My favorite pictures from January 21

I'll be talking about the massive demonstrations of January 21, possibly the largest ever in the US with a turnout now estimated at over 3 million, on the next show (the week of February 2-8).

But I wanted to share these two because they are my favorites and for a very particular reason.

They are shots of the crowd, one estimated at 6,000, that gathered in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

Y'see, Asbury Park is in Monmouth County, which is where I was born and grew up. I lived in a bunch of different places, but they were all in the same area. I was a real homeboy who didn't make his first "big" move (to New England) until he was in his late-30s. In a lot of ways, the north Jersey shore still feels like home.

And I am quite certain that the rally on January 21 was the biggest demonstration that area had ever seen. Which not only makes me wish I had been there but makes it, I think, emblematic of many of the hundreds of local actions which also may have been the largest (or even the first) for those towns or areas.

So consider the pictures my celebration of the truly widespread resistance that has been aroused and (we can only work and hope) will be built on.