The San Luis Obispo Women’s March has been going on since January of 2017. The march started to send a message to our new President and his administration that women’s issues matter and that we will not be silenced. My group had never attended a march before, so we really didn’t know what to expect or what we were getting ourselves into. The morning of the march we all met at Haley’s house, and walked to the park square from there. Since none of us had ever attended the march before, we thought it would be a good idea to get there an hour early to get our bearings and get a better idea of how our reporting would go.
Haley Pryde, who was in charge of word for this project, had a great experience with the Women’s March.
“I loved getting to meet women from all ages who were involved with the march. From a 61 year old to a 16 year old, learning everyone’s perspectives was so cool and it made reporting so much more fun.”
Our group was lucky enough to have gotten into contact with Dawn Addis, the organizer of the event. Dawn was so helpful and welcoming to our group, and was very excited that we were going to be reporting on the event.
Taking photos during the march made the event that much more powerful. Young children would be seen carrying signs about women’s rights, and whole families were there supporting something they believed in.
Kenzie Nicoli, my group member in charge of the interactive portion of the story, was very touched by the whole experience.
“Meeting everyone at the women’s march and experiencing their eagerness to share their support and their story was definitely the most heartwarming experience that derived from this story and capturing that enthusiasm on their faces through photos made this project that much more rewarding.”
When we first started the reporting process, we thought we were going to be doing a ‘Humans of New York‘ type piece about the event. Our first idea was to do it about this years slogan, truth to power, but Mustang News was already reporting on that. After reporting on the march and conducting interviews, our team realized it would be a lot more interesting to change our angle to that of women and men at the march. Including a male perspective about a largely female event would make our story more inclusive.
Valerie Gasparini, my group member who was in charge of the video for this project, was a big advocate that we include men in our story about the march.
“It was interesting observing how men played a part in the Women’s March this year. I got the chance to speak to a Cal Poly student and an older SLO county resident, both men were passionate about actively supporting women’s rights. I learned how the march has become more inclusive every year, covering not only women’s rights but also minority rights and human rights in general.”
Walking in the march was such an amazing experience. Men and women, young children and the elderly, were all there for a cause that they believed in. Isabella Hamman, a Cal Poly graduate, was in town the weekend of the march and decided to join. Dressed as Rosie the Riveter, Hamman is a big advocate for women’s rights.
“Having a place where men and women can come together and march for the rights of others is such a powerful thing to be apart of. I’ve gone to these marches every year since 2017, and really believe that this is the way you can create change in our society.”
I think I can speak for my group when saying that the march was an amazing event to be apart of. I think it helped our story that none of us had ever attended it before, because we went into the reporting process not fully knowing what to expect, and letting the story take us wherever it lead.