Thursday, October 28, 2004
Ride the Tempest
I am still coming down from this most extraordinary day, and I think I'm almost there. I will be communing with my pillow in a minute. Salon's report from the Madison rally quotes Bruce Springsteen's remarks extensively and captures the flavor of the event. (Quote of the day, from Salon's Joan Walsh, reminiscing about her own Madison days and tipping War Room readers to the more extensive report in the magazine: "[Springsteen] likely swung Wisconsin, too smart to be a swing state anyway, into the Kerry column permanently."
Tonight I went to canvasser training for America Coming Together, which expects 1200 volunteers to be on the ground here in Dane County on Election Day, and 40,000 canvassers nationwide. ACT is actually paying people to do this, which I didn't realize until long after I signed up. This means they attract people who are doing it primarily for the money--like the college-age stoners sitting behind me tonight, or the aged hippie, either drunk or addled, sitting in the next section over, who kept up a running commentary on the trainer's words and frequently interrupted her with irrelevant questions he'd already asked. Nevertheless, ACT is making it pretty easy for even the most reticent door-knocker, such as I, to do some good on Election Day. That I will have something like $81 for my trouble at the end of the day on Tuesday is extra--and will end up going to the local food bank or something, although I may save out a few bucks to buy a bottle of celebratory champagne for Election Night.
After I got home, a friend of nearly 25 years called. He's never been all that interested in politics before this election cycle, but he's into it now, and where we used to talk intensely about football, we now talk as intensely about issues. Many of us have poured a lot of our fears into this election, and we've used them to motivate ourselves. But there's hope, too, precisely because people who have never cared much about politics beyond exercising their simple right to vote care passionately now, passionately enough to make phone calls and ring doorbells. Win or lose on Tuesday, those of us on the progressive side have a challenge to capture and redirect the energy that's so evident as we head into this weekend to either the business of governing or the building of a progressive juggernaut, not just to stand against but to fight back against the forces of repression and reaction represented by Bush and the Repugs.
The last word belongs to my pal Karen, a good friend of this blog and of its blogger, who's doing her part in Iowa, another swing state where it's all on the line. She sends a poem by Trieu Thi Trinh:
I am still coming down from this most extraordinary day, and I think I'm almost there. I will be communing with my pillow in a minute. Salon's report from the Madison rally quotes Bruce Springsteen's remarks extensively and captures the flavor of the event. (Quote of the day, from Salon's Joan Walsh, reminiscing about her own Madison days and tipping War Room readers to the more extensive report in the magazine: "[Springsteen] likely swung Wisconsin, too smart to be a swing state anyway, into the Kerry column permanently."
Tonight I went to canvasser training for America Coming Together, which expects 1200 volunteers to be on the ground here in Dane County on Election Day, and 40,000 canvassers nationwide. ACT is actually paying people to do this, which I didn't realize until long after I signed up. This means they attract people who are doing it primarily for the money--like the college-age stoners sitting behind me tonight, or the aged hippie, either drunk or addled, sitting in the next section over, who kept up a running commentary on the trainer's words and frequently interrupted her with irrelevant questions he'd already asked. Nevertheless, ACT is making it pretty easy for even the most reticent door-knocker, such as I, to do some good on Election Day. That I will have something like $81 for my trouble at the end of the day on Tuesday is extra--and will end up going to the local food bank or something, although I may save out a few bucks to buy a bottle of celebratory champagne for Election Night.
After I got home, a friend of nearly 25 years called. He's never been all that interested in politics before this election cycle, but he's into it now, and where we used to talk intensely about football, we now talk as intensely about issues. Many of us have poured a lot of our fears into this election, and we've used them to motivate ourselves. But there's hope, too, precisely because people who have never cared much about politics beyond exercising their simple right to vote care passionately now, passionately enough to make phone calls and ring doorbells. Win or lose on Tuesday, those of us on the progressive side have a challenge to capture and redirect the energy that's so evident as we head into this weekend to either the business of governing or the building of a progressive juggernaut, not just to stand against but to fight back against the forces of repression and reaction represented by Bush and the Repugs.
The last word belongs to my pal Karen, a good friend of this blog and of its blogger, who's doing her part in Iowa, another swing state where it's all on the line. She sends a poem by Trieu Thi Trinh:
My wish is to ride the tempestFour days, people. Never give up. Hope is on the way.
tame the waves
kill the sharks.
I will not resign myself.
