Terror, The Warriors, and Death Before Dishonor

Last night i went out to do some voter registration at the Terror show. I had very little success because the scene here is so young and there weren't nearly as many people there as i would have expected had the show been in SLC. I ended up wandering the streets registering voters here and there so that i could go and just have fun at the show. It was a lot of fun but quite different than it would have been at home. Death Before Dishonor was super dope. Made me miss shows and home a little bit. Shai Hulud is on Thursday and i'll be there building some more votes.

I finally got my financial aid stuff cleared up for the fall. In case there's any confusion or wonder about my plans, i am going back to Kansas State University to finish my master's degree. That is absolutely not in question no matter how much i love Portland (a lot). I can't remember if i mentioned it previously, but i've been assigned to teach the SOCIO 520 - Research Methods lab. Should be cool because i'll get to cement some of my methods knowledge, but also i'll get to work with Spencer who is pretty bad ass.

Oreback

Midsummer retreat survived! I didn't get eaten by a black bear or a mountain lion, but had i been attacked i would have stayed big and fought back because that's what the informative black bear and mountain lion pamphlets told me to do. Ah, nature.

It was absolutely beautiful up in the mountains. We went up there to complain at one another about inefficiencies in our program (irony?). The rest of the time, which was a good amount of time, we played touch football, ultimate frisbee, swam, watched Predator starring not one, but two future governors, and ate some delicious and free food!

I'm sure some good things came out of our bickering - including a small scuffle - but more importantly is a story from our football playing. I was on a team with some faster guys who didn't realize that the big boy mustard could roll, so for the most part they were busy playing catch with each other while i played D and made big sacks (you know how we do!). There was one play where i was tossed the ball on a dump because whoever was playing quarterback was getting their skinny as run. Needless to say, i start rumbling down field. Hannah - who is a better athlete than most of the guys, and can throw a spiral like nobody's business - squares up with me in a two-hand touch game, and not even thinking i dropped my shoulder and bowled her ass over without being phased. Had it not been a touch game it would have been the most bad ass play because i could have strolled to the endzone, but as it was i felt really bad. She bounced up and we took a slight bit of a penalty for that move even though i'm not sure what the rules are. I thought you weren't supposed to tackle on defense, but this wasn't me on defense and she didn't tackle me. That became the story of the last couple days. 

Yesterday, we had to do a "trust exercise" and we were blind folded and led through the woods. Guess who my leader was. Just guess. Yep, Hannah. I was so convinced she was gonna run my ass off a cliff or face first into a tree, but she did no such thing and was an excellent leader of cult-looking blindfolded people.

We'll Strike Gold at Silver Falls

I leave for our midsummer retreat in about six hours. Rumor has it that we're going to Silver Falls, OR to hang out, tell each other what we think about the program, cuddle gently, and then play a bunch of schoolyard games. I'm most excited about kick ball. Kick ball is a gladiator sport.

Speaking of which, we got our faces stomped in playing kick ball against some hipsters on Saturday. It was supposed to be the death of irony, but instead it was the day that democracy cried. We had fun though. We should have beat them at tug-o-war, but instead we were all getting ready to go back to Bus Central (HQ).

Sunday i didn't register hardly any voters at the 3-on-3 tournament, but i did see a little kid wearing a Stockton jersey. He was a bad ass little kid. I saw another kid wearing Stockton shorts, but they were in no one way branded. That was less bad ass and more unfortunate. The tournament had a slam dunk contest with about half the people not knowing how to dunk. It was shit.

Today is not yesterday, so we fast forward, and i got a new phone today. That should be up and running proper like.

Also, i created a Flickr account for all of us PolitiCorps fellows to upload our pictures. There are quite a few up already, so you guys can take a look: PolitiCorps Flickr.

back to falling asleep... in bed.

p.s. while i'm out finding gold in Silver Falls i probably won't have any way to get a hold of anyone. no interweb. i'm exhausted..

Dark Knight: Good

Trying to wake up in four hours and still have some zeal for democracy: bad.

