Yesterday Violet and I went downtown to show our support for girls and women’s rights around the world!
We took an Uber to the North Hollywood Metro station thinking there likely wouldn’t be any parking spots to do the ‘park and ride’ option. But WOW!!! We had no idea what we were about to see. The photo below is inside the station, if you can believe it. I grabbed her hand and we began the journey.
INSIDE the North Hollywood Metro station – holy crap!
It took us from 9:00am – 10:15am to get down to the platform, which, as you can imagine, felt like ten hours to Violet. Poor kid! But she was such a trooper. I kept suggesting that we leave the station and join a local North Hollywood protest that was now spontaneously happening along the Chandler path, but she wanted to see her friend Rose whom we were supposed to meet downtown, so we soldiered on, and finally made it to the platform.
Scary Metro platform!
I have a wee touch of claustrophobia, so I was taking deep breaths and focusing on the fascinating conversations going on around us. One group of teachers were discussing why they don’t think Betsy De Vos will get confirmed – that she’ll be a sacrificial lamb in this ridiculous onslaught of unqualified billionaires. I hope they’re right!
Betsy De Vos, you stink. You fail. You’re fired.
Hahaha love this one!
What happened next was serendipitous and magical. We wormed our way through the platform crowd to the very end where there was a teeny bit more space, then when the train pulled up, our friends were inside the train car!! They banged on the window and we were so excited, but the car was so packed that we didn’t think we could get on. I thought, “It’s now or never – we might not see them again!” so I summoned up my old nightclub crowd-weaseling power and told Violet to worm in ahead of me. Once she was wedged onto the train, everyone could see I HAD to get on with her. Weasel! And of course remember this IS a train car full of family-loving bleeding heart liberals…. : )
Our sweet happenstance meet up with our people!!! Ellen, Phoebe & Chris! : )
In another serendipitous moment, we reached MacArthur Park station and saw our friends Sally and Jemma with Jemma’s daughter Quincy (who performs on the Be Who You Are album)! We waved and blew kisses : ) Three generations of women’s solidarity!
We got off at Pershing Square station where, by this time, the march was well underway toward City Hall where there were speeches going on. We never saw a single speech. It was absolutely packed! We started to make our way up Hill St. with the crowd, quickly realizing that every main thoroughfare that wasn’t closed to traffic was completely packed too – so it wasn’t so much a march by this time, but more of an occupation.
I have never been at a march this big. It felt like the whole world was rejecting Donald Trump. Which made it extra hilarious when a plane came overhead trailing a banner that read, “Congratulations President Trump” – Ha! What were these people thinking? Why waste the plane fuel on us? Of course everyone was booing vehemently and shouting, “This is what democracy looks like!”
I love shouting.
Mom and daughter with our homemade signs! : )
Ellen navigating Violet through the thick crowd.
Thank god for Ellen’s hair – she was a beacon of recognition whenever I felt I might be getting separated. Also, she took long turns piggy-backing Violet! That is solidarity, people.
I’m so proud of Violet! Even though her legs got tired after like two seconds! : )
I know it’s going to be a long, hard fight over the next four years, and there’s plenty more to say about that, but it felt so good to be with hundreds of thousands of people who all feel the same way. Today I just want to bask in yesterday’s jubilant glory.