I Pledge

What is Your Pledge?

MySpace Celebrity and Katalyst present The Presidential Pledge

Service for Change

Today, we’re pleased to announce the launch of USAservice.org, a new website dedicated to President-elect Obama’s national call to service. We encourage you to visit the site today and sign up to host or attend a service event on January 19th, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. You can also sign up for events over the weekend of January 17-18th.

YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!

Barack Needs YOU NOW!!

To Any Soldier

anysoldier.com

NorCal Obama Headquarters Grand Opening!!

I drove home from the DNC to Berkeley (from Reno today) because I had a feeling that I should be at the Grand Opening for the Northern Cali HQ of the Obama campaign, and I thought it would be fun to surprise people at the event.

The East Bay Field Office is also home to the NorCal Headquarters, and tonight was the GRAND OPENING!!

When I drove up to the office tonight, I was astonished.

Before I could see any of the crowd, I could hear them chanting, "Yes We Can!"



There were hundreds of people lining the streets and clamoring to volunteer and express their support for Obama.
I got goosebumps and (finally) a parking spot...

The office was absolutely overun with people all fired up about Obama--we had over 500 people at the event!!!

Hundreds of people signed up to volunteer for phone-banking, traveling, and other help for the Obama campaign!!

I hadn't realized when I left Nevada this morning what a big event this was--I could hardly get into the office through the flood of people trying to get in to sign up to help.

We had an amazing set of speakers, who addressed the crowd from the upper balcony. Included in the program were San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CD-9), and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Assemblymember Loni Hancock (CD-14), Alameda Central Labor Council Executive Director Sharon Cornu, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, and Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Foundation Art Pulaski, and a representative from Ron Dellums office were also featured speakers.

The speeches engaged the crowd, which responded with cheers, emphatic chants of "Yes We CAN," and winning smiles!!


Mayor Gavin Newson mentioned that it is was better to be here at this grand opening event than to be watching Fox News; he continued by expressing that the Republicans are out of touch with the priorities of this country. He reminded us that the future is not in front of us: the future is within us!

Mayor Tom Bates spoke about taking our country back, and now is the time to do that together. These past years have been very hard on Americans and we have a chance right now to turn that around and take our country back.


Congresswoman Barbara Lee was stirring, eloquent, and as wonderful as a speaker can possibly be. The crowd loved her--they went wild when she spoke, when she raised her arms up, they cheered. When she finished speaking, the crowd began chanting, "Barbara Lee speaks for me." I couldn't agree more--as a fellow social worker and Obama supporter, Barbara Lee definitely speaks for me!! This was my first time meeting her, and she was as lovely and genuine in person as I imagined she would be.

Our Deputy Field Director for California, the dynamic and phenomenal Peggy Moore introduced the speakers and fired up the crowd! Her comments were inspiring and it was truly impressive to see how she was able to engage with the hundreds of people gathered below in a way that felt direct and personal, as if she were speaking to each person individually.

Peggy introduced Pam Coukos, our Regional Field Director for Northern California, and Pam gave a rousing speech highlighting the work that needs to be done in the next 60 days.

Check it out:

Peggy Moore, Barbara Lee, and Pam Coukos

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Around the Day in I-80 States

Here's a recap of Ruby's DRIVE for change:

On Wednesday (8/19) I left Berkeley for Reno.

On Friday I left Reno for Elko.

On Saturday morning I woke up in Elko, Nevada, and drove to Salt Lake City.

After having a little snack and visiting a natural grocery store, I drove to Rawlins Wyoming. The whole way I drove on East I-80.

As a girl from Boston, I always feel a little funny driving East. It just seems like a bad idea...


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On the way home from Denver (I left Colorado on 8/31), I mixed it up a little--I spent a night in Laramie, Wyoming and then drove to Salt Lake City for a night.

I explored the Great Salt Lake a bit more, and shot this video for you:




I drove happily WEST on I-80 through the Great Salt Flats:



Then I finally crossed over the border of Nevada and landed in Elko--which feels like home now.



Sunset out my window introduced me to shades of pink unknown to my eyes until tonight... wonderful!

America's Dream is My Dream

The first night I arrived in Denver, I had a powerful dream.

I was sitting in a cafe with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and

I was saying to him that the most profoundly important thing he had ever said was

"The time is always right to do right."

