Saturday Nov. 1st - DAY 1
My brother, Webb, and I met 2 van loads of other volunteers on the west side of Manhattan.
We grabbed a couple of friends and drove to the staging location in Langhorne (Bucks County), PA and were sent to knock on doors in Levittown. The people there were less than enthusiastic about seeing yet another volunteer approaching. I was shy, but my brother was great, even asking people if they’d volunteer.We went back to HQ for one more round of canvassing and then drove to my mom’s apt. in Narberth. She’s for McCain and her boyfriend
is for Obama, but we all got along swimmingly. I’ve been bombarding her with emails for months to try and change her mind, but I gave it a rest Saturday night and we all watched McCain on SNL. He was really good. I like him when he’s not running for president.
Sunday Nov. 2nd - DAY 2
We woke up early and drove to the S. Philly HQ on Columbus Ave. We were sent to a neighborhood nearby and stopped at Adrian’s for breakfast. I have never had an egg, cheese and scrapple on a kaiser roll, but I am absolutely positive that this one was the world’s best.
Webb & I also split a cream donut that tasted like the cream cakes Dean and I had in New Zealand. Heavenly. My memory us usually not very good, but I am fairly certain that Adrian’s is located on 2nd St. at Watkins (or very near there). We were sorry that we didn’t go back for lunch (we had soft pretzels and Dunkin’ Donuts at HQ instead).
The neighborhood was great. Working class Irish, Catholic & Polish, mostly. We talked to a lot of people and they were gracious even though they, too, had seen a lot of volunteers.
We did a 2nd round of canvassing and then headed back up to Bucks County to stay with my aunt and uncle in New Britain. They are also McCain supporters. I parked my Subaru for Obama in front of their McCain / Palin yard signs. They fed us a huge dinner and we shared our different political opinions politely. I spoke to my aunt’s 98-year-old father. He’s a liberal Democrat and was very curious to hear about what we doing and how things were looking.
Monday Nov. 3rd - DAY 3
Started the day off in Doylestown with my brother’s friend from high school, Hillary Berserth. He’s an artist and makes wonderful sculptures with bee hives using live bees! The houses in the Doylestown area were all so far apart and the developments were like mazes. Very confusing. After our first round of canvassing (no knocking today, just leaving door-hangers with poll info), we went back to HQ and met my brother’s other friend from high school, Michael Walker (he now lives in NYC and wrote a play called “Blackout”) and headed to the HQ in Bristol. Here, we learned that Obama’s grandmother had passed away. On our way back to Doylestown we went on a hunt for a megaphone (I’d had such a fun experience with one in Fort Wayne, IN). Target, Lowe’s, Sports Center… no go… Then someone suggested RadioShack and off we went. The first place only had a broken floor model, so we drove on until we found one and went back to my aunt and uncle’s for the night.
Tuesday Nov. 4th - ELECTION DAY!
SOOOO glad we found a megaphone. We made calls to the main Philly HQ and asked where we’d be needed most. They sent us to center city (N. 5th St. and Lehigh Ave.) On the way there we warmed up the megaphone and engaged people on the street. There was excitement in the air and smiles all around. When we reached the HQ, they told us that today was “knock & drag” (as in drag them to their polling location if they have not yet voted). They asked if any of us spoke Spanish. Luckily, my brother does which really came in handy (”Todo la familia votado?”)
They handed us an Obama mix CD when they saw the megaphone. We played the same song over and over and over again. “Barack Obama” by Cocoa Tea. It is still in my head.
In between blasting the song into the streets, we took turns talking to people through the megaphone, but mostly we knocked on doors. The neighborhood was African American and Latino and felt a bit scary at first. After people saw our Obama buttons and we told them
we were there to see if everyone had voted, they were very friendly and excited. Still, when it began to get dark, we got scared again and decided we’d go somewhere else. When we got back to HQ, though, they told us we were still needed there and that some homes had still not been hit, so out we went again. This time with tiny flashlights. The first place we approached was above a bar and was truly not inviting-looking. We went through a gate up the fire escape-like stairs and knocked on the door, shivering a bit. A couple of young women with small children opened the door. They were super friendly and not at all scary. We felt silly and relieved. After that, even the darkest, bleakest streets began to feel safe and warm. People were smiling and wanted to talk to us. We found a couple of first time Latino voters who thought that they couldn’t vote because they registered as Republicans by mistake and accompanied them to the polls. Most of the people had all voted before work in the morning or on their way home from work.
At 8p.m., the polls closed and we made a few more rounds of the neighborhood with our megaphone before heading back to NYC and listening the radio.
We kept getting calls and texts about what states Obama had won. PA!!! ….. NH!!… OHIO!!!
As we were approaching NYC at around 10:30p.m., we heard on the radio that the crowd in Times Square was getting really huge so we drove straight there. It was pretty cool, but people were still holding their breath waiting for the final results. We were all tired, so I dropped the guys off and headed home to the east village. A minute later, they called it for Obama. When I got back home to the east village, there was a beautiful riot/parade just getting started in the streets. I crawled into bed to watch Obama’s acceptance speech, but the noise outside our window grew until it tripled the usual NY’s Eve celebratory din. Dean and I had to go outside and have a look around. People were going crazy: chanting, cheering, blocking traffic, horns honking, crawling on cars. It was like we were in Venezuela or something…. Pretty thrilling. Patriots gone wild!
I know the work this country has to do has just begun, but I really do believe that Obama is a once-in-a-lifetime president. Unfortunately, 25% of the population is actually “scared” of him, so there is a lot for everyone to do to try pull together. As “hippie” as that sounds, I am a pragmatist, as well.
Time will tell, of course, but we all need to get behind this ”change” and give it our very best shot. That doesn’t mean that we can’t criticize and voice our opinions, but let’s not entertain lies and whisper campaigns. I believe we have a real opportunity and I hope we all do our best to make it work.
Pardon my earnest passion about the whole thing. I know it can seem unreal and annoying to many people.
All the best,
Britta
