Let Me Tell You A Story

STILL WORKING IT ALL OUT. For the last two days I have been editing and uploading fotos from the DNC and the RNC. And of course I have to get it all out, get it all down, or what really was the point of going, or of having amigos help chip in to make it possible? Must bring back the goods! Nah, mostly I just have to tell the story I experienced. After all, telling the story is not really separate from the experience, and it’s not owed or anything. It is just part of being me and going. 

As I mentioned before, as I complained about before, the RNC came right on the heels of the DNC. Which was really terrible planning, but of course the GOP wanted it that way. GOP Plan = Terrible Plan, and there’s no murkiness about that equation. If they plan it, it’s good for them and bad for the rest of us. That’s just how they operate.

So even before I had to time to think about all I had seen and felt, even before I had time to rest, I had to fly off to St. Paul. It was a very strenuous twelve days or whatever it was. I think I may be getting sick, my throat is weird now, fuzzy and such. I started getting a bit of a dry cough at the end of the RNC, but didn’t notice it. You know how it goes at first. It’s just a little thing, could just be your body kicking out dust, you dont know. But then one day you wake up and your throat feels scratchy and you remember the random dry coughs and are like “Oh, that was me getting sick.” So that is where I am now. Maybe I”ll fight it off, I have a good immune system. We’ll see.

Anyway,  today I plan to finish the short DNC vid I began on my two day layover at home, and then move right into the video on the RNC which features the police and military presence as we first met it the night we (naively) thought we could drive to the Excel Center all the way to the final rally. This one might take me a day or two, though I’ll try to finish it up quick. But I have audio, fotos and videos to work together to make that one happen, and I’d like it to not be sloppy. I do know I’ll either have to have an R-rated and a G-rated version or a UMX version and a Kenneth Cole Productions version because when we first happened upon the militarized appearance of the town, every other word out of our mouths began with an “F” or an “M”, either one not really suitable for primetime. We just couldn’t believe it.

I’m more interested, personally, in writing the story of the DNC convention (which I still haven’t actually done in full!) as it dealt so much with identity and ethnicity. But that will have to wait third in line. No rush, it’s coming. I feel I should have it all down already, but that’s ridiculous. I just packed a world of experiences into two back-to-back trips and I’ve not even taken a day off yet, and won’t. So really, I’m moving as swiftly as possible.