Oh Wow

Well this is a little late but I blame the log in screen. Well, this was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had in years, (excluding last years Youth Summit). We started out day 2 with a meeting to try and influence others to not cut the state historical fund as badly as planned by Colorado State legislators. We were then called up to tell everyone in less than 30 sec. on what preservation means to me. Everyone had been planning on it as if we were going to speak to the president of the United States or something like, but I hadn’t put so much thought in to it and I came up with this in 5 seconds. Preservation to me means making a different in the community, Historically wise. I know it’s a little cheesy, but hey, it was good. When we were allowed to sit back down, we concluded the meeting and ran to the nearest hotel to start our Lobbying practice for later that day and I swear, every room in the 4th floor was named after fashion designers or something to do with clothes like Prada, Hilfigure, and Armani. Anyway, we started practicing our little speech thingy to use for the senators at the Capital for a while and then we had another meeting. This one was to talk about our experiences, as young adults, with history. We each stood up and told our side of the historical story, and heard from the audience what some of them have done. Then we had a speed round of question and answer and some people were talking so fast, I got dizzy.

After that, we got to ride a chartered bus, but they didn’t put in a movie or something like that. Come on. We rode down to the Governors Mansion to have lunch with Mrs. Ritter and let me tell you, we were all so hungry at that point and the smell of the food was so tempting, I think I might have cried if I waited any longer. As we were all chewing our food, Mrs. Ritter asked us how our day was and what we did. She then asked us what we personally had to do with the Youth Summit, so it turned into a Socratic Seminar (My English teacher should give me extra credit for that.) We all gave a similar little speech as that of this morning. Once we finished, you could see the gleam in Mrs. Ritter’s eyes as if she was about to cry of joy. I had one of those feelings of satisfaction right there. We finished our conversation, took some photos, watched a history of the Governors Mansion, and departed for the Capital.

Because of the security at the Capital, I can finally say that I have been checked for firearms, drugs, or alcohol now. They scanned all of our things and we ran to a conference room to get the idea of what the rest of the day would be like. They told us that we were to meet senators and tell them why we don’t want them to cut the state historical fund. That is our lobbying thing we did. We ran around, met with senators, did our thing and moved on. After wards we collected our stuff and departed for home. (I’ve got Lexie beat on Word Count for this blog. HAHA)

-Jacob Davis

Cassie Gardner

Starting out my day was not so bad even though I had to wake up so early. After getting off the bus at 6:00 a.m. my day really began. As the group walked i began to freeze and my face, body, and feet became numb. After we finally arrived to our spot to watch the Inauguration i slowly started to warm up and as the day went on i became really cold again. It was an amazing event that had happen I am happy to be part of history in the making. This being said I would not do this again just because I am not willing to freeze again for this. If anyone is wanting to go to Washington D.C. i would dress in layers. Although i felt bad for President Bush because everyone was booing him but Obama made a great impression on the nation.

By cassie

Final Observations and Questions from the DNC

Chris Elnicki, Cherry Creek Schools

 

On my Light Rail ride over to the DNC on Aug 28, I meet a volunteer driver who spent the week chauffeuring a Senator around the DNC. The volunteer driver, a retired gentleman from Arapahoe County, was asked about the security at the Pepsi Center. He explained each trip from the hotel to the Pepsi Center involved six security checks, all within a mile of the Pepsi Center. Five of the stops involved credential checks, like a student at school having their hall pass checked by school security or a principal. The sixth stop was much more involved, with the car being inspected for explosives by dogs, all the items in the vehicle being removed and scanned, and the car being screened electronically as well. Quite a process.

 

A good sign, cops at rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The back end of the Anti War Protest march

 

What have you heard about security and the police at the DNC? Based on what you have witnessed do you think you have enough information to decide whether protesters were dealt with fairly at the DNC? What kinds of information would you need to make your best judgment about DNC protesting and security issues?

 

I attended a panel discussion on Thursday morning titled The New Battleground: Politics of the West, featuring Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, and Colorado Senator Ken Salazar. The panel was organized and sponsored by Yahoo!, the Denver Post, and Politico. The questions were asked by Jeanne Cummings of Politico and Susan Greene of the Denver Post.

One point of discussion concerned whether or not the Democrats, especially Obama, can win more Western States than Kerry or Gore did in the last two elections. During the past three presidential election cycles Democratic leaders have predicted gains, but little change has taken place.