I told him that I have adopted this as my motto in life.

Upon waking, I felt a sense of peace and righteousness that calmed any worries or petty anxieties I might have about the path laid out before me.

This was the second epiphany dream I have had featuring MLK--the first one was about 10 years ago, when I dreamed that I saw MLK in the middle of a riot, and walked over to him, prostrating myself before him and kneeling down.

He was giant-sized and seemed God-like to me. I had my hands clasped in prayer position, and he bent down and took my hands.

He lifted me up with his hands until I stood with him, our eyes met and he communicated to me without words a sense that I am worthy and my work is important--I am not just a small girl at the foot of a mythic superhero.




I am an active participant in this world,

able to enact change and work for social justice.








Today Toshi and I visited the Martin Luther King Monument in Denver's City Park.

The powerful memorial was erected in 2002.

It features statues of Dr. King, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Mahatma Gandhi.



Surrounding the statues in the four cardinal directions were stone carvings with a timeline of civil rights in America paired with Dr. King's words.






Within the stone carvings were these detailed depictions of the Black civil rights struggle in America. it was incredibly powerful, and neither of us were expecting to be affected as deeply as we were by this monument to Dr. King and others who have given their lives to the struggle for civil rights and social justice for all people.



Toshi and I both had strong emotional reactions to the monument and reflected on the moment, having just heard Barack Obama accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president on the anniversary of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech and the March on Washington. When we got to the part of the monument which was inscribed with the quote about Dr. King's "four little children" living in a world where they are "judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," Toshi allowed me to interview him about his thoughts and feelings about this monument and this moment in our history:



Yesterday, we arrived at Invesco Field yesterday just as the tribute to Dr. King began. We watched the video below and I cried:



Dr. King's children spoke eloquently in support of Barack Obama. His daughter began her speech: "Tonight, freedom rings from the snow-capped mountains of Colorado..."



Martin Luther King III asserted that his father would have been so proud of Barack Obama:

America's Hope, America's Promise

Tonight I was at Invesco Stadium where Barack Obama accepted the Democratic party's nomination for President of the United States!

It was amazing to be there in person to be part of history, and it was unbelievable to be one of a sea of people (84,000+ in the stadium and millions of viewers at home) supporting this phenomenal team for President and Vice-President!!

Here is a short video of the crowd going wild when Obama took the stage, so you can get a sense of what it was like to be there tonight!



Here is Barack's powerful speech, in which he outlined his platform and addressed the criticisms that the Republicans have used against him and other Democrats in the past. He did not invoke people's emotions--he spoke to our intellect and respectfully outlined the problems that Americans are facing and called for the Republicans to "own their failures" so that we can move forward together, united by a vision for an American future based on the American dream and the values this country was founded on:



I was awed and honored to be part of history tonight--it was definitely one of the highlights of my life so far. It is something I will tell my children and grandchildren about, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have been there to witness this moment in American history along with 84,000 of my closest friends!

I hope you all had the chance to watch Barack's speech live, and here's a whole new way to see it, courtesy of "Wordle" which creates these awesome collages of words (you can enter in any words and it will create a unique constellation with the biggest words being the most frequent):

It was very interesting to be there in person and then watch it on TV later--actually we watched it twice on CNN after we got home from Invesco (Toshi kept pointing to the screen during crowd shots--exclaiming, "There we are, those two little dots up there!). Some things looked better in person (the backdrop looked boring on TV but very beautiful in person; the exploding streamers looked kind of funny in person--they fell on the backdrop, the camera rigging, and obscured the view from the crowd cam--but they looked amazing on TV in the close-up shots). It was truly mind-boggling to watch the speech from our hotel room that night. We just kept looking at each other with eyes wide and mouths hanging open, "We were THERE!"

We are all part of this American moment and we all own a piece of our democracy for which we must take responsibility. As Barack Obama so eloquently stated:

"This has never been about me.
This is about YOU!"

Virtual DNC: Interviews with CD-9 Delegates

Denver 2008: Democratic National Convention


CA CD-9 Delegate Fred Feller


CA CD-9 Delegate Mark Friedman


CA CD-9 Delegate Jennifer Pae

Free Speech: An American Value

I have always loved a good protest (what native Cantabridgean doesn't?), and it has been sort of jarring for me to participate in this convention as a supporter rather than as a protester.

