I went to my first county Democratic Party volunteer night tonight. Organized by the county Executive Director, it was an opportunity for folks to come help stuff envelopes with a flier going out explaining the big strides the party took in 2017 and the even bigger goals for 2018. We just elected our first Democratic state senator in the legislative district in November, so there is a feeling of wind in the sails.
Sitting there stuffing envelopes for a couple of hours I learned more about how local government works than in 13 years on Kos. I probably read the wrong diaries. But sitting in the room were a couple of folks who held local office, and a ton of great information came out in the general chit chat that accompanies the mindless work of folding-stuffing-sealing-labelling-stamping (several suggestions to modify the workflow came up and were debated, serving as a shibboleth for me that this was indeed a Democratic Party meeting). I learned how our county Party serves as an umbrella organization for several caucuses I had no idea existed, but I plan to get involved with like the progressive caucus and the LGBTQ caucus.
We have three Democratic candidates running in the congressional primary in June, and several of those caucus groups are hosting meet and greet and debate events with them. My 10 year old daughter has demanded I bring her to tomorrow nights. She has some questions she wants to ask.
Going into a room of strangers by myself is right below squeezing lemon juice into a paper cut on my experiences list. I have heel pivoted out of conference rooms to hide in my hotel room for an afternoon or two. I’ll be back for next month’s volunteer event. And I’ll be going to my town’s Democratic club meeting this month, too; lemon juice be damned.