However, the past two election cycles have resulted in a lot of change concerning Governors in the in the West. All of the following states have elected Democratic Governors recently: Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. Here’s a short video clip from the panel discussion with Governor Schweitzer’s response. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1155201977/bctid1759817277

Arizona, a traditionally conservative and Republican state, is seeing the gap between the number of Democrats and Republicans shrink. According to Governor Janet Napolitano, the difference is 4% now, and was 8% four years ago. Do you think John McCain might be in danger of not winning his home state?

And concerning Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, some think he’s the next big rising star of the Democratic Party. Like Barack Obama four years ago, Governor Schweitzer received a lot of national attention following his speech this week at the DNC. Do you think Governor Schweitzer will someday be a national leader?

 

Governor Schweitzer made some interesting comments about Generation Y and how this age group (born roughly between 1982 – 1994) is distinctly different from Generation X, Baby Boomers, and the Greatest Generation. The Governor stated that Generation Y is very accepting and tolerant socially, and though they should be very angry about the state of the world they were born into (politically, socially, and environmentally), they are not. Instead Generation Y is recommending we need to all work together to clean up the mess.

 

Baby Boomer? Generation X? Generation Y? Generation Z?

 

 

Do you think this is an accurate portrayal of Generation Y? How does Generation Z (born after Gen Y) fit with Governor Schweitzer’s thoughts? 

Schweitzer mentioned that Obama has been to Montana five times during this election cycle. That’s more visits by a Democratic nominee than the past four election cycles combined. Does Obama need to do more to connect with Western voters? If so, what do you think would work best?

Will this election result in major gains for Democrats in the West?  What will be the big issue for Western voters, hair, dress, water, energy, the economy…?

 

According to Schweiter more money was spent on the DNC in four days than the United States Government spent on solar research all last year.

Do you think the US government should increase spending for solar energy reserach, let the market and business lead the way, or some combination of both? 

 

Martin Luther King III stated Thursday night at Mile High that, “If we are to be a great democracy, we must all take an active role in our democracy. We must do democracy. That goes far beyond simply casting your vote. We must all actively champion the causes that ensure the common good.”  As you think about doing democracy and school, is this aspect of citizenship strongly valued in education? How should doing democracy look in the classroom?

 

Did you sense an extra effort by the Democratic leadership to reach out to churches and people of faith? If so, how successful do you think this message has been?

 

Here’s an interesting two minute video comparing the 1908 and 2008 Democratic National Conventions in Denver http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243705446/bclid1201016315/bctid1759817339

 

A big thank you to the Denver Newspaper Agency and When History Happens for the invitation to be a reporter this week. Oh, and by the way, I'm the guy with the tube. Jill Armstrong (Denver Newspaper Agency) in the background, and Ted Koppel (former ABC News Broadcaster, current Managing Editor of Discovery Channel, and BBC News Reporter at the DNC) is in the front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Quick Note Following Obama’s Acceptance Speech

  

 

Chris Elnicki, Cherry Creek Schools

 

It was a remarkable day. I’ll provide more detail in my next post, but here are a few highlights and some questions to ponder.

 

YourHub Reporter Alan Campbell interviewing former Governor of Colorado Roy Romer, near the stage and the Colorado Delegation. Government is only as far away as you make it.

National Anthem

A student asked me earlier in the week, “Does anything real happen at the convention or is it mostly predetermined?”

 

A lot of work is completed prior to the convention. For example, it has been a long time since any major party has waited until the actual convention to select their Presidental candidate. So, it is understandable that some folks may question the expense of national conventions; suggesting this money could be used for more important purposes.

 

Does real decision making happen at a national convention? Those arguing for the affirmative are likely to take a long term view. They note that four years ago most Americans were unfamiliar with Barack Obama. At the DNC in 2004, Obama shared his story and dream. Four years later, he has become the party’s nomine for President and its center. The spotlight shines bright on the major parties during their national conventions. How party leaders build relationships with both voters and future voters, during this short time, influences elections. Leaders than go on to determine questions of war, taxes, school financing, etc. Real stuff.

 

Did a quick count of Macs vs. PCs being used by the press. We saw about 6 PCs for every 4 Macs.

How many You Tube videos will be posted during and immediately following this event?

Sheryl Crow

Stevie Wonder

Al Gore compared Obama’s governmental experience to Lincolns, before running for President … What do you think? Did Lincoln have less or more experience than Obama, prior to his first election to the White House?

 

Do you think the average Americans who spoke at the podium tonight (a teacher, a small business owner, a factory worker, a nurse, etc) will win over voters? How about the Generals and other military leaders supporting Obama?

