Arresting

Well, productions done! Pretty well done I might add. The boss even got an e-mail from one of my student's mother, who praised the program with improving his diction! That's pretty neat about him, because his school counselor wanted him in speech therapy and we recommended against it earlier in the year. And five bouquets later, my house smells like a rose garden.

So on to yesterday, which I spent at the Police concert. In spite of having seen Sting several times in my life, I had never seen the Police in concert. This was their last Texas go-round ever, so I was happy not to miss it.

It was great fun, and they played a lot of the really really old stuff that most people skip over in favor of their later work. But there on stage they performed:

Next To You
So Lonely
Hole in my Life
Can't Stand Losing You
Bring on the Night
Walking on the Moon
Darkness
Secret Journey
Driven to Tears
When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
Invisible Sun

Along with the standards everyone expected:

Roxanne
Message in a Bottle
Don't Stand So Close to Me
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Spirits in the Material World
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
Demolition Man
Every Breath You Take
King Of Pain
Wrapped Around Your Finger

That's a pretty huge set, and of course all my favorites are the obscure ones. I don't think there's anyone else I could go see and know every lyric to every song. No, you don't want me sitting by you at a Police concert.

The audience was interesting too. Gray-haired folks and preteens and everything inbetween. Grannies in Police Synchronicity-style shirts; too cute.

And the sound those three can put out is pretty neat. Something sounded off about the bass, but everything else was incredible. The funniest thing is that Sting sported a graying beard. It was disconcerting; kind of cognitive dissonance. I know he's older, but by gum, Sting shouldn't be graying!

Stages

Interesting day.

Three of my classes had their productions today. Of course, I had to be up first. And second. And also third. It didn't start out as well as it ended.

Last night after I went to bed I remembered several things I wanted to bring to the productions, so I had to get a list started, and I had to keep it by the bed for those 'omigosh!" moments when I remembered yet another thing. That made sleeping a little difficult. Then I set the time on the alarm, but forgot to actually turn it on, and woke up just in time to wash my hair and go. Not an auspicious beginning.

I remembered everything and made it in time, but we ran late as we worked out the bugs of hanging sets and getting props straight. I know I saw the plays, but it's different when you're the director rather than the audience. I didn't "see" them; I saw the technical aspects nobody else noticed. Still, all my kids hit it out of the park. One of them even gave me flowers.

In the middle of the next set of plays, I got a call from a guy running for our state senate seat. He promised to call back later, and did, but more on that after the rest of the day.

The other first-year teacher is still struggling, but her kids were adorable. Her main problem is living and teaching further in to the city. She doesn't have the luxury of dropping into a class someone else teaches and observing as I do. There were a couple of calls I would not have made, but I think with more training she can do it. Her main problem seemed to be a tendency to read the script as the children were performing instead of having memorized it. It would have freed her up so much!

The senior teacher's teen class was abysmal in rehearsal because most of the cast had spotty attendance. She was completely frustrated with them, and I couldn't blame her. Yet she's so good that after spending an hour running lines with them in the back of the room while the little ones prepared, she got them on stage and they transformed into actors! I couldn't do that now if I tried. One day I'll be that good, but it will take a long while.

So with the hard stuff over I came home and JJ made dinner. I just love that man more than chocolate creme pie.

While cleaning up, that senator candidate called back. Amazingly we chatted for 45 minutes on everything from voter ID laws to voice coaching. He asked for my endorsement, which is a first for me. Politicians don't call me, or at least they haven't before. And who has 45 minutes to spend yakking with a voter about an election six months away? He did, apparently. I'd have endorsed him today too, except I promised another candidate to help him if he ran. Well, the other candidate is dragging his heels getting into the fight, so I'll likely be working for this guy.

I figure what the hey, summer's coming, work's on hiatus after tomorrow, and I just finished the school board campaign. For me, this new schedule is almost like vacation.

FAIL

All three of my candidates lost. Which is not surprising after learning the kinds of things the incumbents do the stay in office. One of them is a walking expletive factory when away from the public, which I learned upon shaking his hand on election day at a polling location. Ick, I need bleach!

Well, we ran a great campaign and all three candidates came close. Two came within 150 votes and the third came within 550. Which tells me it IS possible to win if you a)pre-empt the dirty lying scoundrels and b) spend a lot of money.

And it also tells me in a town of over 200,000 nobody cares about the school board when only 5,000 people vote. THAT'S the greatest hurdle we had to overcome, and we just didn't get it done. An extra 1000 people getting to the polls would have made all the difference.

So after I cry in my beer, I'm ready to work on the next campaign, the State Senator Special Election. Yeee Haw! I just get right back on that horse, don't I?

You Decide 2008 (and let me help you decide)

Ahhh, yes, spring is in the air, when flowers begin to open their arms to the warmth of the sun, trees begin to cover themselves with green glories once again, and candidates begin to spend tons of money to paper my doorstep, load my inbox, and fill my voicemail with messages to VOTE VOTE VOTE!

Only this time, I'm the one with the addresses and phone lists.

Tomorrow the election will be over and done with. My three school board candidates (up from one when they decided to run as a slate) will discover their fate tomorrow night, and I'll be taking a deep breath as one thing is taken off my plate.

But it has been a blast! I've run reports on all the addresses in likely voting areas, I've sent out endorsement letters, spoken to voters, knocked on doors and left literature, planned and executed parts of the campaign, and I've been in heaven doing it. This while hearing a barrage of comments from the incumbents on what a dirty, nasty campaign this has been. I think that's because a) they're scared of losing and b) they can't respond to our strategy.

It's kinda funny, though. The GOTV (Get Out The Vote) effort has been multifaceted, and I think effective. A mailer went out to senior voters in the area that would help them get a ballot by mail. That's hitting elderly voters who care and vote, but don't want the trouble of going to the polls. I printed lists of people who voted in past primaries and we walked neighborhoods in over half the town. That door-to-door was really effective. There was a frequent response that this was the first year a school board candidate personally came to ask for their vote. We sent people to school campuses to the carpool lines and passed out literature off campus. We posted yard signs anytime a homeowner would ask for one. We printed call lists to give to people to call voters and remind them to vote, and told them where they could do so. On door hangers this week, we put a sticky note with their own polling location featured on it.

What do the incumbents say?

"They're spending a lot of money for a volunteer position."
"We care about kids, they care about power."
"We do NOT have the highest tax rate in the state! (It's sixth, by the way.)"
"They steal our yard signs."
"Who does radio ads for a school board election?"
"They put dog mess on someone's porch that had our yard signs in the yard."

Yep, they're scared.

And all they can come back with, when my candidates point out problems, is "Vote for us! It isn't as bad as they say it is!"

I tell ya, if this campaign can't unseat all three incumbents, then it's impossible to do so. If we can't do it, it can't be done. And if it works, this campaign will be studied dilligently to replicate its success.

While all this has been going on, I was elected to the county Republican Party Rules Committee, which is really cool. Being a rules nerd and all, I'll have a seat at the table while the rules are being made. That just gives me the giggles. It's an honor to be asked to run, and my husband is already teasing me about being a mover and shaker. I also got to bring into another committee a friend who lives in my precinct, a Ron Paul supporter who wants a fast-track political education. He was so eager and determined at convention, the chair decided he'd be a great addition to the committee to develop young leadership. Apparently my precinct is taking over the county and we shall rule one day. Hee!

I'll update with election results when they're in. But now, back to the salt mines; running reports, phoning voters, and taking over the planet, one precinct at a time.