Yesterday I had the privilege of attending Obama for America's Ohio Women Vote 2012 Summit! It was such a fantastic experience. It was at Union Terminal in Cincinnati. I had never been there, and just fell in love with the architecture! There were about 200 women there--and maybe 10 guys! :) We stood in line for about 30 minutes before we went in to the auditorium and it was so cool to talk with the other women in line. I was next to a woman who drove here all the way from Springfield, Ohio because it was so important to her to be here for this event. She was fantastic! She did her Master's thesis on the abuse of slave women and we got to talking about that for a while...it was really interesting. Another woman I met was a high school senior from Cincinnati who is a super-feminist! She was hilarious and I absolutely loved her knowledge of the feminist movement starting all the way back in the 1700s! She was so passionate and I can't wait to see what she ends up doing with her life. Another woman who was sitting behind me goes to school online and the thing that excites her most about Obama is his commitment to student loans and keeping up Pell grants so she might be able to go to the University of Cincinnati after she gets her Associate's degree. The energy was amazing--everyone was hyped up!
Kate Chapek
Kate Chapek is the Obama Campaign National Women's Vote Director. She was the best MC of this event! She had so much energy and she was fun! My favorite thing she said when talking about what this election means for our country is, "It's not about making history, it's about protecting history." Love it! She also mentioned that statistics show that women trust other women when it comes to deciding who to vote for. When women talk to other women, they don't even realize that the other woman on the other end of the phone is going to be taking in your opinions and will be using that to help shape their own opinion.
The former First Lady of Ohio, Frances Strickland, also spoke. I can honestly say I barely remember what she said. She was kind of monotonous and my mind wandered.
Mary Shelton
This woman, Mary Shelton, is one of the most inspiring women I've ever had the pleasure of hearing speak. She is a campaign volunteer for Obama for America - Ohio and has a developmentally disabled daughter, now 48, who still lives with her. She opened her own small business (this is her website) to help other developmentally disabled people get the care they need, because she realized there are not a lot of people helping that demographic. It's taken off! Her agency is helping people in the Greater Cincinnati Area and they take care of these people who cannot take care of themselves. She said, "The day the Supreme Court deemed the Affordable Care Act constitutional is the day I signed up to volunteer for Obama's campaign." I think the reason she was so amazing to me is that she is a real person with a real story about how Obama has helped her.
Alicia Reece
Alicia Reece (D) is an Ohio representative. She was such a great speaker! Her story is about how her mom and dad started a small business to have their own part of the 'American Dream' and were very successful--until her mom woke up blind in one eye one Christmas morning. They went to the hospital, but the doctors didn't want to diagnose her because her insurance would drop her if she ended up having anything serious. So, she kept trying to live without knowing what was going on with her body. She ended up in a wheelchair and finally got diagnosed with MS. The day she got diagnosed is the day her insurance company said she was no longer covered. Unfortunately, Alicia's mother died in December 2008. Had she still been alive today, the Affordable Care Act would have given her insurance again. Alicia is fighting for Obama because people like her mom can't. We all need to fight for Obama so our loved ones can live to fight another day. Alicia was an absolutely phenomenal speaker and I was so "Fired Up" after her speech! People like her are the reason people like me get up and volunteer!
Natalie Portman
So, of course, the headline speaker of this Summit was Natalie Portman! She was good! I was talking with Lara, a volunteer friend of mine, after the summit and we love the way celebrities use their status and influence to campaign for people. It's amazing, because you know, even if some people don't pay attention to politics but Natalie Portman is their favorite actress, once they get to the polls they might think, "Oh I don't know who to vote for, but I know Natalie is voting for Obama, so I will, too." It was great! She talked about education and about being a woman, and how we've been having some crazy things being said about our bodies by Republicans lately; and how Obama doesn't agree with that at all. I got parts of her speech on video and it was just so great to see one of my favorite actresses ("Black Swan" is one of my favorite movies!) saying things that are so in line with what I believe! It was a very exciting experience. I wish we had gotten some time after her speech to take photos and get autographs with her, but, you know, I still got to hear her speak while I was sitting in the fourth row, and that's pretty cool. :)
These are a couple of sound-bytes of Natalie's speech. Unfortunately, my phone ran out of space at the end of the second video (still had Obama's speech on it!) so I didn't catch the end of her speech, but I thought you all might like these.
