Amanda Manjarrez's Blog - August 2008
So we moved on to day two of our DNC trip and we left our hotel for the thick of events a little smarter than we were the day before. First thing on the list…trade in hours of walking for bike transportation. Luckily, a program called freewheelinwaytogo by Humana and Bikes Belong had stations set up around the downtown area where people could get a free bike for the day, helmet and lock included! I was really impressed with the program myself and loved the fact that so many people at the event were taking advantage of it. It was pretty common to see bikes with the trademark F logo roaming the streets in every direction. They even went so far as to organize scheduled, themed bike rides throughout the day.
After an amazing breakfast and a quaint little restaurant called the Delectable Egg (I highly recommend it) we set out for the array of events that were taking place on Wednesday afternoon. I decided that my next move would be to head out on my bike to the Rage Against The Machine show. It was a good distance away from the central area of events downtown but definitely gave me a chance to get a better sense of Denver. At one point on my journey, as I was about to cross the street, I was abruptly stopped by a stern man in a suit. My first thought was that this was just another ridiculous gesture by the really overstocked security forces downtown, but then it happened. A motor brigade swooped by and next thing I know Barack Obama is in his car about 5 feet in front of me waving at people on the sidewalk. I'm pretty sure we made eye contact and I have to admit I was a little star struck in that moment.
After my brief encounter, I gave up on my journey across town and decided to ride around while I had the transportation and take in the sights of people and events that were taking place. I became more and more impressed with the scale and amount of Obama guerrilla art that I came across in even some of the most obscure places (sidewalks, buildings, alleys, etc). It was like the city had been taken over. Cyrus and I kept running into each other so we finally decided to head to the Rock the Vote concert event where we made our way into the VIP room, of course. Afterwards, we made our way to the MoveOn.org concert and the Bus Party, which turned out to be a great ending to our fun and awesome experience. The Bus party was impressive in so many respects, besides having good décor, walls for graffiti art, henna tattooing, and just good people in general; the actual performances were powered by bicycles that were being ridden by alternating volunteers! It was a great way to have fun and really promote involvement.
Overall, I'd say that the DNC was a great experience and I had a great time myself. The only concern that I'd like to put out there is that the DNC overall did come across as being very exclusive, which is probably not the best way to stir excitement or to promote general engagement among the people. We weren't able to get into the actual convention, of course, considering that the perimeter was a long distance from the Pepsi Center. However, special credentials weren't only needed to get into the Pepsi center but also a multitude of events taking place in the area. As I mentioned before, Cyrus and I were lucky enough to be able to maneuver our way into some exclusive areas, but I doubt that most of the people who travelled to experience the event were as lucky as we were. In the future I would hope that more public events could be available or even have a viewing section for those who want to feel like they are really a part of the Democratic Party and not just a one day voter.
After an amazing breakfast and a quaint little restaurant called the Delectable Egg (I highly recommend it) we set out for the array of events that were taking place on Wednesday afternoon. I decided that my next move would be to head out on my bike to the Rage Against The Machine show. It was a good distance away from the central area of events downtown but definitely gave me a chance to get a better sense of Denver. At one point on my journey, as I was about to cross the street, I was abruptly stopped by a stern man in a suit. My first thought was that this was just another ridiculous gesture by the really overstocked security forces downtown, but then it happened. A motor brigade swooped by and next thing I know Barack Obama is in his car about 5 feet in front of me waving at people on the sidewalk. I'm pretty sure we made eye contact and I have to admit I was a little star struck in that moment.
After my brief encounter, I gave up on my journey across town and decided to ride around while I had the transportation and take in the sights of people and events that were taking place. I became more and more impressed with the scale and amount of Obama guerrilla art that I came across in even some of the most obscure places (sidewalks, buildings, alleys, etc). It was like the city had been taken over. Cyrus and I kept running into each other so we finally decided to head to the Rock the Vote concert event where we made our way into the VIP room, of course. Afterwards, we made our way to the MoveOn.org concert and the Bus Party, which turned out to be a great ending to our fun and awesome experience. The Bus party was impressive in so many respects, besides having good décor, walls for graffiti art, henna tattooing, and just good people in general; the actual performances were powered by bicycles that were being ridden by alternating volunteers! It was a great way to have fun and really promote involvement.
