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Local mothers and daughters prepare for Women’s March on Washington

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Madelyn Besse of Farmington and her daughter Amelia Tierney paint signs together for the Women’s March on Washington rally both are attending in Washington, D.C. Saturday.
A group of local mothers and daughters prepare for the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21.

FARMINGTON – A local group of mothers and their daughters have joined forces to participate in next weekend’s Women’s March on Washington in Washington, D.C.

More than 300,000 people are expected to march at an event described as intending to “…join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights,” states the march’s website.

The idea for the rally was born the day after Donald Trump was elected president. Teresa Shook of Hawaii gathered 40 of her friends to protest the result of the nation’s vote. Similar gatherings began cropping up throughout the country and before long leaders combined efforts to create the march.

Buses from Maine will be leaving late Friday, driving through the night and arriving for the start of the march on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. The march will take place in the heart of Washington, D.C. near the Capitol. Attendees from Maine will leave immediately after the march and return home around 6 a.m. on Sunday.

“Just in time for school. We’re going to be exhausted but it’s going to be awesome,” Madelyn Besse of Farmington said.

Besse is one of the local mothers planning on making the trip with her 11-year-old daughter, Amelia Tierney.

“I told my friends I’m going. The ones who don’t support Trump wish they could go,” Tierney said.

Tierney isn’t the only one talking about it at school. Maya Kellett of Farmington said her Civil Rights Team at Cascade Brook School is talking about the effects of the election too.

“We talk about how the changes have impacted the U.S. and why we should stand up for what we believe in. We also talk about letting what has already happened pass and trying to stop the next thing that might come.” Kellett said.

The local group of mothers and daughters gathered on Saturday evening to make signs and T-shirts for the rally. While a playlist with women-empowering songs like “You Don’t Own Me” played in the background, the two generations of feminists painted slogans such as “Stronger Together” and “Not My President.”

“We really feel like we need to represent,” Besse said. “We’re going to raise hell. It will be fun.”

For anyone interested in going to the event you can check out the official website here or find the Women’s March on Washington facebook page.

There will also be rallies held throughout the state for those that can’t make the trip south. For more information about those rallies you can go to www.mainemarch.com.

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72 Comments

  1. Stunned – I will never attack you for standing up for your beliefs. But if you attack other people for standing up for what they believe, you are whining. I responding to your mean spirited statements about the protest. But hey – you post anonymously. That way you don’t have to take responsibility for what you write. I’m willing to stand by what I write.

  2. Stunned….not ALL sex is consentaneous…and not all pregnancies are healthy…enough said..

  3. I love the USA.
    I respect the office of the President.
    It is NOT acceptable for our President to be a narcissistic exclusionary sexist bully.

    I’m so inspired by you women and look forward to seeing some of you at the State House Saturday!

  4. @Scott Erb, Stunned’s original post, in my opinion, was good advice, not whining. Voicing opinion, whether with a name or not is just what everyone one is doing here.
    When protesting becomes ” think my way, or else “, well, that sounds like bullying.
    As soon as someone admits to voting for and supporting Trump they are usually met with a mouthful of insults.

  5. I do not have a problem with people protesting or making a statement. However, as we enter the season of town budgets, school budgets and county budgets, are these the same people who will holler about not being able to pay their taxes. My question is, ” Is the money spent here in a protest, that in my opinion will accomplish absolutely nothing, well spent in the big picture of life?”

  6. …. Wilton Mom…. there are other laws regarding what ‘you can do with your own body’… should those be done away with also?

  7. billyjoebob: I do not think Trump supporters should be insulted, any more than I think people going to the march should be disdained. Walter Lippmann wrote an article “the Essential Opposition” over a half century ago, where he noted democracy works only if it is a process of dialogue, with people learning from each other. Nobody has an answer key. If only Republicans or only Democrats governed, our country would be worse off in each case then if there is competition and dialogue. I think insulting the President (be it Obama or Trump) or the President’s supporters creates more emotion and hinders reasoned discussion. But I’m old fashioned that way – in the modern entertainment driven media, it’s all about emotions and talking heads screaming at each other.

