I'm sorry that I haven't been blogging as regularly as I had hoped. The days here are longer and more intense than I had imagined, so by the time I get done at night I'm ready for a beer and some sleep.
Last Thursday, Joe Biden came to St. Joe and gave a rousing speech that ended up all over the news. My claim to fame is that I totally know some of the people who were sitting up behind him. :) Yeah, it's a stretch. My other claim to fame from my time here is that I canvassed an 89 year old woman who lives in the former home of Aunt Jemima, of the syrup. I am that cool.
The Biden event was a blast. We found out about it on Monday afternoon, had it confirmed on Tuesday, received tickets on Tuesday night and then handed out tickets on Wednesday at noon. There was a line around the block to get the tickets from our office and we turned away hundreds of disappointed people. There are generally two responses to our lack of tickets/signs/bumper stickers/other schwag that we can't keep in stock: disappointment that the individual can't get anything but excitement that there is that much support, and disappointment, anger and accusations of being "unorganized and not worth voting for". I figure that if your willingness to vote for a candidate is based on whether or not you can get a sign, you aren't really deserving of a sign. We get in about 10 to 15 signs a day and they are usually gone within about half an hour.
This weekend we managed to contact several thousand people through phonebanking and canvassing. It was awesome. We have volunteers in every nook and cranny of our office making phone calls, doing data entry, delivering food, and generally offering encouragement. I have developed a rather intense addiction to diet Coke and I believe that I have consumed more pizza in the past week than in the past three months.
I know this post is a bit disjointed and I promise to do better. I'm off to make more phonebanking lists and get volunteers set up.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Down Home Missourah
We finally made it to St. Joseph yesterday morning and we were put straight to work doing data entry and making phone calls. The office here gives the first impression of being highly disorganized, but actually runs a lot more smoothly than one would expect. There is one other deputy field organizer here from California and two more from New York. Every afternoon a bunch of teenagers show up to make phone calls and canvass the streets and other volunteers show up with lots of food for us. Hard to beat the free food!
If I learn nothing else on this trip, I will take with me the reminder that I need to throw my assumptions about people out the window. Today I spoke to a man with no teeth, who was old and wizened, who wanted bumper stickers and yard signs for himself, his brother, and his "old mother". He was followed a while later by a man wearing a large cross around his neck and a dark button down shirt. At first glance I thought he was a priest, but instead he is a retired school teacher. He talked about having to hide his Democratic leanings through his teaching years because he was worried about what the parents and his fellow teachers would do. He related a story about how when he was growing up he thought that the Republican party was called the "Damn Republicans" as he never heard his father refer to them as anything else.
The volunteers here range in age from high school students to the elderly and I have seen whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians wandering in, helping out, and reporting their excitement about Obama. It has been repeated time and again that this is an historic election and everyone here seems to really feel it. The table full of old ladies behind us at lunch yesterday were discussing Palin and McCain. Everywhere you go, people are talking about it, debating the pluses and minuses of each candidate, and seem to be highly involved. I'm sure that there are those who are ignoring the whole thing and hoping it will blow over, but I have seen more passion and excitement about this election than any I have seen before.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that Obama wins this election and that the Republicans can dial back their horrible rhetoric that is inciting people to shout "terrorist!" and "kill!" when Obama's name is mentioned. These stories are leaking out from the campaign trail and I hope that the main stream media picks up on it and reports it, though they too have come under fire in the past few days. Apparently Sarah Palin is upset at how she came across in the Couric interviews and is holding the nasty MSM responsible for it. The result of her hate mongering was seen today:
From the Washington Post:
Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."
VOTE FOR CHANGE!
