Week three of Democracy Summer was by far the MOST eventful. Between the Charlotte Team’s brief grapple with fame, a 6-hour round trip to Raleigh in a rolling icebox and Camp Wellstone, let’s just say I have a lot to blog about. I’ll get right to it:
Monday evening, America, Robert and I journeyed to the Charlotte Public Access Channel (Channel 21!) to film a segment with Austin Roper (feel free to make an Al Roker joke here- I did; Several times, actually), president of the Urban League on Voter Owned Elections…or so we thought. We pulled up to the station only to be informed our act was to address pre-registration and voting participation. After taking pictures in the green room (it was severely lime green, see facebook for details), we settled into chairs to watch the segment about prostate cancer, which was filming before us. Needless to say, our silence was demanded. However, we didn’t comply, as Mr. Roper leaned over his desk, uttering in his Horatio Caine- inspired voice, “This is the Chocolate Box.” We dissolved in giggles, which were met with go-sit-in-the-corner stares, but we made it through the segment without further interruption. Then it was time for our 15 minutes of fame! Frocked in our Democracy North Carolina T-shirts (America and I at least, ahem Robert), we answered questions about HB-1260 and spoke about the importance of youth engagement in civic society. We did an excellent job on staying on point, if I do say so myself, however, our serious demeanor vanished when Mr. Roper, again impersonating Horatio Caine (minus the aviators), leaned into the camera and signed off, “This has been the Chocolate Box. Would you like a chocolate?” I’m totally certain we’re getting call backs from the station for our own show.
On Wednesday the Charlotte team loaded up early in a 15 passenger van to head to the General Assembly for Lobby Day! Whoever said “getting there is half the fun” did not ride with us. Imagine if you will: 15 people, 6:00 a.m. (well 4 a.m. I had to get up) NPR on full blast, 45 degree temperature and 2959724598 bazillion different conversations going on simultaneously; I had to restrain myself from kissing the ground when we rolled into Raleigh. Thankfully, the day looked up, aside from the 100 meter dash to Rep. Nick Mackey’s office as soon as we arrived, as the trip home was at least 5 hours away. The day seemed methodical: we announced a Rep./Sen., located the office number, affirmed the office number, piled into an elevator, re-affirmed the office number and filed into hallways/offices/conference rooms to discuss opposition or to give thanks for sponsorship on HB 1260 and SB 966. We met with Reps. Ruth Samuelson, Nick Mackey, Beverly Earle, Alexander Kelly and Becky Carney. We tried to talk to Clodfelter and Pryor Gibson, but no dice. It was a terrific learning experience and I grew more knowledgeable about the North Carolina budget crisis and lobbying in general.
Thankfully, following Lobby Day, Robert awarded America and I the day off on Thursday. I slept until noon. Friday morning, the Charlotte Team (minus Robert) ventured to Durham to participate in Camp Wellstone, a training camp for ambitious activists in memory of the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone. It was a treat to meet up with all the Democracy Summer interns, as we hadn’t really spent any time together since camp Wilderness. Camp Wellstone, to be completely honest, seemed at times, redundant. It was essentially a review of all the things we learned at Efland, only much more general. That being said, I’m a firm believer in participation, and I know that you get out what you put in, so I jumped in with both feet and had a really good time, up until hour 56. I met new people, learned a kick butt new ice breaker and bonded with the other Dem Summer interns. I learned about conversation styles, volunteer recruitment, media messages and PEAK, a great get-to-know-you activity where I had an enlightening conversation with Jonathon, the Greensboro Dem Summer Organizer. I was touched by the level of compassion at Wellstone, and the amount of admiration I had for our instructors Melvin Carter and Mattie Weis surpassed any frustration I had with the cream cheese on the turkey sandwiches, who does that? However, the banana pudding was delightful, the discussions informative and the exercises gave me a chance to connect with George, my Machiavellian friend, Jason, the Cutco enthusiast who really liked high fives, Risa, a comforting and encouraging idealist and of course all the lovely people with Dem Summer.
Since this blog entry is lengthier than War and Peace, I’ll stop typing. But more to come later!
Sarah, QC!
Risa Foster is pretty awesome — she has a great leadership style. She gets a bunch of people in the room and says, “okay, so what do YOU want to do, because we’re not planning a thing unless you’re in it from the start.” It seems to work way better in motivating than simply telling people what to do. It takes longer but you get a stronger group out of it. I admire her for it.
I can’t believe you mentioned Jason, the Cutco guy! Does he actually have a job selling Cutco knives? Because as I was waiting in front of the Durham Bulls Stadium the night before Wellstone to give everyone their baseball tickets, a guy named Jason came up to the Coalition for Southern Justice table, seemed to know everyone there, and when they asked what he was doing now that he was out of school and he said selling Cutco knives they looked confused. I was going to butt in and mention Cutco knives were the best knives ever but not everyone appreciates my propensity to butt in so i sat on the impulse. I am glad to hear he is also pursuing organizing work as he seemed very on the ball. And I will say this — selling Cutco knives is probably great preparation for being a grassroots organizer!
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