A pretty mellow (125 people??) protest at SeaWorld. Hotter today than the protest in September. The weather in Southern California keeps getting warmer and weirder as the department stores fill with Christmas decorations earlier every year.

San Diego high school teacher Anthony Palmiotto, whose Cinematic Arts students made the balanced, yet confrontational  film “Dear Seaworld,” walked among the protestors scribbling notes followed by three young protégés with cameras. “They’re going to be great filmmakers!” Palmiotto enthused. Seeing Palmiotto and his young film crew felt good, since my friend Carolyn and I had been talking about how to get students involved in activism without offering extra credit.

But the youth of America sure turned out today–from the bohemian kids with shimmering pink hair and vegan creeper shoes to the cute chipper girls who handed anti-SeaWorld flyers to admiring guys in 4×4 trucks and the changing roster of young activists donned the hot, velvety killer whale outfit.  These sweltering ambassadors danced as spiritedly as anyone possibly could in a suffocating Orca suit. They held signs that read TURN BACK NOW. SEE BLACKFISH. “It’s about a hundred degrees in there,” one girl revealed, briefly removing the velvety black and white head and swigging Gatorade. “But  the whales have it a lot worse.”