If I learn nothing else on this trip, I will take with me the reminder that I need to throw my assumptions about people out the window. Today I spoke to a man with no teeth, who was old and wizened, who wanted bumper stickers and yard signs for himself, his brother, and his "old mother". He was followed a while later by a man wearing a large cross around his neck and a dark button down shirt. At first glance I thought he was a priest, but instead he is a retired school teacher. He talked about having to hide his Democratic leanings through his teaching years because he was worried about what the parents and his fellow teachers would do. He related a story about how when he was growing up he thought that the Republican party was called the "Damn Republicans" as he never heard his father refer to them as anything else.
The volunteers here range in age from high school students to the elderly and I have seen whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians wandering in, helping out, and reporting their excitement about Obama. It has been repeated time and again that this is an historic election and everyone here seems to really feel it. The table full of old ladies behind us at lunch yesterday were discussing Palin and McCain. Everywhere you go, people are talking about it, debating the pluses and minuses of each candidate, and seem to be highly involved. I'm sure that there are those who are ignoring the whole thing and hoping it will blow over, but I have seen more passion and excitement about this election than any I have seen before.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that Obama wins this election and that the Republicans can dial back their horrible rhetoric that is inciting people to shout "terrorist!" and "kill!" when Obama's name is mentioned. These stories are leaking out from the campaign trail and I hope that the main stream media picks up on it and reports it, though they too have come under fire in the past few days. Apparently Sarah Palin is upset at how she came across in the Couric interviews and is holding the nasty MSM responsible for it. The result of her hate mongering was seen today:
From the Washington Post:
Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."
VOTE FOR CHANGE!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
You gotta love free wifi! I synced my phone with my laptop last night and lost a couple of the books and some podcasts that I had downloaded before I left home. In order to load them up again, I had to sign on to iTunes and allow this computer to play everything.
We are currently somewhere in the middle of Nebraska and saw a sign for an original Pony Express building, so we pulled over to see it. On addition to a quick history lesson, we found a restaurant with free wifi. I took advantage of it and am all reloaded up with stuff to listen to. Yes, this has been the excitement of the day!
Wyoming was really interesting and I would love to go back. I didn't see much of Utah as it was pissing down rain the whole way across. We stopped by Salt Lake City for lunch and drove by the temple. There were lots of well-dressed people wandering around seemingly oblivious to the rain. The city itself seemed pretty small and quaint, but I can't say that I got much of a feeling for the place.
We are aiming to get to St. Joseph tonight and I have to admit that Nebraska hasn't been too thrilling.
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We are currently somewhere in the middle of Nebraska and saw a sign for an original Pony Express building, so we pulled over to see it. On addition to a quick history lesson, we found a restaurant with free wifi. I took advantage of it and am all reloaded up with stuff to listen to. Yes, this has been the excitement of the day!
Wyoming was really interesting and I would love to go back. I didn't see much of Utah as it was pissing down rain the whole way across. We stopped by Salt Lake City for lunch and drove by the temple. There were lots of well-dressed people wandering around seemingly oblivious to the rain. The city itself seemed pretty small and quaint, but I can't say that I got much of a feeling for the place.
We are aiming to get to St. Joseph tonight and I have to admit that Nebraska hasn't been too thrilling.
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Friday, October 3, 2008
On the road again...Elko edition
The Obama campaign changed its mind about sending me to Nevada and so I am on my way to Missouri instead. My mom decided to come along with me for the drive out, which has actually be a lot of fun. We have done a lot of traveling together over the years and thus we have a good travel routine.
We made it to Elko, Nevada tonight. I was hoping to get farther, but things just didn't work out that way. 530 miles or so in a day isn't too bad, though the next two days will be in the 600 to 650 mile range. We are aiming to spend tomorrow night in Laramie, WY.
After checking into the hotel, we decided to go to an Indian place for dinner. When we go there, however, we noticed a very popular Basque restaurant next door. While I am loath to pass up Indian, this place looked far more interesting and the hour and a half wait time suggested that the food would be excellent. It was worth every minute and I can't tell you the last time I had that much food in front of me. When you order an entree at this place, it comes with soup, fresh bread, salad, Basque beans, green beans, spaghetti, and french fries. Mom ordered a bacon wrapped filet and I had grilled chicken and both were delicious. There was so much left over food that I wanted to pack it all up and head to the nearest homeless shelter to feed ten people. Truly amazing. So, if you are ever in Elko, eat at the Star Hotel and for the love of all that is holy, split the entree!
