Hello all! Gather 'round for story time, won't you?
So, a coupla weeks ago I was wrapping up a JCPenney job for Maury, who had skipped town to go start an edit in Buenos Aires. I did not get to go as his assistant because it's a Final Cut Pro job, and when he left I knew frighteningly little about the program. It's not that different from Avid, but it's different enough that every time I've tried to teach myself, I get frustrated at not knowing any of the buttons or terms for anything. Anyway, Ned got to go, because he's a superhero. Anyway, Thursday rolled around and, taking a break from cutting with clients for JCP, I came into Mitch's office to see her with a big evil grin on her face.
"You're going to be editing the ALS video," she said, relishing the fear that I'm sure instantly dropped into my face. (Side note: for the last several years, PS260 has edited a film for the annual ALS Foundation banquet, profiling patients with Lou Gehrig's Disease for the fundraising event. It's supposed to make you cry like a little baby then open your wallet for the cause.)
"Uhhhhhhh. Me? The editor? Are you sure?" I said.
"Yeah, we have, like, literally no one else."
"Oh my God! OH! Well! Okay! Um... Okay!" I stammered, suddenly terrified and excited all at once.
Later that day I was sharing my good news with Dustin, who gave me a very good pep talk (in reciprocation for all of my pep talks to him), then looked into the distance and said, "But... I thought they said it was supposed to be Final Cut?"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO." But after a small freakout I said, "I've just got to learn how to use it! I've just gotta do it. I'll do it."
And thus began my journey into Final Cut-dom. I worked on finishing up JCP during the day, then went through the footage for ALS at night. I worked through the weekend, learning Final Cut and wrangling Dustin for his knowledge of the program as I went along. By the end of the weekend, I had a rough cut I was okay with and prepared to show the director Ben, the editors of PS260 and the agency folks behind it. I honestly didn't know whether it would be received well or poorly - I just didn't want to completely fail.
Luckily, the other editors at PS gave me very good feedback and tips on the cut, and Ben and the agency were happy with what I did. I've been told I made a few people cry upon viewing the piece (which is always my goal). I was just so happy to be working on something that fed me creatively, encouraged me to exercise my brain, learn new things and do a good deed in the process. In the end, the ALS Foundation had us cut it down from 10 minutes to 7, but I think it was still effective.
I got to find out for sure last night at the ALS banquet. It was held at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square, and the most fabulous part was that I got to dress up for it. Ben and I had a cocktail at PS60 before we left, all gussied up.
I looooove the back of this shirt.
I apologize in advance, because most of these pictures are just of me with other people. I felt awkward about taking photos all over the place, like a tourist or something. The place was filled with a few hundred wealthy sports fans, there to bid on memorabilia up for auction, eat some delicious food, and honor John McEnroe, Sandy Koufax and one other guy I can't remember. Oh, and see my video.
I was very excited because I got to meet the patients we profiled and their families, which felt like meeting a celebrity, since I've only known them via computer or TV screen for the last two weeks.
Ray was there, a brave and positive-minded music man with ALS, who reminds me a lot of my Uncle Matt.
After the preliminary cocktail hour, we were herded into the banquet room via a lovely golden escalator. Sounds like an odd children's book - The Golden Escalator.
After a short speech, all of a sudden our piece was up on screen. It was surreal because one moment people are eating their salad and not paying attention and the next moment the room is dead silent and women are dabbing their eyes.
These photos are very blurry. I was nervous.
Afterward I also got to chat with Daniel, who was a friend of one of the patients, Shawn. He was so sweet and happy to be a part of the video.
Me and Ronan - the producer from All Day Buffet, who (partnered with Ben), shot the footage and interviewed the subjects.
Bob Costas was there! And he was hilarious.
Omigod you guys, this dessert. Was. AMAZING. A little lemon meringue, a little chocolate truffle (with a gold fleck!) and a little chocolate mousse. Oh man. It was good.
