I fly to Johannesburg in two days, but today I was in Oakland for the Women’s March. Last year I was in Cleveland this weekend and attended the Women’s March there. It was inspiring to see so many women and men of all ages and races and abilities stepping out–and to connect with the larger community where I live before my departure. It was especially sweet to run into some students from my school. I loved the creativity of the signs, so many hand-made with original messages. One of my favorites was “This is how we win. Not by fighting what we hate, but by saving what we love.”
There is a local artist, Joe Murphy, that has been making and distributing peace chains. 
He has made over 500,000 clay or wooden pieces with the word ‘peace’ in many languages. We got some for our daughter at a demonstration many years ago. He was at the march today and I got four for my trip. Peace in Xhosa, Zulu, Arabic and Hebrew.
No Foreign Lands 