-Diary 1-
Ohio Organizing Fellowship $ Meter:
CURRENT: $85
GOAL: $550
(As donations are made, donors will be recognized)
Current Donors for Change:
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--More below the fold--
Some Background:
My name is Chris and I am a seventeen year old, recent high school graduate living in Western North Carolina. I was born in Massachusetts and moved down to the South around the age of ten. I plan on attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Freshman next Fall. It was 2004 when I discovered my love for politics.
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One summer evening, as a 13 year old, apathetic teenager, I was flipping through the television channels as I stumbled across the Democratic National Convention. Coming from a very liberal family, I was familiar with the Democratic party and, out of absolute boredom, I chose to tune in. Lucky for me, the moment that I chose to tune in, a very tall, skinny, black man, with a funny name was getting ready to take stage.
They kept saying his name, but it was still hard to catch exactly what the introducer was saying. Was it Baracka Bama? or Borakab Ama?
Until finally, his name rung out crystal clear: It was Barack Obama.
Like many other Americans that night, there was a sense of utopia surrounding that speech. Across the nation, Republicans, Independents, Democrats, Whites, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Gays, Heterosexuals, Seniors, Veterans, and (yes) even Teenagers watched in complete awe. That night, would forever go in history, as the night when America was one.
After that, my interest in politics skyrocketed. I immediately signed on to the DraftObama campaign and immersed myself in political blogs and New York Times articles.
Thus, in 2007, as Barack announced, I cried. I was crying not because the speech was moving or because I was hopeful (though all of that was true): I cried because I knew that the next year or two of my life would be devoted to this candidate and that huge sacrifices would have to be made.
As a Western North Carolina high school student, I made it a goal of mine to organize my peers and create activists out of them, all in hopes of affecting change in our neighbor to the south - South Carolina.
By the end of the summer, I had amassed thirty active volunteers who were ready to work for The Man. We teamed up with the local grassroots group (who was also working in South Carolina).
It was a noble and hefty task that I was taking on - one that would take all of my time, but that would also prove worth it in the end...
(In the interest of time and for the purpose of suspense, I will tell more about my successes in South Carolina and some proceeding primaries in later diaries. Stay tuned...)
--FAST FORWARD TO NOW--
Recently, I received the AMAZING letter from the Obama Organizing Fellowship Program. It read:
Congratulations!
We've reviewed your fellowship application, and we are pleased to offer you admission into the Ohio Obama Organizing Fellows program.
The program in Ohio will begin with a three-day training June 14th - 16th. After training, you will work with our staff and other fellows to organize for Barack in communities across the state through July 26th.
In order to accept the position and participate in the Fellows program, you must fill out this form by Monday, May 26th at 5:00 p.m. Central:
http://my.barackobama.com/...
If you accept this offer and join the program, someone from the campaign will call you next week to welcome you personally, discuss further details, and answer any questions you have.
Thank you for all that you've done -- we look forward to meeting you and working with you in the weeks and months ahead.
(name censored)
Voter Contact Director
Obama for America
On June 14th, 5,000 other young volunteers and I will travel to our respective battleground states to begin organizing the areas for the General Election.
The campaign has warned us that the work will be hard. It will require a minimum of 30 hrs./week and little to no sleep. My experiences with this campaign have taught me several rules:
- Don't expect sleep - you won't get any.
- Coffee is your best friend.
- Pizza is dinner... every night.
- Don't every think you are done with data entry - there's always more...
- When Barack gives his victory speech, it's always worth it.
I will be an Ohio fellow. This means that several other fellows and I will attend a training in Columbus and then disperse across the state to organize communities and volunteers. This includes hosting trainings, leading canvass teams, and organizing voter registration efforts.
The campaign is providing housing, and that's all. While being a Fellow will be rewarding, it will also be expensive. I will be expected to pay for gas and all of my food.
My goal and my challenge to the DKos community is help me put everything in to this fellowship. If you help me today, I will not have to get a part-time job in Ohio, and I will be able to work even harder.
My goal is to raise $550 which all go towards gas and food for the two months that I will be organizing in this crucial state. Ohio is crucial for a Democratic victory in November, and it will take a lot of work to keep it in the Democratic column.
Please stay tuned for future diaries in which I will share with you my fund raising progress and other anecdotes from my campaign experiences over the past year.
Thank you again for all of your help and let's win this thing!