![Marion Sai, of Carbondale, encourages her 7-month-old son, Matine, as he walks around the table with help from Kathryn Neely, of Carbondale, on March 6 during an afternoon of sign-making at Gaia House in preparation for the “A Day Without a Woman” rally in Carbondale. “Civic engagement is a really powerful tool to speak truth to power,” Sai said. “I hope that by being exposed to this, [Matine] can be a part of a really positive, proactive group of people. I think his first words will probably be, ‘This is what democracy looks like.’”](https://dailyegyptian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/030617_Poster_WEB_MT-900x642.jpg)
![Emmalie Hall-Skank, a senior from Streamwood studying interior design, gazes up from inside a bamboo forest Sunday, March 5, 2017, during an afternoon hike with members of the Southern Illinois Pagan Alliance at the Marberry Arboretum off Pleasant Hill Road in Carbondale. The group hike was organized by Tara Nelson, founder of SIPA and a 2002 SIU graduate. Because [Paganism] is a nature-based spiritual practice, for us, this is church, said Nelsen. Being able to watch this change of the seasons and recognize that this so much a part of human existence, like seriously, this is church. For us, being out in nature is more sacred than any building ever could be. Although this was SIPAs first group hike of 2017, Nelson said she plans to facilitate more group activities in the coming months.](https://dailyegyptian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/030517_SIPA_WEB_MT-900x601.jpg)
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