Tostones and the Women's March on Washington

Just here, wandering an open space in my consciousness, hoping for something interesting to set in, waiting for a metaphor to ripen. Well, no one is going to care whether I write another poem or not, and what a strange topic for the beginning of the year. 

This is usually an equinoxal kind of musing.

I'm obsessed with the feeling of being in the last three weeks or so of our Democracy. Flawed though it may be, overflowing with corrupt figures, yet no president in our USA past ever before flaunted an admiration for dictators. I don't think any past president treated the media with so much contempt or has shown such a lust to dismantle our institutions.

Bunches of people have called the new regime a kleptocracy, a plutocracy, an idiocracy. I disagree. It's one smart dude playing dumb a-la-W telling you what he plans to do but it sounds so outrageous that you don't take it seriously. To me, he's headed toward autocracy. His surrogates tell us not to take him too seriously and to trust him regardless. I think we should be doing the opposite. It's like someone warning you, "I'm a liar," and not believing him.

During the past eight years, civil rights advocacy has gone into a latent phase, resting on a President who made it look like all the hard work of the sixties and seventies had finally paid off. We may have underestimated the power of reactionary forces, ie: the Republican electorate.

Fleets of buses will ride toward DC, trains, planes, and SUVs driving women to the March on Washington to take place on January 21, the day after the presidential inauguration. One wise woman I know keeps asking, "But what's the message?" 

I attended one of the early protests that took place in St. Petersburg, Florida together with my sisters, and it was apparent that there were more causes than fingers and toes present. Planned Parenthood, GLAAD, the ACLU, and many more organizations got involved. 

Will the March on Washington be like the Woodstock of political activism? Will there be a unified "Impeach Trump" theme? Will our representatives take notice? Will people start donating to the organizations that can make a difference? Is this event going to succeed in energizing the opposition?

Here's a fantastic article in Salon magazine about what women are doing to resist Trump:

March on Washington and beyond: How women are resisting Donald Trump

Now, let's go fry some plantains.