Thanks, but no thanks – WJC
Parag Mehta, who used to be the director of training at the DNC, had a really great quote in one of his presentations. He said that when the country is gearing up for an election, Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line. I’d just like to say that I’m in love with Bill Clinton. And Hillary Clinton. And Michelle Obama and Joe Biden. And I’m sure come tomorrow night I’ll be in love with Barack. I’d even go so far as to say I’m in love with Dennis Kucinich and John Kerry (who I didn’t even really like all that much in ‘04).
Anyway, as usual, I’m exhausted, and now what, 4 days behind? Something like that. But I guess that’s what layovers are for, eh? I have to switch flights three times on the way back to DC, it should be a blast. In the meantime, though, I still have one more day left of this amazing convention, so you guys will just have to sit tight for a few more days before I can recap the experience.
Before I fall asleep on my keyboard, though, I’d like to dedicate this post to Mike Lamb, who e-mailed me to say he loves my blog. And here I didn’t even know anyone except Fran and Dr. Ugoretz had seen it. So thank you, Mike! As for everyone else, don’t worry about being huge creepers and not letting me know you’ve stopped by. It’s totally cool to have mysterious lurkers.
In other news, Lindsey is basically the best boss ever for totally taking care of me this convention. Seriously, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get into anything, but she’s been awesome about getting me credentials. Last night it was Death Cab for Cutie tickets. I went with Corey from CDA, who talked us onto the VIP list with an absolutely straight face. So we got to eat hors d’oeuvres and have free drinks and hang out on the VIP level of the club. It was awesome, I wish I could BS like that. It’s such a confidence thing, which I definitely need to work on. Unfortunately, my BSing skillz are limited to making stuff up for class papers, but I guess we all have to start somewhere.
In DemsAbroad news, playing the video at the CDA convention fell through on two distinct occasions, so I ended up having to stand in front of the whole convention at our closing ceremonies lunch and talk about DA/voting from abroad for students who will be overseas this semester. I forgot to say about half of what I wanted to say while I was up there, but Tamia promised they’d send out the VFA video via e-mail to everyone who was registered for convention. So all’s well that ends well, I suppose. Although I definitely have to take a public speaking class or something, because being able to organize my thoughts and speak off the cuff coherently is a skill I’d really like to have.
Seeing all of these amazing speakers at the convention, I wonder how much of it is natural talent and how much of it can be learned. I hope it’s mostly the latter, although I’m sure it most likely varies from person to person. I mean, Joe Biden used to stutter, apparently, and now look at him. Either way, note to self: must remember to add vanquish stage fright and learn how to think on feet to my personal improvement to-do list.
