I March For All Those I Love

INSTEAD OF WATCHING the Inauguration of the Imbecile In Chief, I spent the day working on my signs for the Women's March Los Angeles, a sister march to the one in D.C.  Given all the hateful rhetoric that this moronic imbecile spewed throughout his campaign, my list of slogans was extensive.  I had written them all down on a pink legal pad.  I didn't want his name to appear on my sign - I feel that feeds his sick ego too much.  I wanted to say something about diversity, about white privilege, about ignorance, about fear mongering, about being our brothers keeper.  What I ended up with was:

THE WOMEN'S MARCH IN LOS ANGELES was an incredible experience.  We left our house in Burbank at around 6:30 a.m., parked in the lot at the NoHo Metro station.  Caught the Redline to Pershing Square.  Metro cars were full but not packed when we arrived.  There were a couple hundred people milling about at Pershing Square and we made our way up the steps to see where people were gathering.  After about 30 minutes we were encouraged to walk around to the other corner where the day was going to be kicked off with a blessing from an Indigenous Tribal member. After the blessing the crowds began to move towards the corner but suddenly everything stopped moving.  We were not far from the street, and could hear most of what was being said on the speakers - but nothing was moving.  We came to realize later after viewing photographs that so many people showed up - streets began closing everywhere due to the number of people who showed up.  We were supposed to march from Pershing Square to City Hall - but the entire route filled up solidly with people - and instead of a march - we had a stand!!

70,000 rsvp'd / 140,000 anticipated / 750,000 people showed up.

SIGNAGE WAS the subject of much photography.  My sign went a bit viral the night before the march - on Facebook, and eventually Reddit (of which I know nothing about).  My message seemed to resonate with many.  I had many women ask if they could be photographed with me and my sign. My friends began calling me the 'darling of Instagram' due to the frequency of photo requests.

750,000 people.  No arrests.

I SAW WOMEN with young children in strollers.  I saw women pushing their grandmothers and great grandmothers in wheel chairs.  I saw dads carrying daughters on shoulders - those daughters carrying signs high as their little arms could hold them up.  I saw trans-gendered women proudly marching among crowds who accepted them for who they are.  There were groups of women dressed in period costume, giving a nod to those women who marched so long ago to fight for our right to vote today.  The air was filled with an incredible spirit of solidarity against all that wreaks in our current administration.

750,000 people.  No cell service.

BY 9:00 A.M. WE NOTICED we had no cell service - just too many people at once trying to record the event.  Around 11:00 a.m. we began walking down 6th street and made our way to a stage that was queuing up for Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Miley Cyrus, and others.  Our group of 4 leaned our backs against a closed business along the sidewalk and decided to just hang out in this location for a bit.  The street was full of people and it seemed to be getting more crowded by the moment.  I was scoping out our surroundings and realized the building across the street had a cell phone tower on top of it - all of us had a signal and we began checking in, posting, and seeing areal views of where we were - insanely crowded.

750,000 people.  All related.

I AM FILLED WITH HOPE at the number of protests worldwide, in solidarity toward basic human kindness.