My Experience With A Washington DC Rally In Protest Of Hydraulic Fracturing!

I sit here struggling with a title for one of the most controversial posts I’ll probably ever write on MySentimentExactLee.com. It’s not one of the more common controversial topics I’m writing about but it is politics. The topic is hydraulic fracturing or anti fracking and it’s a topic that directly effects my family. I made the decision not to shove it down your throats so I created a completely separate blog called BloggersInspiringChange.org, which I have mentioned here in the past.

I did however want to share with you that I took a huge leap and I flew out to DC this weekend all alone (though my amazing friend Rebecca did join me Friday). I went to sessions in the historically rich St. Stephens Church with no air conditioning which you know for me is just in and of itself a big deal. The fact that I didn’t turn tail and run says a lot about my dedication because ya’ll know I don’t do heat.

I learned about media outreach from Stephanie Spear from EcoWatch.org which is one of my favorite environmental sites. She taught us a lot about press releases and media “heads up” and I can apply this not only to the new blog but MySentimentExactLee as well. After that I sat and listened to Amy Neumann from Huffington Post talk about Social Media. Obviously this is a strong area for me but I still learned things. She was great and I hope we meet at a future function!

That night I had dinner with Angela Fox, the woman behind Mothers For Sustainable Energy and the mother behind Josh Fox creator of Gasland. We spoke about how we can work together, how possible I can use my influential voice and vast audience to support the cause. Hopefully we’ll work something out.

We then made our way back to the church and listened to the Town Hall Panel Discussions. I was really interested to hear Josh Fox speak. He’s basically the face behind Anti Fracking. He’s made himself a name in this cause and deservedly so. I had a chance to speak with him one on one and possibly in the future we’ll work together. It was totally a 50 Shades of Grey meeting though, his mom kinda pushed me into him and I tripped and nearly fell. Why is this my life? I mean leave it to me to grab the most well known guy in the room’s crotch right? That’s what you call a “Lee for the win”.

Saturday was “fracking hot”. No other way to describe it. I seriously think I pee’d at Noon, drank about 200 oz of water throughout the day and didn’t pee again until 6:30 PM. However I sweat so much it wasn’t surprising. I met a group of other ralliers (spelling on that is beyond me) in the lobby of my hotel around Noon and we headed on down to the West Lawn of the Capital Building. It was hot. I mean really hot. I’m from Orlando and constantly at theme parks and this was really hot. I was also carrying a huge banner which reflected sun.

Once we arrived I walked around and took pictures, videos, looked for people from my husbands hometown where we own property and tried to make more connections. 2 hours later I was praying for the end. Just let it end people. I was willing to write a check for whatever amount would make it end. It was just so hot and I couldn’t stand it. No one could, it wasn’t just me, our whole group had wilted. If I had to hear one more folk song or one more hippy poem about the dangers of contaminating the water I was calling a car to come and get me. It wasn’t my proudest moment but I bet you a ton of people would have tried to pile in with me!

Finally it was time to march. I figured I’d just skip that part because I was beyond done, but my new friend Kathleen was a really great inspiration and so off we went. We marched and marched. I saw so many things, so many interesting people, some terrifying crazy people who give causes such as this a bad name. We stopped at both the American Natural Gas Alliance and the American Petroleum Institute, both who say Hydraulic Fracturing is perfectly safe for our water, but we disagree and thanks to Tour De Frack we had gallons of water to prove it!

When I finally arrived back to my hotel I took a cold shower to get ready for dinner with my friend Matt from GeekDad.com. You all know Matt so needless to say that was a highlight of my trip. His wife Jen joined us and we were able to talk about all things nerdy and comic book related and I was back in my natural habitat. The anti fracking cause is absolutely important and certainly dear to me, but at the end of the day I need to disconnect with some Jeremy Renner. Ya’ll know me and that’s just how it is. Amusingly enough you all actually were looking out for me and when I checked my Twitter stream I had Jeremy Renner Youtube clips waiting for me. Be still my beating heart. What would I do without friends and followers like you?

Keep an eye on BloggersInspiringChange.org because within about a week and a half we’ll be launch our Anti Fracking PSA that will feature the celebrities Ed Begley Jr and Raphael Sbarge (Archie Hopper from Once Upon a Time) and some well known bloggers too.