The small things

One part of the story of today's historic May Day boycott will be the big rallies in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Orlando -- the third wave of major demonstrations in the last two months for the growing immigrant rights movement.

But even more interesting will be the thousands of small acts of defiance that are springing up across the country, like this one:

None of the 175 seasonal laborers who normally work Mike Collins' 500 acres of Vidalia onion fields in southeastern Georgia showed up Monday.

Maybe these farmworkers headed to the demonstration in Atlanta or somewhere else in Georgia, or maybe they just stayed home. I doubt anyone will figure out a way to accurately measure the full scope of these events. But their cumulative impact and symbolism are huge.