It turned out to be a great day in Laramie WY, despite the snow we had the day before. We had a crowd of about 400-500 people (not a scientific measurement). Now that may sound small, but keep in mind Laramie is small town of about 30,000 people, and it’s pretty isolated. So this is proportionally equivalent of having about 200,000 people show up in NY. Laramie is the home of the University of Wyoming so a lot of scientists showed up. From archaeologists to Biologists, people showed up in the bright sunshine and marched through the town to support the search for truth that science defines.
Believe it or not, there are bastions of liberalism even in the reddest of red states. The town of Laramie is actually fairly blue, but the county, which is about twice the size of Delaware, is slightly red. But the red outside of Laramie is not the red of the suburbs of some big city, it’s a red that’s off the color scale.
One thing that I find rather interesting about Laramie, is the effect the University has on the diversity of the community. The University is kind of a stopping place for foreign students who want to get their foot in the country before moving on to more prestigious universities. There are more Africans in Laramie than African Americans. And there are plenty of Asian students that fill the stores on Sat. mornings.
So we had a great time and the local organizers did a fantastic job of making the march fun and safe.