Rain and Crowds in the Name of Science

Marching for rain? Raining for crowds? Crowding for marches? Nah...who am I kidding? The briefest of perusals on social media and news sources shows that people all over this country and the world were marching for science this past weekend. So was I. That said, there was a lot of rain and the crowds were thick!

I'm a social scientist, but I definitely lean heavily on the science part of this phrase. I love being part of a community that helps to create new knowledge. Through my affiliation with Murray Straus, I have seen close up the tremendous impact that a community of researchers can have in creating new knowledge for the public and for new public policy. Nevertheless, the march for science wasn't without controversy about whether scientists should be marching for science at all. One camp argued that by having a march to support science, it makes science a special interest group, and detracts from the abstractness and pureness of science. In other words, it made science too political. Others argued that science already is political, so go ahead and march.

I have a colleague who said that he thought that if "all those scientists" (himself included) put those "marching hours" into something more useful that maybe we could "solve" some more problems. Other colleagues who attended the March for Women found themselves to be surprisingly claustrophobic during the event and they were worried about what would happen if there was a disaster. "There was no plan B. No escape if there was an attack, an accident, or some other kind of emergency." They were skipping the March for Science. I had missed the March for Women. In truth, I had a lot of work to do on Saturday - all related to my work as a scientist. I was inclined to stay in my apartment and just work. It was also going to rain. I was lukewarm about the event, but I volunteered to escort a young social scientist, who was visiting Washington, around town. We went to brunch with some of my "fellow fellows" and then headed off to the National Mall to meet more social science friends.

Marching with friends and colleagues...


...and more friends. I was especially happy to be marching with two immigrants to the U.S. - just taking on all of the issues of the Trump administration in one march -- why not??

There were a lot of crowds, though. Many, many people. It is estimated that 40,000 showed up in Washington.






Even this "old lady" showed up. What an inspiration it was to see her there!

Dinosaurs, too...
Did I mention that it rained? It rained a lot. And, when it was done raining...there was more rain. It wasn't too bad. I didn't bother with an umbrella. I just took my raincoat. My friends kept trying to share their umbrellas with me. Mostly, I just got wet. I'm glad that I went, but did I mention that I got wet?

Yes, it rained. 

Definitely getting wet!

I had to include this picture - this man must have been photo-bombing my picture. It was pretty funny to find this among my photos when I got back to my apartment after the march. 
The event wasn't as thrilling as the march that I participated in for the travel ban. That was an impromptu march, the Trump administration was newer, and there was so much protest and passion about banning people from our country. The rain also dampened everyone's spirits. Did I already say that it rained and that I got wet and that I didn't have an umbrella? 

My favorite pictures of the day are here - those that show the images and power of Washington...all being taken over by citizen activists. 





But, who am I kidding? Everyone wants to see the posters. Truly, for these events, it's all about the posters. This is a bit of the way I feel when I'm on a marathon course. The young social scientist I was with had to catch a train shortly after the start of the march, so she had little time on the Mall. She said, "I just want to see some posters." Other people who kept me company throughout the day said the same thing... "Let's go over here. Maybe we'll see more posters." So, take heart my readers, you want posters? I've got posters for you!






















This kid was getting a lot of attention. He and his dad were really eating it up. 


I never got a picture of my favorite poster which read, "Trump is worse than reviewer #2!" If you've ever submitted scientific papers to referred journals, then you know how funny and true this is!

There were posts and pictures showing up all over Facebook of the many Marches for Science around the country. Many people have posted "What comes next?" Let's hope more of the same that I witnessed on Saturday: More science; more facts; more truth; and, more humanity. But, obviously, also less rain. 

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