In the banquet hall part of the local union hall where the results-watching party was, I talked with the (older)(black) teacher for quite a while, and a (Mexican-American) friend of hers who was also very upset about Walker busting unions' balls even more if he won.
The (older) (black) teacher then started talking about some "right to work" state where wages have been depressed, people can be fired year-to-year, and on top of that performance evaluations are based on how many "volunteer hours" a teacher puts in.
"With that kind of situation," she was like, "We might as well go back to picking cotton on the plantation, that's what they want, after all."
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Election Day in Wisconsin (2 of ?): The Barrett concession.
I think there were 2 reasons why people booed their own candidate when he conceded (which you can quite obviously hear during his concession speech, and also occurred in the union hall where I was watching results come in) -
First (and less importantly), volunteers had false optimism, and thought that enough results hadn't been counted yet.
Second (and more importantly), there hadn't been enough ballots in Racine and areas of Milwaukee, and there was a rumor going around that people were still in line and hadn't voted.
I had been talking with a (black) school teacher from the area just a half hour earlier, and she and a(n older) (black) union guy from Chicago, and they were talking about the "shortage" of ballots.
"Of course there was a shortage," he was like, and just shook his head.
All the (white) Wisconsin people totally get that sort of vote suppression tricks now, after all the voter ID stuff that has been going on there, and were just totally disgusted by how blatant stuff was...
Even if it was clear Barrett lost, everyone said, he shouldn't have given a speech till everyone had voted, and made a point that he wouldn't say anything till all votes were in, as a point of process and a point of justice.
That he didn't do that - or see the opportunity for it? - makes me wonder about him as a politician. He really upset his base.
First (and less importantly), volunteers had false optimism, and thought that enough results hadn't been counted yet.
Second (and more importantly), there hadn't been enough ballots in Racine and areas of Milwaukee, and there was a rumor going around that people were still in line and hadn't voted.
I had been talking with a (black) school teacher from the area just a half hour earlier, and she and a(n older) (black) union guy from Chicago, and they were talking about the "shortage" of ballots.
"Of course there was a shortage," he was like, and just shook his head.
All the (white) Wisconsin people totally get that sort of vote suppression tricks now, after all the voter ID stuff that has been going on there, and were just totally disgusted by how blatant stuff was...
Even if it was clear Barrett lost, everyone said, he shouldn't have given a speech till everyone had voted, and made a point that he wouldn't say anything till all votes were in, as a point of process and a point of justice.
That he didn't do that - or see the opportunity for it? - makes me wonder about him as a politician. He really upset his base.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Election Day in Wisconsin (1 of ?): My post-mortem.
For me, Wisconsin was a positive, because of the turnout that I saw in the (black) precincts in Racine.
From what a (black) teacher told me at the results-watching party, she knows her ward, and they had better turn out than for Obama in '08, and I heard the same from others too.
At the end of the day, people from on-high had told everyone free to go to Racine since the race was close there.
(In our optimism we thought it was because the rest of the state was a done deal, but in retrospect I know realize that it was because there was still hope for Racine - was that why Obama avoided stopping through Wisconsin the past week even though he was in Illinois and Minnesota, because he knew it was futile? After the results came in, an organizer told me that 5 days ago the writing was on the wall, but they got everyone out because you never know what will happen...)
In any case, I ended up getting sent out to a (black) neighborhood to go around door-to-door, and when I got through with the route, to start over once again, to wring every last voter out of the precinct.
Right away, I came across two (black) (I think high school age) girls who had been working that turf all day, and had correct information about same-day registration, and the voting rights of convicted felons (if you were out, you were good to vote, as long as you weren't on probation).
I also came across a lot of doorhangers from a local Latino-African American high school group, who had knocked the entire neighborhood earlier that day as part of civic engagement.
When I was in the neighborhood, too, which was this little neighborhood tucked away off some main roads, someone drove through with a van with "VOTE TODAY" on all the windows - just like someone was driving around all of Racine with a billboard truck (like the kind usually advertising titty bars), only "VOTE TODAY" or something like that was on it.
For the entire 2.5 hours I was there, I didn't meet a single person who hadn't voted, until the very end... Even when I was in Gary for Obama on Election Day, I would still meet the random person who was coming home from work and still hadn't voted, and the sheets were maybe at most 4/7 full of confirmed votes.
In Racine, however, the entire sheet was 2/3 to 4/5 full of confirmed votes, which is practically unheard of.
