Keystone, CO

I have to say graduating mid-recession isn't the worst thing that could happen, when my younger sister was unable to find a job amid this dismal economy, she up and headed out to Colorado to teach skiing. Tough life. And she even has health insurance, though I think she should get paid over time to deal with some of the idiots that work in the jib-park.

Anyways, she's stationed out in Keystone, CO and despite initially only being excited by the fact that delicious Keystone Light would most likely only cost me like .5 cents a can, I discovered that it's also a pretty sweet mountain. If I don't post anything for a bit it's because I'm shusssing down some freshies. Jealous? I know you are...!

Anyone? Anyone? Blagojevich?

Thank you Gov. Blagojevich for once again tarnishing not only Illinois politics but also the gloating mood all of us Dems have been enjoying since November 4th. I appreciate your attempt to sell the seat vacated by our President-elect, it makes me remember that scumbags come in all shapes and sizes. Really, truly, brilliant.

It's gonna be one Helluva P-A-R-T-Y

Though this is perhaps dangerous for both my physical and mental well being, the powers that be have announced that bars will not only be open and able to serve liquor until 5 am during Inauguration weekend, but also can serve food at all hours!!! Yesssssssss! This is not only awesomely-fantastic but now, for one weekend only, DC gets to pretend it's New York! And I'll be able to drunkenly gloat and revel until the wee hours of the morning! I think the best part is that this was considered "emergency legislation" by the D.C. Council...! Yeehaw!!!

What's your flava?

Ben & Jerry's created the "Yes Pecan!" ice cream flavor for Obama.

For George W.'s flavor they asked for suggestions from the public.

Here are some of their favorite responses:
- Grape Depression
- The Housing Crunch
- Abu Grape
- Cluster Fudge
- Nut'n Accomplished
- Good Riddance You Lousy Mother******... Swirl
- Iraqi Road
- Chock 'n Awe
- WireTapioca
- Impeach Cobbler
- Guantanmallow
- imPeachmint
- Heck of a Job, Brownie!
- Neocon Politan
- RockyRoad to Fascism
- The Reese's-cession
- Cookie D'oh!
- Nougular Proliferation
- Death by Chocolate... and Torture
- Freedom Vanilla Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip On My Shoulder
- Credit Crunch
- Mission Pecanplished
- Country Pumpkin
- Chunky Monkey in Chief
- WMDelicious
- Chocolate Chimp
- Bloody Sundae
- Caramel Preemptive Stripe
- I broke the law and am responsible for the deaths of thousands . . . with nuts

My Barack Obama

Seems like everyone wants a piece of our Prez-to-be, if you happened to miss this during the campaign cycle, please do check it out now, super cool site that lets you discuss, dress,watch and connect with other like-minded locals. Of the many posted on the site, this was one of my favorite videos-

Yes Pecan!

I <3 Ben & Jerry's ice cream, not only for their TDF delicious frozen treats but also for the fact that they are so incredibly socially conscious! From their push to use ingredients from small farms to their raising awareness of Global Warming, this time B&J has outdone itself with their Yes PEcan! flavor...mmmmm!

Yes Pecan!

Slacker Tour

My parents have discovered Netflicks and as a result they've gone to town with the liberal-leaning documentaries. The latest we enjoyed (while slurping down some of Mom's amazing Matzo ball soup) was Michael Moore's "Slacker Uprising". I missed this flick the first time round as I was studying abroad in France during the 2004 elections, so I'd been unaware of the call-to-action Moore had pursued. I'll admit that my generation has always been incredibly apathetic, so I thought Uprising's premise was a hoot! Moore toured college campuses across America prior to the 2004 election, promising clean undies and ramen noodles to students previously "too lazy" to vote! While several Republicans tried to claim this was a form of bribery (I mean who wouldn't want clean undies and some delicious Ramen) Moore persevered and motivated students to head to the polls to try to get Bush outta the WH. Unfortunately even promises of fresh tighty-whiteys wasn't enough...

What I also found very interesting was noting the differences in campaign styles from 2004 til today.