I was surprised to find myself being unhappy about protests by groups I belong/belonged to and I had to question my sense of self. I have always felt that it is righteous to oppose "the man" but now I see these people with signs and plans and bandanas, prepared for pepper spray and nightsticks, and I wonder if they will accomplish their ultimate goals by doing what they're doing. I don't know the answer but I have a lot of deep questions to ponder.

Toshi said maybe he was just feeling nostalgic for the protests of our rebellious "youth" (haha I know we're still babies in this world in the grand scheme of things), but he felt that we were standing for something important and our protests might have succeeded in accomplishing our goals (for example letting third party candidates debate with the major party candidates). I pointed out that our protests (and even our votes) did not accomplish that goal 8 years ago, and our possibly misguided efforts may have unintentionally contributed to the travesty of justice that was the 2000 Presidential election. Toshi encouraged me to consider the larger and more nuanced picture. and he's probably right. perhaps I blame myself too much. Still, I am questioning... what is the most effective strategy to create real change?

I am wondering if I am getting old or what is happening to me...

but I fully support the right of protesters to make their opinions heard.

There are many different groups here, bringing visibility to their issues and helping our democratic process by participating in the way that is natural to them.

Lots of people traveled from far away to protest the war in Iraq, especially Iraq Veterans Against the War and also Code Pink (women for peace). They will also be protesting at the RNC in the Twin Cities.

The Iraq Vets led a march of 10,000 people and delivered a statement calling on the Democratic nominee to endorse the three main goals of IVAW: Immediate withdrawal, full veterans benefits, and reparations for the Iraqi people.

Following a packed show at the Denver Coliseum where Rage Against the Machine and the Flobots encouraged the crowd to join IVAW's march, two squads of 25 IVAW members each formed up outside the venue and began marching to the Pepsi center. The squads were led by members in dress uniforms and combat uniforms, with thousands of supporters marching behind them.... Former Texas Lt Governor Ben Barnes came out of the convention to accept a letter from the IVAW members.

Smaller groups and individuals also added their voices to the outcry against this criminal and immoral war of aggression.

I cried when I saw these women with their handmade masks and signs, silently marking the memory of people lost in the Iraq war.

Some of the protests/protesters made me uncomfortable or unhappy, like these people protesting the very idea of homosexuality.



Luckily there was an awesome counter-demonstration alongside them with hundreds of pink & yellow balloons inscribed "gay." Remember, gay also means "happy" and that's how this made me feel. It was very upsetting though to look to the left and see these happy gay balloons and then to look to the right and see angry religious people. Can't we all just get along? Whatever happened to "live and let live"?


Some of the protesters had elaborate costumes and props...









Some of the protesters were just plain silly...






Some were painfully misguided...






Here's an example of some "fair and balanced" coverage (commentary by my fabulous friend Steve):

Apparently, when you refuse to speak to the obnoxious and condescending reporter from Faux News – or when you speak out against corporate media manipulation – that means you “don’t believe in freedom of speech.” At least, that’s according to Fox News’s Griff Jenkins. The protesters outside the Democratic convention in Denver give him a piece of their agitated minds; hilarity ensues:

Something else surprised me and caused me to be quite challenged personally. There were lots of anti-abortion people here with bloody pictures of fetuses, chanting about the value of life. Many of them were young women: my age, educated and otherwise just like me (there but for the grace of God go I).

I guess I had a preconceived notion that anti-abortion crusaders were mostly crusty old men with a not-so-secret agenda of controlling women's bodies and women's lives.

I was shocked and (I must admit--saddened) to see young, smart, liberated women advocating for a reduction in women's rights to regulate and control their own bodies, their reproductive rights, and to decide for themselves when is the right time to have a child. (this video shows the entrance to the Pepsi Center where the delegates were listening to the keynote speakers Weds night--the lady you can hear on the megaphone as you approach the gate was one of the leaders of this anti-abortion protest).



