Greetings from New York City! Today casperr and I met up to hang out and help at Obama Summerfest in Central Park. I came north from Austin to visit my old home for a few weeks, and when casperr mentioned the event I had to join in. The event was organized by ObamaNYC, one of the many fantastic grassroots groups working hard to organize here in the city. It was a ton of fun, and for those of you not lucky enough to be there, casperr and I wanted to share!
Photos and a recap below.
The event was fantastic! The group set up right near the band shell in Central Park with tables and activities. Voter registration, volunteer sign-ups, and outreach groups were all working hard to help people participate as we get ready for November. There were tons of fun activities, too—various live music acts, video projects, and a huge group photo to be sent to Barack Obama for his birthday tomorrow.
But the best part was stencils and spray paint! People brought t-shirts to personalize in their own Obama style, while other folks stenciled on huge bedsheets to create colorful banners for future events.
Both casperr and I took a ton of photos. Make sure to read all the way to the bottom, wherein I describe how casperr totally schooled me in a hula-hooping contest. No joke.
casperr designed two stylin’ Obama t-shirts. On the left, there she is tagging for change. On the right, the finished product! Very cool. NYC-ers should look for that shirt at an Obama event near them. Maybe she’ll wear it to the Meetup on Thursday!
There was plenty to do at the party. On the left,
Paul Newell, candidate for NY State Assembly who is running in a primary against Sheldon Silver next month, posed with casperr and I and the life-sized cardboard Obama. On the right, a local Obama group gave away buttons. They were going like hotcakes!
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Folks spray-painted all over huge bedsheets with great Obama stencils. The kid on the left was really creative, combining colors and layering designs. I made that blue-and-red donkey on the upper right.
On the left, I pose with Lamont, one of the best volunteers in all of New York City. Casperr talks about him all the time—he really is as great as she says. He fired up the crowd before the big group photo—on the right you can see peoples’ reactions to his cheers. If he can’t get you excited about Obama, you might want to see a doctor.
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It never fails to amaze me how creative Obama supporters can be in terms of showing their support. On the left is Minerva Diaz, a local artist who drew that amazing picture of Obama. If anyone wants to order one, tell casperr—she has the contact info. On the right, you can see some of the finished t-shirts that people made. People made really cool shirts in a variety of styles.
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As promised, here is casperr schooling me in hula-hooping. Turns out our friend caseprr is an ace hula-hooper. I am not. There was a contest. She should have entered; she probably would have won. Maybe when the election is over we can take her show out on the road. She can be a hula-hooping hustler.
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And here we are, happy to be volunteering for Obama. This is my first time on casperr’s turf—she’s been down to Austin twice already, once in the primary and once for Netroots Nation, where she inspired our Vote for Change event the Wednesday before. One of the best parts of volunteering for Obama has been making wonderful friends, like casperr. These friendships give us the potential to create a lasting, nation-wide grassroots organization that will leave us better prepared to create positive change in our country than ever before.
If you haven’t been to an Obama event, just go. Go to a DNC speech-watching event or a voter registration drive. Whatever it is, just go. The people are so fun and friendly. casperr and I both remarked on how fun it was to attend the event rather than coordinate it. We helped out, but mostly we enjoyed the happy, excited people who stopped by on their Sunday jaunts through the park to buy buttons or make Obama art. So, I hope you enjoyed our photos, and I hope to see you in your Obama event photos soon!
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