Whoa..it's getting a little heady. Adventures from the Williamson County, Texas Democratic Convention

Okay friends and neighbors, yesterday, at the Williamson County Democratic Convention, I was elected as my precinct's delegate to the Texas State Democratic Convention in June. I am still a bit in shock, but I am thrilled with the prospect of finding a voice and a way to represent both the Democrats of my historically heavily Republican area and indirectly--my students.

So how the hell did I get there???

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that in addition to teaching, I direct the ballet folklorico program at the high school where I work and that my kids, my dancers, are very close to my heart. Some come from families who have been in this country for generations. Some are first generation Americans. Some are immigrants themselves. Of those, some are here legally and some are illegal, undocumented or whatever the media is calling them these days. To me they are all my kids. Whether their parents went to college or never set foot in a high school they dance together. They work together to fund the program. They compete together. They not only in school, but they represent their school in performances and competitions in the community and beyond. I love them. And when they graduate, having completed everything asked of them by the school system and No Child Left Behind, prepared to further their educations, earned scholarship money and prayed for the college acceptance letters, some of them will be in complete and utter limbo, denied many types of financial aid that they truly need and deserve. They have been here for years. They have learned English. They have been educated in our school system. Their parents have kept our businesses running, our homes roofed, and our offices clean. They have paid a lot of taxes--sales, property--even social security. Their home, their friends, their education and their World is here. They don't have anything to "go back" to. And they believe in Barack Obama.
Forget the black-white divide. Forget the Latinos are all for Hillary. As a teacher, I can't "do politics" at school. If someone asks me who I support or why, I tell them, but I don't talk much politics in my building and with my kids we have business at hand on which to focus, but they knew I was going to my county convention. They knew, because yesterday they had a performance with UT's Folklorico and some other important groups at the MACC (Mexican American Cultural Center) in Austin. Obviously, I couldn't be in two places at once, so I had to tell them when we booked the gig, well if you want to do this, I can't go. So my "capitana" stepped up to take care of the logistics and a parent said she'd be there as an "adult presence" and my kids said, "Don't worry about us, Miss. Go to the Convention".
The night before the convention, I took my competition team to a workshop at UT (University of Texas). It went until 8:30 pm. Then most of us went for a cheap quick meal, and as we laughed and ate tacos and fries, one of the girls asked me exactly what I was going to be doing the next day and who I was supporting. So I told them. And each of them started talking about Barack--about who they knew who voted for him, about how one of the girls' boyfriends, who is not legal himself and so doesn't know if he will ever be able to vote in a U.S. election has a picture of Barack on the inside of the visor of his truck where the mirror should be. By the time I got all of them home and got home myself it was after 11 pm, but I was so fired up for the convention!

The Convention

Okay, now I live in Williamson County, Texas, ya'll. This has been a RED county for quite a long time--definitely for the 9-plus years that I have lived here. I mean, for many positions Republicans ran unopposed, so primary voting has been a pretty quick affair around here. But times, they are a changin'. When my neighbor, an alternate who was upgraded to delegate status, and I pulled up to Stony Point High School, the line of people waiting to register and be credentialed was stringing around the building. The parking lots were full and people were pulling up onto the grass and wedging their cars in any place they could.
We spent a good portion of our first 2 hours in lines. At one point, we were pulled out of the line and seated to hear a speech by the guest speaker, Jim Mattox, a heavy weight in the Texas Democrat Party. Then we were back in line.
There were all kinds of problems stemming from mistakes made at the precinct level by volunteers who had never dealt with caucusing before--because no one had ever shown up. Four of our Obama delegates from my precinct, 239, were not on a list, for example. Each case had to go before the credentials committee--one by one-- to be resolved. Eventually they were. Sometime in the mid-afternoon we were able to ratify our delegates, establish Quorum and get things underway, but not until we elected officers to the convention.
The next hurtle to jump over was that very few people, myself included, really had a grasp of the convention process and almost as few had ever heard of Robert's Rules of Order, so there was a lot of "You must address the chair" and "You are out of order, sir" for the next couple of hours. Some people started to get tired and then there was the handful of "I've got to find something to complain abouters" who had to be heard. But...
it was good. No, it was great, because here, in Williamson County, Texas, was an entire high school gymnasium filled--floor and both sides of bleachers--with Democrats. It was as though we had emerged from a dark night into a light-filled day and had seen for the first time that we were not alone. All the problems, which were resolved, all the confusion, all the delays stemmed from an unimaginable increase in Democratic involvement in the political process in our county. All these people were learning together. All these people now know what the convention is. They know how to make a motion and how to call the question. AND on top of all that, for the first time since I have been here, Texas was getting a real voice in deciding the Presidential nominee of our Democratic Party.
After a hot election for a permanent chair and a slightly cooler one for secretary of the convention, we got to the business of caucusing. Our precinct, 239 was grouped with 394 (no one showed up) and 395, which sent one Obama delegate. A number of us had applied for at-large spots at the State Convention and four of us declared our intention to run for the delegate space from our precincts. We decided each would speak. I was asked to go first and I spoke about my general political experience and then I spoke about my dancers and my desire to be their voice. Another delegate spoke of her attraction to Obama as harkening back to the affection she had held for Robert Kennedy. Another addressed his work as an architect and his concern about the zoning and growth issues facing our portion of Williamson County and finally, the brave Clinton delegate, who had chaired our precinct convention for the Hillary side back on March 4th, spoke of growing up in South Texas and learning to vote Democratic with her mom and of the Clinton's involvement in the economic development of that area of the state. After the vote, it actually came down to a coin toss between myself and the other female Obama delegate. She called it. I won. I will go to the State Convention as delegate and she will go as an alternate.
Back inside the gym, we learned that there was no Democratic Club in Southern Williamson County. We are in a unique situation--part of Austin, but not part of Travis County. In the Round Rock Independent School District, but not in Round Rock--unable to vote in either election, without access to a free library and unsure who can respond to our 911 calls. Several of us, including in a show of Party loyalty, the Clinton delegate and the architect who had just competed with me in the quest for the state delegate spot, decided we needed to get a club off the ground. We collected about 30 names and contact information from delegates in ours and surrounding precincts and have already contacted the County Party for help in our endeavor. Because the convention needs to be a start, and our local Dems need to win right along with the Democratic Presidential Nominee.
The happy insanity dragged on until after mid-night. Just before dinner time, it was announced that those not interested in the resolutions, could go and many did, including most of the our precinct's delegation. I hung in with the architect, who had acted as our precinct chair for the day, and another Obama delegate, who was hoping to be advanced in an at large spot. Not long after, however, questions began to arise as to whether or not quorum would need to be re-established to ratify all (or maybe some would say what little) we had managed to accomplish during the day. Out came the list we had compiled earlier and two of us went to work calling people back--Obama supporter or Clinton, we didn't care. We just called. We talked to a lot of voice mails, got in touch with a few and two or three came back. For naught. When the convention reconvened at 9:45, it had been determined, after checking with the State Party and consulting legal counsel, that once quorum had been established, it could not be broken. Since others had been calling their precinct delegates though, and got some of them back, we probably had quorum, had we counted.
On and on it went--committee reports, votes on challenge rulings, motions for the sake of motions and some thoughtful ones, too. Democracy at its inefficient, messy best.
Just past midnight, we dragged our weary selves out of the gym and into the night--no longer alone. We are Democrats in Williamson County, Texas. The GOP needs to watch out!

