007

so, more or less every day i can be found in a t-shirt of sorts and pants (especially after the pedicab driver at wonderland haggled me for wearing leggings--not over it yet, apparently), but low and behold miss olivia wrangled me into a red dress and high heels for our james bond themed new year's eve event. and we had a "brilliant" time dancing and drinking and being dressed up. then today i woke up at 3pm. i made it outside for a walk as the sun was setting. then i made dinner {gasp!} and i didn't even burn the pasta.

i like this

albert bridge (olivia's home) at sunset

us with baby bottles of vodka--they were confiscated at the door

olivia, elaine and i on NYE
fancy peoples

londontown

bam! i made it to london without a terrorist trying to set his underpants on fire. and although it is rainy and slightly cold (think: seattle) it has been nice. today we celebrated aavani's first birthday with a carousel ride, noise makers and sushi followed by (me sleeping through the first 15 mins of) avatar. i learned that we shouldn't mess with indigenous people (duh) and that smoking really does kill, even sigourney weaver.

aavani in her party outfita friendly brit just fixing a phone

the v&a museum

my carousel partner

mary-lee, aavani and i

newark is beautiful.

We (justin and i) made it safely to newark, new jersey--the land of parking lots and bottle openers on bathroom doors-- and it turned out to be as beautiful as we imagined it would be. excited to be heading to london in the morning, will talk to you all soon.

History

i had a dream you were two towns from me. got to sleep and spent whole night runnin'

Wow. I'm still on cloud 9. The final days in New Mexico were priceless. I spent five days in Silver City. I ate 6 burritos, canvassed up and down dirt roads and got rather intoxicated off white russians at a local bar dressed as Joe the Plumber, just dancing in circles with a plunger. The finals two days in Las Cruces were exhausting. We averaged two hours of sleep a night. Spent our mornings schmoozing with walk-in volunteers and our nights printing an entire forest worth of turf. I probably drank my body weight in Red Bull and needless to say, I enjoyed it all.

On the 3rd a friend and I cruised around Precinct 66, at the foot of the Organ mountains, just getting dirty, and listening to music, taking turns driving and running to doors, making sure to get out every last vote. That night I took a nap, we had a hope circle with flashlights where 100 or so volunteers expressed their joy with the campaign (meanwhile we had 100,000 door knockers to organize, so I wasn't too keen on the sappy moment--but it was nice in hindsight).

Election day was the longest day of my life. We got breakfast at Denny's at 5am then I (fake) smiled for every volunteer that came in last minute. Bri and I escaped and went canvassing one last time where we coined the term "drive and dive" where one of us would literally start driving and the other would dive in the back seat on top of door hangers, my laundry and lawn signs. For two hours of sleep, we were so happy.

Then the states started turning blue. First PA. Then OH. Then Virginia. And he won. Evan, Bri, Lani and I ran to my car to immediately start celebrating. The office was full of people off the streets and by 9pm John McCain was giving his concession speech. We hugged strangers and stood outside. We snuck into the office when everyone left and watched Obama's speech, alone, giggling and ignoring people knocking on the front door. I rode over to the Dem HQs with some random dude, immediately regretted my decision and walked back, talking to Ryan and Aaron and making jokes and consistently saying "Wow." We raced in the parking lot, tried to make prank calls to McCain supporters and drank champagne from Solo cups. The organizers started to drop like flies, across the couches and on their way home. I stayed up, laying on the floor, talking about something nice with wonderful people. Then we found Speed, an old guy from the 60s with a funny nickname, and he lit off three huge fireworks in the parking lot. It was an infinite feeling. Just watching explosions in the sky of blue and purple, while feeling drunk and fulfilled. I sat and talked to a woman from Sierra Leone, then chugged a gallon of water and went home. We slept three in the bed, well two and half 'cause Bri was in the crack. ("it's like Obama's tax plan, you're in the crack, but you still get a blanket!") woke up miraculously not hungover, went to the Bean with Gus one last time and said my goodbyes.

This post is for myself. You definitely had to be there. But I'm sure millions of Americans had equally incredible moments they will remember forever. One man brought us all together. Si se puede.

...and we did. more work lies ahead, but for now, the euphoric ride is unlike anything else.

gus and i at joe biden

Ryan and George on the porch in Silver Cit-ay

The inside of the office--throwback to 1968.

Lani and Bri outside the Cruces office with our fabulous mural

This awesome trailer was on our canvass list

Ryan at a supporter's house, it was a beautiful house with a great view

This is what extreme canvassing looks like

Shauna and the booming t-shirt making business

Gus and Bri out back, looking wonderful

Bri pretending to be Allison

Alli, Hannah and I in the office.

