The day gets up but gets lost
Good morning. This is me. We’re at work right now, but I wanted to get in just a little bit toward what’s been happening over the week. I’ve been pretty much away from the computer as to some of this weekend’s events.I worked both Saturday and Sunday from 10-5 pm at Obama’s National Headquarters in Chicago. This seems to be the smallest thing I can do for him right now. I wish I had more time to get involved. But, it also takes money or coordination. I was lucky in that Rich supported my efforts by helping me get to and from downtown. I think I will go back to the Neighbor-to-neighbor program to make up for some of the differences in what I can’t do in going or affording downtown.
With Rich doing the transportation part, and me taking food from home – there wasn’t any actual cost involved. I don’t know if I would be pressing the point to volunteer more time down there over the next couple of days. I would only be able to work like from 5-8 or 8:30 pm. It doesn’t seem to be enough time for that involved. I would have to arrange to do something right from work and with my car.
There is parking under the building, but it’s expensive. I think for the day it is $18. I don’t know what it is for a couple of hours, but I only have about $15 left. And, coming in that late at night all wound up, doesn’t seem to be the right thing to do.
I know that I’ve given them about 32 hours and that is reasonable enough, I just feel bad about not being there this next weekend.
In many ways the work we did this weekend was much like the work we’ve done last weekend, but there are some small differences. I liked that I got there soon enough both days to get the chairs that I wanted to sit at. I was a little disappointed on Sunday that this one guy decided it was a security risk to open the shades. You could still see somewhat, but the effect was dulled. This was a small thing though.
Toward the end of the second day, we’d slid over to the chair with our back facing the windows so we could see in the room. It was an interesting change to be watching people. There were quite a few people gathered there on both days. People worked up until about 4-4:30 pm. Some stayed later, but the numbers were much lower.
I was also a little disappointed on those last couple of hours, because a woman taking the chair next to me was so loud that I really had to work hard at coordinating conversation counter to hers, so I and my listener could hear me. That was a bit of an uphill struggle. Her heart was in the right place, just she wasn’t too smart. She couldn’t figure out that others had to be heard too. Her shrill voice was dominating terribly. But, other than that … I had no complaints.
People came and went at the table, and most of them were very nice. They stayed busy, but at times it would seem everyone was between calls and there was some conversation between us as to how it was going. That was one of my contributions.
I told the newer workers that if they got people who were already working to go ahead and ask – “How did that go?” This is a beauty of a question in that it supports the workers experience – validates them and their work, it kept the work interesting, and relayed positive thoughts coordinating with the other workers.
People really seemed to enjoy talking about their work. I liked that the ones who might have thought they’d gone way out on a limb were being appreciated. I think that’s good business and is part of the Obama Organization value. There were a few conversations that were really remarkable.
My favorite conversation on Saturday was having reached a professor in one of the California colleges who had worked for civil rights for 30 years. He was so excited by the candidacy that he fed my verve and I fed his. It was a very uplifting conversation. I was glad that he was working to become involved because he prioritized the events as so needed. He had felt this was a truly remarkable feat that was occurring historically. Loved that guy.
There was another California guy that was a little harder. He’d lost his house and was down on his luck. He believed in Barack and even though he was getting state aid, felt it important that he contribute his time. I think part of it was because we were working with people to get rides, but as well, he wanted to know if he would be fed. It hurt to talk to someone that was this needy, in that I could feel for his needs. He spent a long time on the phone. I think he really needed a friend, so I thought the 15 or so minutes I gave him were very humanely appreciated. I hope I lightened his load.
My favorite call on Sunday was having talked to a real writer. I’d met a few other people who were pretty high up in the food chain, but I didn’t feels she was living very wealthy. I had met an author on the phone before who had published, where this lady had not published, although she wrote a book and a half and was ready to publish the one. She was very connected to things on the Internet especial for other authors who could help her edit.
I really applauded her efforts because this seemed to be a project that had taken her 5-6 years. I also talked to her for about 15 minutes. One of the things that happened early on in this conversation was that she had said something to make me say out of the blue … I had just found a site to learn to write articles on-line called Helium.com. I knew this was a far stretch, because she’d only mentioned the word “article.” BUT, the truly unimaginable part was that it turned out she’d been writing to Helium.com too! My jaw about dropped down to the floor. What are the chances that we’d both go to this small relatively unknown site for writers and that it would happen to come up while calling for Barack? It was just amazing. Just think of all the numbers called from New York – Wow! So anyway we talked for a while. She was very interesting and had a lot of connections. One of the books, she had written about a girl who was 14 years old. She told me about the story and I was very impressed with the numbers and kinds of issues that the lead was to go through. It really made my day.
There was one last thing that happened with the phones. I was still on the same sheet as I’d just mentioned and I came across a name that made me catch my breath.
The name was Kendra Moore and the fact of the matter is that I know a Kendra Moore.
I know Moore is relatively common, but Kendra AND Moore just can’t be. The friend I’m talking of was one of my best friends from high school days growing up in MN. I know I’d visited her once while she was living in Boston, but it was such a coincidence that I stated on the message machine – which I probably shouldn’t have, but I gave her my home phone with a remark that she get a hold of me if she did turn out to be the Kendra from Blaine. I have some doubts because I don’t think it was her doing the phone recording, but this often happens that someone else does it, so I still want to remain hopeful.
Shoot ... gotta do a meeting.
posted by Ann Marie @ 10/27/2008 04:04:00 PM
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