Message to Sarah Palin

Not to continue to kick a dead horse, but because of a close personal connection to the makers of this video, I had to make sure it was posted. While I'd love to shout from the mountain tops my thanks, the producers chose to remain anonymous to the public. And after what I saw from anti-Obama folks in Appalachia, I don't blame them. People can get pretty aggressive, especially when confronted with a video that so aggressively denounced the GOP VP pick. Thankfully we can breath a sign of relief that Sarah Palin is once again no where near Washington.

Green Festival DC

So my favorite faux-hippie friend Morgen invited me to work with her at the District's "Green Festival". The Green Fest was a joint venture between Global Exchange and Co-Op America that featured green/sustainable vendors who ran the gamut from eco-conscious products and apparel to green services and publications. Morgen's the marketing director for one of the Green Fest's main sponsors, Plenty Magazine. Plenty is the leading sustainable lifestyle mag, that basically offers tips and ideas on simple ways to make your everyday life greener. (Yes, that was pretty much the pitch I gave to prospective Plenty subscribers too!) I worked along side Morgen and Kate (another friend who likes helping save the planet), chatting with tons of festival attendees from dread-locked college kids to yuppie mothers tightly snuggling their organically-attired children in hemp-woven kid-carriers. We had a pretty kickin', and was even better when we discovered that Plenty's publisher had mistakenly sent us copies of Southern Lady Magazine instead of extra copies of our journal. Just try pawning that off on eco-conscious liberals! (I got laughed at!) Cliff bar was there giving away samples of their yummy peanut better bars, (those def got me through the day), and Kashi was handing out their cereal (a personal fav of mine). Naturally, solar-powered solutions were there in abundance, as well as all kinds of herbal skin care solutions, and organic vegetarian cuisine. (I am not convinced Kate was actually satisfied after her "tempeh Southern BBQ platter". All I was surprised and delighted at the high turn out of "greenies" in DC.

YES WE CAN!

"I'm so happy that I can't stop crying!" We got the news via text that Ohio had gone blue en route to a watch party with fellow campaigners in Zanesville, OH! It wasn't too long after that Obama clinched it!



Thank you to all who texted, posted, emailed and called; November 4th was such an amazing evening! I don't think I realized the gravity of Obama's election until now. After 8 long years, once again, I am finally proud to be an American!

Yes We Can!

Words clearly cannot even describe how incredible the campaign experience has been, take a peek at my picts from the week in Appalachia to see just how amazing it all was...Team Hope & Change! YES WE CAN!

GAME DAY!

Ok just to fill you in from the past 2 days:





1. I woke up Sunday morning shocked and delighted at the sprawling view from Sherri's home. (Sherri, head of the Harrison County Dems hosted all of us out-of-town volunteers at her place about 15 minutes out of town.) We pulled ourselves out of bed, and I threw on (the same) clothes as the day before and we hit the road, heading to Vickie's Place, the only other non-hospital-cafeteria option for breakfast.














It wasn't all that surprising that when we walked into Vickie's,


all heads swiveled (some in disgust) to check out team Obama cruising into their local establishment. Luckily, Jared was already on a first-name basis with the cute-for-a-small-town-I'm 22-with 2-kids waitress, so he knew we weren't likely to run into any trouble during breakfast. And, we were able to score omelette's, toast, bacon and potatoes for $4. No lie, including coffee. Amazing, coming from uber-yuppie Northern California, I didn't think these places existed. oh, and it was decent food too!




Post breakfast it was time to roll out campaign strategy for the day. We were still to knock doors and discuss policy and politics with local residents to try and gage support for Obama. While my first day canvassing was spent solo, Sunday, I was assigned a partner..."Crow". Crow is a 68 year old retired minor, former Vietnam Vet and fervent Obama supporter. Having grown up and spent his whole life (minus his stint in the jungle) in Cadiz township, Crow was personally affronted by the recklessness of the Bush administration. Interestingly enough, Crow was disgusted by their complete disregard for the Geneva Convention, having spent time in 'Nam he felt personally disrespected by the administration's endorsement of torture. Before we set off, Jared simply told me Crow had been a big supporter and canvasser for them, and that he and I would be covering some of the more remote parts of Harrison County.



So it goes, I grabbed my bag of Obama lit and Crow and I set-off in his pick-up.