A little navel-gazing

Sometimes when I sit down to write my blog, I have a definite plan, a point of view, a specific topic to lay out there for the World. Other times, like today, especially like today, when I haven't had the time or the strength or the whatever to focus and put out something concrete and coherent for more than a month, I sit down at the computer and think to myself, you better just write something or you'll never get the groove back. So here I am --goovin'.

Since last I wrote, I took my competition team to, what else?, competition--the first of two long weekends away with kids and choreographer. I also voted for Obama, caucused for him and finally got myself elected a delegate to the Williamson County Democratic Convention to be held on March 29th. I have contemplated going to some other Democratic events before that, but haven't. I'm tired. I've been on Spring Break for a week now. I have exercised every day and as my body begins to feel again, I have been able to think again--not the frantic, manic, survival think that is my life when I am at school, but the flowers on the trees are beautiful and I'd like a new eyeshadow and which clothes will I give to Goodwill this spring and is my body tired, should I sleep kind of think. Oh, there you are--you still exist kind of think.

Some people find it possible to save the World and still take care of themselves. I start out like that, but then I get lost. In some ways it pays off for me. My folklorico kids gave me my first ever surprise party for my birthday--I turned 36th on March 5th. So at least, I am appreciated. It felt good to be appreciated, but part of me wanted to get out of there. Part of me wanted to disappear. Part of me wanted to just take a nap.

Even as I write this, I am beginning to feel guilty and anxious. There is so much work to be done to make the folklorico what it could be. To make the ESOL program what it should be. To get Obama elected. To save the environment. Do I really think I am going to work out every day? I want to.

Part of the problem is that despite all the rhetoric, nobody wants to really pay for public schools and even when a fair amount is paid it gets eaten up by administration and studies and what you really need is a well-educated, motivated adult for every few kids to give them both the relationship and the push they need to succeed--and it just isn't going to happen. So we have "Community Seminar"--glorified, over-programed advisories to try to meet the needs of every kid, while piling more work on the already over-worked teacher. The teachers and administrators who come up with this stuff are all well-meaning and dedicated, but rarely are they the coaches and sponsors of time-consuming programs, because we have practices and rehearsals during the meeting times. But we are the ones who do what they want done every day--already. Now they give us another group of kids to do it for. I might get pushed over the edge. I try to filter out all the "be more dedicated, gung-ho" stuff, but they make us attend all these "trainings"--no wonder I just want to go to sleep. I just feel more and more that I can't do the job the way I should. I can't run my program, prepare great lessons, mentor 18 kids, who aren't even in my regular classes, be a good wife, cook delicious dinners, work-out, be politically active, recycle, reuse and reduce, meditate, attend mass (don't tell the Pope, because I haven't been since Christmas), appreciate nature, drive dancers home after rehearsal, invest wisely, get my roots done (7:30 am Saturday hair appointment???!!!-yes), maintain friendships, grade chapter tests, prep kids for standardized tests, do laundry and iron, make the bed (sometimes), publish thoughtful blogs, read good literature and stay abreast of the news, while in a good mood and maintaining my once youthful figure (must work out. must work out.) No pressure.

Meanwhile, I hope and pray that Obama can clinch this thing. I am glad that Venezuela and Ecuador didn't go to war with Colombia and that Chavez looks to be running out of steam. I am thankful that while my investment portfolio is losing money--at least I am doing better than Bear Stearns.