House of Hope

I added a link (on the right of the page, with the other websites) for The Family Tree, the umbrella organization for House of Hope, where we took part in our Day of Service. Take a look and send them a donation if you can! Thanks!

Vancouver, and I am finally going to sleep late tomorrow morning!

Although we left Denver early, our Portland to Vancouver flight was rescheduled for later in the day than originally planned. Go figure. So we arrived early, only to have a longer layover. :) The flight was fine, other than one huge bump coming down into the clouds before landing. Everyone screamed and one of the flight attendants got beer spilled in her hair, bless her heart.

Rich pricelined a hotel for us and much to our surprise, we got a great room for a great price at the Hyatt Regency right downtown! Not only is it a big corner room, it has a nice balcony as well. We are feeling rather smug at the moment. LOL I am definitely looking forward to taking it easy this weekend.

We just got back to the room after a very nice meal at Aqua Riva, right down by the waterfront where our cruise ship will be on Monday. Rich made me try a raw oyster on the half shell with apple lime jelly, ginger tobiko caviar and fresh mint. I can't say I was too crazy about it. :) I will post some photos tomorrow, and Rich still needs to put up a bunch of pix he took in Denver.

So, anyway, back to the Convention. We had a couple of cool things happen: two of our delegation got selected to go up front and sit right at the stage, and another of our delegates was on a panel at The Daily Show! She's an attorney and went to law school with Barack. Of course, our hotel did not have Comedy Central so we have not seen it. I am hoping I can find it online and watch. Last night, John Oliver from The Daily Show was right behind us in the NC delegation. They were chanting "Obama, Obama" and he started saying "Osama? Osama?" I was hoping he would stop at Alaska's spot next but he just kept going.

Everyone seemed very excited and pumped about Obama's speech. Personally, I thought he really addressed the concerns that have been circulated about him. I had to laugh later when we were watching the talking heads at Fox and they were saying "it sounds like he just wants the government to take care of everything and how will we pay for it?" But, of course, they don't mind that we are bankrupting everything by paying for this misguided war that their boy and his cronies got us into. I don't get it! They don't care about children's programs or education or medical care but they sure don't mind spending billions killing people and getting their own people killed. But that's just me. :)

I just love the idea of moving forward out of hope and not letting our lives be ruled by fear. Of course the power elite want us to be scared so they can continue to be in control. Maybe it's time for something different.

Leaving the stadium was even harder than getting in, lots of long lines that were not moving very quickly, if at all, but everyone was in great spirits and I didn't notice any problems at all. We had to take a winding, crowded path to the Light Rail station and then wait awhile before crowding onto the train and making the long trip back to the hotel. We were exhausted but it was SO worth it! I wish you could have all been there! What an exciting, historic experience!

Yes We Can!

Hi everyone!

We are sitting in the Portland airport waiting to go on to Vancouver. I just love airports with free wi-fi!

Yesterday was another amazing day and a very long and full one, too. When we got back to the hotel, I downloaded photos and that was about all I got done. Just too tired! Then we had to get up, return our rental car and get to the Denver airport this morning. We are typically early so I figured I would have time to blog at the airport, along with getting some breakfast since we left the hotel in a bit of a hurry. Everyone on the rental car shuttle was talking about how the airport would be packed with people from the Convention and also because it's Labor Day weekend. We hadn't thought about any of that! Of course, our bags started out overweight in Dutch Harbor and we have added more stuff. We repacked and rearranged the best we could; luckily I was given a huge Whole Foods recycled plastic tote bag so we loaded it up as well. We weighed our suitcases on the curb at Delta (since Alaska Air has no curbside check in here); one was 47 and the other was 51 pounds. So we moved some stuff and went too far, leaving one at 53 pounds and had to try again. Ended up with 49 and 49.5 when we got to Alaska Air check-in, hurray. Security was very busy and I had to go through an extra special device that blew air onto me to make sure I wasn't showing any evidence of explosives. Denver airport is complicated; we had to ride two different trains to get to our gate. Our plan was to find the gate, make sure we were good to go, and then eat breakfast. We arrived at Gate 32 with a sudden realization that it was boarding--well, not exactly that it was boarding but that it had BOARDED and they were about finished. The plane was supposed to leave at 11:46 AM but they had apparently bumped it up to 11 AM and we were unaware. (Note to selves: check departure times online in case there are any changes!) So there went the good idea of breakfast, blogging, and finishing up Convention postcards to mail. Thank goodness we did not leave the hotel any later, encounter any major traffic, or wait in the Security lines any longer. Or any other of many possible scenarios to set us off course.

