Tuesday, September 27, 2005
back in the game...
Heidi ho, readerinos!
Back in town after one hell of a weekend. There is way too much to blog about. So much happened in DC that, when I say that the peace march was the least of the weekend (considering how phenomenal that was - except for the hour and a half we stood around before we actually, you know, marched - BTW, there were easily in excess of 100,000 people there), well, ya kinda get the idea.
A coupla brief points:
* Up front I want to say that I was not amongst the protestors that were arrested in front of the White House with Cindy Sheehan, as I was in a meeting with MusicianMan and Maxine Waters in her office when that happened - however, had I not been lobbying all day, I have no doubt that I would have been amongst that group and I would have been proud to have been arrested;
* Stayed with a group of six other L.A. folks - all but one of whom I either knew or at least had met, including dear Randy, my fellow contributor over at SoCal Progressives - at the rowhouse of a terrifically nice woman not far from Dupont Circle, so it felt like one big sleepover party;
* After walking around DC - not for sightseeing, because I didn't have time - I can unequivocally say that the East Coast feels like home. Maybe it's my early years spent in Rhode Island, but I swear it's in my DNA;
* Though I didn't have time for sightseeing, I did see a lot of historical buildings - I'll get the pictures developed this week and post them on the moblog;
* Lobbying congress members (or, more specifically, their aides - at least the aides for Representative Howard Berman, who is my representative, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, who isn't much of a Democrat, quite frankly) can be disappointing;
* Phil Donahue doesn't look too bad these days and seems pretty damned neat (yes, I met him yesterday, though we didn't converse much);
* It is very cool to sit in the office of Representative Maxine Waters and observe her chatting with Margot Kidder and a talk show host from Montana whom I know I've seen before (apparently she is also an actress) - I got in on that meeting because I basically tagged along with MusicianMan all day long and he knows Maxine due to several events he's provided organization and technical assistance with;
* Maxine Waters most certainly rocks;
* Representative John Conyers has a huge office that is very, very nice and has an incredible view of the Capitol Building - no, I didn't meet him, but MusicianMan and I ran into Mimi Kennedy (whom we had already seen several times yesterday), who was on her way to meet with one of Conyers' top staffers, who happened to be a friend of hers - as a result, I sat in with the three of them in Conyers' office for over forty minutes and I have the pictures to prove it;
* I'm still in crush with Mimi Kennedy;
* Event housing coordinators dressed in black double breasted suits, white dress shirts, pearl grey pin-dotted ties and shiny black shoes make mighty fine eye candy, especially when they are excellent speakers with several terrific points - what? I'm just sayin';
* There are a lot of smokin' hot political activists out there - mmm, mmm, good;
* Progressive Democrats of America is one hell of an organization and one I'm becoming involved with - these people are firebrands in the best sense;
* I've met a lot of incredible people this week, my head is still spinning, I'm still checking out all my suitcases and my "U.S. Senate" water bottle to prove that I actually was there;
* I've barely scratched the surface of the weekend - I didn't even touch on PDA Strategy Day, for which I volunteered in the hall outside the meeting room, where the literature/swag/registration/snack bar tables are, so I didn't get a chance to see many speakers or panels - but what I did see (including Cindy Sheehan and John Bonifaz [who started AfterDowningStreet.org]) was fantastic.
There's tons more that I know I'm missing, but I have only one more thing to say about this weekend:
Wow.
Back in town after one hell of a weekend. There is way too much to blog about. So much happened in DC that, when I say that the peace march was the least of the weekend (considering how phenomenal that was - except for the hour and a half we stood around before we actually, you know, marched - BTW, there were easily in excess of 100,000 people there), well, ya kinda get the idea.
A coupla brief points:
* Up front I want to say that I was not amongst the protestors that were arrested in front of the White House with Cindy Sheehan, as I was in a meeting with MusicianMan and Maxine Waters in her office when that happened - however, had I not been lobbying all day, I have no doubt that I would have been amongst that group and I would have been proud to have been arrested;
* Stayed with a group of six other L.A. folks - all but one of whom I either knew or at least had met, including dear Randy, my fellow contributor over at SoCal Progressives - at the rowhouse of a terrifically nice woman not far from Dupont Circle, so it felt like one big sleepover party;
* After walking around DC - not for sightseeing, because I didn't have time - I can unequivocally say that the East Coast feels like home. Maybe it's my early years spent in Rhode Island, but I swear it's in my DNA;
* Though I didn't have time for sightseeing, I did see a lot of historical buildings - I'll get the pictures developed this week and post them on the moblog;
* Lobbying congress members (or, more specifically, their aides - at least the aides for Representative Howard Berman, who is my representative, and Senator Dianne Feinstein, who isn't much of a Democrat, quite frankly) can be disappointing;
* Phil Donahue doesn't look too bad these days and seems pretty damned neat (yes, I met him yesterday, though we didn't converse much);
* It is very cool to sit in the office of Representative Maxine Waters and observe her chatting with Margot Kidder and a talk show host from Montana whom I know I've seen before (apparently she is also an actress) - I got in on that meeting because I basically tagged along with MusicianMan all day long and he knows Maxine due to several events he's provided organization and technical assistance with;
* Maxine Waters most certainly rocks;
* Representative John Conyers has a huge office that is very, very nice and has an incredible view of the Capitol Building - no, I didn't meet him, but MusicianMan and I ran into Mimi Kennedy (whom we had already seen several times yesterday), who was on her way to meet with one of Conyers' top staffers, who happened to be a friend of hers - as a result, I sat in with the three of them in Conyers' office for over forty minutes and I have the pictures to prove it;
* I'm still in crush with Mimi Kennedy;
* Event housing coordinators dressed in black double breasted suits, white dress shirts, pearl grey pin-dotted ties and shiny black shoes make mighty fine eye candy, especially when they are excellent speakers with several terrific points - what? I'm just sayin';
* There are a lot of smokin' hot political activists out there - mmm, mmm, good;
* Progressive Democrats of America is one hell of an organization and one I'm becoming involved with - these people are firebrands in the best sense;
* I've met a lot of incredible people this week, my head is still spinning, I'm still checking out all my suitcases and my "U.S. Senate" water bottle to prove that I actually was there;
* I've barely scratched the surface of the weekend - I didn't even touch on PDA Strategy Day, for which I volunteered in the hall outside the meeting room, where the literature/swag/registration/snack bar tables are, so I didn't get a chance to see many speakers or panels - but what I did see (including Cindy Sheehan and John Bonifaz [who started AfterDowningStreet.org]) was fantastic.
There's tons more that I know I'm missing, but I have only one more thing to say about this weekend:
Wow.
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