Still walking

Except two days were spent at the state capitol.  Some photo ops.  The large crowd outside was from a rally on the Capitol steps.

Sunny Monday in Charleston

This picture doesn’t do the crowd justice.

The first grade teacher and I hanging out on the capitol steps yesterday.

(You can always count on your best girl school pal to make sure

you share a good photo.)

Let the kids carry the signs...  

It’s been seven days.  The 20 republicans in the state senate are the ones holding the voting power.  They are tabling the vote to vote every time with various excuses.  The money the governor added to the revenue budget isn’t there is one.  A vindictive senate chair says "well if it’s about insurance and not the raise, we'll lower the % of the raise (5-2%) and put the imaginary money into the insurance fund."  The governor walked into a town hall held at a high school saying "you’re not going to shoot me, are you?"  At the next town hall he referred to all of the striking employees as rednecks.

There have been plenty of great signs.  My red 55United t-shirt feels like it’s become a uniform.  After 2 trips to the capitol in one week I gave myself the day off.  Today I sent an email to our superintendent thanking him for his support.  A nearby county canceling announcement read "wetzel county schools will be closed tomorrow and let’s just say it’s not due to weather."

It feels futile to be shouting in front of the doors to the state government as they are clearly working on their own agenda. The first day felt inspiring.  The second day was discouraging and weird.  Like you don’t want to get too attached to the shouts because it’s likely not going to end well.

It’s one of those times where you don’t know what’s going to happen and checking Facebook every 5 minutes doesn’t tell you any sooner.