librarian.net at the DNC

thanks for playing

2004-08-05T09:43:20-05:00

Hi. I've disabled comments here because of encroaching comment spam. I'm pretty sure I'll be rolling any further observations from this wild ride into my regular site at librarian.net. I've laced all my photo albums from the DNC into one big album so if you want to take a look at my view of the convention from end to end, now's your chance. Feel free to get in touch with me via the contact link above if you've got anything more you'd like to say. Thank you so much for your encouraging words and support.

some final thoughts, for this evening

2004-07-30T21:35:16-05:00

For anyone who is curious, transcripts of all the speeches that we received [no final Sharpton transcript, sadly] are available in this directory including the Kerry and Biden speeches in Spanish, over 100 in all. If I get any later, I'll add them.

I am back at home in Vermont after getting a ride home from Massachusetts with my Married Gay Friends. I haven't seen them since the law went through in Massachusetts, and was just stupidly delighted to see them and their almost-one year old son. To me, the biggest thing to happen in Massachusetts politically has been gay marriage, other than Mitt Romney's complete dismantling of most of the social safety net in the state leaving many of my friends looking for new jobs. You'd think the Dems might have at least made a nod in that direction, seeing as the DNC was in Boston and everything. I sure did meet a lot of gay delegates and DNC staffers. But then again, they're over a barrel, aren't they? What are they going to do, vote for Bush?

The good news about having all the speeches go straight into gmail is that they're easily searchable. Here's who said the word "gay" in all those 100+ speeches.

Kweisi Mfume, president of NAACP, "We understand that gay bashing and immigrant bashing and union bashing deplete us as a nation, in an era of smaller vision, rampant apathy and celebrated mediocrity. We so desperately need a president who will stand up for that which is right and speak out against that which is wrong." [read full speech here]
Barack Obama, media darling, State Senator from IL, "We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States." [read full speech here]
Cheryl Jacques, former MA state Senator, current president and executive director of the Human Rights Campaign. [read speech here]
Barney Frank, Rep. from MA who diverged quite a bit from his prepared remarks. [read speech here]
Roberta Achtenberg, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, former Clinton staffer. [read speech here]

Only Jacques and Achtenberg had speeches that mentioned gay marriage though I know Frank discussed it from the podium. Those three are, of course, the gay ones. I wonder how much they feel they need to suck up the absence of a gay marriage mention for the good of the party?

Here's how many times the word "gay" appears in the Democratic party platform: once. On the second to last page of a 41 page document, the platform says

We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a "Federal Marriage Amendment." Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart.

day five, day last

2004-07-30T11:38:38-05:00

Day five photos are up and viewable. The weather is finally icky, and I'm finally on my way home to Vermont. Post-game wrap up on these pages may have to wait a day or two because tomorrow is the Rutland Ethnic Pride Street Fair and I'll be staffing a table for the public library all day long. Bloggers, it was an honor to serve among you, look me up when you come to Vermont.

day four

2004-07-29T19:03:22-05:00

The day four pictures are up and viewable. It's a total zoo here. It's hot and there's a few free seats up here sometime so all these pushy Democrats with "do you know who I AM?" attitudes are telling all sorts of stories about why they should be sitting here. The Daily Show was by making fun of everyone, then apologizing once the cameras were off. I'm going to be heading somewhere far from here to take in the rest of the speeches [as many of my colleagues have already done] and have some sort of useful wrap up tonight or tomorrow.

self-involved autoerotic narcissism

2004-07-29T14:09:58-05:00

If you'd like to hear my chippy the chipmunk voice, the Boston Globe's "meet the bloggers" section has a little audioblog snippets of me and some of the others.

meanwhile, outside the Fleet Center

2004-07-29T13:47:41-05:00

Once again, I'm updating from the library where there were roughly 50 cops parked on the front patio when I arrived. I'll have some photos tomorrow. When I ran into BPL president Bernie Margolis yesterday in the cafe, I asked him what he thought about [what I perceived as] the lack of library-relevant topics coming up at the DNC. As we all know, if an issue isn't going to persuade the swing states, it won't be too visible on the platform. So, we get to hear a lot of talks from generals and "god, war and family" talk, but precious little about eroding civil liberties [Obama was an exception], the USA PATRIOT Act or other nefarious government intrusions into the public sphere. His response was quick and clearly pre-considered...