After the show was over, I stood in line for a bit and got to meet Sandy Koufax, a baseball great (which you probably already knew) who is notoriously reclusive and normally never goes to these things. He was rather gentlemanly.
In whole, the night was lovely and working on this edit was very rewarding. I did not know I could do this. I think it came out pretty well. A couple I rode the elevator with on my way out complimented me on the video, and the fellow told me "it was very elegant." That is all I want to hear. Well, that and maybe that I made another editor cry.
Take a peek here. Unless you're my mom, in which case, wait for the DVD comin' in the mail.
First, I never thought I would love cleaning, but since I've moved into this big room with hard wood floors, I have a weekly Swiffering ritual. My love for this probably goes hand in hand with loving to pull thick rolls of lint out of the dryer compartment.
Shannon, this is for you.
So disgusting, yet I cannot look away.
Next, a sign I pass every time I take a cab home from work, on West 29th Street. I wonder how one brake chocks a vehicle.
THEN, I saw this Banksy going up. He is one of my favorite artists, a true innovator. I saw this being painted on a SoHo building and got all excited. I didn't know if it was him for sure at the time, but now I've gone to his website and seen a photo of what may be THE EXACT SAME MOMENT on his "Outdoor" gallery.
Lastly, I had a late-night egg sandwich and cuppa joe at my neighborhood diner and marveled at the old-school signage.
Do you notice anything in that shot? Because when Shannon and I went to the Highline Ballroom to see another of our dance-tested, Pengabear-approved favorites, Jamie Lidell, we stood right up front by the stage and all I could see as I stood there was that little star - and I loved it because I thought of it the same way I think of Jamie Lidell - a little star that you don't even notice at first, but once you do it's all you want to pay attention to.
It was Concert #2 of our tour of musical acts Shannon and I wanted to see together and boogie to. We started the night off at Belmont Lounge and I had my first Old-Fashioned, inspired by my many hours of falling in love with Don Draper on "Mad Men." It was delicious. Then we headed over to the Ballroom and waited anxiously for our man to step on stage and rock our worlds. Shannon made use of our waiting time by taking photos of me in her favorite jenna light.
... and of details upon the stage that make a show a show.
I think it's a mix of production crew and fan inside of her.
The opening band, whose name I didn't catch and a record of whom I cannot find anywhere, came out and were... different. To me they seemed like a grown-up boy and his mom singing up on stage. They were unpolished, experimental and not particularly good. It was like listening to bad karaoke. I was in full-on snark mode and couldn't stop making jokes to Shannon about how he still lived in her basement and she agreed to support his dream of becoming a rock star by being his back-up singer/keyboardist.
They did all these hilarious dance moves that seemed like they'd tried to choreograph it. Okay, here is what it was like. It was like if Michael and Holly from "The Office" tried to be rock stars. But if Holly was his mom.
But then they stripped down to shiny spaceman suits.
... and screamed at us.
And really, after that Shannon and I just had a shiny crotch in our faces.
After that... event, we waited patiently for our man to come out and entertained ourselves by discussing my future music blog and falling in love with the beauty of a pre-concert setup.
The lights, and instruments...
The crowd... (Paul Dano's in there somewhere)
The sloppily over-under'ed cables...
a new set list, bound by duct tape and immediately betrothed to us, as we were front and center to the stage.
and, you know. us.
and our pretty necks.
The show wasn't so different from the one I saw with Momo, but that made it no less fun. Different venue, different season, different company make it all a new experience. The voicebox dude in his sparkly bathrobe came out and started the party.
I'm telling you, Shannon's an amazing photographer. Just so you know, I will be appointing her photog of my music blog.
There's our gorgeous man, flanked by amazing musicians including this funky one piece suit-wearing dude that I think I was trying to flirt with while he set up the instruments before the show.
I loved this older gent and the lovely violet glow upon him so that I snatched Shannon's camera and snapped some pics.
For a bit Lidell did his solo bit, recording beatboxing and harmonies and layering them elegantly so as to create entire songs on his own.