When I think of how unimpressed (black) Wisconsin residents I've met have been with the Democrats, compared to (black) folk in Illinois and Indiana, I really think it's something that they've rallied to this election so much. Somehow, I don't think they're going away, and are a solid, mobilized part of the Democratic constituency now.
So, overall, I think the get-out-the-vote effort was better than ever, and more Dems have been mobilized, and most of all of the 6 recall elections that day (gov, lieutenant gov, 4 state senators), Dems picked up 1 seat despite all the money spent against them, and were better off than they were at the beginning of the week.
I really do think Wisconsin folks understand this is a war, and the Dems up there are relentless. Esp. since they did end up picking up a seat, I have a feeling that volunteers won't get discouraged, though of course they were disheartened when Walker won the recall.
From what a (black) teacher told me at the results-watching party, she knows her ward, and they had better turn out than for Obama in '08, and I heard the same from others too.
At the end of the day, people from on-high had told everyone free to go to Racine since the race was close there.
(In our optimism we thought it was because the rest of the state was a done deal, but in retrospect I know realize that it was because there was still hope for Racine - was that why Obama avoided stopping through Wisconsin the past week even though he was in Illinois and Minnesota, because he knew it was futile? After the results came in, an organizer told me that 5 days ago the writing was on the wall, but they got everyone out because you never know what will happen...)
In any case, I ended up getting sent out to a (black) neighborhood to go around door-to-door, and when I got through with the route, to start over once again, to wring every last voter out of the precinct.
Right away, I came across two (black) (I think high school age) girls who had been working that turf all day, and had correct information about same-day registration, and the voting rights of convicted felons (if you were out, you were good to vote, as long as you weren't on probation).
I also came across a lot of doorhangers from a local Latino-African American high school group, who had knocked the entire neighborhood earlier that day as part of civic engagement.
When I was in the neighborhood, too, which was this little neighborhood tucked away off some main roads, someone drove through with a van with "VOTE TODAY" on all the windows - just like someone was driving around all of Racine with a billboard truck (like the kind usually advertising titty bars), only "VOTE TODAY" or something like that was on it.
For the entire 2.5 hours I was there, I didn't meet a single person who hadn't voted, until the very end... Even when I was in Gary for Obama on Election Day, I would still meet the random person who was coming home from work and still hadn't voted, and the sheets were maybe at most 4/7 full of confirmed votes.
In Racine, however, the entire sheet was 2/3 to 4/5 full of confirmed votes, which is practically unheard of.
When I think of how unimpressed (black) Wisconsin residents I've met have been with the Democrats, compared to (black) folk in Illinois and Indiana, I really think it's something that they've rallied to this election so much. Somehow, I don't think they're going away, and are a solid, mobilized part of the Democratic constituency now.
So, overall, I think the get-out-the-vote effort was better than ever, and more Dems have been mobilized, and most of all of the 6 recall elections that day (gov, lieutenant gov, 4 state senators), Dems picked up 1 seat despite all the money spent against them, and were better off than they were at the beginning of the week.
I really do think Wisconsin folks understand this is a war, and the Dems up there are relentless. Esp. since they did end up picking up a seat, I have a feeling that volunteers won't get discouraged, though of course they were disheartened when Walker won the recall.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Conversation with a (gay) (Polish) grad student.
So there's this one (gay) (Polish) grad student I met who's in the sciences who I met through people at school.
I was asking him about being gay in Poland, and he says it's kind of fun; women rely on him to watch movies and they hang out a lot and eat ice cream and do that and have like slumber parties (he's in his mid-20s!), and also every once in a while he and another (gay) friend have a nude jacuzzi party with a couple of their (straight) (female) friends, as a kind of liberated thing.
He also said that once in Wrocław he was drinking with a (straight) (male) (Polish) friend and a friend of that friend who was a (young) (straight) (Polish) skinhead, and somehow during that night of heavy drinking the skinhead said it was fairly common for the skinheads to give each other blowjobs, "as a thank you" and "among brothers".
The grad student asked about percentages, and the skinhead said that about 10-20% of skinheads he knew probably swapped head.
I said it seemed like mostly a female scarcity thing, like at fraternities and in the army; the (gay) (Polish) grad student agreed. He said he was very certain that the skinhead was straight.
I was asking him about being gay in Poland, and he says it's kind of fun; women rely on him to watch movies and they hang out a lot and eat ice cream and do that and have like slumber parties (he's in his mid-20s!), and also every once in a while he and another (gay) friend have a nude jacuzzi party with a couple of their (straight) (female) friends, as a kind of liberated thing.
