I look back at my last post and wonder at how afraid I was – to the point of saying I was willing to die, if necessary. I thought we might be confronted by the ugliness and/or violence of the misogynistic, nationalistic, neo-Nazi, right. I was willing to take the risk. The night before the march there were riots in the streets of the capitol and hundreds arrested. I expected the police to be on edge. They probably were.
Today I am here to report that 500,000 strong came together in ways I have not seen before. Women’s participation and leadership shaped an atmosphere and embodied a kind of strength that is contrary to the traditional masculine understanding of power. And we shone. Proud. Powerful. Fun. Fabulous. Making all the connections between race and class, immigrants, nationalities, people with disabilities, sexualities, genders, gender-expressions, children, elders, infants, and the planet! This is what we do so well – we see ourselves linked and bonded to one another and to the earth and the sky and the oceans.
We chanted
“This is what democracy looks like!”
The women shouted “My body, my choice!” and the men responded “her body, her choice!”
And “immigrants are welcome here” and “We’re here, we’re queer and we will not be afraid”
The signs! The AMAZING, creative signs (all correctly spelled):
“the rise of the woman is the rise of the nation”
“I march because a man once told me my opinions about politics were an example of ‘why women should stay in the kitchen’ all the other men in the room laughed. Am I still funny now?”
“Fight like a girl”
“Impeach Putin’s pussy-grabbing, tiny fingered, puppet”
“when they go low, we go high” (thanks Michelle)
“YUGE mistake”
“this election was brought to you by the KGB”
“a woman’s place is in the revolution”
“let us not grow weary”
“make America Kind again” and “make America Care again”
“hope not fear”
“they buried us but they didn’t know we’re seeds”
“there is no planet B”
“black trans lives matter”
“amnesty for the dreamers”
“women know how to clean, let’s start with your Cabinet”
“make America think again”
“I will not be silent”
“rapist in chief”
“pussies unite”
“respect our existence or expect resistance”
“What do we want? Evidence based science! When do we want it? After peer review!”
“the power of the people is stronger than people in power” .
We embody the hope, the anger, the passion, and the commitment of women and men across our nation and around the world, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe. We will rise up, engage, work from within and without to take back the heart of our country. We will define who we are as a nation – not the one painted by neo-Nazi, misogynist, racist, classist, ‘alternative fact’ bullshit artists.
What can we know now that we may not have realized before? That our story is quite different from the one fabricated by Trump and his hacks who believe his election is the end of the story. It is not. We are.
We will write about the time to come because we are the ones who will make it happen.We will claim our flawed fore-bearers and our own imperfections while following a shared vision of what is possible. We will work against racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, climate change, and for disability rights, trans-rights, healthcare, equal pay and all things that contribute to the well-being of each one. We will work to recapture the heart of our nation and tell tales of all those who champion truth, freedom, inclusion, and justice. We must do the work and be the change so we can teach those who come after us the art of dragon-slaying.
Once upon a time…