I was quite excited as I headed to my alma mater to attend the rally for Hillary Clinton on February 13th 2008. I imagined I was feeling like Alex Keaton from Family Ties at a Republican Bankers' Convention, except these weren't Republicans. And I haven't spent a tenth of the time that he spent researching matters of politics. I can't say that I am well informed, but I can say I am interested in becoming more informed. The last time elections were held, I managed to see the top hairs and periodic peeks of Kerry's face, during his campaign drive, over the Fiesta crowd at La Villita as he exclaimed and proclaimed his glory speak. And for me, the decision between Kerry and a candidate I believed to be an egomaniacal imbecile out for revenge wasn't too difficult, no matter what the political rhetoric of each candidate.
So once again I was heading to a Democratic rally. And, I began to think about social programs. I don't mind the idea of social programs. In fact, I believe in them. The government, no matter what party, already takes large chunks of money from each of our paychecks. I prefer to think those large chunks are going toward social welfare programs over wartime greed programs. In fact, I have noticed that a very clear split occurs between those who have never had to deal with difficult family situations and those who have. If you are wealthy enough to provide hospitalization or food for your family independently of the state in which you live, most likely you are little concerned about social programs. If, on the other hand, you have ever had a family member who has fallen ill or become part of the sometimes hypocritical legal system, then you will naturally be more inclined toward programs that benefit the welfare of the citizens through city and state sponsored programs. And I do believe that a community raises the society in which it will one day come to live among.
So when we arrived on campus, Heather, Sonya, Ariane, and I headed to the new convocation building that replaced the old army-barrack music buildings that I had spent so many summers tip-toeing and sometimes dash-running through the echoey corridors of (before I attended college at St. Mary's University, my father would bring me with him when I was a child on summer days when he had to do paper work as the Chair of the Music Department).
The never ending line at St. Mary's University. Photo by Heather Croxton
And we were taken aback by the line of people wrapped from the front doors of the convocation center past the side of the library, up the stairs to the old Subway red-brick colored building with the chimney stack, back down the stairs past the Pecan Grove sidewalk toward the law buildings and out to the back parking lot, curving around to just caddy-corner from the buildings that house the newer music rooms and current recital hall. And no matter where you were in line, there were masses of people entering the line at a hundred points ahead of you to join with friends in the long wait. I took off and snaked my way down the line taking pictures, handing out flyers, and meeting rally goers until I had made my way to the front. The girls followed shortly after, and we all met up again at the front of the line.
Heather, emboldened, moved to the front door. I heard the door keeper tell her press needed to get the pass inside. Oh shit! She's in! I thought and I moved quickly forward myself, telling the door lady I was with the photographer and was with the online magazine InvasiveThoughts.com. "They are making press move through the same line as everyone else," she said to me after several men yelled that at her. I looked behind me to the impossibility. "No, no, I was wrong," she corrected after the yelling-at men yelled some more above the excited frenzy of the crowd. "Go in and get your press pass inside, but go through the line inside" she clarified. I moved quickly, following the instructions of an inside man telling us to go to the front of that line. I placed my laptop, two cameras, and phone on the table for security to check and walked through the metal detector unhindered. Heather and I looked at each other and smiled as we walked into the doors of the stadium (our companion reporters following shortly behind.)
Inside the gymnasium at St. Mary's University. Photo by Sonya Reyes
The gym lights inside couldn't compare to the multitude of camera lights from the multitudinous television stations. We walked behind the set up and found a small island on the press stand wedged between local station crews and CNN and MSNBC crews. I looked around and realized immediately that not even a twentieth of the people standing in the line that wrapped for more than a mile outside the campus would get in. I sat down, opened the lid to the laptop, and began typing as my hands shook for a good 10 minutes with excitement and adrenalin.
And then the pre-Hillary rhetoric began. After much idealistic speak and much banner shaking, and one false arrival alarm, Senator Clinton entered the auditorium.
"Click here"to read the transcription of Senator Hillary Clinton's rally speech at St. Mary's University on February 13th, 2008.