I love this photo of her. She is happy about Obama! :) How cool!
So, women: this election is about us. We are the majority in this country; we are going to decide this election. So let's make it about us! Let's put the work in: phone bank, canvass, talk to people, share your opinion! Remember: women trust other women. If you influence three women and then they each influence three women, how far can we go?
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi
What a night at the DNC last night! I was so thrilled to be watching the speeches! I'm not going to go really in depth on anything said, but I am going to post links to four speeches I thought were fantastic! I could write ten posts on these speeches--they were exactly what this 2012 campaign needed. As a friend put it this morning, "Michelle may have just won the election for [Barack]." :) I hope so!
Illinois House Candidate Tammy Duckworth's Speech -- Tammy is an Iraq veteran who lost both legs after the helicopter she was piloting was hit by enemy rockets. Great message, good delivery. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's Speech -- Governor Patrick is the kind of speaker who will bring Republicans to the left, in my opinion. He has the same kind of tone as every speaker at the RNC last week had: this is our policy and we're not changing it. I don't totally agree with that way of conveying a message, but it seems to be very popular among Republican voters. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro's Speech -- Keynote speaker Mayor Castro. What to say about him...Castro 2016! That might be premature; he doesn't have any Congressional experience yet...Castro 2020! I adored his speech. He is so charismatic; he reminded me of a young Obama at the 2004 DNC giving the keynote address. Hmm...foreshadowing? First Lady and Mom-in-Chief Michelle Obama's Speech -- She absolutely nailed it! I want her for another four years! She can connect so well to the audience, and by this morning, Obama was back in favor among women voters! I could go on and on about Michelle; she is truly the largest asset to the Obama campaign.
In other news, this story came up today. It is about how wolves are being taken off the endangered species list in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming and, come October, they will be allowed to be shot on sight outside Yellowstone National Park. I am furious about this! I spent a few days every spring in Yellowstone with my family while I was growing up in Montana. Some of my best memories include these absolutely majestic animals. In fact, this summer when I was in Yellowstone and got engaged on the Lamar River, it was a wolf that we saw first after we got back in the car and were leaving the Lamar Valley.
It has taken us so long to get to this point of having a good number of wolves again! Before 1978, when grey wolves were put on the endangered species list, they were hunted nearly to extinction! I understand that cattle need to be protected and I also am aware that many wolves in one area will completely decimate a food chain, and then they themselves will die. However, according to the NPS site, the wolf population outside of Yellowstone has decreased 60% in only five years. There is less food for them outside the park (due to declining elk populations), which is why wolves kill livestock. While there was a bit of a decline inside the park, the wolves there have bison as an additional food source. In Wyoming there are 270 outside Yellowstone and about 100 inside; if every wolf was relocated so that they were inside the park, that would not work. The bison and elk populations in the park would crash.
Here's what I think should happen: if a wolf kills something you own (cow, child, dog, sheep, etc), you should be able to shoot it. I do not think it's okay to shoot a wolf on sight, though. Just because you see a wolf pack running across the valley does not mean the wolves are going to kill anything. If, for some reason, a wolf pack decides to den near your house or ranch but hasn't killed anything, you should have the option of asking for them to be humanely relocated. In my opinion, this is going to become a trophy race and the wolf population is going to plummet, yet again, and they will have to be placed back on the endangered species list. Seems to me like taking them off and then putting them back on is a waste of taxpayers' money. For everyone back in Montana reading this, please say something to your state senators and representatives! I, myself, will be writing to Gov. Schweitzer.
