Melody and Melissa, Palo Alto

I went to Palo Alto on Tuesday night to receive volunteer training.  It was  hard to find the room at the Community Center; it turned out to be an outdoor training.  I stopped at Peet’s Coffee to buy some water, a granola bar, and my brownish banana was also in my bag.  There were no more volunteer badges, but I signed up as press, and prepared to do both jobs.  I supervised the press area as we had been told; no one could go back there unless they had a press badge.  I also took the time to interview attendees.

I had met a group of Panamanian women  who were visiting the US and wanted to listen to Bernie; I saw them again in the audience and interviewed and took a picture of one of them.  If Latin Americans or Europeans could vote in our elections, Bernie would win hands down!  I took bad videos with my cell phone, met two reporters from a Spanish publication called Diario El Correo, who were fascinated by the whole Bernie phenomenon,  almost passed out from the heat, and besides volunteering I also got a press pass and did a few interviews. My videos were horrible, but I met two reporters from Diario El Correo, a Spanish (from Spain) publication, who left early to leave for LA and the next rally, and a mom/daughter team, Melissa and Melody (pictured above), who were feeling the Bern together.  The daughter is a young geologist who is with Bernie because of the environment. The mother reminds me of my own reasons for being with Bernie… old hippies, I think, to an extent?

After a while I began to feel really ill, as if I was going to pass out, and very nauseous.  A young man walked me almost to my car, where I sat blasting the air-conditioner until I could drive.  The next day at the acupuncturist I found out my blood pressure was very high, and that extreme heat (as we had at the rally) makes blood pressure go higher, which I swear I never knew…

So I am back on bp med which I hate, and banned from any outdoor activities.  I am also experiencing what my wonderful chiropractor calls an “acute episode” of back pain, so that I can’t bend or get up from a bed without help.  I had so many plans for the last four days!  Instead, I have spent the last 6 hours making calls to New Mexico (Spanish) through the phone-banking app.  Some of the calls have been vicious (three separate people cursed me out) and several people have been nasty about not telling me who they are voting for, and then there have been some Trump people.  I have been extremely polite to each and every one of them, because I figure maybe they will remember the woman who was polite and change their minds before they vote… But there have been some absolutely awesome Berners too; one young man wouldn’t let me get off the phone; several latinos asked me, “Who else would I be voting for?” and were very excited about the election of Bernie… And a young man with an Arabic name who was an enthusiastic supporter, and whom I thanked for voting as I thanked everyone, said to me: “Every last one of us is voting for him!”  

So all in all, it’s been a good day’s work even if didn’t go canvassing the way I wanted to… I finally remembered that Milton sonnet that I was made to memorize in sixth or seventh grade, that said, “They also serve who only stand and wait.”  Tonight I go back to my ‘bodyguard’ duties for my widowed friend; two days ago she fell down in front of me and I couldn’t get up from the floor/bed to help her out… but she still feels protected, go figure… I intend to sleep well; I’ve stopped fasting and have eaten two bananas and 5 strawberries!  And a lot of water… 

I was interviewed by the TYT reporter although I know it may not get published, about the fact that many of my friends who protest for Palestinian rights have become Bernie or Busters because of Bernie’s statements on AIPAC… I am still asking anyone who is close to Bernie or has his ear to ask him to make a statement on Berta Cáceres and on the School of Assassins, otherwise known as School of the Americas/WHINSEC, especially in light of all the soft and hard coups underway in Latin America right now.

Tulsi Gabbard, I believe would make a great vice-president… translation and photographs/videos tomorrow, although I warn you the videos are awful.  And, by the way, Bernie’s remarks on brilliant scientist Donald Trump were hillarious!