Alan interviewed by reporters from the Netherlands

Barack Obama

I’ll have more about the final day of the DNC Friday afternoon.

August 27, 2008 : Securing America’s Future

 

Michelle Pearson

Hulstrom Options School

Adams 12 School District

 

 

The energy in Denver continues to rise as the delegations and participants in the 2008 DNC anxiously await the culminating event of the week, the acceptance speech of Barak Obama for his nomination by his party. But tonight held just as many special events, and some of the most critical business items to attend to during this week of caucuses, meetings, and events and was the first step in nominating a team of candidates for the election.

 

As the gavel dropped just past 3 pm, the Pepsi Center started to fill with press and participants. State signs were visible across the arena floor declaring where each delegation should sit, and the chairs slowly but surely filled. As Nancy Pelosi called the meeting to order and announced the official roll call, Gabi (our NextGen youth reporter) and I looked behind us to see crowds of people preparing to pledge their votes in support of their candidate(s). One by one the states were called and the delegates spoke proudly about their state and pledged their votes to the candidate of their choice. Opening with Alabama, and closing with Hillary Clinton pledging the votes of New York, Senator Obama was officially nominated as the Democratic candidate for the election.

 

Following the official nomination, a myriad of speakers stepped up to the podium to speak on a variety of topics with a common overall theme of change. Much like a painting, they provided the participants with an overall picture of the focus of the party in the election, and again reinforced many ideas on the platform including:

 

• The need to work with others around the world, not as a “bully” but as a leader and cooperator.
• The need to encourage peace and continue to fight terrorism especially in Afghanistan.
• The need to support our soldiers, both active and discharged; so that they can protect our country while in turn support their families.
• The need to support continued changes in legislation to protect women and children from violent relationships.
• The importance of affordable housing, lower taxes, lower fuel prices, and medical care for all Americans.

 

As the arena filled, anticipation heightened until former President Clinton took the stage. In an eloquent and passionate speech he praised “his candidate” Hillary Clinton, pledged his support for Obama, and spoke at length about Senator Biden and the qualities he would bring to the executive team supporting Obama. Flags waved furiously, and clapping spontaneously erupted time and time again throughout his speech as the crowd cheered at the different elements of his speech.

And then it was time—time to nominate Senator Biden as the Democratic candidate for Vice President. With a rousing affirmative vote, and loud cheers, the crowd placed Senator Biden on the party ticket for the election. After an informative speech by Beau Biden, Senator Biden’s son, Biden appeared on stage to goive his speech focusing on the importance of national security, cooperating with other entities, and exercising the right to participate in the political process.  You could feel the excitement in the air as the crowds continually cheered during his speech, and affirmed the ideas he presented to the crowd.

 

As a culmination, Barak Obama broke with tradition and appeared to support Biden, and say hello to the crowd. The entire crowd went wild since this was totally unexpected. The families of the two candidates joined them on stage and helped to close the evening with the promise of change for all Americans. As they waved good night and filed off of the stage, we knew it would be a busy last day for participants on Thursday culminating with a speech which would go down in history.

Gabi stands near the Colorado Delegation sign on the floor of the arena

The crowd is excited as Biden speaks. Signs fill the arena with red white and blue.

Senator Obama arrives to greet Senator Biden as Biden receives the nomination to the democratic ticket and concludes his acceptance speech.

Senator Salazar ( D- Colorado) pledges his votes for Senator Clinton and Senator Obama during the roll call session of the assembly

The Illinois “Home Base”

Michelle Pearson

Hulstrom Options School

Adams 12 School District

I was pleased to be able to meet many of the Illinois Delegates at their hotel in Denver, and had the lucky chance to actually sit in on a planning meeting for arrival and departure at the Pepsi Center Wednesday Morning. They are all extremely excited about the proceedings, and many of them were frantically writing down events for the day, highlighting caucus meetings to attend, and making plans to meet with people from other delegations. The lobby of the hotel in which they are staying (The Mariott City Center) proudly shows their support of Obama through banners, posters, signs, and prints. It is a busy center of activity especially after the breakfast meeting as people were getting ready to leave for the convention center.

Hotel Banner for the Illinois Delegation

Key issues discussed at the breakfast meeting included the need for support of lower income families ready to lose their homes, assistance for seniors and families with rising health care costs, the need for more women to be active in local politics, and the need for more ethical politics in the northern Illinois area. Concerns were stressed about the picture of Obama as being “young and inexperienced.” A press representative from Illinois shared that he was aware that this would be a topic discussed at the convention tonight, and that Illinois should be ready to “stand up for change” in front of the world.

