Not a Big Sign Guy

Did any of you go to any of the Woman’s Marches spread around the US- or France, or Antarctica?  Apparently it was the biggest protest in the US history, and I’m pretty inspired.  It just shows what we can do when we come together.  Not that the march achieved any concrete gains for women, POC, LGBTQ, or trans people, but I’m feeling a lot less alone.  There is a resistance.

President Trump *shudder* has only been president very briefly, but I’m reminded of it by the increasing number of small dystopian things happening- like Canadians being turned away from the US border so that they couldn’t participate in yesterday’s march and the disappearance of references to LGBTQ folks, climate change, and civil rights from the White House website.

And then there’s the information that is coming out of the White House, statistics that are disturbing in just how delusional they are.  Trump has claimed that the crowds drawn by his Inauguration outnumbered those drawn by Obama.  It’s going to be different, that’s for sure.

I attended a small Yale rally on Beinecke Plaza and left when the chalking began. Chalking is a big favorite of Yalies, but not of mine. But I did my part by freeing up ground space for the chalking.  There was also a march on the New Haven Green, but, being desperately hungry for vegan banana pancakes, I didn’t go.  Part of me feels guilty for not doing more- more marching, more speaking, more chalking.  For not traveling to New York City or DC like many other Yale students did. For not being the most active activist activist that I could possibly be.  Even if academics haven’t really heated up yet, I prioritized dance practices and feeding myself.  I’ve spoken to other people who have felt similar guilt over not joining protests as a result of anxiety, depression, or other reasons they describe as ‘neuro-atypical’.  And I’ve been in that boat as well.

With some thinking and the words of these friends, I’m realizing that resistance is going to be a long and continued struggle, one that each and every one of us is going to need to be strong for.  We do what we can for each other and for ourselves- because this is about making sure the rights and consideration that people deserve are not taken from them.  Give yourself that consideration. Give it to your friends and peers.  Keep yourself strong with self-care. Give yourself the gift of peace of mind and a healthy body.  All the better to fight even harder for your rights today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.  All the better to one day exercise them like the nasty woman (or man or other designation) that you are.

So while I spent half an hour to an hour protesting, my Dad spent many hours at the Los Angeles protest (which drew about 750k) where he was visiting my Grandma Judy.  My Mom stayed home and watched the protests on the news because her knee has been bothering her recently when she stands or walks for long periods of time.  We all do what we can.

The signs I saw yesterday (and the ones I’m enjoying discovering spread around the internet today, being shared with me by friends and other sources) are giving me a lot of happiness. And to do my part, maybe to give you a smile, maybe to give you a bit of the inspiration to fight another day, another year, a full presidential term, I’ll share them with you.

• “Si, se puede”: “Yes, it is possible,” the motto of the United Farm Workers.
• On a toddler: “Too woke to nap.”
• Carried by a parent of many little ones: “Toddlers Against Tyranny”
• “A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance”: RIP Carrie Fisher ❤
• “No More Mr. Nice Gay”
• “Nasty Since 1789”: This from a shot taken of Parisian protestors in front of the Eiffel Tower.
• “Keep Your Tiny Hands Off My Rights!”
• A toddler carrying a crayon drawing of a rainbow Statue of Liberty.
• “Make America Think Again”
• “IKEA has a better cabinet”: They also have great Mac and Cheese.
• “Just Remember, White Women Voted For Trump”: Shots fired. The majority of my race-gender intersection should be held accountable.
• “Men of Quality Support Equality”
• “We Shall Overcomb”: Speaking of which, this is a very special ASMR video.
• “I’d Pee on Trump for FREE”
• “Make Racists Afraid Again”: Mmm, likely to be controversial, but as a fan of the concept of vengeance, I have to back this one up.
• “The truth is golden. Shower him in it.”
• “Ugh, Where Do I Even Start”: Same.
• “Free Melania”
• “Thou Shalt Not Mess With Women’s Reproductive Rights-Fallopians 1:21”
• “When They Go Low, I Get High”: That’ll show’em
• “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Yearning to Break Free.”
• “Women’s Rights Are Human Rights”
• “I Can’t Believe I’m Still Protesting This”
• “Hey Donald! Straight White Guys Hate You Too”
• “Vulva La Vida”
• “Keep Your Politics Out of My Pussy”
• “Donald Trump Uses Comic Sans”: The horror.
• Similarly: “Trump Likes Nickelback”
• “Donald Trump Puts Ketchup on Steak”: Given the steaks he sells, I am not surprised.
• “I’m So Angry I Made A Sign”
• “What Meryl Said”
• “I Hate Men Who Are Afraid Of Women’s Strength-Anais Nin”
• “Every Great Man Got His Start in a Uterus”
• “I Want Substantive Change But Would Settle For You Not Killing Us”
• “We Are the Granddaughters of the Witches You Couldn’t Burn”: Less effective after having seen it on Pinterest 50,000 times.
• “Have Sex, Fight Sexism”: If you want to.
• But: “Never Fuck a Republican.”: That’s some Lysistrata-level shit. Approve.
• “I Dissent”: Featuring The Notorious RBG on a unicorn.
• “Bad Hombres Support Nasty Women.”
• “TINKLE TINKLE LITTLE CZAR”: OMG
• “Amateur Signmakers Against Trump”
• “But Still Like Dust I’ll Rise”
• “Respect Existence of Expect Resistance”
• “My Feminism Will Be Intersectional or it Will Be Bullshit”
• “Meryl Streep Is Not Overrated You Fucking Piece of Shit”
• “I Am not Free While Any Woman is Unfree, Though Her Shackles Be Very Different From My Own.”
• “I’m Not a Big Sign Guy, but Jeez”

How about you? Did you see any brilliant signage?

I am so tired of waiting
Aren’t you,
For the world to become good
And beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
And cut the world in two-
And see what worms are eating
At the rind.
-“Tired”, Langston Hughes