I was finally able to use the first mood on the list
Today was historic. MONUMENTAL. I got my lazy ass out of the Shenandoah Valley and attended the March for Women's Lives, held this year on the Mall in DC.
Can I just say wow. WOW. (yes that was italic bold /italic /bold)
After a lovely morning singing in chapel at the Alumni Memorial Service (yay for organized religion), I headed off to DC by way of Rt. 50 East, in tandum with my friend Shannon. After about an hour's drive, we hit the metro stop, where we wait for awhile and board our respective metro train. Upon arrival, we sit near a group of three young men, approx. age around 18-23. I, being the nosey bitch that I am, listen to their conversation, because what else do you do on the metro? The one boy, who I'll call Alien for lack of a better, more creative name, has these wacky conspiracy theories in his head, like how the Egyptians were aliens and we're really all aliens whose minds are all connected to a main power source, which is where our thoughts and feelings and movements come from. (I'm sorry if I offended anyone by calling them wacky. This, however, is MY journal, so THERE!) Since it was a 33 minute metro ride, I listened to this type of conversation for 33 whole minutes. I was ready to kick some conservative ass by the time I got off at the Smithsonian stop, at approx. 2:15pm.
Stepping out of the Metro was an experience in itself. The first image I am greeted with is a mother, dressed in all pink with pro-choice buttons and stickers plastered on every available inch of skin, holding hands with her daughter, no more than 10 years old, dressed very similarly. Each holds signs and posters with pro-choice slogans splattered about. I thought to myself, "this is going to be awesome".
When we get to the mall, it was quite clear that most of the people were actually on the march itself. Still, the Mall was not what I would describe as empty. Shannon and I, after picking up a few posters and signs, found ourselves a comfy spot on the too wet grass. The main stage was right near the capital building, but large screens and speakers were set up all the way back to the Washington Monument. We watched speaker after speaker on this huge screen, screaming out "yeas!" and "right on!" along side our favorite celebrities. I can now tell people I've sung with Carole King (sigh). I can now say I saw Susan Sarandon.
The celebrities were cool, but not as cool as the feeling I got when we stood on the Mall. Being surrounded by all those people, all fighting for the same cause, is just the most amazing feeling you can think of. Everyone was so positive, so hopeful, so energetic. It was almost as if all of our hopes and dreams for women all over the world were being stewed in a great big pot and the fumes were fueling us all towards greater things.
Next came meeting up with Lara, whose newly red hair is awesomely awesome, even though she has to dye it back in fear of killing her grandmother. I obviously love her, so I don't think we need to go into that.I also loved her friend Kendall, who does look a whole lot like Drew Barrymore, in a non-ditzy way. Ok, so Lara, Shan, and I waited in a line for fries for a good 30 minutes, and then ate them. They were, by the way, awesome fries, but probably because I paid $2.25 for them.
After the fries, we heard Ani Difranco being announced and rushed the stage. By rushed the stage, I mean ran really fast with all the other fems to an area close to the stage and stood on our tiptoes til we saw a glimpse of a dredlock. She was by the far the highlight of my day. (blah blah blah, shes the voice of our generation, blah blah blah, her lyrics are important, as opposed to the mindless drivel we usually hear, yadda yadda-don't wanna sound cheesy). We started to get really cold, and it was getting late, so we decided to head back to the metro. I was stopped on the way by some guy with a camera asking who my favorite speaker was, and I talked to his camera for a second, turned around, thought I had lost everyone, freaked for about a second, found my friends, and departed.
We got to the metro, said our teary goodbyes, and came home, but not before being thanked by a middle-aged couple who said that we should be very proud for taking part in such a momentous event and how they appreciated the young support. THEN some guy behind us started asking us how we felt about it and that he thought it was great blah blah blah. Anyway, it was just really nice to see the positivity and kindness from these people, who, without this cause, would have been complete strangers on the metro, just trying to get home.
Looking back on the whole occasion, I can say that I am truly proud to have been part of it. My name was on that tally of over a million people. My hands were raised in applause for tremendous speeches by tremendous women. My voice was heard over the mall in cheers of appreciation and acknowledgement. Not only that, but I was able to partake in this event with such a widely diverse group of men, women, and children. On any given day, we would have all been a bunch of people with nothing in common. On April 25th, we all had something in common, and there's something to be said about that.
It was a momentous occasion, and I'm glad to have been part of it.