Something to Think About:

Are some of the issues the Illinois Delegation thinking about apply to your family or friends?

Based on your background knowledge of the Obama/Biden team, why is this delegation so supportive of this candidate?

Goodnight Bush: An “Unauthorized Parody” on 16th Street Mall

Michelle Pearson

Hulstrom Options School

Adams 12 School District

 

Good Night Bush Book Cover

By chance are you familiar with the children’s book Good Night Moon by by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd?  Many of you are as it celebrated it’s 60th Anniversary in 2005.  The original story is a bed time story and is meant for small children.

Just in time for the election, two new authors have written a parody on the traditional story entitled Good Night Bush criticizing the Republican Party and the Bush Administration. filled with references of the administration and policies over the last eight years, the book was drawing immense attention from convention-goers on 16th Street Mall yesterday, and was a hot item to purchase as the authors were available to sign the book.  The book is also available online, and in Tattered Cover. It is a creative look at politics which definately was a hit with the Democrats in town this week. I have included a passage from the book by Erich Origen and Gan Golan so you can get a taste of the parody.

Something to Think About:

How did the authors take the events during the Bush Administration and highlight them in this book?

What do the references in the selection below tell us about the author’s point of view at this time?

 

” In the situation Room

There was a toy world

And a flight costume

And a picture of–

A refinery plume

And there were war profiteers giving three cheers,

A Nation great

A Church and State

A pair of towers

And a balance of powers

A Grand Old Party to war in a rush

And a quiet Dick Cheny whispering “hush.”

 

Media and the People: The Press at the Convention

Michelle Pearson

Hulstrom Options School

Adams 12 School District

With the advancements in technology, and the need for instant access to breaking news, the media was an ever present group all over Denver throughout theconvention. Behind the scenes media personnel waited both patiently and impatiently for access to important officials, candidates, and delegates, as well as everyday people who were attending the convention.

 

As a citizen of Denver, it seemed as if the downtown landscape had changed overnight with certain areas being blocked off to security or media only. The fact that almost everywhere you turned you could find some type of journalist whether that be a print press person such as a newspaper reporter, or someone working in digital media such as TV

and radio, was a little unsettling. Thereseemed to be more press than delegates at times! According to the credentials officer handing out floor passes, the DNC had a grand total of over 16,000 people registered for some type of convention pass under the title of “press.”

 

The press was allowed in different areas of the perimeter of the Pepsi Center, inside the arena, on the floor, and backstage. On the second level of the Pepsi Center, the halls were called “radio row, as stations from all over the country were there to interview people, and cover the latest news from the convention. Outside huge press tents, busses, and satellite dishes covered the area surrounding the convention, and you had to walk carefully as there were cables EVERYWHERE!. CNN even rented a restaurant out onsite for press and VIP guests and hung their own neon sign outside laying out their “turf.”

 

Here a congressman is interviewed for a talk show in the middle of the Pepsi Center on

 

 

Our great hosts, the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News were located in Pavilion 5, along with Newsweek, the Washington Post, and several other agencies. Located in each cubicle were phones, computer hookups, tables, papers, and press releases. Due to access to these tents we could read most speeches well before they were given, and find out the “podium order” – the order of the speakers for the evening at the Pepsi Center. Breaking news bleeps, text messages, emails, etc were—and are—running fast averaging several a minute for those who were scheduled to receive them.

Inside Pavilion 5

 

 

No matter who you are, or who you work for, you have to have credentials. Regarding credentials (which are the printed

passes/permissions on how to get where you need to go in the arena and around the site of the convention) , securing them could sometimes be a nightmare, using them easy or confusing depending on who you talked to, and keeping them on your person – an absolute requirement! Generally there were five types of credentials used. Other types were around but these were the most common to see:

 

An Arena Pass: This pass allowed you inside the perimeter, and inside the Pepsi Center but not inside the seating areas.

 

A Floor Pass: A floor pass would allow a person to access the floor area of the convention and center, and access to the closest areas near the stage and podium.

 

A VIP Pass: This pass allowed open access to almost anywhere, and sometimes backstage.

 

A Hall Pass: The hall pass allowed access to most of the Pepsi Center, except for the specialty press areas or VIP areas. Often you could trade a hall pass for a floor pass if you were a designated press person.

