The Official Post-DNC Volunteer Blog!

That's right, I didn't want to start off with the big "WOW" photo, but what the heck!  I mean, this is the back of Tom Daschle's head we're talking about!  I was assigned to the "Meet and Greet Team" at DIA on Sunday, August 24th, the day before the convention started and let me tell you- it was this exciting ALL DAY LONG.
As they say in whispered tones backstage at Miss America "The excitement back here is at FEVER PITCH."  Seriously.  It's like we were behind the scenes and out front as the delegates' and dignitaries' first contact with friendly-ass Denver ALL AT THE SAME TIME.  It was a heady responsibility, and sometimes we had to retire to the Official Volunteer Breakroom just to have fatty snacks to stop the dizziness.

Here's the non-wow picture of some volunteer, I mean, uh, my fellow comrade volunteer's head getting in the way of cute, super-nice Tom Daschle, so I couldn't yell out to him, "my family's from South Dakota and we thank you!!'  Alas.

..And here's how it looked from the front once all us kats got herded in for a group picture...

I'm behind him.  See if you can spot me. 
And then I got re-assigned to be a "wrangler" for catching any stray delegates that may have wandered past the huge throng of us bright-orange-shirted, WELCOME sign waving freaks by the fountain on the main concourse (where the subway trains all empty out) so I must have missed this guy- doh!

I like to think I was, at this moment, waving and saying Hi! to Amy Goodman on the main concourse as she walked by, ungreeted, talking on her cell phone.  I recognized her, waved my Welcome sign, shouted, Amy Goodman!  Hi! Welcome to Denver! and the magic worked, because she said "Hi..." back (the dots after that are code for, "do I know this crazy woman?"  Democracy dork that I am, Amy Goodman, esteemed yet humble host of Democracy Now!, is one of my heroes.  I don't regret NOT going into journalism too many times, but every time I hear her reporting, there's a wee pang of remorse in my heart, for what might have been. Also, as everyone knows who has finally or suddenly gotten to see one of their heroes or favorite celebrities in real life, you will do any dad-blame goofy thing to get their attention without hopefully intruding too much on their personal space.  But I had an excuse, I had a bright orange t-shirt, and a big sign.  So.  It would have been rude of me to whip out my cellphone and try to take a picture of her, so I stole one off Flickr.  She looked  something like  this, except in an airport, and wearing different clothes. 

But back to Al Gore, whose arrival at DIA I missed.  That probably explains the puzzled and somewhat pained look on his face in this next photo, where he's surrounded by enthusiastic, warm volunteers, but he's clearly thinking,  "where's Suzy? I thought she would be here....."

And then, horror of horrors, he had to climb into the big black SUV that was assigned and waiting for him.  Sure, they were all hybrid flex-fuels, donated by GM, but still- how did  he feel, climbing into that thing?

Hmmm.......
Anyway.  After Amy Goodman said Hi! to me, I was blase about Sam Donaldson and his wife walking by me.  I mean, how can that man still call himself a journalist, with the likes of Amy Goodman in the same amphitheatre?
Then it was back up to Curbside to meet Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and his entourage- woooo!!  Serious woo.  He is the utterer of  one of my favorite quotes re: Bush, which I have as a screensaver at work: "Welll.... I guess Bush finally disproves that whole theory of 'White Supremacy' once and for all, doesn't he?" 
Here's the group pic from Penny, who put them all on Flickr.