We careened across town, stopping according to our lists; at each house Crow knew either the current inhabitants, their parents, the former owners and/or their mother/brother/grandfather. Needless to say, had I tried to go out on my own, I would not have been nearly as well received, Crow's presence pretty much legitimized mine. He would launch into his shtick asking people if they were happy with what had happened to America these past 8 years and more often than not, people would listen to his arguments for Obama. (And the few people who didn't listen made it clear immediately that we were not welcome.) We went door-to-door and even headed down to the County Home, where a 96-year-old resident informed us she had in fact already voted...for Ronald Regan. Oops!







Crow and I had gone to two houses when he asked if I minded if he had a lil' drink, I said of course I didn't mind and with that he immediately cracked a camo-covered (the entire can is camouflage) Busch beer and took the entire thing down in less than 20 seconds. No joke. As the day wore on (I was now driving his truck), Crow's stories got a little wilder. A particular favorite was when he pointed out a house in downtown Jewett and informed me that when he was 17 he and his girlfriend used to have "get crazy" outside on "that porch right there. Dang it!" But he was far and away the best dang Obama man we had in Cadiz!

My Day with Crow felt like a whirl on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, so the next day I was paired with a mellower canvasser, one of Jared's Dartmouth buddies, Mark, who was as unfamiliar with the landscape as I. we cruised out to these towns listening to some solid jams and in disbelief at the total devastation of some of these little towns. I think the highlight of that day was helping this tiny, blue-haired old lady with her groceries and having her inform me that she was proud of us kids for coming all the way out to see her, and that she was voting for Obama; she liked his big ears. Amazing!


Ok so to get up-to-speed, and I really do wish I had more time to "real-time" blog today, but the team's been up and out canvassing since early this morning. Today's strategy is to simply get out and ask people whether or not they've voted today. Those people we're contacting were previously identified by our system as people who are most likely voting for Obama, so our job will be to make sure those people actually get to the polls.


Over and out until later....

Later it is...polls are closing down, we just drove an 87 year old woman to the polls to get her vote! There's no where public (ie a bar) in Cadiz where we'll be able to comfortably watch the elections so all of us are piling into cars and driving to a watch party in Zanesville to meet up with fellow Obama folk - that's all for now- my heart's in my throat. All we can do is wait for Hope and Change!

Cadiz, Ohio

So I literally boarded a plane at the crack of Dawn Saturday morning knowing only that my buddy Jared was (hopefully) meeting me at the Pittsburgh airport, that I was told to bring comfortable shoes and that I would have a bed to sleep in.
That being said, I arrived bright, early and only mildly suffering from last night's festivities, ( a special thank you to our new friends out in Arlington for their amazing Halloween festivities last night).
I was promptly picked up by our other fearless leader, Carter, a former Navy Seal turned Obama Campaign worker, and we headed directly out to the Cadiz, Ohio campaign headquarters.
The Obama headquarters, run by my buddy Jared and Carter, are located smack in the middle of this one-horse town. Cadiz has clearly suffered throughout the past (I'd love just say 8 years) but I think it goes way beyond that. The local industry is mining, and factory closures, lay-offs and housing foreclosures have plagued Harrison County for years.
Before round one of canvassing, we needed to get lunch, so, we headed to the best lunch-restaurant in town: the local hospital cafeteria. I am not kidding. Despite the nice looking, chunky steak and potato stew, I opted for a crispy, buttery grilled cheese (straight up American on Wonder)!

After our refueling stop, I was given a list addresses in the nearby area to canvass. I was instructed to knock on doors and politely inquire whether or not the inhabitant was leaning towards voting for our candidate. It was then my duty to answer questions. No, Senator Obama is NOT a Muslim, Socialist, terrorist. I quelled fears. He will NOT take away your semi-automatic weapons. Note: I was not allowed to ask why they had semi-automatic assault weapons, and/or congratulate said person on their incredibly intelligent and fantastic choice for POTUS! yay!

Around 4 that afternoon, Jared took Sandy (a fellow Bay Area native) and I to the "Pig Roast" hosted by the Harrison County Democrats and attended by Congressman Zack Space, Senator Sherrod Brown, Governor Ted Strickland and former Senator and Astronaut, John Glenn. The men all gave fiery speeches, rallying support for Senator Obama. Gov. Strickland's hand shake left a lasting impression, he really has mastered the grasp-your hand-grip-your-shoulder-make-you-feel-important move. I frankly was most impressed with former Senator John Glenn who at 87 came out cracking jokes, telling stories and generally inspiring all in attendance with anecdotes from his time in the Senate and as an astronaut. The politicos were on a tight schedule, so after a quick round of photo's they all popped right back into their campaign trail RVs and hit the road. Leaving me to try to hit-up those still awe-struck by the speeches to come volunteer at the office the next day.





