My elation is wearing into exhaustion at this point, but nothing has ever been so worth it.
I think the March for Women's Lives may well have been the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Right up there, anyway. I'm trying to decide where it falls on the continuum, and it's definitely in the first-Ani-concert/Renn Faire (which is NOT a Renaissance Faire) area. A million people (or 800,000, or whomever's estimate you want to believe), most of them women, marching on the capitol to demand what is rightfully ours. All smiling, singing, shouting, waiving signs and flags. I can't imagine another time when I will be able to see so much beauty and so much hope in one place.
It really reminded me of a part of my politics (and my life, really) that has gotten away from me lately--hope. One of the pre-march speakers used that Che quote about optimism being the weapon of the revolution, and I remembered how I used to believe that. And then, looking around me, I really felt like it was true again. We may be under the harshest regime this country has seen in decades, atrocities might be committed falsely in our names both at home and abroad, but we are not cowering and we will not give up.
I really am exhausted, and in theory I am supposed to perform some odd ritual known as "homework" tonight, so I'm going to leave this here. More reflections tomorrow, hopefully. To close, though, to my sisters who are reading this and weren't able to make it to the march yesterday, your presence was felt. I know I thought of you often. And to my sisters who were, thank you for marching with me.