The suit, the glasses, the talent - it destroys me! After the band came back, he did a slow song sitting DEAD CENTER in front of us.
Can't get enough of those foppish pointy shoes, eh Shannon?
Then the fun started again as they began to wrap up the show, as all the boys started boogie-ing down. Down, down down.
Shannon had to scurry before the encore to catch her train back to Long Island. I stayed and completed the boogie. However, as she slipped out during the darkness between set and encore, a kid in Paul Dano's entourage slid into her space, reached past me and snagged the set list. The nerve!! I was more than a little pissed.
But Lidell played an amazing encore, so filled with energy that on the last beat of the last song of the night, he slammed his tambourine down to the ground and it smashed into a dozen pieces. I promptly reached up and grabbed one.
Then the band finished, exited the stage and I hopped up, fearless, and snapped up a set list from the bassist's area for Shannon before security could grab me.
That photo's courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan, who took my photo after the petty theft and who has some wonderful photos of the show as well. The rest of the photos on this post and the Of Montreal post are courtesy of Shannon, upon whom I can always count to capture the moment.
Hello my friends! Last Friday was a day both Shannon and I had been anxiously anticipating for months. Last winter I was determined to make a mix CD for Shannon that would banish her winter blues sooner than you can say "hot toddy." Therefore, I compiled a list of my favorite, undeniably happy, intricately poppy Of Montreal songs. Despite her hip-hop-devoted heart, she soon realized that no one can deny a good jenna mix and fell in love with Of Montreal.
So when we heard they'd be coming 'round the mountain this October (as they seem to every October), we bought tickets the moment they went on sale. I met up with Shannie after squeezing out of the office unencumbered and before long she'd given me whole new electric look.
Evidently something about this look screams "lesbian" because two guys inquired as to my sexual orientation that night. I just call it fierce.
I was excited to share the experience with someone I knew would appreciate all of the songs and dance her booty off with me. That's what Pengabears are for. It's a legal requirement.
The beginning of the show set the tone with an adequate balance of creepiness and shininess.
Soon Kevin Barnes emerged from the special draped compartment dressed as a bandolero and the boogie-ing commenced.
What I love about this band is that they not only sound great live, but they put on an amazing spectacle of a show. Barnes and Co. always get the crowd riled up and dancing like maniacs.
Not to mention the adorable keyboard player and her tutus.
So yeah... what I was saying about spectacle? This guy has as many costumes as he does songs.
But without a doubt, the weirdest moment of the night came when Barnes rode in on a white horse. No, really. He rode atop a live horse during a whole song, stroking the horse's mane rather languidly, doubtlessly to soothe the poor thing.
Additionally, Barnes was wearing nothing but a pair of gold lamè hotpants, a style he obviously copied from a certain mermaid we all know and love.
Gotta say, though, the dude's got waaaayyyyy better abs than I. And, ahem, other things. I am kind of starting to believe he and I are kindred spirits, if only for our love of public... you know... performance freedom.
There were a few convenient musical breakdowns during costume changes (naturally!).
Then he came out wearing this.
Glasses AND sparkles???? Be still my heart. If only it weren't for that fanny pack...
As with any other Of Montreal show, things went from weird...
To a little insane...
To... well, this is the only other level left.
But any revelers they might have lost to reason were quickly retrieved with a kick-ass rendition of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Evidently, covering rawkin' Nirvana songs is the thing to do these days. But believe me, there is little I've experienced that comes close to the euphoria of losing oneself in the jumping, dancing-around abandon of a mosh pit shimmying in unison to a dead band's hardest-rocking song.
It was like a Polyphonic Spree concert mixed with a Flaming Lips concert mixed with "Equus" mixed with the Mermaid Parade. It was... well, it was like an Of Montreal show.
After an exciting week and a half that included both Of Montreal AND Jamie Lidell shows with my lovely ladyfriend Shannon, I have been thrust into closing a job while Maury's out of town on a set in Buenos Aires AND..... AND!... I have been assigned to be the EDITOR!
i said EDITOR!
