We found out we were pregnant with our son the night before the November 2016 election. When it became clear that the election would not result in the leader I expected, I retreated into our pitch dark bedroom, covered myself in blankets and put a pillow over my head. I needed the world around me to be as dark as my fear.
In January 2017, news started circling about a Women’s March. I cut a piece of cardboard out of an old box and started making a sign with a sharpie and some acrylic paint. I wanted to create something to prove to myself that beauty could still arise out of despair. I organized other parents from our 3-year old daughter’s preschool to come make signs at our house. Cardboard and paint covered every inch of our 900 square foot home, and the meditative power of painting in community was the life raft I clung to.
I didn’t grow up going to marches. For the most part my “politics” played out in the choices I made, the career I sought out, and the way I spent my money. I felt nervous heading to that first Women’s March with our daughter but it energized me in a way I couldn’t have imagined.
I had never seen so many people at a protest before. I had also never seen so much public art made by “ordinary” people. The signs were clever, and poignant, and beautiful. I felt far from the lonely dark of my bedroom on election night. I felt like I was a part of something.
After the Women’s March I kept making signs. As a family, we went to the beach to help spell out RESIST. We went to the airport to help support those stuck between countries due to the #muslimban. We went to the climate march and to protest inhumane immigration policies and family separations. Everything felt under attack. My daughter got so used to protesting she started asking me weekly where we were going next.
Our son was born on July 4th, 2017, (the universe has a sense of humor). This Saturday will be his 4th Women’s March (counting the one in utero).
For me marching is not about one political leader or another. It’s about standing against the big powerful systems at play that have been taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, and exploiting land, communities, and individuals since the founding of this country. For me, marching is about gathering with the crowds of people and feeling the energy of expression physically in my body.
Whether you march this weekend, or show up in your own way in your own community for what you believe in; It Does Matter. Align your activism with who you are and what you can offer the world (art, music, words, teaching, your work, etc.) to keep it sustainable, and hold close your community.
I made some new downloadable coloring sheets for you all to print and color. Other images are also available for free download through my website here. And keep the pictures coming- I love seeing where these end up.