The final highlight of day one came over late-night left-over pulled pork (from the Democratic pig-roast) sandwiches, potato salad and green bean casserole, when all of us jumped on a conference call with nearly 20,000 other Obama volunteers to listen to a few words of encouragement from the man himself! Yes, I personally took a call from Senator Obama! Bliss!!

O-H-I-O

I'm off tomorrow at 10am to Ohio to try to convince those mid-westerners that Barack is their man! Wish me luck and check back soon as I'm hoping to post videos and pictures as we canvass out in Appalachia country!

Vote However You Like...

These kids are beyond precious with their political song pushing bi-partisanship. I'm not going to comment further on who I think they would vote for should they be of voting age.

I VOTED!

So exciting! Because I will be in Ohio (working for the campaign) on actual election day, I was able to vote early down at the DC office of Elections and Ethics (strange how those two go hand-in-hand)! It only took about 30 minutes, although there were not that many people there when I went (around noon) and I choose to go with the paper ballot, only because I am very wary of those scandalous electronic voting machines! GOBAMA!

True Blue California Love!

Paying tribute to my blue-state roots, I went to a see Slightly Stoopid at the 9:30 club last night. Stoopid, whose inspiration comes from bands such as Sublime, and 311 put on a super fun albeit slightly punky show. There was a good sized crowd and I was very nostalgic at the sight of the bassist's tanned, toned shoulders as he rocked out tres So-Cal style in a jersey and skate shoes. I'm much more into their perky-keyboard-backed songs, but watching the group of 15-year old boys moshing around in front of center stage to their "harder" songs was still pretty entertaining! I'd go see them live again in a heartbeat! And kudos to Anne Marie for coming with and willing to give these beachy beats a listen!

I <3 a Good Conspiracy.

While flipping through the channels last night in search of some late night Law & Order to put me to sleep, I came across FOX news coverage of Gov. Palin out on the stump. Ordinarily, I wouldn't bother to watch, not wanting to subject myself to the memorized talking points, winks and snarky attempts at discrediting the Democratic party, but last night I had to pause. Once again, Sarah-I-shop-at-consignment-stores-Palin was trying to claim that Obama had ties to another "radical". Wait. Again? You would think that GOP would learn from their mistakes. Guess not. Since their initial claims that Obama and former activist William Ayers were back-slappin' pals didn't get much traction and was largely deemed a ludicrous accusation, Palin starting demanding that Obama admit he's actually a supporter of the PLO. What? Yea, I was confused too, evidently Obama taught at same university as Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian scholar. I mean, come on guys, enough with the conspiracy theories. I'm Jewish, have family in Israel, and for some reason feel pretty confident that despite the McCain camp's attempts to undermine Obama, he's not going to be take office and suddenly bomb the shit out of Gaza. If anything, these bogus claims and rally cries only serve to show the how desperate the McCain/Palin campaign is getting as they continue to trail in the polls. Stop the finger pointing and stick to the issues! I mean if we're going to play the guilty-by-association game, holla at ya Charlie Keating!

Gearing Up!

Yet another amazing Obama find! This one thanks to my buddy Jared, who cruised in schlepping this tote the other night. The "Obama Stand for Change" bag is a well spent $80 that goes directly to the campaign and gets you this amazing tote designed by Isaac Mizrahi. I think this bag totally screams, "I am cute, preppy and about to go for a yacht cruise on the bay; but I care enough about the world to vote Obama." Ah-some!

GAYBAMA!

