The planet-sucking energy thing is also a new development. Granted, the bigger an empire grows (hello, America) the larger its military force must be, to police both its country and its colonies, so the scope of Zarkon’s military force doesn’t surprise me. But it does seem like those forces (other than the few conquering new worlds/colonies) must’ve mostly been in relatively peaceful backwaters, doing little but patrolling.

4c. If Zarkon’s forces are so immensely advanced, why only advance to the edge of Earth’s solar system, to the farthest outside planet, and take three people? Why stop there? From Allura’s comments about Zarkon’s advance across the universe, Earth may be a backwater but there’s nothing indicating a reason Zarkon wouldn’t be as interested in it as he is anywhere else. So why show up only long enough to kidnap three people, and then take off? But I guess that ties into @smolsarcasticraspberry‘s theories about Shiro having Altaen abilities or history, if he’s the real reason the Galra swung through.

5a. That is one seriously massive castle for only three people. No one else ever appears in Allura’s memories. She has no pictures (mental or otherwise) of anyone. She mourns her father, but no one else. No mother or mother-substitute, no friends, no peers, no siblings, no extended family, not even people she must’ve known and seen every day who also lived in the castle. Unless it really was just she, Coran, and her father? Just one big empty castle where three people rattled around in miles of empty halls and rooms. Kinda depressing. 

5b. It feels almost like Altea is this vast gap, where no one ever resided. And it makes it really hard for me to sympathize with any loss of Altea, because the only loss Allura mourns is her father, and anything else is kind of abstract. It’s like Altea itself was just a construct, one big empty field with flowers.

5c. Semi-related to that, in S2 Allura says her people were diplomats and travellers, so in hindsight it’s weird that she woke up, learned Altea’s been destroyed, and that’s that. Why assume that all Alteans were on Altea and were killed when the planet was destroyed? She makes no attempt to look for anyone; there’s no mention of Altean communities that might have survived elsewhere. Immigrants tend to cluster together, often for generations, just like you can still find a preponderance of Swedish or Norwegian surnames in parts of the American upper midwest. Yet neither she nor Coran even raise that chance, let alone chase it. Why not?

6a. The Altaen cuisine is unbelievably stupid. Food goo? Raise your hands if you’d eat the equivalent of anything, day in, day out, with no variation, and not find yourself sick of it. (If you do raise your hand, you’re like .01% of the human population because humans do not do well on unchanging diets; it’s why NASA and the military work hard to make a variety of packaged meals.) No matter how much protein a single food substance might provide, it being the only sustenance is just incomprehensible. Cuisine is a huge part of culture, and conveys so much about our history, our people, our beliefs, and our rituals. If in every other significant way the non-human cultures reflect this human value system (even the Balmorans seem to have some variety in their food), how can the Altaens possibly see green food goo (and that single bad-tasting alternate) as adequate?

6b. Okay so maybe the writers were just thinking it’s funny that the only Altaen alcoholic beverage tastes like old athletic socks (or however Lance put it), but it’s that they know it tastes horrible. What kind of people would subject themselves to bland food and foul-tasting drinks when they supposedly have the entire universe at their fingertips? Every diplomatic and military family I’ve known brings back bits and pieces of the cuisines from lands where they’ve been stationed. You sit down at their table, and it’s often an incredible mix of different cultures. So the complete lack of non-Atlean cultural elements in food and drink strikes me as just plain bizarre.

7. At some point, someone’s got to point out to Hunk that it’s time to stop calling everyone else ‘aliens’, right? It’s like being American, travelling to France, and calling every French person a foreigner. Hunk et al are the aliens, now. It just strikes me as a very human-centric view of things, and a rather myopic one, too, given other ways the writers do so well.

8. On that note, once or twice from Lance of flirting with Allura should’ve been enough. And fine, some guys are jerks, unwilling to take a girl’s disinterest for what it is. But not only does he keep doing it, no one else calls him out on it. Kieth, Hunk and Coran seem to ignore it; Shiro reels Lance in once or twice, but that’s not the same as hauling Lance aside and telling him to quit that, full stop. It’s disrespectful, it’s rude, and it’s attention Allura doesn’t like, and treating Lance’s insistent flirtation like a joke is rape culture hallmark, and quietly undermining any of the good done in letting Allura be her own character. 