Plus, I didn't get tear-gassed and I didn't have to waste my breath on pushy pro-lifers. All in all a great success. Two thumbs up.
Can I just say wow. WOW. (yes that was italic bold /italic /bold)
After a lovely morning singing in chapel at the Alumni Memorial Service (yay for organized religion), I headed off to DC by way of Rt. 50 East, in tandum with my friend Shannon. After about an hour's drive, we hit the metro stop, where we wait for awhile and board our respective metro train. Upon arrival, we sit near a group of three young men, approx. age around 18-23. I, being the nosey bitch that I am, listen to their conversation, because what else do you do on the metro? The one boy, who I'll call Alien for lack of a better, more creative name, has these wacky conspiracy theories in his head, like how the Egyptians were aliens and we're really all aliens whose minds are all connected to a main power source, which is where our thoughts and feelings and movements come from. (I'm sorry if I offended anyone by calling them wacky. This, however, is MY journal, so THERE!) Since it was a 33 minute metro ride, I listened to this type of conversation for 33 whole minutes. I was ready to kick some conservative ass by the time I got off at the Smithsonian stop, at approx. 2:15pm.
Stepping out of the Metro was an experience in itself. The first image I am greeted with is a mother, dressed in all pink with pro-choice buttons and stickers plastered on every available inch of skin, holding hands with her daughter, no more than 10 years old, dressed very similarly. Each holds signs and posters with pro-choice slogans splattered about. I thought to myself, "this is going to be awesome".
When we get to the mall, it was quite clear that most of the people were actually on the march itself. Still, the Mall was not what I would describe as empty. Shannon and I, after picking up a few posters and signs, found ourselves a comfy spot on the too wet grass. The main stage was right near the capital building, but large screens and speakers were set up all the way back to the Washington Monument. We watched speaker after speaker on this huge screen, screaming out "yeas!" and "right on!" along side our favorite celebrities. I can now tell people I've sung with Carole King (sigh). I can now say I saw Susan Sarandon.
The celebrities were cool, but not as cool as the feeling I got when we stood on the Mall. Being surrounded by all those people, all fighting for the same cause, is just the most amazing feeling you can think of. Everyone was so positive, so hopeful, so energetic. It was almost as if all of our hopes and dreams for women all over the world were being stewed in a great big pot and the fumes were fueling us all towards greater things.
Next came meeting up with Lara, whose newly red hair is awesomely awesome, even though she has to dye it back in fear of killing her grandmother. I obviously love her, so I don't think we need to go into that.I also loved her friend Kendall, who does look a whole lot like Drew Barrymore, in a non-ditzy way. Ok, so Lara, Shan, and I waited in a line for fries for a good 30 minutes, and then ate them. They were, by the way, awesome fries, but probably because I paid $2.25 for them.
After the fries, we heard Ani Difranco being announced and rushed the stage. By rushed the stage, I mean ran really fast with all the other fems to an area close to the stage and stood on our tiptoes til we saw a glimpse of a dredlock. She was by the far the highlight of my day. (blah blah blah, shes the voice of our generation, blah blah blah, her lyrics are important, as opposed to the mindless drivel we usually hear, yadda yadda-don't wanna sound cheesy). We started to get really cold, and it was getting late, so we decided to head back to the metro. I was stopped on the way by some guy with a camera asking who my favorite speaker was, and I talked to his camera for a second, turned around, thought I had lost everyone, freaked for about a second, found my friends, and departed.
We got to the metro, said our teary goodbyes, and came home, but not before being thanked by a middle-aged couple who said that we should be very proud for taking part in such a momentous event and how they appreciated the young support. THEN some guy behind us started asking us how we felt about it and that he thought it was great blah blah blah. Anyway, it was just really nice to see the positivity and kindness from these people, who, without this cause, would have been complete strangers on the metro, just trying to get home.
Looking back on the whole occasion, I can say that I am truly proud to have been part of it. My name was on that tally of over a million people. My hands were raised in applause for tremendous speeches by tremendous women. My voice was heard over the mall in cheers of appreciation and acknowledgement. Not only that, but I was able to partake in this event with such a widely diverse group of men, women, and children. On any given day, we would have all been a bunch of people with nothing in common. On April 25th, we all had something in common, and there's something to be said about that.
It was a momentous occasion, and I'm glad to have been part of it.
Plus, I didn't get tear-gassed and I didn't have to waste my breath on pushy pro-lifers. All in all a great success. Two thumbs up.