... of a video for an upcoming ALS fundraiser. It's weeptastic. I'm a little terrified because it's on Final Cut Pro - a software I have frighteningly little experience in. But this will be the perfect opportunity to learn and I'm PSYCHED!
Ergo, no posts until I get my sanity back.
So wish me luck.
I totally Google Image Searched that one. I don't even have the presence of mind to take a photo for the blog.
I've got two fabulous sites you should immediately check out. I am completely unbiased. First is my mom's site exploring the Bible from the perspective of one who admittedly does not follow it as strictly as her neighbor: Confessions Of A Bible Virgin
Also, Shannon's awesome blog, complete with her gorgeous photos and tales of Long Island/New York/Arizona livin': Lemons In My Bra
On Friday night Dustin had tickets to a couple of New Yorker Festival writer's events. I was the fortunate recipient of his second tickets, and the first event was held in the most gorgeous church on the Lower East Side. The interview was focused on the American Dream and the authors Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides), T.C. Boyle (World's End) and Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth). They were fab! Although Lahiri came across as having a rather sour disposition, she had some very insightful things to say about the craft of writing, including a sentiment about writing being the most foreign land of all.
Between events, we had tacos at this cute place on the LES. I have no idea what it's called.
The second event was with Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha), Anne Enright (The Gathering) and Tobias Wolff (This Boy's Life). Their talk was about family secrets, and it turned out to be pretty interesting because all three said that their families were perfectly normal. I liked something Enright said - the interviewer asked if it was difficult to write about people with a pre-existing relationship; that is, it's probably easier to write about two people who just met, because you can start from the ground up, but is it harder to write about people who already know details about each other? And Enright said very matter-of-factly, "Well, I don't think families DO know each other. They know the way they were fifteen years ago. Families don't let each other change."
One thing I thought was funny was that both moderators of the discussions seemed incredibly nervous. But I suppose if I spent my days holed up writing at The New Yorker and had to interview legendary and Pulitzer Prize-winning writers in front of a crowd of intellectuals, I'd be pretty damn nervous myself.
Speaking of families, my mom came to town the next morning. She'd gotten tickets to "The Daily Show" so she hopped on over for the weekend. It's easy to do things like that when you're a fabulous retiree. We'd made plans for Saturday to have our hair done together as we both had out-of-control growth going on. After I showed her my apartment and we had some breakfast, we headed downtown for our appointment.
We both got good cuts, even though cutting about one and a half inches from my head somehow took an hour and a half.
Afterward we went for an early dinner/late lunch at a lovely little bistro called Sala.
Ain't she cute?
The place was impeccably decorated.
As we walked down 17th Street, we passed a mannequin shop, which had a crazy little window display (but what else are you gonna do when you're selling mannequins?).
Our next destination was another event from the New Yorker Festival, an interview of Stephen Colbert. Naturally, they don't let us take photos during the event, so this is all I've got.
The event was great - Colbert is incredibly smart and funny and pretty much my dream man. It was cool to see him out of the character he plays on The Report.
The next morning, we met up with Shannon at Nice Matin for brunch. It's funny to think that two of the most important women in my life don't know each other that well - even though I talk about them to each other all the time! It was great to unite two pieces of my heart... beginning with a delicious meal. Mom had some insane egg dish.
A few tables away was John Lithgow, just kickin' it solo and reading the paper with his coffee.
After breakfast, I wanted to show the ladies the Superhero Supply Store, so we took the long trek to Park Slope. As I've always felt awkward about taking photos in there, I used this opportunity as a visitor to get as many as I could.
Here is where I spend every other Sunday.
Through the portal you can see into the tutoring center, where they were having a creative writing workshop that day.
My mom, ever the adventurous spirit, decided to partake in the cape tester. At the store we volunteers like to say things like, "I'm a certified cape tester" or "I majored in cape testing" etc. Dahlia, my fellow volunteer, showed Mom how to test her cape. First, Mom selected a fetching gold sparkly one.
