What IS the Matter with Kansas?

I miss Portland. I want to go to New York.

My internet isn't working, so if i haven't called you, it is because my phone doesn't work without the internet. Also, my drug dealer phone has been turned off.

Hannah is coming to stay with me tomorrow night and she's brining Dizzy (her French bulldog) too! PolitiCorps Fellows should just move to Kansas to keep me company all of the time. That would make me happy. 

Okay, if you haven't picked up on it, i'm genuinely unhappy about being back in Manhattan, KS. In response, and completely against the advice received from PolitiCorps staff, i am making a brief list of shit i noticed today that i hate about KS. I give you my gripes in no particular order:

• There is no recycling program in Manhattan, KS. You can recycle, but you have to save your shit and haul it to the recycling center, which is not exactly a convenience especially if you don't own a car.
  
• Speaking of which, this is the least bike friendly city i have ever stepped foot in. There are no bike paths anywhere. We're in the process of building a new parking structure on campus, and you can't find anywhere to park on a Friday night in Aggieville, but no one would want to ride a bike. Oh, and let's not forget this is a city that is literally no further than six miles across. Google Earth says so!
• The music here sucks. I went to a concert tonight that was actually kind of cool, but mostly it just highlighted that everything else i've seen here totally blows.
• It's humid.
• There isn't an independent movie theatre or a sushi restaurant anywhere in town.
• Sororities and fraternities (no offense Jacob, you know i love you).
• No NPR on any station and no ESPN Radio unless it's Saturday ("game day").

I'm done complaining. Sorry Drew. The only good things i can think of are my friends, sociology, Pathfinder which is a cool bike shop, and La Fiesta's delicious salsa.

Lastly on the news report, i'm building a fixed gear conversion bicycle and i'm using a stolen Bianchi frame that i found abandoned in front of my apartment (it had a summer's worth of dust on it, so i do not feel bad at all). This project makes me happy.

Farewell for Today

I just walked home in the rain to let the Northwest seep into me, as if it hadn't already.

My new shoes are finally broken in enough that i can wear them without socks.

Our evaluation retreat was amazing. I breathed a cloud at the timberline of Mt. Hood! On Thursday, we spent a lot of time together and just hung out talking about what was going to happen after we all go our separate ways. It was a high quality experience. Plus, we got some great feed back about what we've been working on all summer. I was told i complain too much, but that i'm a teacher and a uniter of people. I worked hard at being able to go between what became subgroups of Fellows and trying to relate with everyone. I'm glad it paid off.

Graduation was fun. There are so many pictures of us all lookin' steeze-tastic. It's almost ridiculous. I'll see what i can do to get as many of them online as humanly possible. Governor Kitzhaber was there though he wasn't as well-dressed as any one of the Fellows. He has a tendency to wear jeans and cowboy boots everywhere. He came to christen the new bus before it left for the DNC in Denver. After the governor left an intentional dent on the rear as a tribute to the accidental denting of the original bus during its christening, his son got the first crack with the champagne bottle. Little Kitzhaber took a shot at it a couple of times to no avail. The governor stepped in and beat on the rear hub until a piece of steel broke off. I'm not sure if anyone bought that part, but it looks like we will be asking for a donation to pay for the replacement. Then we all partied for the rest of the night and took even more self-promoting pictures of our beautiful faces.

I miss my friends already. Miles leaving was tough because he's the most outspoken of our group and one of my favorite people. Tonight i had to say goodbye to Mollie who grew on me so much over the course of the summer. I love her. Some people left Friday night's party assuming we'd see each other in the past couple of days, but some of them haven't seen me. I kind of like those goodbyes. They're easier. Leaving Noah and Drew tomorrow is going to be really hard too. I love our group, but some are going to be more noticeably absent from my day-to-day life. The LQ will be missed greatly.

I'm already working on getting brought out for Trick or Vote.

It's been one of the two greatest summers of my life.

P.S. Rumor has it Joe Biden is VP. har har

A Few Very Unrelated Thoughts

First, i was on the radio last week doing an interview with Genna and Jefferson on KPOJ. The station hosts a lot of different talk radio shows about progressive politics in Portland. Here's the link:

KPOJ interview

We're on about halfway through the show.

Next - i alluded to this in my last post - i'm starting to check out of Portland. We've nearly reached all of our goals and i feel like i'm starting to distance myself from things. Most of the time it's unintentional and i'm sure it's a defense mechanism. I'm going to be sad to have to leave. Bouncing from place to place is very difficult.

Finally, i've been considering the role of violence in social change. I watched the documentary The Weather Underground today. It was half a day off. It has me thinking about social change, and i'm sure this discussion will continue in the depths of my mind for months to come.

Special 1000

We're going to reach our goals! It's official, we're working on our day off, but it looks like we'll actually hit the very lofty goals that we set for ourselves at the beginning of the summer:

• knock on 20,000 doors for candidates
  
• ID 5,500 voters
  
• register 4,000 new voters
  
• of these 4,000, register 1,000 voters from "underrepresented" communities.
  