Our seatmate was a really cool woman from Portland who had been to Denver making a documentary called "Papers," about undocumented teenagers. We had some good conversation and exchanged info so we can stay in touch. We invited her to Dutch Harbor to do her next documentary and she invited us to call her next time we are in Portland so we can go out to a good restaurant for dinner. :)

We also met another independent filmmaker on the shuttle; his project is called "Police State Blues."

Back to yesterday:
I went to my delegate breakfast which took even longer than usual. Rich and I were going to meet at 9 and go downtown but I didn't get back to the room till 10! We had to take some group photos, for one thing. Finally got on the Light Rail and went to 16th Street in search of protests and postcards. We walked and walked and walked, asked several police officers where the protesters were and were sent in several directions with not much luck. We saw a big museum on wheels exhibiting the failures of the Bush Administration, some Falun Gong activists silently standing witness to their oppression in China, and several Christians damning us all to hell. We asked a few people on the street about protests and were told "it's been really quiet today." I was bummed. My people left without me!

So we went to the Tattered Cover bookstore, which is a neat place (I'd been there once before with Sarah and Miles), walked the streets, took more photos, had some lunch, and then struck out for Invesco Field. We were told to be there "early," and the doors were opening at 1. It was about 2:30 when we arrived at the end of the line, at the back of a parking lot, across the street, under the overpass, across the highway from Invesco Field. The sun was beating down on us (hot, but felt good to me!), the line was barely moving, but people were friendly and in good spirits and it didn't seem like the worst thing in the world to be doing on a Thursday afternoon. Eventually, we reached the end of the parking lot and merged with another group coming from the left. Looking around, we could see lines in several directions, all converging on the field. It was pretty amazing. All in all, it only took us 50 minutes to get from start to finish and enter the stadium. We still had 4 1/2 hours till Obama's speech! Rich was stuck on the 5th level with the rest of the Alaska guests so I went up there with them for awhile and we walked around the upper level and killed some time. Eventually I got paranoid that I should get down to the floor before I had some trouble getting in. Although the alternates had to sit in the 3rd tier in the Pepsi Center through the week, we were all allowed to sit with our delegations on the floor at Invesco! Sweet! I was walking behind Jesse Jackson at one point on my way to the AK delegation, but he was talking with people and had others around him so I didn't say anything. :)

Alaska was toward the back left facing the stage. North Carolina was behind us and they were quite fired up, starting chants regularly, dancing, and generally having a great time. Everyone was friendly and chatty and it was fun getting to know people from all over the place. Of course, everyone is always very interested in Alaska and we had a good time filling them in and answering their questions. In the evening, we had speeches from lots of folks--ordinary citizens from around the country, including some lifelong Republicans who are changing their affiliation (one great line from a guy named Barney Smith--paraphrasing, but something like "I want a country that is more concerned about the Barney Smiths than the Smith Barneys." He got a chant of "Barney, Barney, Barney" as he was finishing up!), congresspeople, government officials, military generals, Rev. Bernice King, Martin Luther King III (it was the 45th anniversary of the famous "I Have a Dream" speech), Al Gore, Joe Biden and more. Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas sang, Sheryl Crow sang, Stevie Wonder sang, Bruce Springsteen did not sing. :(

There was so much energy in the room when Barack Obama finally took the stage! I imagine most of you saw his speech or parts of it in replay but I have to say that being there was amazing. The man definitely has charisma, but not only that, he has such an ability to connect with people and to touch that part of ourselves that really does want to reach for a new and better future. He talked about having a common purpose and the ideal of creating a society where all people have the same opportunities. Who can argue with that? I just don't get why some people seem to think he is so radical or out of touch. Isn't that what most, if not all, of us want for ourselves, our kids, our grandkids? It seems like such a simple thing and yet so hard to achieve. For me, seeing an African American being nominated for president after I spent some of my childhood in Georgia where the water fountains in the corner drugstore were still labeled "whites only," it seems like we have crossed a hurdle I was not sure we would cross in my lifetime. But, of course, it is not about his race as much as it is about any person of either gender or race being able to tap into that sense of common good and common purpose so that all of our children will have a better life.

Our plane is about to board so I will have to write more and post photos from Vancouver. Love to all for now!

History is Being Made

We are heading out to find our people and to join in a little protestation before going to the big event tonight. :) We straddle both worlds. LOL Hopefully I will not be arrested and miss Barack's speech. Or maybe that would be even more amazing. LOL There is buzz that Springsteen might be performing but he apparently has sent word that it is just a rumor. Smoke and mirrors? We'll see!

We will be home late tonight but I will try to post if I am not too worn out!

Convention, Day Three

Another very full day, but an absolute blast for the most part. Our speaker at breakfast this morning was former Mississippi governor Ray Mabus. Thought Susan and Randy Allen would get a chuckle out of that. He was great, really an inspiring speaker and a big Obama supporter. He talked about turning both Alaska and Mississippi to the Democrats. :) He now teaches at Ole Miss. I went up to him afterwards and told him my friends are also at Ole Miss and that Susan had worked for my agency in Alaska recently. He invited me to come visit and I said I had been there already but would definitely come back one day.

