March certainly went out like a lion. Last weekend we had another epic ice storm that went on for three days, four if you count the night it started. We thought spring was here and then boom, here comes the ice. We had seen some snow drops beginning to bloom, there are crocus showing their yellow and purple heads once again up by the church and in other sunny spots around town. A week later, the snow is gone and it is beginning to look like spring again but I think Mother Nature was having a laugh at our expense.
What I Have Been Up To
For the last two weeks I have been completely involved in getting prepared for a HandsOff Rally to be held on the town green here in New London. Frankly, I have never done anything like this before. I have attended a rally or two back about 8 years ago but other than attending I wasn’t involved. Not so this time. We literally decided at noon on Friday and by the following Friday we had what we needed. We weren’t really even sure how it would all come together but gradually it started to take shape. First things first we needed a permit from the town to hold an event on town property. We also needed an insurance certificate (our local League of Women Voters stepped up) and we needed to advertise that an event was going to take place here. The process fascinated me.
Making Signs at the Abbott Library in Sunapee
I worked very closely with the chair of the group to keep things together. Once we had the insurance certificate and the town permit, we started to secure speakers. We also registered the event with the national group that was organizing events all over the United States, as well as I understand, overseas. We posted on Facebook and Instagram, put an ad in the local paper, and used our own email lists to send out information. Word spread like wildfire. There were other events in New Hampshire but none central as we are. It turns out people really wanted to be in their own town and not necessarily travel to Concord or Lebanon both places at least a half hour drive. People organized sign making events at their library which were really a lot of fun. I went to one in Sunapee at which nearly 50 people showed up. The HandsOff organization was also extremely supportive. A couple of us attended some of their training and information zoom sessions.
The Day
The big day arrived and we knew the weather was supposed to be bad. And it was. It started with some sleet and then turned to rain. It was cold – oh sooo cold – and despite four layers of clothing I shook for about two hours afterwards. My co-collaborator (both of us are transplanted Canadians by the way) was away so I was left as the Emcee for the day. We had a very thorough schedule and up until the last minute were filling in with speakers and some of the other details like finding pop up tents to help keep people a little bit dry, but it worked. Our original permit request said we estimated about 50 people might show up. Boy were we wrong. We watched on-line as people were signing up and it kept growing. We updated the town with an estimate of 150 and notified the police department of the increase. Boy were we wrong. Most estimates of the crowd size on the actual day, despite terrible weather, was somewhere around 500+. The speakers were wonderful, the drumming along with the chants was uplifting and we ended when were just too cold to continue. That didn’t stop the cheering, horn honking, and sign waving that was going on all along main street in front of the green. What a day!
To say I have learned a lot is an understatement. Also, I don’t believe this will be the last of these rallies. From what I am hearing and reading, there were enormous rallies in the big cities. The drone video from New York and Chicago was incredible. Thousands showed up. The news is that a total of 5 million Americans took part coast-to-coast and border-to-border. No evidence of violence and no arrests. The largest civil action in American History. My daughter just returned from France and said there was a big rally there as well. One very poignant moment I had was when a Ukrainian man holding a sign saying hands off Ukraine, Canada and Greenland came up to thank me/us for holding the event. This was right after John Moses had given a very powerful and heartfelt talk about the Derby Line and Haskell Free Library and Opera House situation that happened within the last two weeks.
To quote one of my favorite historians, Heather Cox Richardson, “Scholars often note that the American Revolution of 250 years ago was a movement not to change the status quo but to protect it. The colonists who became revolutionaries sought to make sure that patterns of self-government established over generations could not be overturned by foreign officials seeking to seize power. We seem to be at it again….”
I am so glad to have played a small part in this movement.