• knock on 5,300 doors to fight a mandatory minimums ballot initiative
  

Save one, I think we'll meet them all. We will not be able to register 1000 "underrepresented" voters. There was quite the discussion about this the other day, and the conclusion that I came to was that it's not possible because we didn't define what underrepresented actually means. Turns out it's hard to measure something you don't define, and that it's hard to target some ambiguous thing that you can't measure (see also: terror). When we were in the committee to work that definition out, I was the one trying to come up with a hard definition but it didn't happen and now that goal is up Fucked Creek. I hate to say it (sort of), but I told you so and I wish we could have done better.

This weekend we went to Bend, OR to canvass for Judy Steigler. She's going to win that seat.

It was a bazillion degrees out this weekend. Bend is a high desert like SLC, but not half as bad ass. That city is pretty damn lame. However, they do have the Deschutes River which runs right through the middle town. We went tubing and I jumped off a bridge into the water. The water is like glacial run off, so it's a bit chilly even when it is a hundred degrees outside. But fun. 

We spent the night in the Deschutes County Dems office. It was nice. Interestingly it was probably a nicer homestay than is the Latin Quarter. I stole everyone else's sleeping stuff because I don't own a sleeping bag and didn't bring a pillow. That might have been why it was so nice.

On the ride home from Bend the new bus was sucking wind in the Cascades. We stopped at one point and got to go swimming in Tridium Lake. It was beautiful up there, but then a lightening storm started to come on so the park people made us leave. We made it home with as much in-the-aisle dancing and silliness as possible. I tried to tune out.

More Blue Oregon

Someone at Blue Oregon posted another blog about the Bus Project. There's even a cool video of our Bus Trip from last weekend. I'm pretty sure that i'm in that video, but that's not so much the point as is the fact that the Bus Project is getting love.

The Most Meaningful Week

I probably should start out by saying that i wrote this first part the day that this actually happened (8/4/08):

Today’s morning discussion may have been one of the most meaningful experiences of my time here in Portland.
Jefferson Smith started the Bus Project, and he is now a presumptive Representative elect for the Oregon House of Representative. He won both the Democratic and Republican nomination in his district’s primary several months ago.
This morning Jeff comes in to talk to us about Multi-Issue Politics (we barely spoke about this). He started out by posing a scenario where we were supposed to decide whether or not a candidate should take PAC (Political Action Committee) money. I know a lot more about PACs after being here than i did before.

I write this in hindsight:

PACs are not always the evil slimy things that i previously considered them to be. There are plenty of PACs that support good causes and good candidates. In fact, this is one way in which people with little room for financial expenditures pool together resources and have a positive effect on the political process. The Bus Project has its own PAC.

Okay, all of that said, we had a discussion about this scenario. First we were given a set of conditions, then allowed to ask questions about the potential PAC donations, and finally, we were told advice that was given by different people (i.e. the only person in the House to not take PAC money, a former governor, and the campaign staff).  

As we were having our discussion with Jeff, it became more and more obvious that we were talking about him and his campaign. It then became one of the most meaningful discussions that we've had all summer. I argued against taking the PAC money. Ben Cannon (the only person in the House to not take the cash) suggested taking it because he felt like it damaged his credibility within the caucus and his ability to pay his caucus dues. My point was that if Jeff didn't take the money then there would be two instead of one, and that maybe opens the door for number three and four to do so sooner than later. We voted on the idea and the tally was 17-7 in favor of taking the money and using it to establish a "Robin Hood" PAC that redistributes the money. Jeff seemed to really be making the decision with us and our opinions seemed to really matter to him. It was great. It's very likely he's going to take the PAC scratch, but he told us that he would continue to fight for campaign finance reform and do his best to help Ben and his marginalized status.

This is how our entire week went. The following day (Tuesday, 8/5) we met with Kate Brown who is the presumptive Secretary of State elect and she had a very interesting conversation with us about electoral reform and how we would try and increase youth voter turnout as well as the likelihood that young people would actually run for office. The recurring theme that kept coming up was creating citizenry through service. Some people suggested student loan repayment, but i was rather partial to the idea of mandatory terms of service in the military or some other citizen building organization like AmeriCorps or the PeaceCorps.

It has been a very good week and i'm happy to say that i reached my goal of registering 100 voters, and i have already knocked on more than 500 doors for several candidates this summer. 

I'm starting to prepare myself for my return to Kansas. I need to get a few more ducks in a row, but the summer is quickly coming to an end. I'm kind of sad that i have to leave, but i'm excited about seeing everyone in Manhattan. 

Suicide Attempt on the Hawthorne Bridge?

Everyone has heard the nickname "Rose City," but Portland is often referred to a bunch of other names. One of the obvious ones is Bridge City. Why, you ask? Because there's a bunch of bridges crossing the Willamette River and connecting the two sides of the city. It all makes sense now, right?

