November 7th, 2017

It's been a quiet day. Or at least it was a quiet morning. The city seems to be licking it's wounds after yesterday's protests, made even moreso by the snowfall. The police remain guarding the tree along with some firemen. Though there are groups of firemen and police who are speaking out against the force that they were authorized to use yesterday. A lot of city departments have issued statements of regret, which is a good sign. Though City Hall has been quiet.

On the other hand there are a lot of citizen groups who are also speaking out against the weapons and threats that people had brought yesterday. It's nice to see that people are taking responsibility, rather than just pointing fingers.

That's not to say the finger pointing isn't happening. Both sides of the protest are blaming the other for everything that has happened. The only thing they can seem to agree upon is that the city was out of line for attacking the people.

I've seen a few reports of how the injured are recovering. Most seem to be doing better, but a few are in limbo. The police officer that got hit by the molotov has stabilized, though skin grafts are what they're talking about now.

So the streets are what's quiet, and even the museum was nearly empty today. The media has not been quiet. I did finally hear from Melia Floros though. She was interviewed about the protests, which she claims to have had nothing to do with. She said she's spent most of the last few days trying to talk to city officials about preventing the tree from being cut down. But they've rejected and ignored her at every turn. So now she's out protesting again, doing everything she can to be heard.

She's openly stated that the tree is a true ironwood, and that the city has a responsibility to protect it. That it's one of the last of it's kind. I think my jaw just about hit the floor when I first heard that, I can't believe someone said it publicly. I can't believe anyone else knows. I emailed Hal again to try and talk about it, but he must be busy with his secret society 'cause he hasn't responded at all. I didn't even see him at work today.

As far as the two groups of protesters go, the ones that were chanting and singing last night are still there. They seem to have a much more relaxed attitude today, as though they believe the tree can't be cut down no matter how hard the city tries. The others, the ones that wanted the tree removed have gotten even more vocal and nasty. The tree is no longer just some omen, but an evil tree that must be removed. They use a lot of Christian language, and no doubt they themselves are Christian, but I'd hate to think all Christians are in support of them. They've been downright mean toward the tree, it's pagan supporters, and Melia in particular. But as is so often the case, I haven't heard other Christians speaking out against such behavior. And Christians wonder why they have such a poor reputation.

Max said she's been loaded up with make up work for all the classes that were cancelled yesterday. So she's not been very talkative, but she has said she's looking forward to getting together on Thursday. She's still hoping to visit the tree. I called Candace when I got home from work, she said Sam has flat out forbidden her from going anywhere near the tree. She said she hadn't talked with him about us going, just that he had demanded it out of the blue. Candace admitted wanting to go just to spite him, but after everything she'd heard about yesterday, she doesn't want to go. I don't blame her, I'm feeling cautious about it myself. We'll see how things go tomorrow, and use it to judge whether or not to visit on Thursday.