March On
2018 Women's March. The Dalles, OR. I was amazed by the amount of people that showed up here, because I really wasn’t expecting so many for a location like The Dalles. However, that's why I thought it was so important to travel down to document it. I think a lot of the time, marches, rallies, and movements such as this, get associated with the larger cities (Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, New York City, Los Angels, etc.), and that's when they start to get stamped with the "Liberal Agenda," whatever that’s even supposed to mean. The thing is, though, these marches don't just happen in Portland, Seattle, NYC, or LA. They happen all over the nation, in rural and urban places, and every other sized town in between. They happen all over the world. And it's extremely important to document them, because once you go out and document them, you put a face to the movement. Many faces. And once you show a face, show twenty faces, forty, seventy-five, two-hundred, four-hundred—once you show that humanity, and all of the real lives of real people that are being affected in reality, it becomes much, much harder to ignore and disregard. Over 400 people showed up to march in The Dalles. Yes, some people traveled down from Portland, like myself. However, the majority were locals, and women and men who traveled from even smaller towns (some with a population of around 300). We’re talking ranchers, farmers, small-town individuals, and a large portion of them lean more towards the conservative side of politics, traditionally. It’s not a “liberal” movement. This movement crosses political lines, and in fact, completely obliterates them. It’s a humanity movement—for the people, by the people. Everyone. And all I have to say is to keep marching on.