9 days. Well Joe Biden came and went, as did Hillary. And Michelle is apparently en route. The swing states get all the love. I've canvassed my little bum off, my sneakers are about to have a hole in the sole and my t-shirt business is booming. We are getting out the vote and we are in the grind--of a very well-oiled machine.

Get Out the Vote

The last two weeks have flown by. We had an event with Eva Longoria and it rained (?!) It had never rained before and hasn't really since, but there she was, all beautiful and from LA standing in the rain addressing a crowd of students and middle-aged women; it was a "successful" event by all standards.

I then spent the last two days of voter registration in Silver City--a small town with a lot of charm (think N. Hampton or Bellingham). We ran around town "blind knocking" on trailers and making sure everyone inside was registered. We stood outside of Sonic (they do exist!) and registered people as they waited for their tots, then ran through local grocery stores, a movie theater and Wal-Mart (where we registered 4 out of 5 republicans, so we left). We were kindly asked to leave Sonic but registered the entire fish department at Albertsons at 10pm. We registered a guy at a bar after an older hippie cursed him out for not voting. The next day I stood outside of the Post Office in town and registered close to 20 people over the course of 4 hours. I got in a bit of a fight with a man who said Sarah Palin is a "breath of fresh air" and five minutes later the head of the Post Office came out to tell me someone had reported my bias tactics. Now, it's slightly comical. At the time, it was slightly infuriating. It never ceases to suprise me how much people will go through to stop you.

We had about 60 people come from Arizona and Texas this weekend and spent all weekend canvassing trying to get people out to early vote. I spoke to a woman who said "hell no I'm not voting for Obama, he's black." I saw the most amazing sunset at the foot of the Organ mountains while little children played in the dirt road with a lost puppy; I took 3 afternoon naps in my car in the parking lot; I lost my job 'cause the organization left town for a more "needy" area then and tried to make up for it by handmaking t-shirts to sell (I have yet to see any return on them); we got one night off and went to a dive bar and played the jutebox; I walked through a small field where there are literally a million grasshoppers and they just jump all around you in all directions; I had about two Red Bulls per day and ultimately got pretty excited about winning this election.

cruisin'

I've found that there are a few things I disagree with Mr. Obama on, namely he gets a lot of shit down here for supporting a bill to build a fence a few years back. And this gig has told me I definitely don't want to go into politics. ever. but for now, it's interesting and busy and worth something.

i'm heading back to silver land tomorrow and joe biden is coming on friday, i'll get to see how his hair looks in person.

We're going to win

Hannah with all the great people of Las Cruces.

Governor Sebelius

Just being a fan

The act immediately after us in Mesilla Plaza

when there is nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

It's late here, as per usual. We just watched the VP debates with about 40 community members--and I have to say Sarah Palin did a good job reciting her memorized flash cards of nuclear power houses. Her constant winking at the screen creeped me out a bit--but she's cute so she can wink at whomever she wants. Immediately following the debate, a woman I had met before who had been in Iraq and has suffered from PSD, came into the office, tearing up, more or less in her pajamas and said "What she just said were all lies about Iraq. What can I do?" She's coming to make calls tomorrow evening.

A few days ago we had an event with Governor Sebelius from Kansas--which was apparently a much bigger deal than I realized, as she was on the short list for Obama's running mate. Personally, I enjoyed sneaking away afterward to the local dive bar to have a delicious margarita with the Republicans, who chose to drink instead of listen to the talk. It was a good event; it becomes so much more logistical and less inspiring each time, but nice nonetheless. The following day I had the privilege of going to a pro-gun rally with Governor Richardson. I learned that people here hunt doves and quails. I stopped asking questions after that.

In other, more exciting news, I found a job. I am getting paid to canvas with Progressive Futures here about 20 hours a week. Essentially, I am doing that same thing, it's just lining my pockets in the meantime and I have to wear a different button and t-shirt.

Last night, Allison and I drove to Silver City to spend the night with another group of Field Organizers. Silver City is a paradox here. It's a random hippy-tastic town with Fair Trade coffee and local artists smack dab in the desert. The office there is smaller, but has charm. I think I'll go back there for a little while after this weekend. And it's colder there, so I can wear scarves without looking like a jackass, which is clearly what I am most concerned about at this point.

Eva Longoria is coming this weekend. Don't be too jealous. And the McCain campaign pulled out of Michigan--essentially admitting defeat there. That news, an adorable baby who hung out with Mamas for Obamas, and my 6-pack of Red Bull that was on sale at the local Wal-Mart were the highlights of my day.