I am marching to protect women's rights and bodily sovereignty. I am marching to reaffirm that women's rights are human rights. I am marching for women's financial empowerment. I am marching because we haven't had a woman president yet, because the ERA hasn't been passed, because we are judged more and paid less than men with the same knowledge and skill set, and because on top of that more and more having the choice of having and raising our own children has become a struggle or a privilege of the upper class. I am marching because although women constitute the majority of the population and are the gateway into the world to everybody, we are still considered a minority in terms of rights. I am marching because I see critical connections between the domination of nature and the exploitation of women. I am marching because the president-elect, the person now in the highest public office, has bragged about sexually assaulting women, contributing to the perpetuation of the disrespect and violence being committed towards women in what has been developing into a rape culture overseen for far too long. I am marching for the right to access safe, affordable birth control and abortion; because there are sisters who are getting sexually assaulted and raped who need to have those things available to them to overcome those unfair circumstances. I am marching because it's troubling to know the president-elect and his cabinet are trying hard to dismantle services and policies aimed at helping women. I am marching because I am not going to tolerate an infringement on the rights we've fought so hard to attain and maintain. #WomensMarch #WhyIMarch
Michael C. McMillen is a mixed-media artist based in Santa Monica, California, whose installations and sculptures made out of recyclable materials, or as he calls them "the cast-offs of our material society," play around the themes of time, change, and illusion as a means to create what he refers to as "visual spiritual poetry." It's very interesting work with a magic of its own. The two friends I've brought with me to view his work have referred to his pieces as post-apocalyptic. I see it more as a beautiful display of decay. They had a similar eerie effect on me as when I visited a ghost town of the Gold Rush era, here in California, for the first time. Like a glimpse at the ancient ruins of the future. To fully appreciate his installations you really must experience them. You can view his work in person at an upcoming exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California from April 16, 2011 to August 14, 2011, entitled Train of Thought .