Waiting for our table gave us plenty of time to people watch. I have to admit that I was a little worried about leaving my car with its California license plate and Obama sticker out in front of the restaurant. There were a lot of people wearing cowboy hats and drinking bottles of Bud Light. We managed to not discuss politics with anyone until the waitress was clearing (ALL!) of the plates at the end of the meal. She asked if we wanted to take anything with us and we replied that we were on the road and wouldn't be able to. Mom mentioned that I was headed to Missouri to work for the Obama campaign and the waitress just lit up. She was gushing about how exciting this campaign is and how interesting everything is. She mentioned that Obama has been to Elko three or so times and that she finally managed to see him this last time through. She wished me good luck. It was a little shocking and wonderful to find another Obama supporter in what I had thought to be a little redneck town. It's now time for me to put away my prejudices and get to know the people of small town America. I think I'm gonna like it here.
We made it to Elko, Nevada tonight. I was hoping to get farther, but things just didn't work out that way. 530 miles or so in a day isn't too bad, though the next two days will be in the 600 to 650 mile range. We are aiming to spend tomorrow night in Laramie, WY.
After checking into the hotel, we decided to go to an Indian place for dinner. When we go there, however, we noticed a very popular Basque restaurant next door. While I am loath to pass up Indian, this place looked far more interesting and the hour and a half wait time suggested that the food would be excellent. It was worth every minute and I can't tell you the last time I had that much food in front of me. When you order an entree at this place, it comes with soup, fresh bread, salad, Basque beans, green beans, spaghetti, and french fries. Mom ordered a bacon wrapped filet and I had grilled chicken and both were delicious. There was so much left over food that I wanted to pack it all up and head to the nearest homeless shelter to feed ten people. Truly amazing. So, if you are ever in Elko, eat at the Star Hotel and for the love of all that is holy, split the entree!
Waiting for our table gave us plenty of time to people watch. I have to admit that I was a little worried about leaving my car with its California license plate and Obama sticker out in front of the restaurant. There were a lot of people wearing cowboy hats and drinking bottles of Bud Light. We managed to not discuss politics with anyone until the waitress was clearing (ALL!) of the plates at the end of the meal. She asked if we wanted to take anything with us and we replied that we were on the road and wouldn't be able to. Mom mentioned that I was headed to Missouri to work for the Obama campaign and the waitress just lit up. She was gushing about how exciting this campaign is and how interesting everything is. She mentioned that Obama has been to Elko three or so times and that she finally managed to see him this last time through. She wished me good luck. It was a little shocking and wonderful to find another Obama supporter in what I had thought to be a little redneck town. It's now time for me to put away my prejudices and get to know the people of small town America. I think I'm gonna like it here.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
And so it ends...
We woke up at the ridiculously early hour of 6am in order to drive an hour and a bit to the Shannon airport and catch our flight to London. Fortunately things went off without a hitch and we successfully made it to my friend Sumi's place a few hours later. We even stopped at my mother's favorite sandwich chain Pret a Manger for lunch. After getting ourselves settled in and checked in to our flight home, we set out to explore the neighborhood. Sumi's flat is located a couple of tube stops from the Liverpool station and the fascinating markets around them. We poked around, drank some wine, drank some beer, did a little shopping, had a fabulous Indian meal, drank some more beer and then headed for home. It was an excellent day.
Tomorrow the honeymoon ends but I find myself excited for all that life will bring. It will be fun to settle into our newly roommate-free home and settle back into the routine of everyday life.
Tomorrow the honeymoon ends but I find myself excited for all that life will bring. It will be fun to settle into our newly roommate-free home and settle back into the routine of everyday life.
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