He also said that once in Wrocław he was drinking with a (straight) (male) (Polish) friend and a friend of that friend who was a (young) (straight) (Polish) skinhead, and somehow during that night of heavy drinking the skinhead said it was fairly common for the skinheads to give each other blowjobs, "as a thank you" and "among brothers".
The grad student asked about percentages, and the skinhead said that about 10-20% of skinheads he knew probably swapped head.
I said it seemed like mostly a female scarcity thing, like at fraternities and in the army; the (gay) (Polish) grad student agreed. He said he was very certain that the skinhead was straight.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Saturday volunteering in Wisconsin.
So on Sat. I went to volunteer in Wisconsin again, in the same town just across the border where I was last time:
1) The county treasurer who previously had brought in homemade rolls and a crockpot of pulled pork for sandwiches around supper time brought in 2 breakfast casseroles made of eggs and potatoes and green peppers, one with cut-up ham in it and one without. She even made two little computer print-out signs that she put on silver holders by each one, one saying "WITH HAM" and the other "VEGETARIAN".
She also said she was bringing in lasagna for Saturday's dinner.
2) Word is that locals with big "I STAND WITH WALKER" signs on their lawns are getting $100 to do that, through unofficial channels. People who are canvassing Republicans and standing outside at intersections get $13/hour... I guess the GOP groundgame is awful - they just give a list to paid canvassers with no real map or training, and tell them to go knock doors and remind people.
3) Obama's Chicago headquarters told everyone not to come in on Sat. and go to Wisconsin instead, and many people will come Election Day as well, people were saying.
4) In that part of Wisconsin, people call RNC chairperson "Reince Priebus" "Rat Penis".
5) At the county Dems office, I got to hear pep talks from both the Dem running for the open U.S. Senate seat and the Dem who will be challenging Paul Ryan for his seat. The Dem who is challenging Paul Ryan even thanked people who had travelled to volunteer, and gestured to me, in his gracious speech at 9am to rev up the volunteers! 2 of the local Dems are also delegates to the DNC, and I got to meet them both.
6) For the 3pm canvassing shift, I got partnered with this high schooler with dyed blonde hair who was volunteering for a political campaign of her choice in order to get extra credit for her government class, which she wasn't doing so well in. I introduced her as a 1st-time canvasser to the candidates for the U.S. House and Senate, and then when we went out, she totally had a blast talking with people and identifying voters... The Democratic candidate for governor was in town the next day, and she texted her boyfriend and they were going to go to his appearance - and she was going to try to convince her boyfriend to canvas as well! I made sure later to introduce her to the DNC delegates, and tell her that some people work at doing this stuff for a job, if she's thinking about her future.
7) For canvassing, we were not just targetting Democrats who were dependable voters, but also irregular voters (many of whom were independent). I've never seen that done so late in the game...
I'm going up Election Day as well, to volunteer 9am until polls close at 8pm!!!!!!
1) The county treasurer who previously had brought in homemade rolls and a crockpot of pulled pork for sandwiches around supper time brought in 2 breakfast casseroles made of eggs and potatoes and green peppers, one with cut-up ham in it and one without. She even made two little computer print-out signs that she put on silver holders by each one, one saying "WITH HAM" and the other "VEGETARIAN".
She also said she was bringing in lasagna for Saturday's dinner.
2) Word is that locals with big "I STAND WITH WALKER" signs on their lawns are getting $100 to do that, through unofficial channels. People who are canvassing Republicans and standing outside at intersections get $13/hour... I guess the GOP groundgame is awful - they just give a list to paid canvassers with no real map or training, and tell them to go knock doors and remind people.
3) Obama's Chicago headquarters told everyone not to come in on Sat. and go to Wisconsin instead, and many people will come Election Day as well, people were saying.
4) In that part of Wisconsin, people call RNC chairperson "Reince Priebus" "Rat Penis".
5) At the county Dems office, I got to hear pep talks from both the Dem running for the open U.S. Senate seat and the Dem who will be challenging Paul Ryan for his seat. The Dem who is challenging Paul Ryan even thanked people who had travelled to volunteer, and gestured to me, in his gracious speech at 9am to rev up the volunteers! 2 of the local Dems are also delegates to the DNC, and I got to meet them both.
