Seattle March For Science

Day 191 (bonus post): Rain and wind were not enough to deter thousands of people from turning out for the March for Science in Seattle today. The day started out dry, but once the speakers had finished and we actually started marching along the route, rain fell steadily for about half an hour. Gusty wind had it difficult to keep signs aloft. Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to wrap mine in plastic. I had met up with several people from the Morris dance group and marched with them from Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill to Seattle Center. I believe we were near the middle of the group which must have extended at least three-quarters of a mile on either side of us. I've heard one rough estimate of 24,000 attendees, the stalwart Pacific Northwesterners who won't let a little rain stop them!

Ella Wheeler Wilcox - Protest

Day 129 (bonus post): I take no credit for this, not even for finding it. It was sent to me by a friend, and is in the public domain.

PROTEST
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
(b. Nov. 5, 1850 – d. Oct. 30, 1919)

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and childbearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.

Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.

Seattle Women's March

Day 101: My readers must forgive a divergence from my customary posts. I have stood apart from politics for fifty years, content to let the mill of government grind out what it will, dealing with its consequences as they sifted down to me on a personal level. We have had good presidents and bad. They have come and gone in turn, and nothing too damaging has been left in their wakes. Good or bad, we have weathered them. None has been unendurable. None has been vile...until now.

 

Yesterday, I marched alongside some 130,000 like-minded people in Seattle in protest against a man who I believe is unfit to be the commander-in-chief of this country, unfit to walk on the same side of the street with people of decency and moral character. I will not enumerate his offenses here; they are widely known and do not bear repeating. I will say in qualification that the vulgarity of his addresses to women have prompted a reaction in the same vein, profanity meeting profanity. I do not excuse that response, but I understand it. Some of the posters and signs I depict here are rude and crude. They come from a broad cross-section of humanity, and not all of us couch our sentiments in polite, cool terms.

I will ask my readers to remember that this was primarily a march for women's rights. For the most part, my lens was trained on the broader scope: human rights and the environment. It is my hope that these images will speak more profoundly than my mere words can do.