After breakfast, we had our Day of Service. Some of us went to the Family Tree House of Hope, a women and children's homeless shelter, and the rest of the delegation stayed here and packed up boxes for Meals on Wheels. One of our delegates, Gary, wore his Alaska Native regalia, brought his drum, and taught the rest of us a Tlingit dance to perform for the staff, women and young children. So I got to do my first Native dance and he proclaimed us all honorary Tlingits. Then another delegate, Rex, and his son Rex, Jr., played the drum and sang while Rex's wife Leona demonstrated the female portion of a Yupik dance. She had all of the staff and the moms and kids up on their feet joining in. It was really a neat experience and the people at the house loved it. We then participated in activities with the kids, decorating cookies, doing craft projects or reading stories. I was in the cookie decorating section, lucky me, huh??! Yum! The moms and kids were all precious and I had the best time visiting with them. I helped a cute little guy named Arsenio and a darling little girl named Shyanne. One little boy, Josiah, became my new best friend and reminded me so much of Aidan when he was little. He had curly blond hair and a big smile. He was sitting on my lap while he had his lunch and his mom said I didn't have to hold him, could put him down if I wanted. I told her I didn't mind as I was missing my grandbabies! We also learned some of the history of the social service agency and all of its good work. In addition to the women/children's shelter, they have several other programs and services. I am going to see if I post their website so you can read more about it. It's not in Denver proper but a little outside the city. We had media there; a French TV station interviewed one of our young delegates, Idris, and the local newspaper interviewed several of us so we will see if anything shows up tomorrow.

We returned to the hotel and Rich and I took the Light Rail downtown for some lunch and walking around on the 16th street outdoor mall. It was another beautiful sunny day and I am just soaking up the sunshine as well as doing a lot of walking so I feel good about that. The police were out in force and the streets were full of people. I didn't have much time after we finished our lunch so Rich walked down toward the Pepsi Center with me till I had to turn off and then he stayed downtown for several more hours taking photos and browsing the bookstore and hanging out. He has a bunch of great photos that he is going to post for you tomorrow.

This time when I got to the entrance of the Pepsi Center, the line was much longer than it has been the last two days but still moved very quickly through Security. I saw Rev. Al Sharpton outside giving an interview and snapped his photo. I also ran into my Abilene friend David again in the parking lot.

Got inside and the hall monitors were much more strict today about exactly which section people could sit in, even in the nosebleed section. Some of our guests could not sit where the alternates could sit, so we ended up in the highest of the high seats in the third tier. I was going to take a little video of the Alaska delegation during the roll call but wouldn't you know it, my camera battery went dead at that very moment. I was bummed! The roll call was pretty exciting, especially when Hillary Clinton came out to the New York delegation and asked that Obama be named the nominee by acclamation. The place just went wild! I was also proud of the New Jersey delegation for voting unanimously for Obama. I wish our delegation had done the same but I was not involved in the voting process as an alternate. :(

We had lots of good speakers again; I can't even remember everyone at this point, but I was impressed with John Kerry. Melissa Etheridge sang a medley of songs like "The Times, they are a'Changing," "Give Peace a Chance," and "Born in the USA." I forgot to mention that John Legend sang the other night and was amazing!

Okay, I was going to try to play it off, but I guess I will be honest and say that I left early tonight. I was just worn out with everything, busy days and little sleep. One of the guys was also just beat so we left early and rode the Light Rail home before Bill Clinton's speech. Rich was surprised to see me show up at the hotel at that hour! I completely missed Bill but did see Joe Biden's speech from the hotel room and then was bummed when Barack showed up on stage and I was not there! That's what I get for being wimpy, I suppose! LOL

I thought I might get to bed earlier tonight but it is already midnight, we are doing laundry since we will be very busy tomorrow night and are leaving on Friday for Vancouver, took time to go and eat at the hotel restaurant and I am trying to resize photos and get this posted. Oh well, I can rest on the cruise, right? We had to buy a new card reader today and I did go back and post some photos on the previous entry if you want to backtrack and see them.

Tomorrow we are free after breakfast so Rich and I are going to go back downtown and see if we can find the protesters. :) We are told to get to Invesco Field early since there are 75,000 people trying to get in. The delegation will be going in a shuttle but Rich will have to get himself there and wait in line with the rest of the people with community passes. Hopefully all will go well. Oh yeah, when I was riding the Light Rail back to the hotel, we had police with dogs in each car! I feel like I am in a police state. Luckily, they have all been very nice and helpful. :)