6) For the 3pm canvassing shift, I got partnered with this high schooler with dyed blonde hair who was volunteering for a political campaign of her choice in order to get extra credit for her government class, which she wasn't doing so well in. I introduced her as a 1st-time canvasser to the candidates for the U.S. House and Senate, and then when we went out, she totally had a blast talking with people and identifying voters... The Democratic candidate for governor was in town the next day, and she texted her boyfriend and they were going to go to his appearance - and she was going to try to convince her boyfriend to canvas as well! I made sure later to introduce her to the DNC delegates, and tell her that some people work at doing this stuff for a job, if she's thinking about her future.
7) For canvassing, we were not just targetting Democrats who were dependable voters, but also irregular voters (many of whom were independent). I've never seen that done so late in the game...
I'm going up Election Day as well, to volunteer 9am until polls close at 8pm!!!!!!
Monday, June 4, 2012
Avengers (2 of 2): A beer afterwards.
After seeing "The Avengers", I went out for a beer with the sister of my one British friend.
Somehow, we started talking about her English family and the jobs that both of her aunts have.
In retirement, both decided to start doing something to get some money and stave off boredom.
The one cleans the pub near her house; she gets up everyday and goes there at 6am to clean it, after the night before.
The other started up a burger van that makes a crapload of money. She parks it at a good location near a lot of office buildings and serves breakfast through early dinner, and fries up burgers with onions and makes a lot of homemade everything, and even though most of her clientele is business people, people drive there from other towns just to get her food.
My friend worked for her aunt for one summer, too, though she says she'd never do it again; the work was pleasant enough, she said, but after a shift she'd just smell like burgers, even her underwear.
Somehow, we started talking about her English family and the jobs that both of her aunts have.
In retirement, both decided to start doing something to get some money and stave off boredom.
The one cleans the pub near her house; she gets up everyday and goes there at 6am to clean it, after the night before.
The other started up a burger van that makes a crapload of money. She parks it at a good location near a lot of office buildings and serves breakfast through early dinner, and fries up burgers with onions and makes a lot of homemade everything, and even though most of her clientele is business people, people drive there from other towns just to get her food.
My friend worked for her aunt for one summer, too, though she says she'd never do it again; the work was pleasant enough, she said, but after a shift she'd just smell like burgers, even her underwear.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Avengers (1 of 2): The movie.
The other night I saw "The Avengers" with the one sister of my (British) friend (who is now also my friend; she esp. loves to go see any mainstream movie that's got buzz, so she's a good person to see blockbusters with).
We both were happy enough, but not in love with it. There was one moment that really made me laugh a ton, but other than that, I didn't think it was all that spectacular, and there were a couple glaring holes in the script (esp. character consistency with the Hulk and his behavior; Joss Whedon had trouble with the science of Dollhouse, too, I remember!).
What really got me is the trailer for Ridley Scott's new movie "Prometheus". Honestly, it was one of the best things I've seen at the movies in like 6 months, and I would love to see it, though I suspect it's too gory, and I'd have to see "Alien" and "Aliens" first (which I've always wanted to see, since I love Ridley Scott and James Cameron, they're geniuses at making gripping, atmospheric movies that find wide audiences).
It turns out that one of the neighbors of my one lawyer friend from Missouri *loves* the Alien series and owns DVDs of all of them, including the Alien vs. Predator ones, so I might go hang out with him and his boyfriend and some other people, and have a movie night where people tell me when to close my eyes.
I also told that one neighbor if he sees Prometheus and wants to go see it a 2nd time in the theater, I'd maybe go with him, as long as it wasn't too intense or he told me to close my eyes.
We both were happy enough, but not in love with it. There was one moment that really made me laugh a ton, but other than that, I didn't think it was all that spectacular, and there were a couple glaring holes in the script (esp. character consistency with the Hulk and his behavior; Joss Whedon had trouble with the science of Dollhouse, too, I remember!).
What really got me is the trailer for Ridley Scott's new movie "Prometheus". Honestly, it was one of the best things I've seen at the movies in like 6 months, and I would love to see it, though I suspect it's too gory, and I'd have to see "Alien" and "Aliens" first (which I've always wanted to see, since I love Ridley Scott and James Cameron, they're geniuses at making gripping, atmospheric movies that find wide audiences).
It turns out that one of the neighbors of my one lawyer friend from Missouri *loves* the Alien series and owns DVDs of all of them, including the Alien vs. Predator ones, so I might go hang out with him and his boyfriend and some other people, and have a movie night where people tell me when to close my eyes.
I also told that one neighbor if he sees Prometheus and wants to go see it a 2nd time in the theater, I'd maybe go with him, as long as it wasn't too intense or he told me to close my eyes.
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