Roughly paraphrased, he said he'd been talking to local politicians, notably Mike Capuano, and said "We're willing to go to jail over the USA PATRIOT Act" I like that kind of talk, I think it will move things forward.

This morning, on the ALA Council list, as people debated what to do over the DoJ memo flap, he confirmed what he'd told me yesterday, that he was prepared to contest the request for the destruction of documents, and gave concrete examples of what other libraries should do.

I have taken several actions which I would like to encourage others to follow in whatever manner is comfortable.��

First, I have written (snail mail) Judy Russell (SUDox) requesting verification of her e-mail.� With all of the concern about authentication how can we be sure of the e-mail�s origin? I have asked for info on the process followed for removal.� I have also asked why the request was not to return the items but rather to destroy them.� (I will not destroy these documents.)

Next, I have written Lester Joseph, asking him to reconsider his request to SUDox.� I believe all he really wanted was that new editions/publications not be placed in the depository system. I do not believe, based on our phone conversation, that he actually wanted these to be destroyed.

Third, I have spoken with the Boston Globe about a possible editorial. I hope this will happen. Encourage your newspaper.

Fourth, I have copied the five documents and they are being cataloged as part of the Boston Public Library�s collection � separate from the depository collection.� They are available for public use and will continue to be.

Ladies and gentlemen of Boston, this is what your librarians look like.

first public library, yes or no?

2004-07-28T19:30:23-05:00

You've likely seen those posters in the T if you're at the DNC saying that Boston is first in this, first in that, and had the first public library. I'd always thought the first public library was in New Hampshire. Leave it to another librarian to figure out the truth or at least cite some good sources.

BPL's President, Dr. Bernard Margolis, was gracious enough to send me a quick e-mail in which he upheld Boston's claims, but also acknowledged the "semantic issues" and long-standing "jockeying with Peterboro" that is involved as well. Margolis mentioned that Bostonians, not BPL as a modern institution, notes a �continuous line of service� that goes back to 1657, when Captain Robert Keayne�s left money in his will for a library. Some public monies were voted for the upkeep of this building, which housed State records, but it burnt to the ground in 1711.

Wyclef!

2004-07-28T19:07:55-05:00

Wyclef Jean just sang his "If I was president" song that I saw on the Chapelle show a few weeks back. The lyrics are below. He was interviewed by Allhiphop.com in May.

AllHipHop.com: What do you think about John Kerry saying he understands hip-hop and the culture?

Wyclef: I mean, I think somebody coached Kerry on what to say, but I hope he can really get inside of the culture and really understand it 'cause it's a deep thing, it would be a great thing if he does understand it.

[chorus]
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assasinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.

If I was president...
If I was president

An old man told me, instead of spending billions on the war,
we can use some of that money, in the ghetto.
I know some so poor, they use the spring as the shower,
when screaming "fight the power".
That's when the vulture devoured

[chorus]
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assasinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.

If I was president...
If I was president...
If I was president...
If I was president

But the radio won't play this.
They call this rebel music.
How can you refuse it, children of moses?

[chorus]
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assasinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.

If I was president...
If i was president

Tell the children the truth, the truth.
Christopher Columbus didn't discover America.
Tell them the truth.
The truth
YEAH! Tell them about Marcus Garvey.
The truth YEAH! The truth.
Tell them about Martin Luther King.
Tell them the truth.
The Truth.
Tell them about JFK

If I was President
[chorus]
If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday, assasinated on Saturday,
and buried on Sunday.

