On the Fringe

On the Fringe

With the Women’s March on Sacramento only ten days away, preparations have long been in the works. Under the best of circumstances, the unstructured nature of this kind of event would make planning a challenge; toss in a few additional variables, like bipolarism and cancer, and it becomes a spin of the roulette wheel, hopefully not of the Russian motif.

We’re not twenty-something anymore, so we can’t just get in the car the morning of, bip over to Sac, do the thingie and return at some point Sunday morning, probably while it is still dark. Been there, done that, don’t want to do it again.

Our ticket...

Gluten-Free Mama and I want to do this expression of support for everyone on the current regime’s hit-list, and we know it can be done, but we must also be aware that if we ignore certain preexisting conditions, there will be much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Don’t you hate to see an old man cry?

GF-Mama lined us up with a room in a hotel, a half-mile from the starting point of the march. A half-mile should be a ten-minute walk, but even if there are a lot of pedestrians/traffic, how much longer than ten minutes can it take, especially since we will be heading over well before the ten o’clock starting time?

Heading over to Sacramento on Friday afternoon means that we can wake up at our leisure Saturday morning, and have plenty of time for a hearty breakfast, including coffee because there will be Port-a-potties strategically located along the route of the march.

We will not have to scramble for a parking place and we will have our backpacks ready for action-ready for danger, filled primarily with snacks and water. I will have my camera battery fully charged, and I will be doing my best to chronicle what I see and hear.

Retaining the room an additional night, so as not to have to drive back to Mendo County after being on our feet all day, also allows a far more relaxed approach to the day's events. Expensive? Yes, but we have been working on this for six weeks now; you go after what matters.

Regardless of how many friends and acquaintances we encounter at the march, or where Gluten-Free Mama ends up, I will be on the fringe of the activity, which is emphatically not the same as being "on the fringe," thank you so much for expressing concern. 

Hell, I can’t even sit at AT&T Park, in an assigned seat anymore, because I feel too tightly sardined in amongst too many people. I just can’t do it. That’s how I know I will be on the outside edge of the crowd, because the crowd has to have a periphery. 

For the past several days on social media, there appears to be a heightened sense of awareness, with folks collectively venting their frustration at a system that refuses to acknowledge, that it has been found out.

As transparent as their actions have been, our elected leaders have gradually transformed our country from one that purports to be “of the people, by the people, for the people” to one that is more “Of the people, by the people, for the one percent.” 

Now we must gather together to assert that in unity there is strength. We must demand that the rights of all people matter, not just those who have a lot of money, because that leaves 99% of us out.

We are ALL people.

We must demand that money not be used to build a hate-wall, when kids and elderly are starving in this country. Even if there is Captain Crunch in the cupboard-with milk-that is still starving. People, especially kids and old folks, need organic veggies, meat and fruit, and they need to have them prepared at home, by people who care. This is not possible on the current minimum wage.

We need to gather together to say that same-sex marriage became the law of the land in 2015, and we cannot back up the truck. Cannot and will not. 

We need to gather together to say that the days of treating women with degradation and contempt, by men who with strong backs and weak brains, are over.

There isn’t even a “Reverse” gear on that transmission.

We need to gather together and demand that health care and medicine be available, for those whose lives depend on it. That’s part of the “pursuit of happiness” that is supposed to be a right in this country. 

Finally, we need to gather together to show that we can and we will.

If we all act outraged, and prattle on about what a narcissistic jerk trump is, but don’t do anything, then it’s the same thing as saying we are OK with all of this business. As if anyone could be OK with Steve Bannon, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, as the white House Chief Strategist.

Why are we still having a one-sided dialogue about this racist nominee? Send him back to the 1950’s, where he belongs.

We are not in the 20th century anymore; we are in the present. That means we expect our leaders to reflect our nation’s values, not bat them back in our faces, as the current regime does with impunity.

Keep trying to bat our rights back into our faces, Republican Party, and we’ll break that bat right over your head.

You ever seen a genuinely angry woman? I mean, spit-firing, screaming, frothing anger? Ever wondered what a whole passel of these riled-up gals might do, if’n they had a mind? If’n they was real pissed off? 

Me too, which is another reason why I will be on the fringe of the crowd.