Peter Hedges

There’s a story behind every sign. What’s yours? Send us a photo of your protest sign and tell us why your message is personally important to you. We share signs & the stories behind them to amplify messages of resistance to a wider audience. First names only. No faces. Submit your sign/story at 

A Signs of the Time conversation with Steve in East Hampton, NY SOTT: Steve, your sign says, "Maniacs Are Governing America." Why those words? They made me laugh, in a painful way. STEVE: Yeah, it is painful what we're going through right now, but we’ve got to do our part. People in the past have stood up to tyranny, and it's our time now. I don't want my grandkids to grow up with people like this running the government. Government's for the people. It's not our enemy. It's what helps us get along. How are you going to keep 340 million people living together if you don't have some kind of rules? And it's shared values that everybody accepts, like the rule of law, right? SOTT: So your grandchildren are top of mind? STEVE: Absolutely. Yeah. That's why I'm here today. I'm here because I don't want this to be what my grandkids have to live under. I've got five of them from ages two to twenty. So hopefully it's going to improve. SOTT: Are the older ones aware of what's going on? STEVE: Not really. No. Look how many old farts are out here at the rally today – that tells you who's upset about this. Because we've seen enough that we know that this is not normal, what we're going through now. And so hopefully we can inspire young people to get involved because it's their world after all. SOTT: I also see that you're holding an American flag along with your sign. Tell me why that's important to you. STEVE: Because I'm not going to let some orange pumpkin take over my country. This is my country, my flag, and that guy's a charlatan, as far as I'm concerned. He's right out of the Elmer Gantry movie for those that remember. Hopefully if people stand up to it, we have the power. If people come together, we don't have to put up with this stuff. We don't have to be divided like this. We can find our better angels if we work on it and have people that set those kinds of examples for us. And hopefully someday we'll see those kinds of examples back in government. But right now, I'm not seeing a lot of that. ***** On Sat Oct 18, millions of us are rising again to show the power belongs to the people. Find a protest at

A Signs of the Time conversation with Peter from Brooklyn, NY Today's sign/story is a cross-post from the Substack account of Signs of the Time founding member Peter Hedges. Find Peter's "47 Ways Forward – Strategies for Navigating the Next Four Years" on Substack. On Saturday, October 18, 2025, there will be mass protests all across America. Find a protest nearest you at . It's time for all of us who are willing and able to raise our voices and take to the streets. Make signs, make noise, and peacefully make the 'good trouble' the late Congressman John Lewis implored us all to make. If you would like to be a Signs of the Time contributor, please write to us at [email protected]. Signs of the Time is an all-volunteer collective that cares deeply about this fraught moment in time. We celebrate the creative ways people are demonstrating at rallies around the country by taking photos of protest signs and sharing the personal stories behind them. To submit your own sign and story, go to Signs-of-the-Time.com. Photos of signs and interview comments have been used with permission of the sign creators and volunteer photographers/journalists. Special thanks to Signs of the Time co-founder Ellen Boscov for the interview. An extra-special shout-out to Ellen's daughter, Amelia Boscov, for taking all the photographs posted here.

Today’s sign, first attempt.

A Signs of the Time conversation with Lyn in Decorah, Iowa SOTT: Tell me about your sign. Why are you here today? LYN: Two grandfathers fought in World War I for our democracy, and my dad and my uncle fought in World War II. My Uncle John did not come back from the war. He gave his life. Now it’s my turn to fight because they did. SOTT: How did their stories affect you growing up, especially the loss of your uncle? LYN: They kept the stories to themselves for quite a while, especially with my dad. It wasn't until he was in an assisted living facility that he started telling more stories. It helped the grandchildren to ask. I don't remember my grandpas talking about the war at all. I think it was very hard. This was his son. He went down in an airplane, and they never recovered his body. [Pause] So they fought, and you fight. They instilled in us that democracy is important. I've never protested before. I didn't burn my bra. I didn't march for Vietnam or for civil rights, but I thought I can't not do this, right? I can't not try to do something. SOTT: It’s a great sign, so thanks for being here. ***** Signs of the Time is an all-volunteer collective that cares deeply about this fraught moment in time. We celebrate the creative ways people are demonstrating at rallies around the country by taking photos of protest signs and sharing the personal stories behind them. To submit your own sign and story, go to Signs-of-the-Time.com. Photos of signs and interview comments have been used with permission of the sign creators and volunteer photographers/journalists.

Stand up for justice. Speak out for workers. Find a rally near you at mobilize.us, fifty-fifty.one or indivisible.org. Find more events/resources or share your own protest sign & story at . Follow us for daily protest signs and the stories behind the signs.

A Signs of the Time conversation with Emerson from Boulder, Colorado in Nosara, Costa Rica SOTT: So I am interviewing Emerson who is from Colorado, but is presently in Costa Rica. Emerson, can you tell us a little bit about your history with politics and protests? EMERSON: For protests, I started marching in 2015 against Trump and his tyranny because I realized at a young age that what he was doing was not right. I was protesting for non-fracking, for LGBTQ rights, for racial rights, for all these things that Trump just despises. And as for political stuff, I wasn't too in on it. And then I started watching the news here and there, and I got the info that this man is just absolutely insane. The fact that he mistreats people and his country and burns our money on just uselessness. And the fact that we elected him twice is just ridiculous. SOTT: And so now that you're a teenager and you're only a few months away from being able to vote yourself, what are you feeling? EMERSON: I'm feeling like if we don't do something we won't be able to vote again, because they might get rid of voting and ruin the economy. SOTT: And so that influenced your choice of verbiage in your sign? EMERSON: Yes, it very much did. It definitely inspired what the sign says. SOTT: And what about the drawing? EMERSON: The drawing represents how Trump's greed and ego is equivalent to what a devil's greed and ego would be. So I decided to best show that with a devil loving money. Kind of like how Trump is a devil loving money. ***** Signs of the Time is an all-volunteer collective that cares deeply about this fraught moment in time. We celebrate the creative ways people are demonstrating at rallies around the country by taking photos of protest signs and sharing the personal stories behind them. To submit your own sign and story, go to Signs-of-the-Time.com. Photos of signs and interview comments have been used with permission of the sign creators and volunteer photographers/journalists.

Stand up. Speak out. Find a protest near you at mobilize.us, fifty-fifty.one or indivisible.org. Find more events/resources or share your own protest sign & story at . Follow us for daily protest signs and the stories behind the signs. #solidarity #protest #50501 #indivisible

Stand up. Speak out. Find a protest near you at mobilize.us, fifty-fifty.one or indivisible.org. Find more events/resources or share your own protest sign & story at . Follow us for daily protest signs and the stories behind the signs. #dissentispatriotic #protest #solidarity #50501movement #50501 #indivisible

Stand up. Speak out. Find a protest near you at mobilize.us, fifty-fifty.one or indivisible.org. Find more events/resources or share your own protest sign & story at . Follow us for daily protest signs and the stories behind the signs. #solidarity #protest #50501 #50501movement #indivisible #dissentispatriotic

Stand up. Speak out. Find a protest near you at mobilize.us, fifty-fifty.one or indivisible.org. Find more events/resources or share your own protest sign & story at . Follow us for daily protest signs and the stories behind the signs.#solidarity #protest #50501 #dissentispatriotic #indivisible

Stand up. Speak out. Find a protest near you at mobilize.us, fifty-fifty.one or indivisible.org. Find more events/resources or share your own protest sign & story at . Follow us for daily protest signs and the stories behind the signs.#solidarity #protest #50501 #indivisible