 

A Perimeter Pass: This allowed you to access the area around the Pepsi Center inside security but not enter all of the Pepsi Center building itself.

 

Specialty Passes: These passes allowed people to access certain media lounges where wireless was available, a “bloggers lounge” where you could blog, special receptions or events, or special caucus meetings.

 

Press Platforms in the Skyline

 

 

For a teacher that is not a regular member of the press, the experience of being behind the scenes at the convention with the press corps was amazing. I know that being with a student reporter all day was wonderful—although sometimes it was hard for her to decide what to report on.

 

Think About:

If you were a reporter, what kind of story would you like to cover after listening to the events in Denver over the last couple of days? What kind of pass would help you accomplish this?   These are the types of questions press and media people had to think about BEFORE they came to Denver to get the kind of pass they need. Do you think they have covered the convention successfully? What story do you think is missing?

Interviewing a VIP

Wednesday Afternoon on 16th Street

Chris Elnicki, Cherry Creek Schools

I didn’t really plan to visit the convention zone on Wednesday evening. But after reading the blogs from students and teachers, I knew I needed to get downtown today after school. My plan was simple; take the train from Nine -Mile Station to 16^th street, walk south on 16th to the Civic Center and then walk North towards Lodo to check out the MSNBC and Fox News reporting areas. My daughter, Taylor, a senior at Cherokee Trail High School, joined me, camera in hand. Here are a few of our discoveries from 4:30 to 7:00 pm.

We meet Henry Love Vaughn a musician from Chicago. He wrote a song, Vote, Vote, Obama, Vote. You can hear the song and learn more about him at http://cdbaby.com/cd/hlvaughn .  We overheard Henry speaking with a German university student, in Denver to visit her Aunt and witness the DNC.  When asked about her impressions of Denver and the convention, our new German friend, enthusiastically stated, “Wow!”

 

Two women from Aurora, a university student from Germany, another woman from Aurora, Chris Elnicki, and musician Henry Love Vaughn.

We witnessed several protests. It was tense, but civil, in a one block area where Gay Rights and Anti Gay Rights groups had assembled. Near the Daniel’s Tower we walked right into the War Resistance Protest, which was lead by the Iraq Veteran’s Against the War. Thousands marched by us at Independence Plaza.

 

Veteran’s Against the War Resistance Movement

War Resistance Movement

We spotted these young Obama supporters providing free lemonade and taking donations for the campaign.

 

As we made our way north, towards Union Station, we categorized the various vendors we encountered. Three categories emerged. Those selling Obama memorabilia, those selling food, and those selling anti Bush materials. Nowhere did we see anything promoting local politics or Congressional elections. We thought we’d see campaigns promoting an increase of seats in the Senate and House, but none emerged. Is this coincidence, intentional, or a sign that we may as a society be over focused on the executive and less attentive to the law makers.

At the MSNBC booth we listened to Pat Buchanan (TV commentator, speech writer for Richard Nixon, and former candidate for President) discuss the impact of MLK on his life and caught a glimpse of President Jimmy Carter. There were several McCain supporters in this area working hard to get in front of the camera.

 

 

 As we stopped to eat, hundreds of cyclists pedaled by chanting, “More Bikes, Less Oil.”

 

 

 

 

We definitely got a lot out of our two hours. More tomorrow from the Convention Center and Mile High Stadium.

DNC and DPS

Carla Frenzel, DPS

Delegate Service Day

Today was Delegate Service Day with the DNC and many of the delegates choose to work in non profits and schools around the Denver Area.  Delegates from Illinois and Wisconsin worked with students at the Creative Arts and Science Academy at Cole School.  After a warm welcome by the students of Cole, Principal Julie Murgel and Superintendent Michael Bennet both students and delegates engaged in a science lesson about liquids and density.  Through discussion, writing and experimenting students learned how to make predictions and to test these predictions. 

 

Contemporary Learning Academy (CLA) engages in democracy on the 16^th Street Mall 

 

Students from the Contemporary Learning Academy in Denver Public Schools took to the 16^th Street Mall this afternoon to find out what people think about important issues facing our country today.  The students stopped pedestrians and asked if they were willing to answer a few questions on a survey they had developed.  Questions ranged from inquiring about steps people are taking to help reduce global warming to views on immigration to ideas about the most important issue facing the next president of the United States.  These students were engaged in the first steps of bringing solutions to problems we face.  The CLA students will take their surveys back to school and analyze the results.  They will then create projects and write essays about their findings in order to share them with others.  Great job in getting involved in the issues of today!