(If you’re thinking to yourself that Lance being pushy is just Lance being Lance, and you’ve found it funny despite Allura’s clearly irritated reactions, that’s 'cause rape culture has taught you that Lance’s behavior is okay. newsflash: it’s not.)

9a. Coming back around to Shiro: rewatching the point where Allura talks about the different lions, and her line about the Black Lion: “a pilot who is in control at all times”. I’ve rewatched a few times now, and every time, that line feels like a kick to the gut. Shiro hears those instructions at a point where he’s only just returned (and is almost immediately whisked away again), and has barely had a chance to process his escape, let alone the entirety of his trauma. And now he’s being told that he must take up a role where the requirement is ‘being in control at all times’?

9b. @i-love-voltron-stuff​ has a meta about Shiro planning his departure, but my suspicion is that this seemingly throwaway line could be the cause. From Sendak, to Haggar, to the Black Lion, to dealing with Slav, Shiro is cracking at all the seams. If Allura’s words felt like an edict, then it’s possible Shiro is certain that he cannot pilot, nor be the leader, so long as he can’t stay in control, and by the end of S2, he’s got to be aware his headspace is pretty bad. My guess is that while he wasn’t planning on disappearing from the cockpit quite like that, he was probably expecting a short shelf life, mentally. Too many cracks, no more control, and thus no longer fit to be the Black Lion’s pilot.

to be continued (of course)

[itsworn]

Former NBA Center Jim McIlvaine’s 1969 Mercurty Cyclone GT is a Slam Dunk Street Machine

It’s hard to miss Jim McIlvaine and his Grabber Blue 1969 Mercury Cyclone GT. At 7 foot 1 inch, the 46-year-old former NBA Center towers over most, and his Merc, dubbed “Confucius,” makes an equally powerful appearance. McIlvane played pro ball from 1994-2001, in fact his first field goal was a dunk against Shaq. Following his career, McIlvaine moved into the automotive field, signing on as a part-time freelance writer, penning stories for a host of automotive titles and then as a social media specialist for Optima Batteries.

“When I was in the NBA, I had a lot of down time on the road, and that gave me the chance to think about what car I’d like to own. I wanted to get a modern performance car, one I could modify and take to the next level. I couldn’t fit in a Corvette, so I looked Mustangs including the Roush’s Stage 3, but ultimately I ordered a 1999 Z/28 with a six-speed. It was a convertible because I couldn’t fit in the T-top or hardtop. It was bright green metallic and got dropped shipped to Buds Chevrolet in St. Mary, Ohio.

“It was the first LS-1 F-body that Lingenfelter built with 383 stroker. It got Kenny Brown subframe connectors, produced 440 hp at the crank, and had Fiske FM5 17-inch wheels. I signed up on Camaroz28.com in April 1999 and became friends with Chris Frezza and Jason Debler who started the forum. Not long after that, John Hunkins (then editor of the now-defunct GM High Tech Performance and now editor of Car Craft) showed up on-line. He was provocative and controversial and happened to be based in New Jersey. At the time I was playing for the Nets in New Jersey, so they asked if I would connect with Hunkins, and we hit it off. He started reading my posts and asked if I wanted to write for the magazine.

“After basketball, I ended up getting at 2002 Anniversary Camaro that was built by Lou Gigliotti. LG Motorsports did a roll bar, Kirky seats, G-stop rotors, Earl’s lines, black SS five spoke wheels, transmission cooler, and carbon driveshaft. It had an auto transmission and that’s the car I was running at Road America in the early 2000s.

“Optima moved to Milwaukee and Cam Douglass, Director of Product Development and Marketing, was at Road America running a Corvette. He needed help getting the car home, so I offered to haul it back. He worked a deal for me to haul SEMA show vehicles, and later on, I came on to help with social media. We really clicked, and it morphed into a full-time job,” said McIlvaine, who has been with Optima for ten years.

While the F-Body was fun, McIlvaine had his heart set on a full-blown Pro Touring machine. “Pro Touring was really picking up steam, and I wanted to build something, but not another Camaro. I gave a lot of thought to what the perfect car would be. I always liked old Mopars, especially the General Lee, but the prices were so high. It was too much money just to get the car. So I started thinking, what’s the opposite of a General Lee?

