The No-Kings rally in Northampton yesterday was the biggest rally I’ve participated in while living in the Pioneer Valley. It had rained all morning but stopped when the rally began. The photo above gives you some sense of the numbers. It doesn’t show you how many hundreds also lined Main Street, which is to the right of the photo, with signs hoisted up and cars (many carrying rainbow flags out their windows) honking in loud, wild support as they passed.

There was the usual assembly of coalitions, with a short time allocated for the respective organizations to describe how Trump has affected their constituencies, at times a little laborious, but the enthusiasm, joy, and energy never waned. I think what helped was the lack of yelling and browbeating you often hear in rallies. What I especially noticed was the combination of young, old, and everyone in between, fairly rare in this neck of the woods (this is after the colleges closed for summer).

So much joy was present. Sure, there were the usual signs starting with Fu— this or that, but those were few. What was prominent? Help an Immigrant. Save Medicaid. The Wrong ICE Is Melting. Resist. And my favorite: Uproot Trump, Plant a Tree.

I was especially drawn to a group of drummers on the curb of Main Street. Young men with tomahawk haircuts, gray-haired women with long earrings, white-bearded men under cowboy hats—drumming on various drums and bucket bottoms for over an hour-and-a-half. If they seemed to tire, the folks on both sides of the street shouted and urged them on.

At some point the drummers moved to the middle of the street, stopping traffic in one direction, but the drivers in the cars smiled and a few clapped at the sides of their cars through open windows, following the beat. It was only when the crowd started following the drummers into the street that a policeman arrived, asked folks to get back on the curb, and they complied. A blonde woman urged everyone to get back on the street and stop traffic completely, but was unsuccessful.

To my eyes, there were almost no Latinos. They probably feel it’s way unsafe for them. But today I dropped a check in Jimena’s home for $7,000. We’re sending not eight, but twelve children to day camp for the entire summer, and I am thrilled. We’ve been able to do this several summers in a row, and it’s very, very important so that the parents (mainly single parents) can work. Thank you for your generous contributions, and if you didn’t donate, thank you for your good wishes.

I was encouraged to read that Trump is keeping ICE out of farms now, thanks to the agriculture lobby. Maybe it will encourage farmers here to hire immigrants to work on farms at the usual numbers during this growing season.

Montague Reporter, June 14

7:17 pm: Caller requesting police to help turtle cross Avenue A. Officer removed animal from road.

May this be the most serious help we need from our hard-working local police officers.