Not to give too much away, but I'm the floating head behind Mr. Rangel, wearing sunglasses.  Wooooo!  I just had to say that again. 
As far as other political celebrities, I also got to meet Former Speaker of the House Jim Wright, of Texas, who is getting on in years but an extremely nice man, and SO excited to be there to help elect our next Democratic President!  If anyone remembers, he was Speaker for 2 years (1987-1989) during the Reagan Administration, and was trying to hold them more accountable for all that Iran-Contra crap, until Newt Gingrich went after him on charges of "unethical conduct" (Wright was selling books he authored at private speaking engagements...known as book-signings.... yeah, throw that bum out! how dare he! That's much worse than torturing prisoners, obstructing justice and starting a huge war on a lie!)  and he resigned.  Very nice man.
I also got to meet Rep. Nydia Velasquez, D-NY, who  introduced herself as the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, and she's been there 16 years now so she must be doing something right.  She was stunning, very nice,  and the poor thing had to wait at least 45 minutes for her stupid rental car to show up.  We kept trying to entice her into one of the hybrid SUV's, but I guess the car was on its way, so she chatted with volunteers and called her staff on her cell phone.
There were probably other people I saw or met that I'm forgetting about, but towards the end of the shift when I was dead on my feet, I finally got to escort a VIP to baggage claim and to his waiting DNC car... and at first I didn't know who he was except another smart, handsome, nice Democrat dude... and then I googled him and oh snap!  He's a total stud! 
Former Navy Rear Admiral John D. Hutson, former Judge Advocate General for the Navy, now Dean of the Law School at Franklin Pierce College in NH.... and an expert on why we shouldn't be violating Geneva Conventions and torturing prisoners- because it makes OUR soldiers less safe, and all bets are off.  He testified against confirming Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General based on his abhorrent record and views on torture.
http://www.fplc.edu/johnhutson/

Dang me!  He was very unassuming, pleasant, polite, and in a hurry to get to his hotel as it was getting mighty late.  He mentioned that he was speaking on the first day of the convention, then going to a human rights panel, then some other thing, then off to his nephew's wedding.   It was a nice way to cap off the night.  Then a group of us volunteers whose shifts were over were whisked back to the DNC motorpool lot to our cars, and Peeps called me to tell me he'd found a lost doggie and was personally walking him down to the Pound. :) 
The next day was my birthday and the start of the Convention.  I was determined to see some action up close, so I loaded little girl into the bike trailer after her nap and biked on  down to  the Pepsi Center area, with cupcakes in hand to give away.  The original plan was to give them to Randi Rhodes, but security proved too tight, so I settled for calling into her show to welcome her to Denver and complain about the g-d trustfunder protestors. :)  I had about 10 delicious, wheat-free mini-cupcakes to unload (with sparkly frosting stars on top) and so after being turned away by armed guards at the gates, rode up to the Market st. bridge where the delegates were streaming past on their way to the Pepsi Center, and started hollerin' like a true carny, "Happy My Birthday! Have a free Cupcake!"  And can you believe it?  No one took them except a tired looking guy hawking t-shirts.  Come to think of it, I  probably wouldn't take a cupcake from a stranger either.  Not even the nice woman who also hung out near me on her bike for awhile and chatted would take one.  "I'm trying to lose weight, actually" (she was slender and fit).  Harumph.  Then some guys from CNN came up and took a picture of my t-shirt, which is an Environmentalists for Obama shirt, which they claim they'd never seen before.  It didn't make it into the little "slideshow" thingy though, so maybe the guy was just trying to get a close-up of my rack. 
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/26/slideshow.buttons/index.html

Darn, that was going to be my closer, but I can't top Peeps' blog anyway so I'll just stop there and go to bed.   But wait!  Wait!  More about Amy Goodman! So tonite on Democracy Now! on PBS, she aired an impromptu interview she had with Jon Stewart of the Daily Show, at baggage claim in Minneapolis airport. During said interview (which was awesome) she remarked to him, "ya know, the atmosphere here is very different than Denver (where they all just came from)- in Denver they had all kinds of people welcoming you and making sure you got where you were going..." That's ME she's talking about people, ME!!! Yours truly! I ALONE am responsible for Amy Goodman having a good impression of Denver and the DNC in general!  So.  Anyway Jon Stewart said, "yeah, there's almost a sense of shame in the air here, like they'd rather not be hosting this at all...."  and then a lot of other really funny and astute stuff.
That's it for now- until another unofficial unconvention comes along- this is the Queen, signing off!  Good night and good luck.