queens museum of art and flushing meadow park.

i've been pretty busy the past month, trying to line up some new projects now that the campaign is coming to a close (lots of work to do these last two weeks though!) i've also been traveling for work (i'm actually writing this from norfolk international airport), and finding a new roommate and practicing yoga obsessively and some other stuff i won't bore the internet with. i took some time out from all of that to hang out at flushing meadows park with a good friend who's been visiting from texas for the past month and who i'd barely had a chance to see. he left the following day... what a good friend i am!

queens museum's model new york. we all know how big new york is, but sometimes it takes a different perspective to remind you that it's not just the six block radius you regular.

Canvassing in PA, Walking for Farm Animals

I spent last Saturday knocking on doors in Philly for the Obama campaign. About 180 of us drove down in private or rented cars, arriving there early in the morning. After a full day of canvasing, we collectively knocked on 12,824 doors, signed up 4,878 new volunteers, and registered 495 new voters. All in all, the campaign estimates we gained 900 new votes for Obama. These trips happen every Saturday and Sunday, with smaller groups heading down during the week. If you're interested in going to PA (or any other swing state, hello VIRGINIA!), which I'd highly recommend, even if you have zero experience in politics, canvassing, or volunteering, let me know and I'll get you in touch with the right people. It's really making a difference.

Anyway, I wish I'd had the balls to take photos of people (or, better yet, the talent of a REAL photographer) because we talked to some really interesting characters.

Farm Sanctuary held a benefit fundraiser Walk for Farm Animals yesterday in Central Park. It was a tad humid out, and even rained pretty hard at a few points, but even with the crappy weather, the event turned out really amazing. I took a few photos before things got really busy...

Setting up the info table.




The sign on his back said "Baby piglets need their mommies too!"


About 400 people showed up, despite the rainy weather.




Nummy vegan food from The Groovy Baker. A lot of volunteers donated vegan treats as well. There was soooo much food, and a lot of it was donated to charity when we had too much leftover afterwards.

Camping in a Hurrican at North-South Lake in the Catskills

After several weeks' worth of listserv emails, we were able to get three carloads organized for a trip upstate for camping, hiking and tubing fun. Unfortunately, none of this planning mattered to Mother Nature, and Hurricane Hannah decided to tag along for the weekend. Luckily for us, she turned out to be the life of the party.

other people's photos of the trip:
erica.
laura.
brian.
samuel.
chris.

Jason and I arrived at North-South Lake State Park in the Catskills late Friday evening. Part of our group was already there, and we helped finish setting up the tents before enjoying a few beers and some dinner around the campfire.

It started raining late that night after we were already in bed, but for the most part, cleared up in time for breakfast. After breakfast, we went hiking at Kaaterskill falls.

Laura, Samuel, Matt.

five years ago, today.

I moved here exactly five years ago today.

Photos from the first few months...


View of UES from Roosevelt Island, September 19th 2003.


Brendon, Nick, Ryler, Me, Justin, (is that Karen?) and Ryan outside Red Bamboo, September 25th 2003.


Critical Mass start in Union Square, September 26 2003.


Justin, Salty and Jade, after critical mass, outside Sunshine, waiting for the midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show.


Nick and Ryan, the dudes that saved my life (and me without makeup.)


At Milon, a.k.a. my second home. I pretty much ate breakfast, lunch and dinner here every day for the first six months.


Megan, Amber, Jason and Emmy greet me in Tampa in October, 2003.


BFF Lauren came to visit with Sean, my Park Slope host.


At the Thanksgiving Parade.


First Snow, December 5th, 2003.


Megs, Eric, Robb and Emmy came to visit. Hanging at Enid's, my other second home.


This was the old view out the bathroom window at Enid's. This empty lot is now a gigantic conspicuous consumption loft apartment building.


My painfully unfurnished and messy room in Greenpoint.

DNC Day 5

LA Times published a photo of me at the convention on Tuesday in their Thursday paper.

DNC Day 4

7am: Wake up call.

8am: State delegation breakfast.

930am: Pick up credentials.

10am: Black Caucus (we're all African.)

Donna Brazile at the Black Caucus.

DNC Day 3

I like this time-stamp thing.

630am: Wake up call.

8am: State delegation breakfast.

DNC Day 2

So I think maybe I skipped some back story, so here's the quick version:
I've been volunteering for Barack Obama on a grassroots level since January 2007. Last October, the campaign reached out to a handful of us asking that, if we were interested, we run for delegate seats in the Feb '08 presidential primaries. I ran, won one of two seats for my congressional district, and now here I am (ok, there was A LOT of stuff from there to here, but I have 5 seconds to upload this AND eat lunch.)

I'm going to include some very loose and *approximate* time stamps in this update so you can get the feel of a day in the life of a delegate at the Democratic National Convention. It's been absolutely incredible so far, and I only regret that my limited talent with words and photos does not do this once in a lifetime and history making experience even the slightest bit of justice.

630am: Wake-up Call. There's three of us sharing one bathroom. (hotels are expensive and out of pocket)

800am: NYS Dems Delegation Breakfast.

Every morning, different guests speakers are featured. (I believe the speeches are possibly being broadcast on NPR.)

DNC Day 1

I'm in Denver for the Democratic National Convention.

Riot Police on the 16th St Mall.

woodstock farm animal sanctuary, woodstock ny

the williamsburg courier published a photo from one of the voter registration drives i organized at the pool this summer.

washington d.c.

for the first time in five years, i left ny for the fourth of july. i decided a few days before the weekend to visit my sister in alexandria and the day before i left, my parents decided to drive there from florida as well. it was a really nice surprise, as i hadn't seen them since christmas and wasn't planning on seeing them again until november when we go back to dc for a wedding.

there were a lot of parties for the 4oj as well as my sis's bf's bday, but i opted for a nice quiet weekend of museums and wandering instead. i fell asleep with my feet in the water at the giant fountain in the sculpture garden for a while, then went to a couple smithsonians. this palm thing was in the garden behind the museum of african art.

home body.

this is why i never leave my apt.

bushwick, williamsburg and the rockaways - it's officially summer.

friday was the big state delegation meeting. my fellow cd12-er is also running for state assembly against this guy, sheldon silver. he seems alright, but his speech was a little lackluster and he had the perpencity to speak in double negatives.


then governor paterson spoke which was actually pretty damn cool. i didn't realise he was going to be there and geeked out a little bit. he gave a great speech about unifying the party which ended with something along the lines of "if you can't get on board with obama, we're going to send you to public housing."

camping in bear springs park, catskills, ny

15 of us went camping in the catskills to kickoff summer. this is the second year in a row we headed upstate for memorial day weekend. apparently it's an annual thing now.

mar's got it covered here.
geordy's got it here.
and chris has it here.

i dozed off and missed our exit. gps sent us here:

philly weekend.

drove down to philly for the weekend. jersey is such a beautiful state. i wonder if they named it "garden state" for the same reason that greenland is called greenland?


she-ra wasn't stoked.


i did some canvassing downtown for obama.


philly campaign headquarters.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Himalayas, Nepal