Yesterday was the 33rd Legislative District Caucus for the Democratic Party in Washington State. I arrived early at 9:00 AM to help out (and ended up getting an Obama sign and button because I volunteered--woohoo!). I received a short training on how to register the delegates and alternates, then was assigned to the table for the Burien precincts with a woman named Rose. There was a bit of confusion for a while as to whether to hand out index cards. At first we were told to hand them out, then not to, then they changed their minds again. They told us to hand purple index cards out to Hillary delegates, white index cards out to Obama delegates, and then ultimately, it didn't matter when we got into the gym.
I saw several friends there. I sat with my long time friend Vance Bader, who was a delegate from Des Moines. I also saw my friend and former Seattle neighbor, Carla Jones, who is a real estate agent for John L. Scott, and a delegate from Kent. My friend Chitra Solomonson, a physics professor at Green River Community College and fellow Blue Thunder soccer mom was an alternate from Kent who ended up getting seated as a delegate. And new friends and neighbors, Bill Smith and Stephanie Jurado-Smith, delegates from Des Moines were also there.
When I first arrived, I was not intending to run for state delegate. I had heard that you had to actively campaign and network and shmooze, and I thought to myself, this is just like being a politician. I really didn't want to do that, so I decided against it. But when I got there, so many people encouraged me to do it, particularly Stephanie, and when I saw 100 people get up to sign the sheet to make their speech, I thought, okay, why not?
So I was #37. I went up and talked about my life's work battling racism and bigotry as a diversity trainer and as an educator teaching Multiculturalism and Anti-Bias in Education. Apparently it struck a chord in people because my friend Stephanie, who stayed late to help count ballots, called me and told me I was elected! Stephanie is an alternate! So we are headed to the Congressional District Caucuses now and to the State Convention in Spokane!
