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Sunday, September 14, 2008

A Different Kind of Race

Now that my season is over, I am often asked the question "Sam, what in tarnation are you going to do now?"

Well after weeks of skirting the question ("hey, so how 'bout them Huskies?"), making shit up on the spot ("I won a raffle for a full-ride to Harvard's medical school -- who woulda thunk?"), or worst of all, telling the truth ("so help me god, I have no idea," followed by 10 minutes of inconsolable sobbing) -- I finally might have an answer to that question. At least for the next 50 days.

Consider this an official Glider Bison press release: on September 22nd, I'll be flying out to New Mexico to take a position as a full time manager for the Obama campaign. That's right, the Glider Bison's endorsement is about to become an investment. As a patriotic young American (the real kind, not the Bush administration/Toby Keith kind of patriot) with lots of energy, no job to speak of, no real plans until next season, and a the desire to curb the, uh, mildly troubling turns I've seen our country take over the last *gulp* EIGHT FUCKING YEARS, I figure I'm as well situated as anybody to donate my time and energy to Obama's campaign. From now on, I'm taking direct responsibility for the 2008 election; if Obama wins, you can thank me. If he loses, you can thank Sarah Palin.

I will be helping organize volunteers in southern Santa Fe County. My "turf" will include mostly rural little towns like Glorietta, Galisteo, Madrid, Cerillios (pronounced seh-REE-yos), and most excitingly CaƱoncito -- a charming (and at times shockingly backwater) community located in a beautiful canyon 25 miles outside of Santa Fe which I myself used to call home. I've been warned that campaigning in rural New Mexico is not easy, and as a former resident, I'm inclined to agree -- CaƱoncito residents tend to solve arguments by pointing guns at each other, I can't imagine they like being asked (even politely) to make sure they go to the polls on election day. Regardless, I'm pretty excited.

Just as a warning, the out of state volunteer handbook I was told to read contains the following:

How much will I be expected to work?
The days will be long, but we don't want you to burn out before Election Day. The staff will most likely be working 16-20 hours a day, but we won't ask that of the volunteers. Work as much as you think you can without breaking down before the election


That might have an impact on my ability to blog for hours on end like I clearly did today.

3 comments:

Abby said...

I was going to tell you to come to New Mexico. You can join me in trying to figure out what to do with our lives. Do you need a place to stay? You are welcome to stay in Albuquerque with the beasts anytime.

Eliot said...

yeah, you can stay up here some, too. what's your plan on that front?

Sterling said...

2 things:

1. toby keith is not the enemy.
2. to aid your backwaters endeavors, you might want to know how to spell Cerrillos correctly. Unless you're lookin' for some new speed holes.