I can't argue whether human life is or isn't valuable--obviously it is. But I found myself sick to my stomach when I saw the blown up color photos on banners blaming Obama for abortions or labeling him a "baby-killer." I know that there is an important moral aspect to the abortion issue--it isn't just any old medical procedure, but is also isn't as simple as "bad/immoral people killing babies." Sometimes a woman's own life is at risk, sometimes she has been the victim of rape or incest, and sometimes she simply knows she is not ready or capable of being a good mother at this time. How can we value life when we are relegating those "innocent babies" we've "saved" to a lifetime of poverty, maternal resentment, and poor parenting? I am reminded of the line from a Michael Franti song, "You can make a life longer, but you can't save it."

We have to learn to live together in the middle ground and discuss the material in the grey zones, rather than just sticking to our own narrow perspectives and the scripts that come with the "pro-choice" and "pro-life" labels. Divorced from the salience of the abortion debate, I don't think any American can truly pick either life or choice--we value both!

So I have been fundamentally challenged and changed by what I've seen here, and by my own reactions to these protests. It is OK, because this is America and we are allowed to disagree with one another and still remain a country united by a commitment to free speech.

And in this new America, we are allowed to reconsider deeply held opinions in the face of new information without being called a "flip-flopper." At least I hope so.

Please join me in the new America, where it is safe to reassess preconceptions and build common ground.

Cop Watch: F*ck the police??

Denver and the Twin Cities each received $50 million from the federal government for security improvements for the Democratic and Republican Conventions respectively.

Denver was literally swarming with police officers, and it was actually kind of scary for the first couple of days. Toshi and I talked to some of the cops, dressed to the nines in snazzy new riot gear, and Toshi asked what they were doing.

Lady Cop: We're here for the DNC.

Toshi: But why are you all suited up in riot gear? What are you anticipating?

Lady Cop: We're prepared for anything--most of the protesters plan to be peaceful, but some of them are not.

Toshi: It's kind of scary to see you all dressed like this, with the big clubs & extrame riot gear...

Lady Cop: That's probably a good thing!

As we walked away, I felt uneasy--people who are not breaking the law and don't plan to break the law shouldn't have to feel afraid of the police.

Only people who are doing something violent or wrong should fear the consequences.

People whom the police are supposedly protecting (participants in the DNC) should feel reassured by their presence, but the "police state" feel in the air was disquieting when we arrived on Sunday and certainly it intensified on Monday.

The rest of the week, things seemed to quiet down, and there wasn't as much intense police presence. The protesters also seemed to tone it down, and there was less of a sense that direct confrontation (rather than simply free speech) was the main goal.

Of course the police were still out and about patrolling the streets, but it didn't feel like there were hundreds of riot cops within view at all times. And the constant wailing of sirens had waned to random moments punctuated by flashing lights on police vehicles.

These bicycle cops happily posed for pictures with several convention-goers, including yours truly. They were funny, relaxed, and friendly (this was Wednesday, after things seemed to have generally cooled down).

Ultimately, all of the interactions Toshi and I had with the police were positive, with them giving me information about where to eat, where to go, and general safety tips ("Don't have your convention credentials hanging around your neck where people can snatch them" or "Get out of the street, ma'am--you're about to get run over!").

One moment when I was particularly glad to have the strong police presence was when Toshi and I encountered these 2 protests: pro-gay and anti-gay demonstrations were underway right next to one another on the 16th street mall (pedestrian street lined with shops in Downtown Denver near the convention center). Things were tense to say the least. I was getting increasingly worried as the insults flew and the F-word was liberally applied by both sides.

I suggested we get out of there--and as we left, I was so relieved to see a big squad of police officers put themselves in between the two groups of angry protesters. They put their bodies in between the two groups, so that each one could express their points without hurting someone or getting hurt. I have great respect for these officers who used their own bodies as a shield for free speech.

It makes me reconsider the lyrics of this song by one of my favorite musical artists (Michael Franti/Spearhead).

"F*ck the police! We can keep the peace.
We can make love and conquer that disease.

Because nothing in the world is impossible to me--
I can swim on dry land or roll up on the sea.

Nothing in the world is impossible to me--
you can chop off my legs and I'll land upon my feet!"

But can we keep the peace? Or do we need some help? Maybe we get by with a little help from our friends?? can the police be our friends? can "they" be part of "we"?