On Bus Trips, we get together at the Eastbank Esplanade to have some breakfast before we all pack into the bus and go canvass for whomever wherever (today it was for Nick Kahl and Greg Matthews in East County). The Eastbank Esplanade is right on the Willamette River beside the Hawthorne Bridge. Yesterday morning we showed up there and were doing the usual routine only this time a guy decided to jump off the Hawthorne Bridge into the Willamette River. No one saw him jump except for Christina.

Quick side story: we have been discussing for days now if it would kill you to jump off one of the bridges into the river. Our conclusion was that it wouldn't kill you unless you landed awkwardly and broke your legs then drown. Are we morbid? Yes, but we're smart people and this was the consensus. Well, the verdict is in: you will not die.

The guy treaded water for something like seven minutes while the emergency vehicles showed up. We have no clue if it was a suicide attempt or a stunt, but he was definitely alive. He must feel stupid if it was a suicide attempt. The emergency operator even asked whoever called if it was suicide or a prank, and the person who called was really puzzled by the question because how were they supposed to know after the guy had already jumped and was 300 feet away in the water?

I must say one final thing. The best part of this whole event was that Ian - the Bus Project's media relations guru - was on the Fox 12 news people to get them to cover the Bus Trip seeing that they were already onsite. He was working hard to capitalize, and i'm not going to lie, it was pretty damn funny and he's the shit for trying.

I wonder if there's some link to Flugtag. Maybe that guy saw the other stupid white people dunking in the water and decided to give it a go the next day.

Flugtag

First, and most importantly, check out this website: Pandora Radio. If you like music at all, you should have a great time with that website. If you already knew about it, then why the hell didn't you tell me, cool guy?

Yesterday was Flugtag and we went there to register voters. Some people killed it. I did good for me, which is bad for most everyone else. Voter reg is not really my cup o' tea. I was shocked out how enthralled people were by watching what are basically parade floats be pushed off the edge of a "launch pad" into the Willamette River - wow, i'm just realizing that i haven't explained Flugtag in the blog. It's an event hosted by Red Bull where people build "flying" machines that are then pushed into the river. It's ridiculous but kind of fun to watch. Oh, and as a side note: the Willamette River is not clean by any means. Sections of the Willamette are still a superfund site and the federal government is arguing with whomever is going to clean it up. I hope no one gets cancer because of this little event.

Anyway, there were about 50,000 people out to watch this dunking of the mindless. I only got a handful of voters registered because every time i would approach someone they were pissed that i was interrupting them watching falling objects splash. It was so ridiculous. "I'll tell you when they're getting ready for splashdown. Just fill this card out!"

P.S.

Miles has more of a calculator brain than i do. It's awesome.

Last Thursday

Last night i went to "Last Thursday" and had a really good time. Last Thursday is a street festival on the last Thursday of the month. The people take over Alberta St. using signs and ridicule to keep cars off the street. They block off the road for about 15-20 blocks and people have several different concerts (techno, bluegrass, dark synthesized weirdness, and dance party), sell art, drink beer, and eat food. It's basically the Oregon Country Fair (see previous post) in Northeast Portland. But, more fun. There were people on stilts, a fire juggler, and belly dancers. This place is so weird. It's like a city full of theatre majors. If i didn't love it here so much, i'd really hate this place.

Bad news: my credit card expired, so i'm not really sure how i'm supposed to have any access to money.

Good news: i already bought a nifty pair of headphones (noise canceling: not Bose but supposed to be comparable except in price) and they should be here tomorrow.

This morning we had to be here early, so i've been dragging ass all morning, but we got to learn about advanced targeting. I fought so hard to stay awake during class, but it wasn't because i was uninterested. Afterward, i introduced myself to the guy doing the presentation, Kevin Looper, and told him about some of my stats background. Caitlin, our program director, told him that i want to be the next Josh Berezin. Kevin is Josh's boss at Our Oregon and Josh does all kinds of data management and cool statistical analysis. I think his official title on their website is "Data Geek." Kevin's response to Caitlin's comment was, "We're in need in that area." He gave me his card, so i will be emailing him today. It's nerdy, but i think it's a cool in, doing good work, and there may even be a little bit of money to be made. During his presentation Kevin got a call from the Secretary of State. That has to be pretty bad ass, right?

In a similar vain, all of us got offers to do PolitiCorps Year. They have to choose from whoever would be interested. The program is basically a year long term of service of what we've been doing. I'm sure that it would make me far more of an expert in some aspect of politics/campaigning than i already am. There's even opportunities to go work with other groups that are part of the Bus Federation. I explained to Caitlin that it's a must that i go back to finish my MA (see entry bellow), but she said that the offer would be open for me when i was done. Networking is the most important part of college because it is the most important part of success/job searching. Aunt Mary and Uncle Jay, look at all of these Plan Bs! Love you guys. All of you.