Women's March

I volunteered as a marshal for the Women's March in Chicago.
The training was the Wednesday before and quite interesting (to me).
I thought my role would be more like a "parade marshal" rather than a "protest marshal"
There was a fair amount about "action", de-escalation, and some guidance on staying safe.
Thinking about it, I wasn't sure how much I was really ready for.
On Wednesday, the route of the march was changed, since the expected attendance had increased from 20,000 to 50,000. (Wow!)
On Saturday morning, people were expecting 100,000.
By 10am (when the rally was scheduled to start) the count was closer to 150,000 and the march was cancelled by CPD. It was supposed to turn into a rally at the original site.
The rally area was already totally full and more and more and more people were still heading east.

Around 11, we got directions to have people walk west on Jackson (the original march route) since no one else could get to the rally, and you couldn't really hear anything.  For the next 2 hours, people calmly, peacefully and joyfully walked by.

The final estimate (from the Chicago Tribune) was 250,000.
There were *no* arrests, no vandalism, no violence.
In general, the signs were much more positive ("Women's rights are human rights") than negative (anti-Trump).  The same with the chants.

I don't know what the next step is, or what changes will be coming.
But I'm feeling very good about this first beginning, and the peaceful, forceful presence so many people showed.