“And that would be General Grant and a Mercury Cyclone,” said McIlvaine. “These cars all raced in NASCAR, so I decided on a 1969 Mercury because that’s what ran against the Chargers. In the early 2000’s I started looking for a Cyclone and about 10 years later Jeff Schwartz of Schwartz Performance found a 390, auto-equipped Cyclone. I just didn’t want a Cobra Jet or a number-matching car. I knew I was going to modify it so this car was perfect.

“As for the build, I knew it was going to be set up for the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational that started in 2008. I wanted to run the car hard on the street and track and to qualify for the OUSCI. Even though I work there, I wanted to really qualify like any other participant.”

After securing the car, McIlvaine turned to Randy Johnson of D&Z Customs of Kewaskum, Wisconsin. “He’s built a succession of cars that were nicely done and built to run,” said McIlvaine. “So if you’re going to spend serious money to have a car built, you want it to do anything and everything. That’s what I wanted.”

Johnson accomplished the goal, giving the Mercury legit Pro Touring performance, a stylish NASCAR look, and a surprise under the hood: one that sends Ford purists into a tizzy. While he stuck with Ford Grabber Blue, the engine is not exactly Blue Oval, can you see why?

“The engine is easy to explain,” said McIlvaine, “I looked at the Ford engines and honestly, if you’re looking at the Ford Coyote you need forced induction or nitrous to keep up with what you can do with a naturally aspirated LS engine. There was really nothing comparable that wasn’t really expensive, either, so we went with a Lingenfelter Performance aluminum 427 LS.

“It was [Randy’s] idea to disguise the LS to look like Ford engine, and it’s fooled a lot of people. To create the look, D&Z Customs fabricated his own valve covers and added a distributor up front. Under the dual-snorkel air cleaner lurks a Holley 1,000 cfm throttle body and GM aluminum single-plane intake that’s mated to the LS7. A Holley LS Terminator EFI controls the 50 lb/hr injectors and ignition is fired by an Accel coil and Taylor wires. Ultimate Headers custom-fabricated a set of 1 7/8-inch tubes that flow to a 3-inch Magnaflow system. Other components include a Wagner accessory drive, Power Master alternator, All Star Performance oil cooler and of course there’s an Optima Yellow Top in there.

The engine produces 558 horsepower and 497 lb-ft of torque at the wheels. It sounds fantastic at idle and when the throttle is kicked open, look out. Love it or hate it, the engine is interesting and a unique design feature of the build. “In the [Optima] series there’s a Lingenfelter design and engineering competition. Points are awarded based on build quality, fit, and execution. At the end of the year, all the cars that do well get put on display at SEMA. It’s progressed to when you walk through Optima Alley you see some of the nicest cars at the show and they run as good as they look. The whole series was done to promote the aftermarket.”

Backing the LS is a Centerforce 10.5-inch DYAD twin-disc clutch that sends power to the Tremec T-56 Magnum gearbox. McIlvaine chose a 4-inch aluminum driveshaft from Dynotech that connects to the Ford 9-inch from Detroit Speed.

Randy wanted a name for the car, so we went with “Confucius” because the look of the engine fooled a lot of people. He liked the look of the Torino more than a Cyclone, even though the wheel wells are Cyclone. Randy, again, went with the Mustang taillights. “When you hire someone like Randy, you hire them and then you have to turn them loose. The Grabber Blue is the opposite color on the color wheel from the General Lee. I wanted a Ford color and something that popped. The original goal was to put a roll bar in, but fitment was an issue. We had to extend the steering wheel, drop the floor two inches, and allow the seat to go back almost to touching the rear seat,” McIlvaine stated.

Supreme handling was a major goal so they removed the front factory rails and grafted in a Detroit Speed 1965-70 Mustang front suspension. The front also uses 600-lb springs, JRI double-adjustable shocks and a Detroit Speed rack and pinion. Out back is a Detroit Speed Quadra Link designed for a Mustang, but modified to fit the big Merc. It uses floater axles with C7 hubs, 175-lb springs, and JRI double-adjustable shocks.

