Potomac, MD (April 21): 5 years ago I got an unexpected phone call from a group of my high school friends most of whom I had not seen since my sophomore year of college. One of the nicest consequences of that call is that I am back in touch with my friend Susan Arbuck, who now lives in Potomac. A semi-retired oncologist, she planned to go to the March for Science, and invited me to stay with her and her husband Marty, also a life scientist.
Although we have got together briefly a couple of times in the past 5 years, this was the first lengthy visit, so there was a lot of catching up to do. Susan had a varied career as a professor, oncologist, and member of a drug-development pharmaceutical team, while also having 2 kids. I am sure there are a lot of details I missed. However, what is most important is that she is still the lively, charming and wonderful person I was friends with 45 years ago. I cannot imagine how we lost touch.
We had a very nice evening together. However, Susan was in the middle of writing a report and felt that she could not take off the next day for the march. Instead, she dropped me at the metro and I made my own way.
In anticipation that Susan might be too busy to go with me, I had contacted the Penn State Science Policy Club, who had travelled to DC by bus with a number of other Penn State folks. We met up at the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) building and then walked to the Washington Monument together. I really enjoyed meeting the group, who were mostly graduate students.
The weather was challenging – constant rain and chilly.
However, the turnout was good, although in the 10’s of thousands, rather than the 100’s of thousands of the Women’s March. I had joked with Chuck before I left (in the rain) that I ought to market a protest umbrella, with the poster hanging from the spoke. It seems as if this was an idea whose time had come.
Four hours of speeches were planned, and the podium was properly set up so that we could actually see and hear. However, after a while I became more interested in the crowd and started talking to random people. This included (during Michael Mann’s talk) a mathematics student who was carrying a sign in support of climate science (although he was more interested in deep learning than in climate modeling), a group of friends who were dressed up as a school of fish (and 2 predators – perhaps penguins?),
an environmental scientist who explained to me the economics of piping oil from the Canadian tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico, and others. I also ran into some old friends from Cornell. There were a lot of very clever signs.
Since I have been involved in questions of how the use and misuse of P-values has affected science, I recorded a few P-value posters.
The march started at 2:00 and went right past the EPA building. If any EPA scientists were working on Saturday, they would have been cheered by the considerable support they were given by the marchers.
The march ended at the Capitol Building, where many of us left our signs. Mine is the one that says STEM in the top center. (The Savannah College of Art and Design had an exhibit of the signs from the Women’s March and I hope that some other art or political science students thought to do something similar with the signs from the March for Science. Of course, there are a lot of marches this year, so perhaps it is too much to hope for.)
A random thought – buy shares in companies that provide markers and poster board when the politics get contentious.
Things began to dissipate by 4:00 and so I took the metro back to Susan’s stop, where she picked me up. We then had the evening to chat some more (after Marty’s gourmet salmon dinner).
Sunday morning we hung out at the house, eating more good food (thanks Marty for the pancakes and melon) and downing enough coffee to keep me going for the trip back to the Poconos. I also got the garden tour – Marty has done wonders with a lot that is very shaded (and I miss my garden).
After that, it was time for Susan to return to her report, and for me to take the uneventful drive back to Promised Land State Park, where I found Chuck well but lonely.