“I’m having a struggle accepting what happened the other day: we have a new President. I had a hard time walking out the door this morning… it’s terrifying. I’m worried about people losing their civil liberties. I’m worried about people losing their health care and dying. I’m worried about the programs I work with getting terminated. I feel really overwhelmed about it. The hatred that’s being set loose. People feel like they can say anything they want. It seems pretty awful.
I just have to keep reminding myself: we have to stay calm. We still all have each other, and there’s a lot of us. In response, people are going to be so much more active now, speaking up.
Last night, I was talking to my mom and she said, 'I’m praying that God will open his heart and mind.' I wish I had that kind of faith, but I don’t. I feel much worse than with Bush or Nixon. I'm old enough that I remember when Nixon was elected.
I was 19 when Woodstock happened, and I remember the whole Kent State ordeal, when everybody realized… that’s it, there’s no idealism any more. And all that has been happening now, it’s bringing back all the same feelings to me again. The Kent State shooting site was just declared a national historic landmark, and when I read that and saw the pictures of the dead kids again, it all came back to me how that felt when it happened. Of course, all that historical turmoil made a lot of people step back or retreat, and it made some people more violent; but it also made some people take action in their own lives or in their own communities that brought about some positive social change. So maybe that's something.”