Confucius has lots of go, so naturally it needed major “woah.” Wilwood got the call with Spec 37 14-inch rotors and six-piston Aero Lite calipers up front and the same out back with four-piston calipers. Rolling stock consists of Forgeline 18×12-inch wheels with 335/30/18-inch BFGoodrich Rival S tires at each corner.

Along with an amazing list of parts, this Cyclone GT has a bevy of body mods that give it a look of it’s own. ���We started in the front with modified front fenders and hood (with heat extractors) and we fit a ’69 Torino grille in there. We installed mini tubs and pulled out the wheel wells for tire clearance. To clean up the lines, we removed the drip rails. There are custom bumpers, the quarter-extensions are hand-made, and we used 1970 Mustang taillights. You’ll note the gas filler door is removed, and there’s extensive work to ensure the door gaps are perfect.”

The interior includes Auto Meter gauges, an NRG suede steering wheel and Cobra seats with custom stitching. As we stated earlier, the original plan called for a roll bar, but it wasn’t feasible considering the location of the driver’s seat, which accommodates McIlvaines, seven-foot plus frame.

“It drove a lot easier then I thought it would, says McIlvanie. “It has 335 series tires all the way around, but Randy did such a good job making it fast and drivable. This car just turns easy It takes getting use to a lopy cam, and it makes me feel good when I drive it. Even from the first time we took it out, it was competitive. So, for 2019, I want to get to some autocrosses and [track events] at Road America, NCM Motorsports Park, and NOLA, which are all Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car Series events.”

Like any project, it takes great people and dedication to see it through. Jim would like to offer special thanks to his wife Gwendolyn McIlvaine and friends, Tobie Johnson, Cam Douglass, Ken Lingenfelter, Jeff Schwartz, Johnny Hunkins, and Pedro Gonzalez.

The post Former NBA Center Jim McIlvaine’s 1969 Mercurty Cyclone GT is a Slam Dunk Street Machine appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network https://www.hotrod.com/articles/former-nba-center-jim-mcilvaines-1969-mercurty-cyclone-gt-slam-dunk-street-machine/ via IFTTT

[midget-watson-blog]

Kingsroad Hack

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[oselatra]

Resist, Arkansas!

Surveying the state's grass roots resistance to Donald Trump and the Republicans who back him.

A lot of the people working the hardest in Arkansas against the aims of Donald Trump and the Republican Party he leads won't even say his name. Instead, they refer to him simply as "45," a reference, of course, to his place at the end of a chain of men stretching link by link from George Washington through Jefferson and Lincoln and FDR and JFK, before coming to rest, improbably, on a portly former game show host with the shellacked, urine-hued hair of an aging televangelist; a man who once appeared on WWE wrasslin'.

Though 45 and the pundits who seek to delegitimize the grassroots resistance that has sprung up since Election Day would likely call protesters haters, it's not hate that they have for him, exactly. Hate is an emotion that requires an investment of the heart, and if they're not willing to call him by name, they're damn sure not going to give him that. For most of them, what they seem to have for Trump is a profound sense of dismay. Mention Trump's name and you don't get hate. Instead, you get much the same look a long-suffering teacher might give little Johnny Spitball in the back row, the boy too dumb or too lacking in home training to understand that using a stick to hoist little girls' skirts on the playground to get a peek at their underpants isn't the path to their hearts.

Since the election of Donald Trump, a homegrown resistance has materialized throughout the state and across the nation, hell-bent on working against a regime intent on rolling back the odometer on the social, environmental and financial reforms of the past half-century. On Jan. 21, the day after the inauguration, an estimated 7,000 Arkansans marched on the state Capitol in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington, an event that drew nearly a million people to D.C. and millions more at sister marches around the nation and world. On Feb. 22, over 2,000 people showed up to roar their disapproval at Sen. Tom Cotton in Springdale, an event that wound up making international news and included Cotton tap-dancing around a question posed by a 7-year-old boy, who asked the senator to spend less on Trump's wall and more on PBS Kids.