Then you get up onto a platform with lights and a fan beneath you to test out some poses.
As Dahlia showed her, first you must look for evil.
Then you must fly across the five boroughs to the scene of the crime!
Then you flex your muscles for an adoring crowd.
Then you pose valiantly for the newspapers.
Next, Shannon tried out the Devillainizer. This is one of my favorites. You put the villain into the chamber and they must answer questions to determine their villainy level.
After answering questions like, "Do you own a secret island lair?", Shannon was classified as Realtor-level villain and had to recite a vow to not do things like overprice condos.
Meanwhile, customers young and old were testing capes.
We perused the selection of super supplies like Slow-Burning Fuse, Magnetism, Time Travel and these rad X-Ray glasses.
And Invisibility-Detection Goggles!
Shannon looks about one breath away from giggling a snort.
The ladies looked through the rest of the store, at wares such as an Index of Good and Evil in the U.S.
I personally devillainized Mom.
She picked out some AWESOME rock-star sunglasses.
Whenever anybody makes a purchase, we make them put their items in "The Vault" and recite the Vow Of Heroism while we go up to the office and "use our sidekick-level math skills" to calculate their total.
We chat with the customers from a mic in the office above and give them their total once their purchase "has been activated."
Then it was back to Manhattan via the subway and a little girl talk dish session.
The next day, it was time for "The Daily Show!" I was lucky enough to get out of work early to head to the far West Side and hang out in an hours-long line (which was TOTALLY WORTH IT). I'd seen a taping of the show a few years ago when some friends from AZ came to town, but it was at the old studio, so this was still a new experience.
I love this sign above the entrance.
The holding area:
Once you get into the studio, you can't take photos or they'll beat you senseless, so this is the best I've got:
I get giddy just looking at a studio. I really miss production. The show was great - even though there were no correspondent bits, the guys in the "on the campaign trail" packages came out to greet the audience after their sections aired. Tim Robbins was the guest and he's just as cool in person as he is on the big (or small) screen.
That was Mom's last night in NYC. On our way back to my house, we passed a church on a side street. I peeked through the door windows and suggested we go in - and boy was it beautiful inside.
This Jesus was huge!
It was an amazing weekend with my mom - I got my hugs in and tried to savor our time together to make it last till Christmas. I'm very, very fortunate to have a mother whom I not only love because she's family, but whom I love deeply as a person - as a friend and mentor and confidante. Not many people have that, but I am very grateful to say I do.
I have never considered myself a very political person - not even after working on a current events program for four years. With politics I often find I feel at once helpless and indifferent, and that most politicians are the same and that they are selling me something. I don't want to be sold. I want to believe in someone.
That's why I was surprised this year to find myself incredibly supportive of a politician - Barack Obama. Nobody's perfect but he comes as close as a politician can. I believe in him so firmly (and am so wholeheartedly against the McCain/Palin ticket) that it was no longer enough to just vote and hope everybody else would make the right decision; no matter how this Election Day turns out, I want to know I did everything I could do help Obama.
In fact, this year Election Day falls on my birthday. So I'm trying hard to get the best birthday present ever: a president I'm not ashamed of. So when my coworker Mitch, with whom I've commiserated on the state of the country and the mockery of feminism Palin has made, forwarded an email with the opportunity to travel to Pennsylvania for the weekend to canvass for Obama, I was all over it. I didn't even care that I had to get up at 4:45am to catch the rental car caravan we'd loaded with Mitch, me, our fellow PS-ers Princess and Sarra, and Sarra's friend Tracy.
We drove about an hour and a half away from our beloved city toward Bristol, PA and knew we were in a different part of the U.S. when we pulled over for a bathroom break at "Chicken Pickin' Burger King."
We were PUMPED! Mostly due to drinking coffees the size of our heads on the way.
Once we got to PA, it was a little hard to find our way around. Granted, it was five New Yorkers in the car, but that place is hard to navigate! They'd rather put you in a 360-degree loop unlit at night than let you take a left turn.
