Friday, I packed all my shit together and showed up early. Asked around after Aaron, and generally felt out of place. Greeted by Jason (the point of contact for organization) and twiddled thumbs. Talked to a reporter, and had my picture taken. (She claimed that her journalistic philosophy required her not to touch things, and resulted in her getting in extended conversations about how everyone ought to just act as though she wasn’t there … but could you please answer a few questions? As a point of contrariness, I took a picture with her and much of the group in it. =)
The gentleman whose backside occupies the middle of the above picture engaged me in conversation at some point. I remember him telling me that “you can always tell engineers by the way they dress”. I was bemused and vaguely, ever so slightly offended by the implication, but I was feeling forbearant so I chose to insert only a hint of chill into my voice and otherwise not react to the comment. It was only a few minutes later that asked me what I did. After I answered, he quickly told me he had already known I was an engineering type. I pulled out the cheshire cat smile, and pointed out it was easy to say that now. He’s in his final semester at the Goldman School MPP program, has an interest in urban planning type things, and was actually fun to talk with. He’s Luke. =) When
I got to know Luke a bit on the ride over. We checked out the windmill farms on 580, talked about Cowshwitz, and various other things. Bopped to some shared madonna music. Showed my mp3 collection. Told Luke he’d not like Romanovsky & Phillips. Either he didn’t believe me or he’s pathologically curious. Either way, my prediction was born out. =) Christopher pulled out cards and a pillow, and a game of Euchre started on the pillow across the aisle. (frequently interrupted by people walking back and forth). Luke taught us the rules. I mostly looked over his shoulder for the first several games, which involved Luke, Christopher, Veroon, and James, and sometimes Onika (who sat next to Christopher). I swapped in for James at some point (it was kinda painful watching him play, honestly. “Sweet baby Jesus, what are you doing? How is it possible for one player to suck so much?” Things that I think, but don’t actually say). We got into LA, circled the block a few times. Had to get out of the bus for over half an hour, while they refueled. On the way out of the bus station, someone (Jason, perhaps?) started chanting “howard dean, howard dean, …” on the way out to the bus, and we all picked it up, while I wondered what sort of an impression we were making on the denizens of the bus station. Kinda like pride parades that way.
Euchre was played into the wee hours. We were using a howard dean deck. There were all sorts of interesting associations for the cards. Queen of Hearts: Hillary Clinton. Queen of Clubs: Katherine Harris. Queen of Diamonds: Ann Coulter, etc, etc. There’s one with a picture of Rush Limbaugh in a tutu (should be in prison clothes with a big black man standing right behind him, but I digress). It’s all kind of silly, but sorta cute. Then we went to sleep. Me in an aisle seat originally occupied by James. But it wasn’t working for me, because I wasn’t able to stay in the seat without constantly readjusting. So, I had Luke wake James up to switch back to my window seat (with nonworking back-decline mechanism, and foot rest). Between the side of the bus, the seat in front of me, and Luke, I managed to get a few fitful hours of sleep, before we stopped at a rest stop in AZ. (I think I stopped at the same rest stop with Ro, on the way to Arcosanti). This was as the sun was rising. And I took several pictures, because it’s pretty.
I got no more sleep after that. People were up, and we rolled into phoenix. Took showers at the ymca. (I will not cruise the dean volunteers. I will not cruise the dean volunteers. I will not cruise the dean volunteers. Especially not the excessively young ones.) Twiddle thumbs by the bus. Bus gets lost on the west end of town, among the numbered aves. You see, dean hq is on the east side of town on 24th _st_. Whoops. Make it there. Recieve our assignment. Go with Christopher, James (same as the Euchre players), Kris and Rhea. For the first precinct walk, James and Rhea go off together in one section while Kris and I go off in another. I’m a little happier. James is loudly enthusiastic, it makes me cranky. Kris is much mellower, we get along fine. Chatting between houses, trading off the “Hi my name is ____ and I’m with the local dean campaign” intro line. The first person we talk to is the coolest of the lot. An undecided, we give her info and I wave and smile at her grandchild who waves and smiles back. Kris’s handwriting puts mine to shame. We grab lunch at del taco (after difficulty finding the other group, as James’s phone went down.) Christopher did some solo work in the car.
The next set we do from the car. I act as navigator, Christopher drives, the other three take point. It goes smoothly, we blaze through the other people, and make it back just in time for the potluck. I have been mainlining clif bars on the trip up to this point, as I lack vegan sources of nutrition. I check my email then go to the potluck, which turns out to have some good vegan happiness. Bulgar with nuts and some strange spicing, plus a rice w/veggies thing. On top of my clif bars, I am content. Luke gives me a card with his info on a mondrian background (I didn’t even know that was an artist until he pointed it out. Like him, I just thought it looked kinda cool). I am playing phone tag with
Our magnificent feast/political rally
Me and Onika (she was fun and friendly, I’d like to hang with her more, sometime, sadly, I suspect it won’t happen).
