Cincinnati Women Marching

I've been in mourning? That election thing had me flat down, disappointed, and disengaged. 

• I changed my Facebook profile pic to a big black block. 
• I watch only aging comedy reruns because the mainstream channels keep showing too much of  #thatguy. 
• I've mourned and grieved and stuck my head in the proverbial sand.
• I've eaten a lot of potato chips.
• I've lived in a dream world where Obama was named President for Life.

But when the Obamas said goodbye this week, it hit me hard. I really had to deal with my inner anti-trump issues. 

No, I won't accept it and move on!

No, I didn't finally face up to the 2016 Election results by hosting an inauguration viewing party. No, I didn't toast our new "prez" with a smile and a hip-hip-hooray. 

Nope. 
Couldn't do it! 

Instead, I marched!

On January 20, a big dose of orange reality slapped me in the face. I rode downtown with my daughter, scoured the city for a parking space and walked to Washington Park with about 12,000 other Cincinnatians. (Gentrification is really changing our inner city. I hardly saw any black people.) I participated in the Women's march and went home feeling renewed, exhilarated and ready to take on the world. 

Not Anti-Trump

Contrary to foxy opinion, the weekend march in Cincinnati wasn't anti anything. (We did that a few days after the election.) Those marches might have seemed slightly anti-Trump because the crowd gathered to show support for a range of causes the Trumpster has spoken out against. 

As with the wildly newsworthy marches across the country and around the world this weekend, our Cincinnati march of concerned citizens was decidedly PRO.

Pro-Women
Pro-LGBT
Pro-Black Lives Matter
Pro-Choice
Pro-Muslim
Pro-Mexican
Pro-Immigrant
Pro-Earth
Pro-Love
Pro-Pu--y



Okay, there were a few anti-Trump signs and there was one very catchy anti-Trump chant. Somebody had to do it.

Is my mourning-America period over?

Sadly, no, because, as a woman of color, I sense a growing danger for my race and others. 

I'm still in mourning for my country but I also have hope. I hope that the orange man and his cabinet of deplorables won't dismantle the America we know and love. 

I have hope that this won't happen because his alt right-leaning actions are bringing Pro people together. We'll fight for rights every step of the way and since the majority of those Pro people are white, we probably won't get arrested or shot in the streets of Cincinnati. 

I just hope the White House crew understands that the whole world is watching. 

Carol, the Nice Lady still-in-Mourning

Election Gloom, Despair, & Agony... Ohhh

So #thatguy won last night

I didn't watch the election returns. Instead, I watched comedy reruns on Me and Laff TV. In fact, I didn't know he#thatguy had won until I received a "Why Neo-Nazis love Trump" email on my phone early this morning. Then I knew for sure, as it was talking about him and his racist friends in the present tense. Like it's still a relevant thing.

He's not our president...not yet, so I feel perfectly okay not giving him his winner's respect at this time. Once he takes the oath of office, I will try to hold my tongue. (Although that mode of behavior is not likely to stick.) 

As for now, I believe I'll break out in song. 

Yes, I'm feeling the gloom and despair. I'm feeling the heartache and agony that an atomic-bomb loving bully will be running our country for the next four years. Let's hope it's not longer than that. But, unlike many people have done over the past eight Obama years, 

• I will not call #thatguy nasty names. 
• I will not tell lies about the things he does or does not do. 
• I won't post fake photos on Facebook. 
• I will not say he's selfish or childish or call him a bully... although plenty of us know he is. 

I don't have to do any of these things because his actions prove all of the above. 
Still, I will give #thatguy the respect his office is due. 

Okay, maybe not, because I still believe that we are stronger together. I also believe #thatguy and the way he spreads hate and divisiveness are unAmerican. 

That sort of behavior deserves no respect at all.

Written by Carol, the Nice Lady
2016