Brother, can you spare some sidewalk chalk for Palestine?

When I entered the Palestine protest encampment on UW-Madison’s campus, I didn’t know what to expect. After the chaos I had read about at other such college encampments, I certainly didn’t expect “pathetic” to stick out as the most descriptive word when I walked away an hour later.

It was the sidewalk chalk in particular, which was of course everywhere. Silent slogans were plastered on every inch of cement, written with a utensil that my three-year-old daughter uses on a driveway.