March for Science DC on Earth Day 2017

Happy Earth Day, everyone! It is chilly, rainy, and totally overcast in DC, but this morning, Jack and I zipped up our raincoats, grabbed my March bag (it's like a having-a-baby bag; packed and at the ready for when it's needed!), and let Tom drop us off at the Metro. 

Jack is such a passionate, curious kid but he has always suffered from a bit of transition inertia. He rarely wants to leave the place he is, but once a gentle pressure (or sometimes more aggressive force) is applied, his ball rolls happily to the next spot. Such was the case in getting him to the Metro. 

As we descended the cool concrete steps of the Friendship Heights stop, I saw his pace quicken slightly. Once on board the train, surrounded by marchers wearing spirited shirts and knit earth hats and carrying clever signs, he became totally excited. 

Jack loves math and science. They are for him what writing and language are for me, the fires that burn and excite deeply. He dreams of being a great scientist, and I want to teach him that a healthy democracy requires staying informed and participating regularly. Today's March for Science seemed like an excellent way to spend time together, support my parental goal, and help him see in an up-close-and-personal fashion just how great, engaged, and expansive the scientific community is. He also really wanted to see Bill Nye speak.

As we walked from the Metro Center stop towards the Mall, vendors sold buttons and t-shirts, environmental groups gave out posters, the crowd grew larger, and the rain fell harder. We were wholly undeterred. After a brief stop by the African American History & Culture Museum for some buttons and a warm pretzel, we joined the security line where we made fast friends with a toddler astronaut whose clever parents had turned his wagon into a spaceship. 

Once inside the rally space, we milled about appreciating the many hysterical and smart signs people had made, eyeing the offerings at the science teach-in and #poetsforscience tents, and finding out way as close to the mainstage as possible. Questlove was the MC, and the roster of speakers was vast. 

My friend, Ellen, made the poster I'm holding. Snappy, huh!

A documentary crew asked if they could film Jack and me and our signs. We also got to meet and be photographed with Congressman Bill Foster from Illinois' 11th congressional district. Jack thought all of this was extremely cool. 

After a few hours of dropping temperatures, my shorts-clad boy appeared to be freezing and turning blue, so we called it a day and headed home (we did not get to see Bill Nye but Jack said he was "ok with it. He graduated from my school. That's really cool."). It was a special morning for us, and I was thrilled with the turnout and spirit of the marchers, in DC and at all the more than 570 satellite marches across the US and the world. 

Science is real. Facts matter. Alternative facts are lies. This earth is the only mother we have. There is no Planet B. #resist

(All photos mine except for the dog/cat which comes courtesy of Mark Cuban.)

Miscellany I want to share with y'all: In the Darkroom; Two Wolves parable; Nutmeg cat; March for Science

In no particular order of import:

Nutmeg, aka the most delightful cat in the world

Despite the apparent rotundity, we have been SO diligent with Nut's diet, and he has lost 1.5 pounds. I believe fur, loose skin, and positionality are to blame here. Plus, that damn camera adding pounds...

Two Wolves - a Cherokee parable

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life...

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. 
"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.

The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. 

This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, 
"Which wolf will win?"

The old chief simply replied, 
"The one you feed."

In the Darkroom

Friends, you MUST read this book. Written by Susan Faludi, it is ostensibly about after her estranged, then 76-year-old father undergoing sex reassignment surgery to fully transition to a woman. And while it is an incredibly powerful discussion about self and gender identity and the recovery of a parent-child relationship that had long stood on shaky ground, it is also broader than that, taking us through considerations of national and religious identities through the lens of Hungary, historically, during World War II and the Holocaust, and more presently, since the turn of the century on. It's like a riveting history text + a mesmerizing personal tale.

I rationed my reading of it and was truly crushed when I finished it Monday. Tom and I spent some time in Budapest in 2004, just weeks after Hungary had joined the European Union. (Because I am forever talking to everyone) we found that many Hungarians felt deeply vexed about what impact(s) EU membership might have on their national identity. In light of those conversations (which led me to imagine that Hungarians had a long-standing, deeply-rooted, unified sense of what their identity was), I found Faludi's explication of Hungary's fraught history with its sense of self particularly fascinating. 

And for anyone worried about just how bad hyper-nationalistic, pro-Christian, anti-Semitic (and Muslim and Roma and...), anti-LGBTQ administrations can be for a country, just how far down a scary hole those can go, look to Hungary today where an uber-rightist, intolerant government aided and abetted by a far-right propaganda-based internet presence, has, in many ways, driven the country into the ground. Sound familiar? It's alarming to say the least.

Food

Thank god spring is (nearly) here. Grilled bread with ricotta, lemon zest, olive oil, salt and sauteed pea shoots, snow peas, and English peas is fab.

So is grilled focaccia with sauteed mushrooms (oyster, shitake, lion), creme fraiche, and thyme.

Also fab? A homemade birthday cake- chocolate and chocolate-from my mother-in-law. 41 in binary (lit/unlit candles) courtesy of my nerdtastic husband and J.

Science (and knowledge and facts) is great!

Who's marching in the March for Science on Saturday? Jack and I are marching in DC, and last I checked there were 571 satellite marches in the US and abroad. Find one and make your voices heard!