It's all thanks to a volunteer resistance, including almost a dozen groups in the state working off the principles outlined in the "Indivisible Guide," a handbook for the burgeoning resistance written by former congressional and White House staffers (see sidebar). But in a state as red as Arkansas, where Cotton was elected with over 60 percent of the vote, is the burgeoning rebellion all sound and fury, signifying nothing? The question is yet to be answered, but in considering it, one should recall that there was a time, not much more than a decade ago, when this state was blue as could be. Both the weather and politics can change quickly here.

The striking thing about the resistance groups in Arkansas and nationwide is how female they are. Of the half-dozen organizations we talked to for this story, all are either wholly led by women or have an overwhelmingly female leadership. It's a striking break from most past mass movements in this country, and probably has a lot to do with the bruising campaign against Hillary Clinton and the sometime vulgar man who now sits in the Oval Office.

A lot of the current momentum in Arkansas grew from the state's Women's March held Jan. 21. The state march, which drew thousands of purple-clad protestors to the lawn of the state Capitol, was the brainchild of Gwendolynn Combs, who founded the Little Rock-based Be the Change Alliance to help organize the march.

A Gifted and Talented teacher in the Little Rock School District, Combs had been only lightly political before the election, the totality of her previous protest experience involving attending a rally when the state Board of Education took over the district. In what has become a familiar story in resistance groups, however, Combs was galvanized by the surprise election of Donald Trump. She stayed up until the early morning hours watching the returns come in on election night, then had to go face a classroom full of children she calls "my kids" next morning. These days, she's one of those who refers to Trump only as "45."

"I have 53 kids," she said. "Fifty of them are black, two are Hispanic and one is white. ... Teachers are silenced in a lot of ways. We're supposed to make sure we don't impact the political beliefs of our students. But at this point, I feel like if I'm not vocal about some things, I'm doing my students an injustice. Silence is just as bad as doing bad things. So I've kind of jumped out of that unspoken, 'teachers stay silent' mentality. That's been hard to do."

Combs wanted to go to the Women's March in D.C., but knew that financially and from a time standpoint a trip wasn't in the cards. So she started planning the sister march in Little Rock, creating a Facebook group and choosing the name Be the Change Alliance, taken from the Gandhi quote about being the change one wants to see in the world. Combs said she wanted a group that was accepting of all people. If you're in opposition to the Trump regime, you are welcome.

"When we picked the official color of the [Arkansas] Women's March, we chose purple, because we wanted to avoid going blue and turning off those people who might have voted red in the past," she said. "I am a very new blue voter. I used to vote Republican. We've had some conversations about how to talk across the aisle, how to be friendly, how to not shut people down. I think it's hard because people are defensive. They don't want to feel like they're attacked. It really has to start with listening."

Since the march, the group has continued to grow. Combs said there are nine people in the planning group and over 3,400 on their mailing list. They're in close contact with other grassroots progressive organizations around the state, and have helped secure meetings and town halls with congressional representatives. Combs said the group and the overall resistance movement are giving a voice to progressives throughout state.

"One of the things we've heard repeatedly as we've tried to mobilize the people who participated in the Women's March is, 'I'm all alone. I don't feel safe. I don't feel connected,' " she said. "That has been the real benefit of bringing up these Indivisible groups. It's given people a community when they felt like they were in isolation. ... I can't imagine being in Yellville or something like that and having liberal progressive beliefs."

Be the Change is in the process of making the pivot from outrage to action, helping steer participants toward established progressive organizations like the Sierra Club, Audubon, the Hunger Relief Alliance, the Arkansas Education Association and the network of Indivisible groups. On the team messaging service Slack, Be the Change has established seven working groups, including voter rights, human rights, economic issues, education, increasing the number of women in politics and the environment. Combs said the groups would allow volunteers to do deep, crowdsourced policy research in those areas and start thinking about ways to act locally. Combs said the ultimate goal is to eventually use the tactics of the Indivisible movement to shape the conversation in Arkansas, from city boards to the state legislature.

"We want to knock down Jason Rapert, and all the others who are out there — the little mini-Donald Trumps. That's where we're a bit different," she said.

Pat Rogers-Ward, one of the co-founders of the Progressive Arkansas Women PAC — a year-old group working to increase the number of women in elected office in Arkansas — says the large number of women leading the groups resisting Donald Trump is a reaction to his disrespect for women.

