(recommending listening for this blog post found here)
Thursday night I found myself sitting in a musty, crowded room at a church completely outnumbered by elderly people. For every young adult my age, there had to have been at least ten older individuals. We were at a nonviolence and de-escalation training for an upcoming march against hate.
While it was refreshing to see so many older individuals involved in the act of hating nazis and white supremacy, it was also a bit concerning. Me and the three housemates of mine who also came to the training spent a lot of time listening to the same basic questions asked again, wincing when elders would move and groan in pain. Those around us on Thursday night were going to be marching with an inter-faith group and they were ready. We all learned some tactics to use in case we ran into some assholes and everyone participated in the practice.
They were going to march.
Marching for justice, no matter your age, is important. We learned that as we prepared and saw the cutest, smallest children with signs of hope and love and peace this morning wearing rainbow tutus.
Today we went to the march.
Instead of going with the inter-faith group, we went with one of our roommates’ work place. It was a group of lawyers, so we figured if anything, we had our backs covered. They probably knew our rights better than anyone else. So marching with them in Berkeley, we felt okay. We woke up bright and early and made coffee and boarded the bus, not entirely sure what to expect.
Everyone I had spoken with talked about how Berkeley has a history of violence. We’d been prepped at our training to deal with possible detainment and arrests, to potentially be swung at, to maybe even be hit with some tear gas. We were told to bring our IDs, to turn off our GPS on our phones, and to stick together. We were told to expect the worst.
It was absolutely not the worst.
When we arrived, there were two options for us to chose from. Keep heading straight, or turn right. We turned right.
We ended up near a group of speakers from a variety of platforms, talking about the importance of calling congressmen, of making policy changes, of supporting one another. There was a Holocaust survivor there and there was a lesbian couple there and there were so many different people I couldn’t even keep track of who was up on stage. They rallied us up in a good way.
And then we marched.
I’ve never been to a march before, or a protest. I didn’t even get to participate in the Women’s March because I was home and had no means of getting anywhere that had more people. My activism has mostly been online, retweeting things, supporting from afar, not making much of a difference. I’ve donated to a few things and made a couple of calls but nothing that I felt like was making a difference.
But I also know that some people feel marching doesn’t make much of a difference, so that kind of warred inside me throughout the day. It was great that the speakers talked about ways to actually make change, but so much of it feels like it’s outside of my hands. I do what I can.
Today, I could march.
I held up my sign and with my roommates we chanted along with everyone else and there was something so powerful about being there. To some it might sound like a cheap thrill but to be surrounded by people with the same ideals, the same mindset, shouting “our streets!” or “immigrants are welcome here!” or “no hate no fear!” is powerful. The air is alive with energy and humming with hope.
I have to say that I met some of the nicest people too. There was no violence there at all. Anyone I accidentally bumped into was immediately apologetic and kind and we just kept doing our thing, moving forward, following the band that played with their drums and saxophones.
Even just knowing that there are so many other people out there who care so much about… not letting Trump be a dick, or not letting nazis get away with their bullshit, or preventing the muslim ban and the border wall, it’s incredible. To be around people who care, who you know care because they showed up, it definitely changes things. Even if we didn’t do anything physical today, in that space, it at least reminded me that there’s no way we’re alone in this fight. And no fucking way are we backing down anytime soon.
(I spend a lot of time talking about faith and social justice with one of the guys I work with. He’s my mom’s age and I kind of like to think of him as my work dad. He teaches me a lot about how to actually function at my placement and can always make me laugh. The other day we were talking about God and the great debate regarding if God even exists.
To be honest, I’m still kind of up in the air about it, but something he said stuck with me.
“Whether or not there’s a God, it doesn’t matter. Because you’re here and you’re doing God’s work. You being here and doing nonprofit is changing lives for people. That’s powerful. That’s all that matters.”)
If the sources I’ve found online are correct, the inter-faith group (and all of those sweet, wonderful, open-minded old people) ended up just a street away from us. When we turned right, they must’ve stayed straight. We didn’t find out until we were on the bus going home that there had been Trump supporters in Berkeley today, that there had been alt-right assholes looking for a fight, that there had been arrests.
