I first heard about it from a fellow EQLT member on a hike earlier this year: women were planning to march in Boston the day after the inauguration.  “Best idea ever,” I thought to myself, “I’m an old sixties radical — I can do that.  Where do I sign up.”  I had to Google for the information, but it wasn’t hard to find.  I learned that the big march would be in Washington DC but sister marches were planned in cities all over the United States and indeed all over the world.  The Boston march was organized by the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus; the mission statement declares:

On January 21, 2017, we will unite in Boston to march in solidarity with communities most affected by the hate, intolerance and acts of violence being perpetrated throughout the nation—among many are communities of women, immigrants, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA and people with disabilities. Ours is a peaceful, nonpartisan march.

So we left North Brookfield at 9 this morning, with my friend driving.  At the Riverside T stop, we already encountered traffic jams, but car by car, we crawled into the parking lot, found a parking space, and joined the line queuing for the train.  Again, the line moved slowly but it did move.  In the interests of safety and expediency, T officials decided to let inbound riders on for free (thank you, MBTA).  The subway cars were crowded with people, most of them marchers, I guessed, and we slowly rattled our way to Park Street Station, with more and more people trying to get on at each stop.

The day started out foggy and overcast, but we didn’t arrive at the Boston Common until 12:30 and by then, the sky had begun to clear; eventually, the sun came out and shone brightly on our parade!  The agenda was speeches from 11 am to noon, and the actual march was supposed to begin at 12:30, but I think they were running a bit late.  From where we stood, we could not get a sense of what was happening or where we were supposed to go.  We milled around with the rest of the crowd, and finally, around 2 pm, we found ourselves inching (literally, moving by inches) toward the corner of Beacon and Charles Street, where we slipped through a hole in the wrought-iron fence and joined people in the street.  Chanting and holding our signs, we marched down Beacon for a block, turned onto Arlington, then turned down Commonwealth Avenue.  By the time we reached Clarendon, where the march turned inbound on Comm Ave toward the Common, it was 3 pm, so we decided that we’d head for the T at Copley, then take the Green Line back to Riverside and home.

I couldn’t easily hold a sign, hang on to my pack, walk, and aim my camera, so these shots are pretty bad.  They should give you a flavor of the day though.

People gathered on the Common

Here’s another photo of the crowd.

Supporters even cheered from the balconies of the buildings along the march route.

Most of the participants carried signs.

Some signs were quite graphic.

We are heading toward Comm Ave now.

The pussy ear pink hats were all around us.

Here’s one of the three signs I made.

The crowd was huge, probably much bigger than the organizers expected, and diverse: we were old and young, men and women, of all races, religions, and probably nationalities too.  I don’t have a photo of myself, but that’s because I don’t do selfies.  For the record, I wore a blue turtleneck and blue jeans because I live in a blue state, a white sweater because white is for the suffragettes, and a scarf hand-woven by an Asian-American woman artist.

The signs marchers carried were quite memorable, and I wish I had a compilation of them.  I’ll list some of them at random: A woman’s place is in the Resistance, Elect a clown and you’ll get a circus, How do you like this change in climate, Nope, I’m with her [arrows pointing every direction], I’m with her [picture of Statue of Liberty], Don’t worry America — he’ll soon leave you for a younger, skinnier country, Make America civil again, I’m marching for my mother [satellite photo of Earth].  I also loved the striking Shepard Fairey We the People posters, particularly the beautiful woman with an American flag as a head covering; it read We the People Are Greater Than Fear.