"We know that we cannot be silent with someone in leadership like that," Rogers-Ward said. "We've spent enough time in the back room. We've spent enough time stuffing envelopes and doing things behind the scenes with no recognition. We don't need to be recognized by someone else. We can recognize ourselves and build ourselves up. Women are the organizers behind what has happened for years. We are the foundation behind all that. We want to be up front."

Another co-founder, lawyer Bettina Brownstein, said there has been a surge in interest in the Progressive Arkansas Women PAC since the election of Trump. Their goals, however, are long term.

"We're thinking 10 years," she said. "It's a long, hard slog to change the composition of the Arkansas Legislature, city boards and councils and quorum courts. We're in it for the long haul, starting with the grassroots, getting women to be more involved in politics more, to run for office."

Brownstein said the number of women approaching the group for advice on how to run for something has seen an uptick. To that end, the group is planning a series of training events to recruit female candidates, the first of which will be a "Ready to Run" seminar on April 1 at Hendrix College in Conway. The PAC's goal, Brownstein said, is to recruit women, let them know what it's going to be like to run for elected office, then — once they become candidates — give them "the maximum amount of money we can under the laws of the state."

Women, said group member Katherine West, have leapt to the vanguard against Trump because his election proves they have a lot to lose.

"Nobody is going to help us but ourselves," West said. "We've kind of had this perception that if we were nice and good and we worked hard, that we would be protected, that we would get along, that we would advance. With the Trump election, we know that is not true. We've had to step way back, and at this point we're unwilling to do that. Some people are calling this another wave of feminism. Maybe that's what we need."

Kimberly Benyr, one of the co-founders of the group Ozark Indivisible, is another who said she wasn't political at all before the election of Trump. Like many, her frustration led her to activism. "I was pretty much in shock and depressed after the election," she said. "I didn't really know what to do and how to channel my angst about this. I found the "Indivisible Guide" by watching 'The Rachel Maddow Show [on MSNBC].'" Benyr started a private Facebook group called NWA Indivisible around the first week of January. Through word-of-mouth and friends adding friends, the group membership exploded from dozens to hundreds.

"I live in Benton County, which is very conservative," Benyr said. "I thought I was one of only half a dozen people who would be interested in a group like this. It seemed like people were coming out of hiding almost, when I'd hear from people. I don't really know how people found out about it. I certainly wasn't advertising. Once they would find one person who was interested, they'd add their friends." After discovering another group called Fayetteville Indivisible, Benyr reached out to founder Caitlynn Moses and they soon joined forces, renaming their combined group Ozark Indivisible. The group now has over 3,000 members on Facebook. As it is with many groups in the movement, the leadership of Ozark Indivisible is all women. Benyr said about two-thirds of their membership is female.

Since its founding, Ozark Indivisible has been heavily involved in the effort to push Sen. Cotton to meet with representatives about their concerns or to hold a town hall meeting, including showing up at his Northwest Arkansas office in early February to protest what they saw as a "closed door policy" toward constituents. At Cotton's town hall in Springdale — the venue was changed three times to accommodate a crowd that eventually numbered over 2,200 — Cotton brought Moses onstage and offered her an apology for her unsuccessful attempts to reach him. Though other public events Cotton has since held in Heber Springs and Jonesboro have featured much friendlier crowds, Benyr said the anger on display in Springdale is a reflection of the mood of the country and the energy on the left. She said other representatives of the state are running scared, seeking refuge in small gatherings and conference calls rather than facing their constituents.

"I think they're aware that a lot of their constituency is not happy with what's going on in Washington, and they're aware that we're not wanting them to rubber-stamp Trump's agenda," she said. "They believe we're the minority, that we're not the ones that voted to put them in office, so they don't show up. I guess they don't think it's important to govern for all of us. Just the ones who voted for them."

Benyr, who works part time and has two children, said that she has seen the effects of Trump's election on her kids, especially her middle-school-age daughter, and that's part of what spurred her to action. Contrary to the Republican talking point about "paid protestors," Benyr said she and others in the group are sacrificing time and money to stay in the fight.