The difference just a few blocks can make in experience is astounding. While it was inspiring, it was emotionally draining as well to even be there. I can’t imagine how different things would have been for us.
Violence may have broken out in Berkeley, but I wasn’t there for it, and I can only hope and pray for those who were involved. I heard it wasn’t long lived anyway.
I hope that the inter-faith group kept singing the whole time.
♫ This little light of mine… ♫
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Onto our favorite segment of my blog:
Jenn Tries New Food
Something exciting happened this week - I chopped onions! Ha ha, I can hear the laughter now, but listen. I’m 22 and literally have never chopped onions before, and never needed to. My housemates have been amazing in their support of not only helping me expand on my food, but teaching me how to cook as well.
My first meal of the year for everyone was grilled cheese with tomato soup. They helped me with the tomato soup, considering I’m basically a grilled cheese master, but that’s what the onions were for. It was thoroughly enjoyed.
Anyway, here we go.
- Enchiladas (or flautas??? They have been called both)
- Pretty okay! Not the biggest fan just because they were really hot spice wise.
- We had rice and corn to balance it out though so it was manageable for my sad tongue.
- After I ate this my one roommate said, “You know, I’m actually really proud of you! It can be really hard to try new food and you’ve literally tried everything so far!” so hey, props to me.
- Bacon wrapped dates
- Ohhhhhh my GOD
- SO GOOD HELP
- I’ve never had a date before? I knew they existed but they were just never a thing that I had actually come into contact with. I figured if it was wrapped in bacon it wouldn’t be too bad. And then it WASN’T too bad because it was SO GOOD instead.
- 10/10 would recommend to anyone who eats meat.
- Garbanzo Beans
- We sang the bean song maybe six times throughout this meal
- I have no real memory of this, I just know I ate them because I wrote them down. Again, beans are weird.
- Spanish Tortillas
- These are like, egg and potato and tortilla tortillas
- So good I ate so many? I even packed some for lunch the following day.
- It’s been like, a few days since we ate these and I’m literally fantasizing about them. It’s just egg and potato and tortilla and I want to eat them all the time. It was so fucking good. I need my roommate to teach me how to make these.
- LIKE I CANNOT EVEN STRESS TO YOU HOW GOOD THESE WERE.
- Oh my God I want some right now as I’m typing this. Help. Will I ever be happy again.
- Lentil Burgers (with carrots and onions and spices)
- To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of lentils! But this was okay. It went into my body and stayed there so that’s really what’s important.
- Burgers kind of creep me out? It’s the layering of things. Whatever. So like, maybe it would have been better with ketchup or tomatoes or something but I figured maybe I should try eating a normal burger with those things before we move onto lentil burgers.
I’ll be cooking again this upcoming week and you’ll all be thrilled to know that I’m making french toast. Huzzah! Someone has to keep these people in check. They get all fancy with their meals. I was recruited to the Bay Area house solely to bring us back to the basics, I know it.
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I’ve decided to create another new segment! This one will be titled:
Things That Aren’t Important Enough For Their Own Blog Post
This is where I’ll be adding some things I think are cool that have happened to me that might be smaller. Here we go!
- My one housemate and I went to this cool thrift shop on the edge of the lake that we live by called Out of the Closet where I bought so many clothes for only 33 dollars. I’ve decided, despite the rare occasions, I’m only going to be buying clothes from thrift shops this year.
- It was awhile ago, but THE ECLIPSE was so cool here. We didn’t have a lot of coverage, but we did have this giant window in my office where everyone, and I mean everyone, lined up to try on the solar eclipse goggles and look outside. It was so cool! It was also insanely distracting, because I’d been shadowing someone and was with a client, but finally I got my turn. We spent a lot of the day talking about aliens.
- Yesterday most of us went to watch a movie in the park in San Francisco. It probably wasn’t worth it. We spent a lot of money on transit to sit in a packed square of grass to sort-of watch La La Land. I got so bored during the movie that I Googled the ending. We did, however, drink a lot of wine and spend a lot of time laughing. There’s something soft about spending a summer night in a park with your friends.
Until next time, my friends! Take some time this week to stand up for something you believe in. You’ll feel better about the world, even if it’s just a little.
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Don’t forget to donate to LVC so more rad people like me can gather across the world to protest white supremacy!
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