Shocker that she "just happened" to have helped organize anti-Trump marches...
Bay Area March for Science: Revenge of the Nerds
By LISA M. KRIEGER |
lkrieger@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: April 21, 2017 at 7:00 am | UPDATED: April 22, 2017 at 9:15 am
Angered by the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to research, this is what the former surfer, sailor and tech specialist will say: “Science is the only thing that is going to cure ALS.”
Joining him will be science advocates — from Nobel laureates to Lego-loving toddlers — in Washington, D.C., and more than 600 cities across the world, including San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Pacifica, Walnut Creek, Hayward, Livermore and Berkeley. In Los Angeles, the march will be led by an electric Hummer, driven by former NASA astronaut and SpaceX’s Garrett Reisman.
Call it the revenge of the nerds.
While the concept seems simple — who doesn’t love a springtime march? — the actual execution has been tougher.
The scientific community is a congregation of many different allegiances, with disagreements about how to solve the complex and intractable problems that face people and the planet. Some wonder whether activism belongs in science.
And protests in America have historically been driven by outraged radicals, people who reject standard norms. Scientists, in contrast, tend to prefer the quiet discipline of a lab, not the streets.
But faced with a threat, the sprawling community is pulling together as tightly as an ionic bond.
Over time, it’s grown into more than just a march — there are also “Teach-Ins,” science fairs and Earth Day festivals in places ranging from NASCAR-loving Martinsville, Virginia, to an expedition ship in frozen Antarctica.
“It’s a science party!” said biostatistician
Christine Blasey, of Palo Alto, who will wear an elaborately knitted cap of the human brain — yarn turned into a supersized cerebral cortex —
inspired by the “pussy hats” donned during the Women’s Marches.
Pleasanton knitter Eilene Cross made ‘brain caps’ for the upcoming March for Science, to be worn by friend
Christine Blasey of Palo Alto
“Getting introverted people to the march — that’s huge,” she laughed.