Tracy and Mitch argued over directions from their respective Blackberry GPSes.
But luckily, among the rural recesses of PA, we found a bright shining star in the Obama headquarters, temporarily taking over a local (adorable) law office.
We were reeeaalllly early, so we parked the car and roamed around the little main street of Bristol, which was filled with quaint sights both adorable and creepy.
These bears wearing christening gowns count as creepy.
Old man = adorable
"Eyeglasses Only" mailbox = odd
It's a cute little place, hugging the Delaware River and just across from New Jersey.
With cool art on the boardwalk.
We came across this gorgeous painted billboard for Coca-Cola. Our friend Stephanie would have peed her pants.
We couldn't take enough pictures. (p.s. some of these photos are courtesy of Sarra.)
More cute towny things.
This house was SO narrow!
This door.... oh man is it a beauty.
Autumn falls up on us.
OKAY so to the real deal. We arrived at the HQ and got ourselves some buttons.
While we were waiting to be orientated (is that a word? it always seems wrong to me), we read all of the testaments and proclamations of hope that people have found in the big O on a huge poster titled "WHY OBAMA?"
Yeah, that last one's mine. We got a spiel from Vinn, a terrific volunteer in charge of giving us tips, pointers, and warnings about the "thinly veiled, polite racism" pervading rural Pennyslvania.
We got some packets full of voter registration forms, absentee ballot requests, and literature comparing the two candidates and their policies, and lists of specific people to visit and talk to. I was kind of surprised that they let us go out and do canvassing considering we could have been relatively ignorant or at least ill-spoken. Good thing we're neither.
We got pumped up and played some energizing music courtesy of my mix CD and Mitch's iPod.
Of course, on our way to our first location, we got totally lost. We ended up at a dead end in some kind of hidden brush, which was also where we got pulled over by a hidden police officer. As our driver, Sarra pulled so many U-turns and three-point turns that weekend that we just started calling them "pulling a Sarra."
We finally arrived at our first neighborhood. We decided to split up, Princess and Mitch in one group, and us other three in another. Divide and conquer! We went our separate ways and wished P-cess and Mitch well.
Then Tracy, Sarra and I went off on our own.
We basically went around and asked people about whether they'd made up their minds about the election and whether they had any questions about Obama's policies etc. and talked to people about why we are for Obama. We weren't pushy or aggressive, and we knew when it was a lost cause (like when we encountered a racist 68-year-old. That's an unchangeable mind).
But often, many people weren't home so we just left some sweet facts on their doors.
And sure, we did encounter some politely veiled racism. As we knocked on doors, many people would open the door, look at Tracy and Sarra, and automatically say they didn't want to talk to us, or would simply say they didn't like Obama but when asked why they couldn't give us a genuine answer. They would say, "I just.... I don't like him. I don't trust a person like him." I'm not blind to the racism that still exists in the world, but I admit that I have not often had to deal with it directly. I've had to deal with sexism surely, but racism is a whole other beast.
We took a quick break to eat at Toscana's, which was actually a really good meal delivered to us by a fantastic waiter named Justin, who remembered and happily dealt with all of our details, including the vegan requests, the Ramadan-observing requests, and the just plain picky requests (you can guess which one was me).
Exhausted, we checked into our hotel - the Holiday Inn just across the street from a Hooter's. The hotel had an odd restaurant/bar and an extraordinarily long and creepy hallway à la "The Shining."
Our room was HUGE though! I often forget what things are like outside of the greatest city in the world. And check out that view!
But everybody there was really nice. After we got settled in, we headed back to the law office-turned-Obama central and tabulated our totals.
Sì se puede!
But that wasn't all! After we checked in, we said, "So now what?" and Vinn looked at us, astonished, and said, "You want to do more?" Well, we didn't come to Bristol, PA to go shopping and bar-hop. So he said, "Ummm, do you have cell phones?" and put us right to work calling folks and doing pretty much the same thing we'd done in person, only over the phone.
