Walking is Good For Your Health

It seems official that I have become a weekly marcher. The benefits are tremendous: I get to hang out with like-minded strangers that smile at me and nod;  I have conversations with people who actually are knowledgeable about chemistry, history, poetry, immigration and how government works (and it DOES work); I am getting some well-needed exercise; and I get to walk by some of the most beautiful architecture in the world. 

While I think this new museum has too large a footprint it is amazing in style.

I worked on the inside of the Federal government for decades and while there were "pencil pushers," braggarts, lazy folks and political appointees who were there because they were related to some Congressperson, 90-95% of the workers were people with training and expertise in their field, a vision to make things better, and no interest in making a fortune off the backs of others.  A little naive, maybe, but honest, certainly.

We met up with the Union of Concerned Pissed-off Scientists to get some signs before heading out.

No, they are not all that young.

The Park Police were in all their glory waiting the impending storm.  They are terrific workers in that almost every Saturday these days there is some protest march going on!

Last week I was involved in the March for Science.  I got to see Bill Nye the Science guy; Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Pediatrician, Michigan State University who was the Doctor that discovered her young patients had high lead levels in Flint, Michigan; Mari Copeny, aka Little Miss Flint, who at 10 while overwhelmed by the crowd read her speech with great aplomb; Leland Melvin, astronaut and S.T.E.A.M. Explorer, and a bunch of other beautiful geniuses and leaders.   We also were entertained by the Jon Baptiste House band while waiting in the cold and pouring rain for free!  What a dedicated bunch of nerds!

We were a little far from the stage but certainly close to one of the Jumbotrons.

This weekend it was the March for Climate Change, which included a larger and more diverse group of people and a larger march.  We got together for breakfast with my Sister-in-Law from Colorado and her family and friends here in D.C. and made some signs at their hotel.  Some were affiliated with the Fair trade USA Group  and so we went to the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream sponsored float since he had donated money to their cause.  He was there being interviewed by network television, but we missed that.

We then left our posse as they took the kids out of the heat and we marched with the indigenous peoples group that had some very cool dancing and the best drums (even in the 90 degree heat - climate diversity anyone?) as well as several ceremonial "smudge pot breaks" in the middle of the street.

Gotta love free speech!  There was only handful of of anti-science protesters and absolutely no violence or arguing.  We had received our "marching order" to focus on our mission and avoid dissension and that worked just fine.  It was like a 1960's  meet-up without the pot because that is illegal in D.C.  So what did you do last Saturday?