Category: Travel

Neal, Monica and I eat raw fish in Brooklyn!

First, an explanation is in order. What’s this ‘bredda’ crap all about? On the 1983 Album, Special Beat Service by The Beat, you will find a song called Pato and Roger Ago Talk, in the lyric of which singer Ranking Roger sings, “We a bredda”. While there is plenty of room to wonder what the hell Pato and Roger are ago-talking about, we accept the definition of bredda as meaning “close male friend”.

Among my closest friends are a batch I met as far back as the first grade, and on into high school. We’ve enjoyed many adventures and memories, and remain close despite being scattered now across the country living very different lives. Two years ago, at our 20th High School reunion, we bemoaned the infrequency of our gatherings, and determined to use the year we all will turn 40 as occasion for an epic lost weekend. There were many months of planning, and a bit of uncertainty, but ultimately to our own surprise we actually pulled it off.

A destination was chosen, Sayulita, Mexico. A small fishing village 35 minutes north of Puerta Vallarta. Now, a week after returning, and with photos developed, I am ready to start telling the tale. But later, for now, just check out the photos.

It’s hard to believe we actually pulled it off, but me and four buddies, determined to see more of each other and to use the year we all turn 40 as the perfect excuse, have found our way to Sayulita, Nayrit, Mexico. We’re staying in an amazing house, Casa Caracol (which means ‘Snail House’ due to its shape), at the top of Gringo Hill. We have an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean, a pool, and a just plain crazy house that feels like something from through the looking glass. Only the photos, which will follow when I get home, can do this any justice, so stay tuned for those. I just needed to get a quick blog entry in while actually here 🙂 Adios.

As mentioned here before, my big brother Kevin is the conductor of the current tour of the musical Miss Saigon. Recently, they visited Tallahasse, and in this letter to the editor of the Tallahasse Democrat, he thanks the city for the warm welcome he received.

Caucus Day at last! How would it turn out? At first disapointed to find that my favorite wireless coffee shop was closed on Mondays, I instead found the breakfast that I’ve been looking for at Dottie’s cafe. While I was eating, a few orange-hatted Dean colleagues entered the diner and didn’t sit down for their coffee until they had worked every customer in the place. OK, so I was gonna get to that after my coffee, really.

Even though traveling here to help the campaign, I have to make a living too, and I spent most of the day online and getting caught up on work. By late afternoon, I set out for St. Mark’s Community Center, caucus location for Dubuque’s 18th Precienct, the one I walked on Saturday. Visitors are welcome to attend and observe caucuses, and I was eager to see the culmination of this campaign effort in the unique political drama that is a caucus. It didn’t disapoint.

But first I needed to spend a bit more time for the cause, so I stood outside on the cold street corner, waving a Dean sign high above my head, shopping for honks of support.

Inside, the basement of St. Mark’s was very crowded, but not uncomfortably so. I grabbed a seat as out of the way as I could, and sat back to watch. I was impressed with how informal it all seemed. Voters sat in groups, roughly together by candidate. There were a total of 131 eligible voters attending, and the doors closed at 7pm, locking in that total amount. Based on this number, the level of ‘viablility’ was set at 20 supporters, and after initials counts of support, only Gephart’s 12 supporters failed to meet that plateau. Given the opportunity to re-align, most of them went to Kerry, a few to Edwards.

There were two voters who declared themselves to be ‘uncommitted’ upon their arrival, which proved to be like declaring yourself to be chum in a shark pool, as each of the precient leaders for the various campaigns set upon them in an effort to pull them to their candidate. They went to Edwards.

Final tallies and delegates:

candidate/votes/delegates

Kerry/43/2
Dean/40/2
Edwards/27/2
Kucinich/21/1

After the caucus, I headed to a local bar to watch the results on CNN. There I met Marty, a Democrat from nearby Galena, Illinois. We talked politics and hit an Irish Pub in Galena together. Gavin the Bartender is from Ireland, and he’s looking forward to his first opportunity to vote this November as an American Citizen. We talked politics over a few beers, and Gavin proves to be very knowledgeable and eager to participate. I was struck by his enthusiasm to participate in our system, and felt sad at the thought that it’s something that so many American’s have lost. I came to Dubuque to participate in a deeper way myself, and to follow trails leading back to a distant Irish ancestor of my own. I did both, and was also reminded by the Caucus goers I watched, and by Gavin the bartender, that there are still people who care and take part, and they’ll be the ones to decide who wins and loses.

My support for Howard Dean hasn’t waned. His expectations got ahead of the voters, and his third place finish is a reality check. The Iowa field has thinned by one with Gephardt’s exit, but New Hampshire will bring Clarke and Lieberman into the mix. We’ll face a whole new episode of Primary Survivor next week in New Hampshire.

It was a cold morning in Dubuque today. The Telegraph Herald put the day’s expected high temp at a bitter 17 degrees. Yesterday was overcast with icy sidewalks, but today the sun was shining, not that it offered anything more than light today.

The word was that Tom Harkin, Iowa’s popular Democratic Senator, would be at Dean’s Dubuque Headquarters today to rally us Storm Troopers for another day on the streets. The HQ was abuzz with activity, as volunteers moved tables, hung streamers, and prepared a stage from which Sen. Harkin could speak.

During my eight years working in the United States Senate, I had plenty of opportunities to see many Senators at work from a front row seat, and my opinions of them would grow or suffer. My opinion of Senator Harkin only ever grew, he’s a smart and impressive politician, and I was thrilled when he recently announced his decision to endorse Howard Dean. He spoke to us about that decision, about how he couldn’t sit on the sidelines, and about how after his review of the field that he felt Dean had the best chance at sending George Bush packing. It was a rousing speech that achieved it’s goal of pumping up the orange-hatted volunteers for another day of retail politics.

Pairing up again with my partner Rick from yesterday, and another volunteer from Wisconsin named Robert, we’re assigned to go to the westurn suburb of Asbury. It’s really bitter cold outside. After we divvy up our first batch of streets and I’ve walked a couple of block, I noticed an unusual crackly feeling on my face. It was beardsicles. With each breath I exhaled, more moisture would collect and freeze immediately on my mustache and beard, my own personal facial ice machine.

As before, many people aren’t home, and we leave a door hanger with information about their caucus location. The weather seems to work to my advantage at some doors that are opened. When people hear I’ve come all the way from Virginia just to knock on doors and encouraging Iowans to vote, they seem to feel I deserve at least a hearing. And my beardsicles must give me a particularly pitiful look. Often I’m invited inside to step out of the cold, and when I do, the fast temperature change causes my glasses to fog up quickly. I’m my own walking atmosphere.

Step by step, door by door, we work through out walk lists. Talking to people, leaving them information about Dean and about the Caucus. The cold can’t slow us. By late afternoon, we’ve knocked on about 300 doors. Exhausted, cold, and hungry, we loaded up and headed back to headquarters with great satisfaction for our work accomplished today.

A burger and beer is my reward at a local brew pub. I see the end of one football game, and the beginning of another, before heading back to my room to peal off my frozen clothes and hunker down for the evening.

The Caucus is tomorrow. Tonight’s TV poll says that Kerry and Edwards have surged ahead of Dean and Gephardt. But finally, tomorrow, the only real poll that matters will take place. And it won’t be the media pundits deciding the winner, it will be Iowa Democrats, it will be real voters. I feel good in knowing that I reached as many of them as I could.