"We're a Facebook group. There's definitely no money behind this. We just utilize a free guide that's online. It's people finding us online, and we organize almost entirely online. People are self-motivated. They asked what they could do to participate and help, and they just showed up in force."

Because of that spontaneous energy, Benyr says, she believes it isn't a given that Trump will win the state in 2020. "I really don't know that people will vote for Trump in Arkansas in four years," she said. "I don't think Trump is conservative. I think he's an anomaly. So I'm not resigned to the fact that he will be re-elected, even in this state. I think that as more comes to light and more things happen that people didn't realize could happen, minds will be changed."

Terrie Root, one of the four founders of Indivisible Central Arkansas, can tell you off the top of her head how many days are left until Election Day 2020 (the day of our interview, it was 1,342). She said her sense of mourning and fear after the election was so deep that she skipped celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"He scares the hell out of us," she said. "He wants to take us back to what we've fought our whole lives, in my opinion. He wants to erase all the progress we've made, all the gains we've made, all the protections we now have in the court system."

Root and co-founders Deana Jennings and Jan Baker became involved after their book group studied the "Indivisible Guide" in the weeks after the election. They later met fourth founder Jason Bailey. Though the group started small, they've grown exponentially in recent months. Their "missing persons" town hall Feb. 26, meant to draw media attention to the refusal of Arkansas's all-Republican congressional delegation to hold public town halls in Central Arkansas, drew over 400 people only nine days after it was announced.

"We're offering assistance and opening the door to everybody who has a concern about 45 and his agenda and the way our members of Congress have turned against the people who sent them to Congress, so everybody can find a place in what we're doing." Root said, "Maybe their particular interest is immigration. We have a place for immigration, we have a place for education, we have a place for veterans. It's a broad base."

Bailey, who has made it a habit to call the office of each Arkansas congressman every day since Jan. 21, says that as a gay man, he feels particularly threatened by Trump and his policies.

"When marriage equality was established, I had the ability to dream that I could get married," he said. "Now that has the potential of not being something I can do. It's very disheartening and soul-crushing to grow up as a gay man in deep southern Arkansas, have something that you've fought for in the shadows because you can't be out, fight for it even more, get it, just to have it snatched out of your hands."

Indivisible Central Arkansas is planning to spin off neighborhood groups so people can work on issues that they are passionate about and affect local change rather than just waiting for events so they can protest. Bailey said that's important to keep the base motivated and energized for the long fight ahead. "We have recognized that continuing to motivate people will take a lot of work," she said. "We're in it for the long haul. We're constantly re-evaluating how we can motivate people who come to the town halls, people who come to our meetings, how we can keep them motivated to continue the process. It is a long process, and people can get burned out quickly." Baker said the group will eventually move in the direction of helping register and educate voters, and help progressive candidates run and get elected to public office.

"We're going to talk about how we can work with the other Indivisible groups in the state for a common goal, which is looking toward the 2018 election," she said. "All our members of Congress in the four districts will be up for re-election. We're not just meeting to empower. We're meeting to empower with a purpose."

Jason Bailey agreed. "Working with the Indivisible group and seeing what's happening with President Trump has shown me: What does democracy look like? This is what democracy looks like," he said. "We are resisting. We are the group that did not vote for that man. And he is starting to see what it looks like."

State Rep. Greg Leding (R-Fayetteville) is one of those who hopes the energy directed at Trump may soon turn to more local matters. In his fourth term in the legislature, Leding says there's a troubling degree of anonymity to being a state legislator, which he believes denotes a lack of public engagement. "I can still walk through my district and most folks just have no clue who I am," he said. "Personally that can be a good thing, because I can go to the store without being hounded. But I think it would be a great thing and democracy would be better served if people were paying attention."

Since the election, Leding has made several Facebook posts highlighting huge turnout at capitols in other states to resist bills that are seen as harmful to social progress, labor movements or the LGBT community. In January, he distributed a "Determined Constituent's Guide to the Arkansas State Capitol," a pamphlet featuring phone numbers, communication tips, committee room assignments and other information useful to a citizen who wants to make his or her voice heard by state legislators. Leding said Arkansans focused on resisting and protesting Trump are doing good work but ignore local issues at their peril.

