The meeting was happenstance and quick. Fleeting.
And memorable.
For whatever obscure-to-me reason my memory works, the chance encounter with Alejandra Sotelo-Solis three years ago in a crowded concrete stairwell in downtown San Diego lingers.
Trudging up the stairs of the Civic Center parkade I saw Sotelo-Solis all but skipping in the opposite direction.
The quarters were tight as I moved against the shoulder-to-shoulder flow of men, women and children. But Sotelo-Solis, then a National City councilwoman, seemed to bound into the occasional openings between people in an effort to quickly get to the Civic Center and join the thousands of other people who had gathered for the inaugural Womens March taking place nationwide.
A passing greeting and a quick explanation of how her husband was way behind her, I think bringing the kids, was muffled among the bodies and building.
Concrete has a way of distorting sound and in tight spaces, echoing back and forth mixing together to create an aural stew.
Awkwardly I called out to her to have a good time as she shot by. (No one has ever accused me of being witty and quick on my feet.)
Long after she was out of view I heard her voice clearly.
It’s already a great day, she said.
Undoubtedly for her and the thousands upon thousands of women gathered in San Diego for that march it was a great day. The beginning of more was the hope then. And it remains.
The Women’s March of 2017 was, in part, a protest to the infantile presidency of Donald
Trump, a man viewed as misogynistic and demeaning toward women.
It made central to the national discussion the treatment and attitude toward women throughout this country’s history. It reminded us that despite all of our own back-slapping and self congratulatory praise for women’s empowerment, by and large the policies and power in this country are wielded, often unfairly, mostly by men.
And as if that political and economic discussion were not heated enough, the talk around the mistreatment of women came to a boiling point when news of Hollywood mogul Harvey
Weinstein’s sexual harassment of actresses made news, and the #MeToo movement brought further into the spotlight the harassing behavior, mistreatment and discrimination women from every walk of life face every day.
A little more than two years later Sotelo-Solis is the mayor of National City and more women are serving in public elected office and in positions of power and authority.
But we still have a long way to go until all women — and all people — are treated fairly and with dignity.
One great day does not mean you stop fighting to make the greatness last forever.
