What's New Pussyhat?

More than 2.6 million people from all over the world marched in solidarity last Saturday. I was only one. Mary and Ed made three, a dozen friends from Louisville brought the number up to 15, added to the other 500,000+ in Washington, D.C. plus 2.1 million marchers who took part in 673 marches in all 50 states and 32 countries. That's 2.6 million strong – sending an powerful message of resistance to any curtailment of rights for women and minorities. Can you hear us now?

Photo from democracynow.org

What a day it was. Full of energy, kindnesses, and peaceful activism. For the first time since the election, I sensed hope spreading from every corner and every face into every heart.

We took the Amtrak train from Baltimore's Penn Station into D.C.'s Union Station. Both stations were a sea of pussyhats: pink, knit, many handmade, the perfect comeback to Trump's red caps.

Emerging from the D.C. station we were immediately swept into an orderly flow of arrivals, all headed toward Independence Avenue; the Capitol building emerging to our left, draped in U.S. flags. At the sidewalk edges, vendors hawked bottled water, pretzels, and pink hats. Many marchers carried signs which provided entertainment all day long. My favorite?

SO BAD, EVEN INTROVERTS ARE HERE. 

Portraits of my heroes.

Mary and friend Julie. #whyImarch

Ed with his nasty women

I couldn't have asked for a better big birthday weekend. I was still smiling when we got back home on Monday. Then I made the mistake of turning on the news: the dismantling of Affordable Care Act, attacks on the media, alternative facts, no release of tax returns, an investigation into imaginary voter fraud, nepotism, the 1900-mile-long wall, immigration enforcement, moving of U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, defunding of sanctuary cities, EPA gag orders, the restarting of the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines. The list goes on...

But guess what? We'll be right there, resisting all the craziness. You will be hearing us now and every day for the next four years, every time human rights are being violated. We are 2.6 million strong, and growing by the moment. No disputing those figures!