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Volume 9, Number 51 | January 25, 2018
Marching on By Will Grandbois Sopris Sun Staff
“THE FUTURE IS FEMALE” is a sign of the times and could be a sign pointing to the future of these girls. Although there were men women and boys of all ages participating in the women’s march that took place on the morning of Jan. 20 in Carbondale, the presence of preteen and teenage girls seems to have increased from last year. You go girls! Photo by Jane Bachrach
It followed a familiar format — a host of folks sporting signs as they traverse the Rio Grande trail from The Goat, around the Main Street roundabout and back — but Carbondale’s second annual Women’s March was more than a redux of 2017. “I think last year was an awakening of sorts… a place where people could gather who were afraid or confused or angry and lift each other up,” said Maura Masters, Editor of Alice the online magazine, which sponsored the event. “Now there’s a reason for people to get together to take action.” The intervening year has seen local marches for science, Planned Parenthood (which drew a small counterprotest) and peace. The spread of the #metoo movement added more context to women’s rights, and a shifting political climate has left other demographics worried about where they stand as well. In Masters’s estimation, while the crowd may not have been as large as last year (on-scene estimates placed it between 400 and 500) it was significantly more diverse in terms of age, gender and creed. “I think there’s more of awareness from a broader group of people,” she said. “Our message is always one of inclusion. It’s not just about women, it’s about all sorts of people.” She also noted that some who had marched elsewhere last year stayed closer to home this year, although a large contingent of locals still made the trip to Grand Junction. While some of those marching were broadly critical of the president and his administration — it was the one year anniversary of Donald Trump’s swearing in — others had more specific concerns. Many marched simultaneously for gender equality and immigration
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