Overall, I'd say that the DNC was a great experience and I had a great time myself. The only concern that I'd like to put out there is that the DNC overall did come across as being very exclusive, which is probably not the best way to stir excitement or to promote general engagement among the people. We weren't able to get into the actual convention, of course, considering that the perimeter was a long distance from the Pepsi Center. However, special credentials weren't only needed to get into the Pepsi center but also a multitude of events taking place in the area. As I mentioned before, Cyrus and I were lucky enough to be able to maneuver our way into some exclusive areas, but I doubt that most of the people who travelled to experience the event were as lucky as we were. In the future I would hope that more public events could be available or even have a viewing section for those who want to feel like they are really a part of the Democratic Party and not just a one day voter.
DENVER - Well, Cyrus and I are here at the Democratic National Convention 2008 basically on a mission to schmooze and represent NMYO. It seems like everyone, including ourselves, is commuting at least an hour each way to and from their hotels to the center of the DNC madness downtown. So our day began by sharing transportation with a mass of delegates, bigwigs with lanyards, and the other DNC groupies like ourselves. The light rail can probably best be described as the "lounge" of the DNC.
The first day was sporadic and interesting to say the least. It became clear to us that our mission of the day was to get lanyards and/or credentials for ourselves if we were going to get into some of the insider events going on and get the real story. Our first stop, however, was the Trick or Vote Happy Hour that was taking place at the David Cook Fine Art Gallery. We made our appearance and everyone was very welcoming and glad that NMYO was able to make it. The party was pretty awesome as well. Good food, good drinks, costumed folks, monsters, etc. made it an excellent schmooze-fest to say the least. We also decided, at this point, that an evidence bag was going to be necessary for this trip.
After leaving the party and heading back into the crowds we heard that an art installation involving a hummer explosion was going to be happening. Our new mission became to find this brilliant spectacle. On the way we managed to make our way into a few private events, from the convention center to a solar party, by using our powers of persuasion, diversion, and assimilation… By the end of it we only had one security encounter, which ended in our favor.
Finally, we found the hummer except that the rumors proved false. It wasn't going to be blown up but was actually used by an artist as a prop to project the stories of homeless veterans on the side wall of the performance arts center downtown. We sat in the grass with the artist and projection team and enjoyed the show.
Our next attempts to get into private events weren't as successful, so after hours of walking we decided that it was probably time to call it a night. But! Before we got on the light rail to head back to the hotel we stopped at a subway across the street for a late night snack. Low and behold, a glossy, fancy lanyard credential that must have been lost somehow was sitting behind the counter. Our eyes lit up and the employees didn't hesitate to give it to Cyrus. Jackpot! Our mission was accomplished. For day two…bikes will be necessary.
The first day was sporadic and interesting to say the least. It became clear to us that our mission of the day was to get lanyards and/or credentials for ourselves if we were going to get into some of the insider events going on and get the real story. Our first stop, however, was the Trick or Vote Happy Hour that was taking place at the David Cook Fine Art Gallery. We made our appearance and everyone was very welcoming and glad that NMYO was able to make it. The party was pretty awesome as well. Good food, good drinks, costumed folks, monsters, etc. made it an excellent schmooze-fest to say the least. We also decided, at this point, that an evidence bag was going to be necessary for this trip.
After leaving the party and heading back into the crowds we heard that an art installation involving a hummer explosion was going to be happening. Our new mission became to find this brilliant spectacle. On the way we managed to make our way into a few private events, from the convention center to a solar party, by using our powers of persuasion, diversion, and assimilation… By the end of it we only had one security encounter, which ended in our favor.
Finally, we found the hummer except that the rumors proved false. It wasn't going to be blown up but was actually used by an artist as a prop to project the stories of homeless veterans on the side wall of the performance arts center downtown. We sat in the grass with the artist and projection team and enjoyed the show.
Our next attempts to get into private events weren't as successful, so after hours of walking we decided that it was probably time to call it a night. But! Before we got on the light rail to head back to the hotel we stopped at a subway across the street for a late night snack. Low and behold, a glossy, fancy lanyard credential that must have been lost somehow was sitting behind the counter. Our eyes lit up and the employees didn't hesitate to give it to Cyrus. Jackpot! Our mission was accomplished. For day two…bikes will be necessary.
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