Attending the convention as media is a different experience than attending as a delegate. For the most part, the delegates are there strictly for convention business - and to party. Not that there's anything wrong with that!
But there's a whole different experience if you're trying to cover the convention and not just attend it. For one thing, Mooncat expects diaries, pictures, more diaries, and lots of pictures.... It's quite the balancing act to try to attend some of the hundreds of events, get video & photos, and then find the time to blog/download & cut video at the same time you're supposed to be attending the next darn event.
And all of these meetings and events are worthwhile & newsworthy. In Denver, I perhaps made it to 1/3 of the events I'd RSVPd for. In Charlotte, my expectations were lower (and I had Roboticcats for backup), so I made it to half of what I'd planned.
Nevertheless, I still have a couple of hours of video to go through & will be doing that in the next week or so. Our convention coverage isn't over: we'll keep discussing the issues raised about health care, GLBT issues, and more. I hated that I couldn't immediately report on every meeting, but, as one of the Alabama folks consoled me at the time: "A big media outlet has producers, editors, and other support staff to handle the details. Y'all are working without a net."
So enough apologies.... here are a couple short stories, vingnettes, & experiences that weren't enough for an entire blog post, but taken together give you a "flavor" of the convention.
Keep reading!!!
So much stuff to buy... so little time and money.
Like any bargain shopper, I'm always looking for a good deal and certainly didn't want to buy the first cool t-shirt or button I saw. But it's totally impossible to keep track of who was selling what, where they were when I saw them, and how much the item cost.
But in some cases, we didn't have to buy.... the merchandise was free! And awesome. On Wednesday, we attended the Health Care forum (and met Vicki Kennedy). On the long, long uphill walk from the NASCAR museum to the site of Congresswoman Terri Sewell's brunch for the Alabama delegation (which was awesome... Video coming soon!), we met kind souls who weren't selling, but giving.
Barack Obama heads. Savings banks really, the couple told us: "To remind young people to save for the future." They were free & we each got a couple. A convention volunteer told me that "they went fast and it made me mad that people who got one free were selling them to other people in line to get into the Convention Center."
Indeed. We didn't sell ours!
Look like you're supposed to be there.
Wednesday night, Roboticcats had the media credential and roamed the Time Warner Arena taking photos & video. She got some terrific photos of Rep. Gutierrez because she had managed to get onto the restricted press & VIP "Founder's Level." Cool as a cucumber, the Young Cone flashed her media credential at the guard & said "AP."
Those two words got her into the reserved print press box area next to the stage - and some totally awesome photos.
I was in awe - and tried the same tactic on Thursday night. Worked like a charm!
Pay attention to the damn rules!
I had the credential on Tuesday night and it was pouring. Literally, a Noah-like downpour. After navigating through wet streets, through checkpoint after checkpoint, I finally got into the security line to get into Time Warner.
Now, I had paid attention to the rules that listed what we could not bring inside. Umbrellas were on the list and the list had been posted prominently at the first checkpoint and every one after that (the actual Time Warner entrance was the third checkpoint). So I had walked about 5 blocks in the pouring rain with no umbrella and I was in no mood to spend any extra time in the deluge.
But of course, I ended up standing in the rain behind a woman arguing with the Secret Service that her umbrella was "special" because it had been a gift from her dead grandmother and was therefore a family heirloom.
Let's just say that the SS agent was not sympathetic and neither were those of us in line behind her.....
Don't be embarrassed to celebrity watch.
Hello... that's one of the fun convention things....
Roboticcats is over the moon after meeting Anderson Cooper, Vicki Kennedy, and making eye contact with James Carville.
I got to go all fangirl on Rachel Maddow when I saw her on the escalator: "Rachel, you're awesome!" and Wolf Blitzer stomped my foot on the convention floor - by accident.
We also met Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Terri Sewell, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Steny Hoyer, Maxine Waters, and John Conyers.
Arrive early for events!
I was most impressed by Rep. Ellison. He was running the Progressive Caucus meeting & came around before it started and tried to meet us individually and talk for a bit. That's a huge advantage to arriving early for an event.
I got to talk with Ellison for almost 10 minutes about the political situation in Alabama, his admiration for Rep. Sewell, and his dreams for a true "progressive caucus" in every state Democratic Party and in the national party.
And, because we were early for the health care forum, we shot the breeze with Vicky Kennedy (without realizing who she was).
People Watch....
My favorite outfit from the convention was this guy striding down the street in a rather unusual suit.... It's kind of like if Herb Tarlek from WKRP in Cincinnati had taken a job in Charlotte.
He didn't set off my "gaydar," but he did ping my "anti-gaydar." What a suit.... Then there was the guy in the media area who appeared to be sleeping there and changed his shirt at his workstation. The outside vendors ranged from those who silently stood and offered their buttons/stickers and those whose antics were worthy of PT Barnum. I particularly remember the guy with Obama hand puppets who carried on a conversation with his puppet. ok then....
I finally moved outside my shell and chatted with strangers. Ask my family how unusual that is. and that's how I met the great couple from Florida who had won a trip to the convention. fun!
Random.
One of the first snarky comments I remember was on Tuesday when a passerby noted that "it must never rain in Charlotte because nobody here can drive in the rain."
Sorry, but I'm not sure how anybody in Charlotte drives. Blinkers, merging, and any sort of common driving courtesy were totally absent. As was any sense of personal safety.
I-85 merge onto I-77 is a left-hand merge. Always tricky, but even more so when you're dumbfounded to watch the van in front of you pause and then cut directly across 4 lanes of traffic to take an exit. I don't mean the van merged aggressively: it drove straight across the interstate in front of oncoming traffic. It was like the "Eddie Murphy running across the highway" scene in the movie "Bowfinger ." I was terrified just watching it.
the convention was awesome... thanks to Mooncat for giving me the chance to go and to my sweet, tolerant hubby who held the house, garden, and animals together for a week while I was gone.
Y'all are the best!!!