Me, Onika, Luke, and Christopher (they were all staying with the same host I believe.
Our busdriver between la & phoenix. He just looked/acted sorta leather daddy to me. Seems he scared some of my compatriots, but I found him amusing/likeable in my few brief interactions with him. Not evil, just misunderstood. =)
Jason
Kris, my fellow canvasser.
Brandon squeals around the corner (well, the squealing is mostly the alternator on his aging, but still cool looking sportscar dealie) & gets out just in time to have a three minute ‘hi, how’s it going’ with Aaron before Aaron heads off to his host’s for the evening. The possibility of a party had been mentioned, but never materialized, just as well, we were all barely conscious. And it left me plenty of time to chat & catch up with Brandon. I stayed up til after 11 (a minor miracle under the circumstances). It defies logic, but Brandon and I have some amazing rapport. Sadly, I got no pictures of brandon, because I’m lame.
Woke up right before the alarm, hopped in the shower called Aaron to ask if he’d like to join us for breffy. (straight through to voicemail, I kinda figured it wasn’t going to happen anyway.). Spent some time looking for vegan breakfast places that would be reasonable. Hit a diner instead. Tasty strawberry pancakes. Oops on the vegan. Oh well. Back to dean headquarters.
Head off to do canvassing with Debby (who is, I believe, from San Diego, and while friendly, likeable and outgoing, strikes me as a bit of a crystal waving flake), Noreen, who is an older woman with a British accent, and an enormous amount of campaigning experience. I’m generally teamed up with Noreen and Luke with Debby. On the way there, Luke and I (mostly Luke) act as guides, and lay out our course from house to house. We only make it through one of the two sheets. We meet the guy who thinks Bush is the best president ever. Noreen argues with him “politely”.
Upon hearing we’re for dean he says “well, I feel sorry for you.”
Noreen asks him who he’s supporting. He says
“the guy who’s doing the best job, the president, George W Bush”.
“Well, I’m sorry for you.”
“Things been have great for me since he took office.”
“Well, congratulations, that lucky. You’re one of the few.”
At this point I step in with “thank you for your time.” and head for the car. (we were, you know, specifically instructed not to argue with people. Uh, whoops). The rest of them go much more smoothly. Mostly we find people not home.
Noreen talks to a guy not on the list. Turns out he is a registered democrat, but hasn’t voted since JFK. Shortly after moving to Phoenix his sun was murdered. Noreen convinces him to support Dean, and mentions Dean’s stance on gun control in doing so. I get the impression that this woman, given enough time, could have gotten the man who loved Bush to vote Dean, but probably knew her time was better spent elsewhere. I was actually quite impressed by her.
Noreen
Then back on the bus for the trip back (and it reeks of pee). Hey, lookie there, I’m sitting next to Luke again. More Euchre playing (this time with
At some point, they start playing poker. Betting with Ritz Crackers and chocolate chip cookies.
While they were playing poker, I sat up in the seat and started talking with the couple in front of me. He had apparently promised her he’d stay awake and keep her company. They started talking drug legalization, so I butted in and put in my two cents. He was against it, but he couldn’t articulate much justification past the harm to the self. When I suggested pot brownies, he had no idea what I was talking about. (I found out later that he’s a high school student.) The issue caused him alot of consternation. A few hours later in the trip, he reversed his position, and thanked us for the input. Cool kid.
This led to further discussions about legalizing other drugs. Heroin being the prime example used. That one didn’t have the same pro legalization vibe going on throughout the bus. I was in favor of decriminalizing the consumption of it, (replace with education and treatment) while toying with the idea of making the production/sale of it criminal. I mean, it really is a hard question. Simon (at home) pointed out that a major portion of users are dealers, selling it to support the habit.
Late term abortion came up as well. Dean (the kid sitting in front of me, I’ve forgotten the young lady’s name) was arguing with his seatmate saying that late term abortions should be illegal. I played devil’s advocate. I tried to get her to say when abortion stopped being okay. I asked her if it was okay once contractions began. She said it ought to be the mother’s choice. Hard core. I then offered my input. Greater self policing responsibility and authority to the AMA. Simon (when I got home) suggested that juries for malpractice suits ought to be composed half and half of medical professionals and nonmedical professionals.
Back through riverside county, and the valley of windmills. More pictures taken. Pretty scenic stuff, and Jason, but mostly because he was in the way.
Another stopover in LA. Dumping the restroom vastly improves the bus’s smell. I play my first game on a team with Luke (I’d played against him up until then). We won 12 to 10. And more napping while seated right next to Luke.
Back in town at 2am
Confirm my intention to stay in touch and hug Luke goodbye. Then Chris provided a ride across campus and up the hill, for which I am quite grateful given both the hour and my load.
Whee.