AN INTROVERT GOES TO WASHINGTON

     Here's my completely idiosyncratic take on Saturday's march in D.C.  First, the good news: about half a million people showed up.  Now the bad news: about half a million people showed up.
     After a ride on the D.C. metro that reminded me of the worst rush-hour crush on the NYC subway, my son and daughter and I arrived near the site of the march at about 9 a.m. and followed the throng to what we assumed would be a decent viewing area, since nothing was scheduled to start until 10.  By 10:30 or so we realized that the speeches had begun but that we could see or hear nothing of them.  The signs people were holding up around us were great, though.  "I'm With Her," and arrows pointing in every direction.  "America: What Were You Thinking??"  "Why Are You So Obsessed With My Uterus?"  Maya Angelou quotes  everywhere. A small girl on her father's shoulders, wearing a cape that read "Not Up for Grabs." 
     We had little space to move around and no idea where to go even if we could, so at 11 or so we left the march site to get something to eat.  We returned an hour or so later and stood around, waiting for the march to get going.  At some point we realized that we were being funneled in a particular direction, but had no idea why.  Then at about 1:30 the people around us began walking to, and then up, Pennsylvania Avenue, and we followed along.  The march was fun, partly because it was such a relief to get moving, but more because it felt empowering to be among hundreds of thousands of people who were so determined to resist the pseudo-election of our pseudo-president and his very real, very threatening agenda and appointments.
     Most of the marchers were women - elderly women with walkers and canes (one of my favorite signs was "I marched in the 60s and now I'm marching in MY 60s"); middle-aged women in clusters, representing states up and down the East Coast as well as other regions of the country; young mothers with babies strapped to their chests or toddlers hoisted on their shoulders; knots of millennials  focused on climate change and reproductive rights.  But men were well represented too, many of them carrying signs that said things like "Quality Men Are Not Threatened By Equality."
     One sign I didn't see, but which my son told me about, really struck a chord with me: "Things Have Gotten So Bad, Even the Introverts Are Out Here!"  Indeed.  I'm so glad I had my kids with me for protection; they made me feel less overwhelmed.
     But now the marches are over and we need to turn to the question of what we can do next.  Which brings me to the secret project I've been hinting about.  It's no longer secret, but it might also be no longer viable, which is where YOU come in!  My friend Julie, who designs websites and video games for a living, came up with the brilliant idea of creating a free app to make it incredibly easy for young people to become politically active via their phones.  Here's how it works: the user will check off boxes to indicate the issues which are most important to them.  The app will then send them an alert when a vote on a bill involving one of those issues is pending a vote in the House of Representatives.  It will give the user contact info for his or her Representative, and provide a sample script for a phone call to the congressional office.  That's basically it.  Beautifully simple.  The idea is that, until we can recruit other volunteers to help, Julie does all the tech stuff and I monitor pending bills and write short blurbs about them.
     Here's the problem.  We have zero seed money.  It costs money to develop apps, and so far Julie has financed everything by taking the money out of her savings.  We're now at a point where the app development is on hold, and we need some kind of assurance that it will have a following before we proceed with development.  Bottom line: we don't want to start a crowdfunding campaign until we have a reasonable number of followers first.  If the app sounds like a good/great idea to you, could you please show your support by following the Facebook page, facebook.com/CalltoActionApp, and/or the Twitter account, @calltoactionapp?  I want so badly to get this thing off the ground, and very soon, but we need supporters.  Please help, and please tell your friends to help too!  I will be eternally grateful.  Thank you!!!
       

ORGANIZE. FIGHT. WIN.

     It's so strange.  It's been so long since I've had the heart to post, and yet my blog stats (the number of views I get per day) remain steady.  It makes me a little nervous to actually post something, to be honest.  What if people like my blog better when it just sits there and shuts up?
     Ah, but having a blog isn't just about collecting hits.  It's about communicating thoughts and feelings and, occasionally, even facts.  So let me share this fact:  I'm headed to Washington, D.C. this Thursday night, along with my daughter, to participate in the Women's March on Saturday.  It does make things convenient when you have a son who lives there and whom you don't see nearly often enough.  And when your daughter announces that he'll be kicked out of his bed for the three nights you'll be there and relegated to the couch so that she and you can sleep in comfort.  But I would be going anyway, and I expect to have plenty to say here when I get back.
     I still can't talk about my Secret Project.  It may or may not still be viable (having pretty much zero seed money doesn't help one bit).  But there's something else I want to share.
     If you want to become politically active but have no idea how or where to start, you have to check out the Indivisible Guide.  It's a very sensible, step-by-step manual designed and written by former congressional staffers for making your voice heard on a local level, and in a few short weeks it's gone viral.  These millennials watched the Tea Party spring from nothing and grow to take over the Republican Party, and they want to share those successful tactics with individuals who are committing to fighting the Trump agenda.  I saw one of Indivisible's founders interviewed last night by Rachel Maddow, and he said that Indivisible groups have now formed in every Congressional district in the country.  There is power in numbers, folks.
    Every day the media report on new outrages, and it becomes easier to think that we're living inside a Twilight Zone episode.  But we're not.  All of this is really happening.  Much of it is beyond our control, but I believe with all my heart that we can make a difference.  Working together, we can bring down this vile pseudo-President and his vile henchmen.  Please, please, leave me comments and let me know what you're doing to fight back!!  And I'll let you know what I'm doing just as soon as I can.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR?

     Yes, this is what 2017 holds in store.  But we can fight back.  We must, and we will.
     It's been a rough few months.  I haven't been steady enough to even post anything here since the end of November.  But now I have something I can't talk about yet because it's still in its baby stages, but it's starting to bring me hope that all is not lost.  Please stay tuned.