This firecracker, Mitch. She is probably the most pragmatic person I know, probably the most I've ever known. So seeing her with a fierce belief that borders on emotional is fascinating to me. I would listen to the things she said to people on the phone about Obama and she was so full of passion and such a clear communicator about fact as well as that passion that she made me want to try harder and go further.
But nothing compares to watching Sarra, who was born in Sudan, talk to an undecided voter on the phone for half an hour. The woman complained that she had become jaded and truly didn't know who to vote for. She told Sarra, "oh you volunteers, it's so easy when you're young and have all this energy" etc etc. Sarra broke it down and told her that she is NOT just out of college and has a more-than-full time job and that she doesn't just do this for fun. This is something and someone she believes in and here's why. By the end of the call, the woman declared in spite of herself, "You know what? You're absolutely right. You're right! I feel I have to vote for Obama!" We all cheered and high-fived the hell out of each other.
We rode home listening to "Celebrate Good Times" followed by a slew of disco hits.
We went home that night and Sarra, who had been up since 3am, and Tracy pretty much crashed right away. Mitch, Princess and I had a wind-down round of beers in the hotel bar and ordered some terrible Chinese food to eat in the room while watching the debut of Chris Rock's new HBO special (which was AWESOME!).
The next morning, we arose fresh and well-rested and ready for more. We breakfasted at that, the most hallowed of morning eateries, IHOP. Mitch, who grew up in Spain and went to college in Ireland, was just crazy about it and its inherent Americanity. (Boom, just made up a word.)
Me? I just love the bottomless cup of coffee.
When we showed up at Obama HQ that morning, they had hung quick printout photos of some of the volunteers from the recent canvassing effort. Guess who made the cut?
That day, a LOT of volunteers had arrived on the train, so there was a considerably longer wait for our canvassing materials.
But the name of the game was essentially the same. We drove out to our assigned 'hood and went out to divide and conquer. But that day, it was raining.
I think sympathy somewhat helped our case.
This day we met quite a few more Obama supporters, which was very encouraging. Somehow, even in the rain, it was easier the second day.
We did about half the amount Sunday that we'd accomplished Saturday, and soon it was time to head back. There were like seven football games going on that day and we didn't want to get stuck in traffic heading back to the city.
On our way out of the city, we felt energized and encouraged and happened to spot a McCain/Palin sign on the side of the road. This was the only negative thing we did all weekend.
After a car ride home filled with 20 Questions alongside political discussion, we soon saw our city come into view. There's nothing like it. It gets me every single time, whether touching down in Newark or JFK, coming up in the N-train to cross from Brooklyn, or driving in from a little town in Pennyslvania. This is the city I belong in, the city I belong to.
God bless you, Holland Tunnel, crowding us all in together in an exhaust-laden, frighteningly stuck-under-the-river thruway to bring us all into the city.
I dunno. After a weekend in a rural town trying to convince people of something that seems so obvious in the town in which I live, eating bad Chinese food and navigating roads with names like Street Road vs. Old Street Road (I AM NOT KIDDING ABOUT THAT), I was very happy to be back in New York, and this intersection, and this sight, was where that moment struck me.
But upon arriving home, I felt still so energized and overcome by motivation for helping this campaign that I've decided to continue volunteering on phone banks from New York. Taking action in this way made me feel incredibly empowered. I loved talking to people about what I believe in and finding out the things that are important to them - because really, everybody has a story and everybody really just wants someone to listen to them and to their worries and to their hopes.
To me, this was a life-changing experience. Never once that weekend did I want to procrastinate or do anything other than exactly what I was doing, with the people I was accompanying. I've never been so inspired or motivated in my life. It's easy to sell something you truly believe in - because you're not selling anything at all. You're just trying to communicate why you think and feel the way you do. And with Obama, there are a million reasons.
If you're interested in helping out in your area, click here.
And even if you don't volunteer, you must vote. One month from today is the most important election you will ever vote in. Give me the best birthday present and make your voice heard - VOTE.