Despite the movie, i think it's obvious i still have a firm grasp on my moral compass. Good night.

Timbers Army

My phone sucks balls. Tried to call grandma and dad and got hung up on about 5 times. It's not the service itself. The problem is with the phone, and i'm still not sure what the solution is. I'll figure it out.

Last night i went and did voter registration at the Portland Timbers' game (soccer). The Timbers Army is their "supporters club" a.k.a. firm, and they are so fucking awesome! If you did not know, Portland has a huge beer culture - particularly micro brews. Beer culture + non-Mormons + football = a fucking great time! I only got to stay for the first half and then i had to get back to the work of actually registering people to vote, but i am very excited to go see them play Seattle in a big rivalry game on one of our days off. The good news is that they won, and i registered an all-time single day high of six new voters. I do well with the street kids, but not so well with the hippies or the lame ass consumer culture folks at the mall.

Bike Helmets are for Pussies

Uneventful day.

I went out today to try and buy a bike helmet. Turns out my head is fucking huge and i couldn't find one. I bought lights for night riding, which will be useful back in kansas as well, but i will be taking my life into my own hands as i ride helmetless. I figure it can't be any worse that rolling around on my scooter with no helmet. 

I shaved my hair off. It's very short again and i love it.

My suit should be pressed tomorrow and ready to wear. Pictures coming soon.

Also, I will have a cell phone for the rest of the summer as of tomorrow. The number is 503-933-8000. Not only is it a shifty Cricket phone for drug dealers, but the number is actually 933-8000. If that doesn't sound like a drug dealer number or a sex hotline then i don't know what does. Oh, and when i went to try and buy a phone the place that was listed in the phone book turned out to be shut down and converted into a garage that is probably a chop shop. Nothing says shifty like Cricket.

Not much new or exciting on the PolitCorps front. I feel like our article in the Times misrepresented us a bit. Oh well. National coverage never hurts.

I'm taking my sunburnt scalp and i'm going to bed.

It's like Woodland Creatures and Fairies Built a Festival in the Forest.

The Oregon Country Fair is hands down one of the most bizarre experiences i've had in my entire life. My sister would have loved this shit. I say that because apparently at night they have a silent rave. I will provide two mini stories to try and help you understand this place. First, Drew, Peter, Olivia (Pete's girlfriend) and myself all drove to Eugene on Friday night and stayed with Drew's friend Miles so that we wouldn't have to wake up crazy early yesterday to get there. We got to Eugene late and played some bolo (best yard game ever!) and Miles described the country fair by saying, "It's like woodland creatures and fairies built a festival in the forest." I didn't have my camera with me, so there's probably no way it can be better conveyed than through that one sentence. That is hands-down the best description ever for something indescribable! Next, the next morning we got on a bus to get from Eugene out to the middle of nowhere forest, and when we got off there were people wearing multi-colored dog outfits on stilts, barking, and telling stories about the magic that awaited you inside. It was like Disneyland on acid.
We had a lot of fun, ate some good organic hippie food, registered some voters (not nearly as many as i had hoped), and became part of the magic. The magic included: lots of drugs (obviously, not for me), dread locks, multi-colored everything, tie dye, fairies, sweaty people, shirtless women with body paint, shirtless women without body paint, drum circles, poetry readings, and voter registration. Minus the shirtless women and voter reg it was not my scene, but i had a good time and it was a hell of an experience. I probably could have even been talked into staying for the silent rave because i heard the night time fiesta was off the scale wild and some people did stay.
Today is my day off and i'm doing laundry. The internet isn't working in our apartment, so i probably won't be able to call anyone. I miss every single on of you who read this. I'm having a great time and learning a ton.

P.S. Oh, i almost forgot that the Bus Project and PolitiCorps made the Times. Yes, we were in the NY Times. Nate Gulley is my roommate, but i wasn't interviewed. Check it out: Times Article. I think they referred to us as out supporting Obama, which isn't true at all, but still very cool.

Balance?

