going to new haaaaampshiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrre.

***a blog post involving non-division three activities. even though i thought this would be a div 3 blog and i was trying to be professional.***

{{{WARNING. IT'S REALLY WAY TOO LONG. SORRY.}}}

today i've felt gittery and shakey and sore/achey for many different reasons, mostly compounded. no, i was not inflicted by rabid beasts or even bad things. I was inflicted by obama pride and inspiration, over-tiredness, a pinch of dissappointment, capoeira, too many sweet things in one day, pms, walking around all day in the cold, mccain supporters, cold cars at night, rocking music, roadkill, and finally, a mocha-pumpkin-pie-syrup-coffee (with a little milk) (but not a latte).

go to bed at 2:45am (because had to work for the halloween event and then prepare for today). wake up at 7:32am. climb down bed-ladder and curse at phone. re-set alarm and pointlessly go back to sleep for 7 minutes. wake up and realize i really do need to shower. shower. get dressed in a somewhat respectable manner. make a sandwich. eat a bowl of cereal. pack my bag. leave hampshire at 8:35am. I am headed for new hampshire, to obama headquarters in keene new hampshire. I am alone because i did not manage to enroll anyone to come with me very early in the morning, the day after hampshire halloween, to new hampshire to walk around in the cold for obama for an undetermined amount of time. I say, f- you everyone. now i get to choose exactly the music i want, and i don't have to listen to any of you with your shitty music tastes.

I am driving and new england is beautiful! trees! leaves! fields! houses! roads! wow! I pass everywhere that is familiar and continue driving north! suddenly, I am in new hampshire and there are about 50 million political signs EVERYWHERE. like, Massachusetts = nothing, New Hampshire = everyone. Maybe MA isn't actually voting this year.

I call my dad and tell him that I am scared about talking to people. we practice. I realize that I actually sound pretty good. i convince him to vote for obama.

I listen to NPR but then it stops talking about politics (i.e. gets borring) so I suddenly think about a single note from a postal service song. so I realize that the radio is telling me to start playing postal service songs. So i oblige, and realize that my head is a genious dj. I am suddenly not scared and pumped and ready to go face mccain supporters (and scary obama supporters).

I get to Keene NH! I go to the headquarters which is a sketchy warehouse down a road! There are billions of people! and signs! and donuts! and no one is paying attention to me. I say, "hello! I am volunteering! i havent done this! i don't know what i'm doing!" they have run out of canvassing packets and so they tell me to hold a sign for "visibility". This seems extremely lame, but I am determined that it is ok! I walk out and suddenly feel extremely alone. I am holding a large sign and all alone. and extremely emotional. I call my dad, and he tells me it's totally fine. I am moved by the idea of obama being president, very tired, and alone. I decide i will find some other people and not be alone. I wipe away my tears (#1), and walk on!

in the middle of the town rotary, there are a billion obama people! i join them! We hold signs and make eye contact and wave and people either honk at us and wave and be happy, or shake their heads, give us the thumbs down, or in one case, give me the finger. awesome! But, I definitely saw more obama stickers than (any) mccain bumperstickers. just sayin.

the people I stood next to were awesome! Rebecca and Kevin were from around here, and she was an ESOL teacher, and then this other lady, Sharon, was a dance teacher for Greenfield Community College. So we LEARNED A DANCE!! I learned how to tap dance WHILE campaigning for obama! Its called the Shim Sham Shuffle. it has 7 parts. that's a lot of parts. We were out there for about 2.5 hours.

Then a van drove up and said they needed people down the road to challenge the mccain people there who had a LOUDSPEAKER. OH NO!! we piled in, even though it was a slightly sketchy situation (but i thought it was ok because i was with my new friends!), and went down to the highway off-ramp intersection. it was crazy! people on all sides! they were saying, "McCain for Freedom!" "McCain for Leadership!" "Live Free -- Vote McCain!" I guess they were appealing to the NH motto: "Live Free or Die". They were like a whole family I guessed. They were very enthusiastic. they were yelling and screaming the whole time, never loosing energy it seemed. But, I started a cheer, one I learned in North carolina, and felt silly at the time, but now proudly sing:
"Oh oh oh, Obama, oh oh BARACK Obama!" It was in our heads all day!