Our hostess Brit (a street medic) told me she was impressed with the police and the worst injuries they treated were sunscreen in the eyes and a bandaid for a cut in a Food Not Bombs kitchen. Brit said she was walking home w/2 other medics, decked out in red crosses, at 3am on night. Public transportation had shut down for the night. A police car pulled up and offered them a ride, saying "We're both neutral observers here."

When I was a kid, I used to love tagging the following graffiti:

BUT

I wrote this all over the place without considering the practical implications and without truly considering he meaning of either anarchy or peace.

Now I wonder if "anarchy but peace" is even possible?

or even desirable? (sorry black blockers!)

Or if it just something that people scrawl on bathroom walls to make ourselves feel better, to feel like we're doing something, to get a surge of powerful feelings like we are "sticking it to the man." but who is "the man" anyway? and is there a better way to change our world?

I guess I have become more critical and more of a realist since I was 13 (I sure hope so!). As I grow older, I realize how important it is for people to have limits and the necessity to have individuals and groups within society (and families) who enforce the limits for the sake of basic safety, sanitation, and respect.

People feel safer and behave better with limits: social science and lived experience bear out this conclusion. We need to know what the limits are, or we will constantly be testing them, and this constant testing without discovery of any boundaries leads people to a state of angst, anxiety, and even anger. Children and adults alike yearn to know what is OK and not OK, and we look to someone who is stronger, smarter, and safer than ourselves to show us the way.

but are the police the right people for the job? Should they be the boundary-enforcers of first resort or only used as our last resort when all else fails?

social workers are often considered a kind of social police, and I have often felt uncomfortable wih the social control aspect of my field, preferring the social justice angle.

Especially as a new and young social worker, I often find myself wondering, "Who am I to be enforcing these social norms anyway?"

Martin Luther King was often challenged by supporters and skeptics alike about his commitment to legal reforms to protect and ensure civil rights for all people. Critics said that education, not laws, were needed to truly reform people's hearts and minds. MLK agreed to a certain extent, stating that laws and education were both necessary components of the recipe to heal the racial divides in our nation. Then he stated that "the law can't make a man love me- but it can keep a man from lynching me! and I think that's pretty important too." So laws and law enforcement have an important role to play in social justice, social harmony, and the regulation of social behavior.

I don't have the answer to all this, but again I have a lot of important questions to ponder about how we can create the society we want with carefully chosen and humanely enforced limits to maintain basic safety and security for community members.

It seems to me that we do need help keeping the peace, and it is a generally good thing to have people trained to prevent problems and injuries when people are exercising their right to free speech. but of course power can breed corruption and abuse, so it is essential that police forces (especially those outfitted with powerful automatic weapons, lethal and non-lethal strategies for stopping protesters in their tracks, tear gas, and massive nightsticks) be held accountable for their actions.

This guy might disagree:

It was interesting to me to see the reaction of some of the protesters to the police presence--having personally talked to people in Bosnia, the USSR, and Nazi Germay, I don't think Denver during the DNC is anything close to what a "police state looks like" ...

The police were generally helpful and friendly unless you were doing something dangerous or pushing against the boundaries that were set up to preserve the safety of the delegates and convention attendees. With plans such as the one that DASW (Direct Action to Stop War) explained to me--trapping the delegates in wire cages as they tried to enter the convention floor for example--I think it would have been worse if these protesters were allowed to exercise their so-called "right to free speech" by usurping others' rights to move about freely. If a "police state" means stopping people from committing the crimes of assault, battery, and kidnapping against participants in the democratic process, sign me up.

Free speech is a right that does have some limits, like the way my father describes the right to smoke cigarettes:

"You're right to smoke a cigarette ends where my nose begins!"

Today I was having coffee and blogging at an internet cafe and I saw someone who looked very familiar, so I asked if he was from Berkeley--he WAS! And he came here to assist Denver's CopWatch program, which holds the police accountable for their actions by documenting what is happening, and attempts to prevent police brutality and abuses of power by being present and letting the police know that someone is watching their activities and reporting on what they are doing.

I had a great conversation with the CopWatch rep from Berkeley, as well as a local CopWatcher from Denver (video coming soon--it's a long one so it takes a while to upload; check back soon!).

They graded the cops' behavior this week as follows:

Sunday: B

Monday: F
(Rage Against the Machine Concert)

Tuesday: C

Wednesday: B+
(Iraq War Veterans March)

Thursday: B