Fri, 1/20: Inauguration. I conjure appendicitis, resulting in emergency surgery. Good day for anaesthesia.
Sat, 1/21: Big blizzard; 8,000 people march down Park City’s Main St. in concert with the National Women’s March. Another 500 gather at the State Capitol for the Clean Air, No Excuses rally.
Mon, 1/23: I send out an email to the 5,700 people on the CATALYST listserv reminding them of the Women’s March at the Capitol. Eleven readers unsubscribe.
Photographer and dear friend Sallie Shatz heads through yet another blizzard for Capitol Hill without me—but also for me. “I needed you to be a part of this,” she says later, for which I am grateful. Her photos, coming to me almost in real time, make me feel as if I were there.
Saturday, 1/28: CATALYST’s first event as a nonprofit, the Utah Clean Air Fair at Trolley Square, goes off without a hitch. Thank you Jim French, David Ezekiel Brooks, John deJong, Morgan Byrne and all 40-plus volunteers!
In spite, or because, of ill-willed decrees by the new government, people are starting to act like citizens. We are standing up for one another without fear or guile. We’re signing up and showing up. Everyone seems more alive. President Trump just may be the catalyst this country needs.
We’ll see what February brings.
—Greta Belanger deJong, editor & publisher