Work time is fucking awesome! We've been told since we got here that eventually we would be given time to take care of work. That time is now and it is great. I don't have a committee appointment until next week because for the last week i was working on the Research Committee, which means that i don't have much to do right this moment. In thirteen minutes from now i'm going out to spend the evening registering voters. I need to get my numbers up so i'm trying to get excited about it.

I was feeling very frustrated about things the last few days, but i'm feeling much better today. We had a interesting discussion about balance today and i think that helped some. 

After we get done tonight, i am going to Eugene to the Oregon Country Fair (Alex calls it "advanced research in the sociology of white people." it's got a ring to it.) to register voters tomorrow. I'm going down with Drew tonight to meet some of his friends and party before we have to work. This fair is supposed to be an interesting hippie fest that is ripe for voter registration so i'm excited to get there.

Next point, Blue Oregon (a blog about progressive politics in Oregon) posted an article about the Bus Project today so you should all go read it. Here is a picture of me (a couple more are in the Blue Oregon article).

Presents

I got mail today and it wasn't free food.. but, still good. I got a package from Keely with reading materials i probably won't have time to look at until at least Sunday, but it was very nice of her to think of me and send me fun book/magazines. I also got a pocket square. Not from Keely.

I'm going to bed before i fall asleep on the couch while typing. wow, i really did just pass out and type a huge line of Ss and Ds.

NOI Training - Day 1

NOI training is about as much fun as it sounds. End.

However, they did give us free breakfast and lunch! As Shannon pointed out in her comment, free food tastes better than paid for food, but is especially delicious when you're poor and living with two/three other dudes who have little-to-no interest in cooking. Some fellows have host families who cook all kinds of goodies for them and Nate and i are extremely jealous of those people. Nate just said, "I could not be more jealous." Some fellows also have host peoples who do their laundry, and this makes some of them uncomfortable. However, again, it makes Nate and i full of envy. Aunt Mary, i could not miss you more. I love you.

Tonight we did some canvassing for Brent Barton. Our turf had already been stomped out once (maybe twice) before, so it seemed super redundant and most of my contacts (60%) were "hostile" and refused to talk to me. Kind of a drag. The good news is that it made things go quick, so Jake (a fellow i was canvassing with - he's from Long Island and a super cool and slightly misunderstood dude) and i hit up a pub, drank beer/RC cola, and played a little bit of pool while we waited for our pick-up.

I have to wear long sleeves on turf . . . shower time!

Day Off!!

A little preface for this blog: it's not stylistic writing. In fact, it's only to keep the people i care about a little more in tune with what i'm doing in the Northwest this summer. My phone will not be working, so this is an effective way to keep people posted.

More background for you guys: for those who don't know, i'm doing a fellowship with PolitiCorps this summer. PolitiCorps is the leadership development ("drive leaders") aspect of the Oregon Bus Project. It is a political "boot camp" where i work 70+ hours a week canvassing for local candidates, registering voters, and eventually we'll be working to defeat a mandatory minimums initiative that is a horrible piece of legislation for several reasons (ask if you want to know). We also do classrooms where we learn different aspects of campaigning and leadership.

Today was our first day off in two weeks. Needless to say, we spent it doing laundry, cleaning, and finishing unpacking. Noah, my roommate from Kalamazoo, MI, was brave enough to clean our kitchen. Alex is our host. He is also a super busy staffer at the Bus Project who is almost never home. He sleeps at his girlfriend's place most of the time and owns next to nothing, and if you walked in our front door, the place looks like you would expect. Nate is my other roommate from Cleveland who attended the University of Oregon. We cleaned until Nate invited Mollie (another fellow) over and then the three of us went to snag bubble tea while Noah stayed home to call his people. We met Carol (yet another fellow) at Fat Straw and just hung out there until i got hungry enough to walk back home and eat some Cheerios. We all drove to a barbecue that was held for the fellows. Great food! Free food! It was amazing, and i only regret not having eaten even more because despite receiving our stipends at the barbecue i'll still be broke until it's deposited in Utah (probably Friday or so).

I'm going to bed because i have New Organizing Institute (NOI) training tomorrow. They're going to feed us breakfast and lunch. More free food!!