I also really wanted to talk to the McCain family. I said, "HELLO!" really awkwardly. and one turned his head. but then I said, "HOW ARE YOU GUYS TODAY?" and he said, "FINE. AND YOU?" "FINE. THANK YOU." and that was the end of our meaningful talk. I wanted to ask, "I don't want to be combative, but I'd really love to know why you are supporting McCain?" I wanted to have a dialogue. Also, all day I felt vaguely protective of the Mccain supporters we saw. I wanted everyone to play nice.

But instead we all passive agressively yelled out our candidates! Cars driving through that intersection were really confused. They had to point at the person they liked, then wave or yell or honk in their direction. And if they were doing a drive-by-honk, they usually had to change their thumb direction or honking excitement half way through when the line changed from one set of signs to the other. Then it was 2:10 and we were very tired! We walked back to Headquarters. I said bye to my McCain Friends, and he smiled too big. He thinks I was giving up. NO WAY. but I do hope he had a good day.

So we went back to headquarters and ate things. There were many many many baloney sandwiches in little baggies. but I didn't eat those.

And then I wanted to canvass. That's what I was scared about and what i drove all this way to do. I said I had an hour. They said, well, do you want to hold a sign?! (dissappointment) um, no. (walk away lamely) I guessed I'd leave. I said goodbye to Rebecca and Kevin. They were awesome. we hugged.

I walked outside (crying #2). went to a coffee shop and sat in a chair in a ball. I'd driven all this way to hold a sign for 4 hours? Call Dad. we decide I should go back. Yeah! I'm going to do it! On the way I call my brother. I'm pissed he's not listening to me. I get frustrated and start to hang up but then he asks me if I'm ok, and I start crying again (#3) and tell him tired, cold, confused, lame, etc. He says, "Aliya, I think it's really great that you went up to NH and are doing this." I love my brother. I am empowered and head into the headquarters.

We decide I should go to phone bank! I walk with some really great boss-volunteer person, who makes me laugh and acts like a mom in a good way and takes care of me. I end up in the Democratic Campaign office. which is a shitty hole in the wall. with A LOT OF SIGNS EVERYWHERE. I sit down with a list of people who we are identifying as obama supporters or not, and then tuesday we're going to make sure the obama people get to the polls. These people are sick and tired of politics. It was kinda funny.
ME: hi I"m aliya and i'm volunteering to talk to voters about barack obama and jeanne scheehen. How are you today?
THEM: I'm alright. listen, you people need to stop calling me. this is the fifth phone call i've gotten today, and i just had someone at my door too. I'm a registered republican, and my husband is running for a county seat, and you need to stop calling me! this is just rude! please tell your supervisor that!"
ME: i'm very sorry ma'am. I promise not to call you again and thank you for being patient with us.

I catch myself being ageist and assuming things based on the age and gender listed next to the name and phone number on the phone lists. I actually really enjoy talking to these people even when they're mad at me for calling so much. It's kinda like prank calling but for change!

amanda calls! she is my supervisor from when i worked in dakin two years ago. She works in Keene now! We're going to have dinner together! Awesome! I leave the Democratic place, and wish them luck with dragging new hampshire out to the polls on tuesday.

I leave and call dad again, telling him I'm done and he can stop worrying. He is also super proud of me for making a difference, even though it didn't look like what i thought it would look like. I cry again (#4).

I meet up with amanda, see her new place and her and it's great. then she took me out to dinner with her house director coworkers/friends and it's really cool! They talk about their interns (RAs) a lot, and I wonder, "is this what my house directors do all the time too? probably. we're basically awesome."

Then we talk more and she tells me that her new staff has officially challened her old staff (us.) to a big game of Dance Dance Revolution. which means, that she still loves us. Also, she had the name tag I made her on her office door. It had the most glitter and ribbons on it of all the nametags she had. its really nice to see her and remember that i have people who really get me and what I'm about and want to support me in what I'm up to and where I'm going.

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