-Left NYC around 10 am, got to Cleveland round 8, had meeting/training, got to sleep places (thank you all our generous hosts) at about 11:30 (Kids), 12:30 (Adults)-
Alright. I'm in Ohio---Cleveland. In a neighborhood called Lakewood Heights. This is the first night. We haven't begun anything yet or we've just begun. We met at the library until 9, it closed, we got bounced. We moved to the coffee shop, 10 o'clock, it closed, we got bounced. But we tried to squeeze some things in between those hours.
The Kids rehearsed how they are going to approach a potential voter. Let me tell you first who the Kids are. There are Kids and adults in our crew of 11. The Kids are all magnetic, unique excited individuals with nicknames like Dock. Wendolay is the leader of the Kids, she is a Kid, but she is also not a Kid, just like Wend[ola]y in Peter Pan. She is a few years older than the rest of em. Wendolay is 20, they are all 17 or 18. They say Wendolay looks older than her mother. They are all more or less from the Boogie Down Bronx. You can tell.
So the Kids each with fantastic spirits rehearsed what they are going to say to a potential voter. Some key things are:
-You only have seven days (During Golden Week you can both register to vote and vote in a polling place on the same day. We are here to facilitate you doing this. We have to remind you dear sir that this all- special Goldenness ends on the 6th of October and after that you can only register until October 14th and then you will have to cast a ballot and then vote in absentia or vote on November 4th and stand in a line and get voting day dementia, probably. Alright so you only have seven days, so you got to do it now.)
-If you are in a hurry, it ain't going to take but a few minutes of your time. Not 2 minutes though. Maybe a little longer. We will entertain you while you wait.
-What else.
-Flash the smile at 'em if they start getting racist or combative. We are here to get voters, not convince McCain tricks to vote for Obama or listen to Obama tricks talk our ears off about voting for Obama (you got to see this Kid Travis' chipped tooth, and the smile that emanates from it. I wonder if we shouldn't just fly his ass over to Israel right now for him to flash that chippery on the West Bank and Gaza borders because I think that would solve some stuff in a hurry. As I told you the Kids are very powerful.)
-Though it is true we are transporting them in A Van try to not mention "The Van" they are worried that saying the words "The Van" is going to scare people. We have to mention it as gently as possible or try as often as possible to call it a shuttle. This does sound a bit more space age and cool. (Of course, I think of The Van Down by The River when I think of The Van and its glamour and lack thereof, and then I remember that all I really want to do here is channel everything that Matt Foley taught us. The Kids and Wendolay probably have not seen Chris Farley moving his arms in the giant upside down bow motion, jerking like a giant steroided boar, and then of course destroying the requisite table, but we Adults have, Joseph and Jill and Dara the Champ and I and we know that we are here for the same reason Matt Foley was--- to slam our bodies onto the tables of the streets and disintegrate barriers and grab these three million mofos who didn't vote in the 2004 election by the scruff of their necks and allow them to grab the world by the seat of its pants and VOTE, YO! And this is really really important that in 2004 Bush won Ohio by 10,000 votes and 3 million people that could have voted for him (or maybe for someone else?) didn't vote. Were they all buried alive momentarily for twenty four hours under some Karl RoveSod?
[See this if you are wondering about who Matt Foley is or would like the pleasure of reacquainting yourself with him--->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppN-Q4fCpoQ ]
-What is also important is that if have been imprisoned at some point because you are a convicted felon from Ohio, and you find yourself suddenly free from your chains, with a burning urge to snick that little silver needle right into the Obama Biden hole, just wonder this my brothers and sisters--- "Am I walking tall on the outside because I am on probation, paroled, waned by the warden, discharged by the district, released by the beast, OR am I running through the free fields today because a few years ago I and my friend Morgan Freeman hatched a fantastic plan to escape and today is the day I realized the fruits of our labor.... If it is any of the former and you have not just escaped from prison then guess what you multi-criminals (Dock, another Kid taught me this great word tonight). You can vote! And we are going to take you by golly, in our shuttle, and lastly...
-when you are inside our Van Down by the River, in our clutches finally after we have wooed you with our chipped tooth of blazing bi-partisan peace, we are going to ask you calmly if you would like to be a volunteer just like us. We are all volunteers and we want more and we need more but we are eleven strong and that is greatness (this is the last important thing that I can remember now because I am insanely, angrily tired. Thank god we all went to our respective temporary homes in a strong rainstorm. And thank god I am still coherent enough not to edit this, but to repeat why it is that we, the Kids, the Adults, and Wendolay and roughly 189 other people are here. To get as many people as possible to cast an early ballot, during Golden Week, betwixt September 30 and October 6th, in the 2008 presidential election, with the sole and essential and sacred purpose of electing Barack Hussein Obama to the Office of the President of the United States. This is our mission, tomorrow it begins.)