"I think it's perfectly fine to be calling your legislators in D.C., and you should be," he said. "But the people here in Arkansas are going to be making decisions on a daily basis that will, in a lot of cases, more immediately and more directly affect your everyday life. Not just in the legislature. Your quorum courts, your city councils. So I would tell people to become familiar with whom your local elected officials are, learn what's going on in the state Capitol and your city hall. Make sure you're holding local officials accountable, too." Leding said many state legislators would likely be swayed by what he called "appropriate public input."

"I always tell people when you're contacting a lawmaker: Be brief, be polite and be to the point, because they can be busy," Leding said. "If you just show up screaming at them, they're never going to listen. But if they engage, that gives them the opportunity to have a longer conversation. But you're not going to get anywhere calling names."

Leding said he has seen increased public participation this session, including a large turnout for committee hearings on the so-called "campus carry" bill that would allow concealed handguns on college campuses. Though Leding said that bill is very likely to pass in some form in the Republican-dominated legislature, constituents shouldn't be swayed from showing up and having their voices heard. "Even if the bill is guaranteed to pass, the people passing it need to hear from the opposition," Leding said. "They need to know that they are acting against the overwhelming wishes of most people. If you didn't show up, this thing could pass, and then the people who support it can say, 'Well, we didn't hear from anybody who opposed it." It's about establishing a public record and letting the lawmakers know they do face opposition."

Leding said House Bill 1578 by Rep. Kim Hammer (R-Benton), the latest in a series of anti-protest bills across the country, which would change the legal definition of "riot" to include "causing public alarm" and impeding traffic, allowing civil lawsuits against those who offend, is a sign that people need to "stay out there marching."

"To chip away at our freedom to gather in protest is just absolutely ridiculous," Leding said. "I think it's also a little bit cowardly. The people who helped shape the framework for this country a couple centuries ago felt that it was so important that it's right there in the First Amendment, so I completely oppose any effort to curtail our rights."

If it ever comes time to fight Hammer's effort in court, ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Rita Sklar will likely be there. Sklar said over a thousand people have joined the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU since the election, part of a push that included over $23 million in donations to the national ACLU in the single weekend when confusion reigned over Trump's executive order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Though Sklar said she doesn't anticipate seeing much of those donations to assist in efforts in Arkansas, the group continues to push back in the state.

"Soon after the election, bullying broke out like a bad rash all over the country," she said. "People thought it was open season on blacks, Hispanics and Muslims. So there's definitely been an uptick on those kinds of problems. And the legislature, certainly, has decided it's open season on everybody not them. So we're busy for sure."

Like Leding, Sklar said she's focused on local issues, and wishes more Arkansans who have joined the resistance against Trump would be as well. "Who is president is extremely important for a lot of reasons, but what they're doing at the legislature affects us in so many different ways," she said. "I wish people would pay more attention to that."

Nationally, the ACLU has launched a new effort at the website peoplepower.org to help resistors channel their energy and frustration into action. On Saturday, March 11, Sklar said, the ACLU will host streaming training events supported by national ACLU staff and hosted at private homes. (Vino's, at Seventh and Chester streets, will host one of the streaming trainings, starting at 3:30 p.m. Others can be found at peoplepower.org.)

"The idea is really just to take all these people who continue to meet and march, saying, 'We want to do something!' and say, 'This is what you can do.' We hope it's the beginning of a movement that keeps going. When you feel like you're on the winning side, you forget that you need to keep in touch with politics, you need to keep up with your representatives. That's a problem we see locally. People think that because abortion is legal, they don't really have to pay too much attention to what goes on. But they've been chipping away at it for decades."

Sklar said that the resistance against Trump among progressives and women especially is rooted in "his utter disregard for women." Trump's election, she said, was a shock to the system that offends moral decency, and women across the country have risen to the challenge, as has the ACLU.

"I'm very gratified that when people think the Constitution is threatened, generally in many different ways, that they know that we're the ones you can turn to across the board on so many issues," she said. "The Constitution is in danger? Call the ACLU. That is very heartening. I know it feels corny, but that's the way I feel. It's wonderful that people feel that way, even if they didn't know it until the crisis came and hit them in the face."

Resist, Arkansas!