DNC Day 1
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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.