  8. Scott Erb: You have insulted Trump supporters and called us whiners and mean spirited when that is not what we are. I simply disagree with what these woman are doing – but I have no hatred for them at all. All I can tell by your comments is that as long as people agree with you all is well. Thankfully we have a right to our opinions, just as these women do, but I don’t see you calling them mean spirited even though they are going down to Washington with signs reading “He’s not our President”. You can’t get any meaner than that.

    They may not what Mr. Trump as their president, but if they continue to live in this country for the next four years, then like it or not, he IS their president.

    Please stop labeling those of us that don’t agree with you as mean people.

  9. Stunned, I never called any group “whiners.” I never mentioned Trump supporter. I called one person a whiner for making what I considered rude and ridiculous comments about people in the march. You seem to be the person who can’t stand disagreement. I’m the one noting that both sides are active and that’s good. You seem to be a bit thin skinned here – if you’re going to make comments like the ones you made, don’t be surprised if you’re called on the carpet for it. And don’t try to make yourself part of a group. My comment to you was directed at you alone. I could have maybe been gentler, but when people anonymously attack others, well, I lose a lot of respect for that person. Oh, I don’t have a President. Obama wasn’t my President either. I live in a country that has a President.

    Cwarren: Odd criticism. People decide what they value – it might be a snow mobile, it might be skis, it might be vodka…or it could be an educational trip to DC to be part of an historic event that their children along will remember forever, and which may be one of those valuable experiences for those kids. But really – how people spend their money reflects subjective tastes. I think one can complain about taxes even if one goes to the march, or buys a lot of vodka.

  10. Mr. Erb, it is ” The Indispensable Opposition “, It was a good read. Thank you.
    In a nut shell the problem I see nowadays with regards to that is that finding The Truth has been replaced with Being Right. And in these times being Right is usually dictated by who has the most money. And this is supported by the media, our current educational system and political system.
    I really don’t think this can be ” repaired “. It has to crash and as a society we have to start over again. Hopefully we will have learned from our history… but we haven’t so far.

  11. I agree billyjoebob, with much of what you say. (And yes, it is the Indispensable Opposition!) I think part of the dynamic is we’re going through a transition of historic proportions. Just as the printing press helped bring down the old medieval order, the information revolution now is rendering old politics obsolete. I do see a new kind of non-ideological pragmatism in young people that gives me hope. I hope for the sake of my children there isn’t a complete crash. But when the debt to GDP level is unprecedented – over 350% (and that includes private and corporate debt), it does seem we’ve build this on a foundation of sand.

  12. All I can where were you protestors when the very incompetent Obama was elected and down the road to bankruptcy with Obama Care , possibly the worst President in history ! I believe you folks need to get ” INFORMED ” and not believe everything you see and hear on network news, other wise know as ” FAKE NEWS “

  13. I really appreciate all the dialogue that this article has sparked. I just wanted to bring to the forefront some wise words by my daughter, cited in the article, “We talk about how the changes have impacted the U.S. and why we should stand up for what we believe in. We also talk about letting what has already happened pass and trying to stop the next thing that might come.” Kellett said. Thank you to the leaders of the Civil Rights group at Cascade Brook for your wise guidance.

    I believe there is much to be learned by this statement. There have been many changes as a result of this election that have impacted the U.S. and other countries across the world. Much of this has prompted people to stand up for what they believe in. We may not all agree, but it is important to stand up for one’s values and beliefs. Even if we don’t agree with one another, it is important to respect and strive to understand one another. We have been far to complacent here in the U.S. and not exercised our democratic rights that we have fought long and hard to obtain…for women, men, minorities, etc. I think all people should stand up for what they believe in and continue to engage in constructive dialogue that doesn’t point fingers, but rather looks for shared experiences, oppression and opportunities.

    I also agree that we need to let “what has already happened pass”. The past is the past and we are wasting time looking backwards. Let’s move forward. As far as stopping “the next thing that might come” I believe this election is a wake up call to realize that we can be empowered to shape policy. We can be active citizens to voice our opinion and urge our elected officials to respond. We also can be active in not blindly believing all we hear in the media, but really doing our homework and finding the root of the issues and moving forward from there.

