As a veteran of demonstrations, including the March on Washington in August 1963 (where I heard King's historic speech), this demonstration was one of the largest I've been to. And not in spring or autumn, when the weather is pleasant and the marching is easy, but in the dead center of January. I had thought I might skip this one, telling myself that age must surely have some advantages and if, at 73, I could go to movies for a cut rate, maybe I could skip the long ride to Washington.

     But in the end I went and am delighted I did. Those of us going from New York City had to be up by 5 a.m. if we were to catch our buses leaving at 6 a.m. The sky was bereft of any touch of dawn, the streets empty, and the temperature somewhere in the teens.

     We got to Washington by 11 a.m. and it was chaos of the happiest kind. There was a speakers platform on the "mall" near the capitol building and the speakers were speaking when I arrived. The sound system wasn't first rate, and I caught little of the speeches. But I wasn't interested in who was speaking - I was interested in the crowd. The sheer numbers were overwhelming, filling the mall, swirling in little freezing groups, some beating drums, most carrying signs.

     Of course one expected New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania but Mississippi was there. And South Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois, Montana, Vermont (the folks from Vermont said the weather was a bit warm). I'm only taking note of the few signs I jotted down that indicated the states - I think