I think my dear friend Jared coined a new phrase last night during our post-drag-race impromptu picnic held in seriously sub-zero temperatures. As evidenced by this photo, we literally sat on Matt and Lizzie's front lawn for a solid 45 minutes shouting, cheering and chanting "Vote Obama!" at anyone and everyone who was meandering home from having witnessed the nearly 100 Drag Queens tear down 17th street during the High Heel Race. Amidst all our raucous shouting, Jaredo would intermittenly shriek "GAYBAMAAAAA"! Which, I will safely assume, simply acknowleges the fact that our fav candidate is indeed a supporter of gay rights, and is, in my humble opinion, perhaps the best candidate for those who identify with the LGBT community. I definately think that thanks to all our shouting and cheering, yes I even made up an Obama cheer using some old high school cheer skills, the we convinced a few on-the-fance voters! Note that all of us are clearly "O" ing for Obama! Bring it on!

My Newest Crush.

While I'd love to post a photo of soccer stud Zach Wells, I have to admit that watching the incredibly witty, well spoken, albeit older, Christopher Buckley on The Daily Show last Monday absolutely made my night. Buckley, son of notorious conservative William F. Buckley Jr., founder of the uber-conservative National Review, is as eloquent on television as he is in writing. Buckley, who is perhaps most well-known for penning such books as Thank you for Smoking, Little Green Men, and No Way to Treat a First Lady, was originally scheduled to appear on the Daily Show to push his latest work, Supreme Courtship however, Buckley's recent political endorsement (of Obama) opened the flood gates for Stewart to discuss much more than fiction. Buckley had been writing a back-page column for the Review when he not-so-subtly endorsed Obama via a blog posting for The Daily Beast. This incited such venomous objections from Review readers that when Buckley politely offered his resignation, Review not-so-politely accepted. As Buckley says "Be careful to whom you offer your resignation". Watch this clip to see the banter about books and politics (Stewart claims Buckley's only voting for Obama because "He's black") and you'll see why he just charmed the pants-off me! Watch it. I love it!

Another Obama Favorite.

Like I've mentioned before, I initially ordered an Obama Tee from Moveon.org. Unfortunately, when it arrived, it was way too big to wear with say, a cute pair of jeans. Delegating the Moveon shirt as my political-statement piece for the gym and/or bed, I headed to Urban Outfitters and found this number. I probably wear it far too much, but like my original Obama shirt, this one's also super soft and fits well. This one's a great find, but I have to urge you to try to find something from the campaign site first, I feel like a sell-out giving $40 to Urban instead of the DNC!

At Least We Agree on Issues...

So I'm no fan of Paris Hilton, but this time the faux-celeb kind of hit the nail on the head, while oddly. While her acting chops clearly leave (much) to be desired, I'm loving her latest viral video. Hell, she wants to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, let the gays marry, promotes clean energy and drives a hybrid; we could totally be BFF's.

Off to the (Drag) Races!

Every year DC has this amazing tradition of "Drag Racing", while this reference generally invokes thoughts of foreign-made vehicles careening down a deserted strip of far-flung country road...in DC, Drag Racing's a whole new game!

The "races", an annual Tuesday-before-Halloween tradition, start at 9 pm, but the show begins around 7 pm, when the "racers" start prancing and preening up-and-down the ever-infamous 17th street wearing their lucite heels, huge hair and busts that would make Dolly Parton (and me) jealous!

A few of my favorite things...

It seems like lately everyone's been wearing their heart on their sleeves. I've even taken to sleeping in my Obama shirt, (if only because it's too big and American Apparel shirts are super comfy), but Tom's Shoes gives us yet another amazingly adorable way to proudly show-off our political persuasions.
*please do note that I used the bi-partisan "split decision" shoe as an example, however I personally ordered the "Democrat Vote" pair.

Spotted:

Senator Ted Stevens dining at Surfside in Glover Park, enjoying some quiet time away from his trial.
*According to AP, Stevens is charged with lying on Senate financial forms about $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from an oil contractor.

UPDATE: A jury found the Alaskan (soon-to-be former) Senator guilty on all seven counts of fraud. Yikes!

Time for some Campaignin'!

Barack on the unicorn might be the best part of this gem...

This Bud's for you!

You all remember the boys from those incredibly irritating "Wassup" Super Bowl commercials. I remember, mostly because they annoyed the hell outta me however, this clever little 2008 version pretty much sums it up.

Ohio bound!

I'm really excited to say that in 5 days I'm going to be heading to Ohio to campaign for the man himself, Barack!
I wanted to have a platform to share how things go out in Applachia with you all. So here goes!