Surfaced!

Phew! holy shit I have been hella busy in Colorado the last week. The deputy field organizer job is cool, because we are just getting paid for what we did already. basically we get up, knock on hella doors, make phone calls until 9 pm, enter pages of data from the door knocks and the phone calls into the computer, make maps for the next days door knocking, and go to bed. I kinda dig this busy lifestyle, and the people on the campaign are pretty fun to hang with. Some canvassing highlights from my and Kevin's exploits include:

*Bite/Hump combo attack on my leg from the tiniest terrier I've ever seen,
*Meeting an 88 year old woman who called Sarah Palin a "slut,"
*Being told that Barack Obama fits the description of the antichrist in the book of revelations,
*being informed that everything Barack Obama says is "straight out of the Communist Manifesto,"
*meeting a woman who won't vote for Obama until he makes public his birth certificate and health records, and,
*"How does Barack Obama feel about getting pets spayed and neutered?"

I also got to speak on a radio show at the University of Northern Colorado with a very DJ who stated: "Hey man, do blaze? Cause I blaze and I'm totally down to blaze with you...I've got a digital vaporizer and I'd totally smoke you out." The show was relaly fun but was only broadcast in the dorms at UNC, which is probably a good ting: after I finished takling about Obama's economic policy, and trying to sound hella profesh, he commented:

"yo dog, this shit is mad crazy. So you heard my man Jordan: vote! get off your ass and prosper. Word."

He told me to "unwind" with him after the campaign, and hopefully that will mean celebrating on November 5th. I find myself having a lot invested in this campaign as I go door to door and talk to all these people in Colorado who are genuinely undecided about who they're going to vote for. One of my field organizers found it ridiculous that the fate of the free world may be literally decided by these people who aren't sure if Obama is a Muslim or not, but for me its just a continual huge wake-up call. Look at how everyone else lives! Portland and San Francisco are such bubbles, we are so fucking different from places like Greeley. What a great gift our prosperity has delivered us.

Anyhoo, I'm gonna try and catch some shut eye, I wish I could disseminate my thoughts in a more detailed way but there isn't enough time or energy to sound like anything but a stuck up, west coast, tax and spend and take guns away from people liberal.

from the lions mouth,
-j baxter smoke

going underground.

duders, sorry this hasn't been too exciting of late, but i've been working crazy hours on this campaign. its much more nuts than i originally thought but i really dig it.

i just got hired as a deputy field organizer which essentially means i will be working more--i am now required by my job to knock on at least 100 doors (that was called a low estimate by my trainer) and call hella volunteers every day 7 days a week.

i am now entering the mystic realm of 20 hour days until the election. there is something like 540 hours until november 4th. i am going underground and will be incommunicado, excepting urgent housing situations and such.

please vote and you can call battleground states from your house on barackobama.com. we will win or lose by a few thousand votes.

what a trip.

love
j baxter smoke

Lets not fuck ourselves over again

Sketchy business in voter registration land, as usual.

Also, see the Obama thizz face.

On the campaign trail...and the NY times!

Check out a video on the NY Times website about where I'm at in Colorado.

Also peep realclearpolitics.com to see updated polls and electoral maps and see why Bumfuck Colorado is the actually very important to the future of this fucking country.

In other news, I have no time to post anything because we're pulling 14 hour days 7 days a week.

love,
-jordan

Hear about the Harlem Children's Zone!

Geoffrey Canada, the most supreme boss ever and founder of the Harlem Children's Zone, was on NPR the other day. Let the knowledge drop on you:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94977387

I've also posted below about my most recent travel experiences.

-j

Minneapolisis isis

The last few days I have been relaxing in Minneapolis and reflecting in New York. I've been thinking a lot about the people who hosted me, and so I wanted to give them a shout out on the global interplex:

First, Thanks to Pops for showing me the high life in Manhattan and getting us the ballingest hotel I've ever seen. And thanks to Mom for letting him out of the house!

Molly, Corin, Ryan, Peter, Nif, Damian, Ned, and Malcolm: you all rock for giving me unfettered access to your ballin-ass pads and showing me around NYC. You all are welcome on my couch/in my bed any time.

Being in Minneapolis for the past few days has certainly helped me re-imagine my time in New York. By my last week I felt fully integrated into the city, one tiny piece of that giant machine. I felt comfortable with the New York attitude. Everyones' trying to get from point A to point B, and nothing stands in there way. And while this gnar-agro attitude is present when you pass people on the street, when I talked one on one with someone I didn't know they were for the most part nice and helpful. I didn't find New York to be as alienating as people told me it would be.

Staying in apartments, instead of hostels, was most excellent because I had quiet personal space when I needed it. As a result, I got a glimpse into what actually living in NYC would be like, and I didn't get burnt out so quick. It also allowed me to step outside of the madness and catch my breath.

I would say my four weeks was the perfect travel time--by the end I felt I had to either move in or leave. More than four weeks in any one place without an agenda is a little much for me.

New York was also a bit of a reprieve from the depression I've been dealing with and experiencing heavily in Portland. Of course, there were times on this trip where I was down, bored, tired, and soaking wet from unprecedented rain. But overall I felt more activated, present, and energized in New York than I have in Portland. I also noticed that while in New York I started to self identify as a unique, smart, creative individual. This wouldn't seem like a big deal if it didn't contrast so sharply with the way I was seeing myself in Portland. Being in and having to deal with New York was a catalyst for my own energy and ambitions.

The best part of my time in New York is how I've carried this stoked-ness with me into Minneapolis. Evenjust chillaxing in Minneapolis I have still felt content, motivated, inspired, and happy with myself. Basically NYC felt like a big wake up call.

Me and Kevin will depart to Colorado tomorrow and begin campaigning on Thursday. Previous campaigners have advice? Also, if anyone knows where we might backpack for a few days while we're down there, please share your brainchild with us.

word!
-j

pictures from the freedom tunnels

Today I went with some buddies to these Amtrak tunnels that start on 116th and Riverside park and go all the way to 70th. These were where the mole people from the movie "Dark Days" lived. The place used to be abandoned but is now in use--we snagged a time lapse shot as the Amtrak passed us. Tomorrow I leave for Minneapolis--what a trip! Once I leave NYC, I'm sure I'll be able to reflect on it and give you guys some super awesome insight.

these pictures are by Ryan Hale, whose website is http://flickr.com/photos/ryanhale/sets

All your comments are really appreciated,and If I haven't gotten back to you yet I'm working on it. Hugs and Kisses, j-smoke