    Lastly, I recognize that I am coming from a position of privilege. It is true people choose to spend their money on different things, and I am fortunate to be able to provide the opportunity to march in Washington DC with my daughter. I feel it is a responsibility, and a blessing, to use my position of privilege to actively voice my support for ALL humans regardless of who they voted for in 2016.

  14. Not that I haven’t blabbed enough, but just wanted to add that the march is explicitly about demonstrating love, inclusion, tolerance, justice and equality. I think we can all get on that bandwagon!

  15. I wonder how the good people that went to,the march feel about Madonna and the other speakers with their nasty attitudes and very bad language. I know it does not speak to most but it certainly leaves a disrespectful thought toward the cause. As a respected and Christian woman, I found it to be sadly degrading for the cause you feel devoted to.

  16. Ditto…and,

    Peaceful protest, even where it turns my stomach, is exactly what this country is about. However, this most recent “woman’s march” that their very rich, elite speakers and leaders are calling the President “Hitler”, calling for the “burning of the White House “, that the president is a “big clown” that “rolled in cheetoes dust” and that woman against the president are ” blood bed staining nasty woman” etc., and joining in with the other group of looting and rioting thugs is neither peaceful, nor a protest, and pretty much anyone with a brain has to accept that fact.

    Unfortunately, this doesn’t fit the narrative of the “evolved liberal”. To him or her, property rights, freedom of speech (except when you agree with them), are expendable and can be sacrificed in the service of some larger “good,” which, in this case is being perpetuated with the fake media.

    But again, no amount of tears, anger, frustration or reverse bias against men and in particular the president, justifies the lies and false accusations. Nor does this gives any legitimacy to screaming through the streets with expletives that those mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts would abhor, attacking the “system” by also attacking innocent members that voted for the president or making lame excuses that this is what you get when frustration boils over into action.

    Nuff said…

  17. I cannot tell you how hilarious and ironic it is that women are being called out on their “very bad language.” We just elected a guy who bragged about grabbing women by their genitals because he could. Oh, but his language wasn’t that nice. And the idea that the people involved in the women’s march joined “looting and rioting thugs” is ridiculous. Where are you getting your information? Try dabbling in other news sources occasionally.

  18. Hated the way Madonna spoke, loved the performance of Ashley Judd
    (“Judd’s delivery of the poem was flawless, but she gave all the credit for her words to 19-year-old Nina Mariah Donovan of Franklin, Tennessee, who wrote “Nasty Woman” late last year.” http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/a8630263/ashley-judd-nina-donovan-nasty-woman-womens-march-poem/

    Gloria Steinem’s message, America Ferrera, Alicia Keyes, Scarlet Johansson, Cecille Richards, etc. were ALL OK with me.

  19. I thought what Ashley Judd said was absolutely disgusting and a horrible example for young girls and women. Some of the signs I read were equally disgusting. Regardless how you feel about Trump I really have a hard time understanding how this sets a good example for young girls. I certainly wouldn’t want my daughter exposed to the nasty language that many of these women were using. I’m not excusing what Trump said but the difference is that was in a private conversation between two men talking stupid with each other like most men (and women) often do. I’m sure everyone on here has said things in private that you wouldn’t want the entire country to hear.

    I’m also having a hard time understanding what their beef is…especially with the incoherent garbage coming out of these celebrities mouths. As far as I can tell, no ones rights have been taken away. The fact is that we live in the most free country in the world and everyone (white, black, brown, purple, male, female, trans, gay, straight) has the opportunity to be their best and be successful. It may be harder for some to get there but the opportunity is still there (which is the reason why people flock to this country). Nothing will ever be perfect but freedom is the key to opportunity and success. We should all be thankful for our freedom and stop making victims out of everyone.

    On another note, I bet most people don’t even realize that Trump was for gay marriage before Hillary or Obama. Bill Clinton was against it and actually signed the defense of marriage act. Obama didn’t come out for gay marriage until 2012 when the political wind started to blow that way. And somehow Trump gets labeled homophobic when he hasn’t said anything disparaging against gays? The misinformation out there on both sides is getting ridiculous. You have to dig deep and think deep to figure out what is REALLY going on.

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