If I was president...
If I was president

At the Kerry/Edwards fundraiser, he sang these lyrics. �If I was president,� he sang, �I�d be elected on Friday, hire Edwards on Saturday, have a big party on Sunday, start work on Monday. Kerry is the president, yah, yah.� I can't say for sure what he said this evening, it's all echoey up here.

let's talk about me for a second

2004-07-28T18:33:32-05:00

Chuck0, fellow radical librarian, interviewed me via AIM from the DNC. You might notice, I say "weird" eight times.

who says there's no grass roots?

2004-07-28T17:02:55-05:00

An ongoing post about the Grassroots News Conference that I attended this morning.

ActBlue helps people raise money easily for Democratic candidates
DemSwingers have a brilliant gig. Get students who live in a swing state and attend school in a non-swing state to vote absentee at home. Help them register. Help them vote.
Driving Votes gets people to go to swing states and register people to vote. Helps with rides, helps with funding, gets people to the polls.
MMOB Mainstreet Moms Oppose Bush connects moms with other moms from swing states and helps register them via personal letter writing campaigns with their Adopt a State program. Also is trying to "brand" voting. Gave me a fancy bracelet.
Running in Heels/Women Against Bush try to get single women interested in the political process by arranging hip fun events and talking to them about why the Dems are the better party for women [health care, privacy issues etc]
Run Against Bush sells t-shirts to runners who then wear them while running around in their communities and in races. They're not even all pro-Kerry but they are anti-Bush.
ReDefeatBush gets hipsters in Metro areas to staff phone banks at nightclubs and hotspots to encourage people in swing states to vote Democrat.
Billionaires for Bush kicked off their swing state tour, bringing their ascerbic "rich people love Bush" theater message to the masses. Very funny, very sharp, very creative. Invite them to your party.

day 3 photos posted

2004-07-28T14:39:22-05:00

My photos from Day 3 are up and viewable. They're all put out there with a Creative Commons license, so feel free to copy them, just not make money off of them. I'm behind on notes here, and there may be some backlog posting when the speeches finally wrap up. Speaking of the speeches, I'll be archiving the ones that I get, to the extent that I can, and sticking them in this directory as textfiles. Feel free to browse them. I've been using gmail's search capacity to see who is mentioning the USA PATRIOT Act [almost no one], gay marriage [no one] and security issues [a few coded mentions], today is the day when all the military folks speak, so I've been spending a bit more time posting from the library than usual.

obama speech

2004-07-27T22:08:12-05:00

The first speech I've really heard that got me at all jazzed: Barack Obama's speech.

If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.

the map is not the territory

2004-07-27T21:02:59-05:00

What's it like? It's like Burning Man for Democrats, without the nudity or the drugs. Everyone is walking around grinning like they've just had their first threesome. I can't even imagine what it's going to look like on Thursday, but I am starting to get just a little nervous.

some speechifying

2004-07-27T20:33:47-05:00

Kennedy's speech is happening now. I've archived a copy of it here. Feel free to read it. It's been a hectic day up in the blogger treehouse. It's fun talking to reporters and meeting all the other bloggers, but then it becomes harder to "get things done." I wind up uploading pictures and doing the bulk of my work at my sister's house in the morning while drinking coffee and wearing my pj's.

The big story of the bloggers at the convention is that the convention is quite possibly the worst place to "blog", short of maybe the subway, that I've been to. The good news is that it's a good place to get information, take notes, take pictures, think about things, and then let the whole messy love fest congeal into a few tangible ideas that can be shared with others.

What I have been doing: reading the stories, talking to people, walking around, taking it in, staying fed, finding events to go to, watching a lot of giant television. What I have not been doing: surfing the web, reading other convention blogs except rarely as a guilty pleasure, following any of the mainstream media's coverage, or answering email. It's a weird type of vacation, and yet it's not exactly work.

dnc day 2

2004-07-27T13:47:56-05:00

My photos from the second day are up and viewable. I've just gotten my daily credentials across the street from the Boston Public Library ["Why every day?" I asked "For security." they said, end of discussion] and am enjoying fast Wifi while I can. Though they tell us they've added a second access point in the Fleet Center, I remain skeptical. Today I hope to go on the floor, say hello to the Vermont delegation, and maybe check out the alternative festivities happening on Boston Common.