My New Phases

I was right, things pre-election are very busy! After two days of Halloween celebrating (hellllo 80's night!) that didn't actually occur on the day of Halloween, I'm back into election mode. Its eventful, thats for sure! And today, during all six hours I spent on the phone lauding the record of my friend John (and by friend, I mean the man I've never met who is running for governor), I had a song from a new CD stuck in my head. We all know I go through music phases, and this is my new one. I might as well have a musical phase to match my campaigning phase, right?! :) I have been listening to the cd non-stop for 3 days now. What can I say, I'm obsessed!

listen to me, please!

There are only 4 days until the election! It's an exciting time. I am grateful for the reminder my internship has provided that voting is a privilege; we have a voice that is heard. And my voice has been heard by many Oregonians this week. Statistics show that in 3 hours you contact about 70 people via a phonebank. That means 280 people have been the lucky recipient of this super enthusiastic voice:

"Hi! This is Alicia and I'm calling as a volunteer from Planned Parenthood PAC. How are you this evening?"

Now, many of the calls stop right there. Lots of hang ups. Lots of, "Don't waste your time". Lots of, "No thanks, I don't want any". But others let you go on. I've a couple really great calls. And a couple is all you need each night. If there is just someone to who the issue of a women's right to choose matters, who did not know that Kitzhaber is our only pro-choice candidate, who listens to me, then that is enough. And those calls even make it fun! Despite the fact that I still experience quite a bit of anxiety at the start of each night, if you give me a fun conversation and person to interact with and I'm engergized for at least the next 10 hang ups :)

Since the election is so close my next few days are looking pretty busy, which is still something I'm loving. Maybe when I re-joined the ranks of the unemployed my blog will consist of some of the sillier things in life. Because those are definitely happening too :)

Obama Obama

Again, my life seems to be working out just right these days. My fourth day as an intern involved an hour of data entry, and then the Kitzhaber/Obama rally!! The field organizer for PPAO (Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon--I'm still trying to keep my acronyms straight), who is also my boss, spoke at the rally. Now, imagine this with me: Obama, Kitzhaber, Oregon senators, OBAMA, and you. Speaking. To a crowd of 9,000 people. Here is a little blurb about her from Oregonlive:

"Of the various warm-up acts, only Jennifer Keenan of Planned Parenthood earned her keep, delighting the crowd with various digs at Dudley, the best being, “If you want to debate taxes, you should start paying them.”

It might be my new life goal, to get to be able to give an impassioned speech along side the president of the United States. Ok, I'll admit it: I'm smitten with everything about politics and the election right now. The energy is contagious, the people I'm meeting and interacting with are passionate and doing something about what they believe and seriously, I got to see the freaking President speak, as a part of my job. I dont know if a temporary internship could get much cooler.

Just In Time...

I started this blog at just the right time because I have something particularly new and exciting. I got an internship! I kind of consider it a half-job, not part time (although it is, I think it'll be about 24 hours a week) but half.

We interrupt this update for an important side-note: I just saw an ad for Sarah Palin's new reality TV show on TLC. Reeaaallly?!

I bet you are just bursting with excitment and curiousity right now about my half-job. Don't worry, I won't keep you in suspense any longer.

Because of a friend of a friend of a friend (yes, that is actually the accurate connection) I got the opportunity to meet with someone who works for the Planned Parenthood Political Action Committee. Right now, in this pre-election season, Planned Parenthood PAC is a very busy place. The Oregon governor race is close and when it comes to issues of women's rights there is a very obvious candidate. I now am working for the PP phone bank calling to clarify for people that John Kitzhaber (along with other candidates depending on where we're calling) is the candidate that represents a woman's right to choose. So yes, I am the person that is calling your home in the evening and asking if you can talk about politics for a minute. I'm really excited about the opportunity to be a part of something so exciting and so important. The internship only goes through the election, hence the "half-job" description. But its a start and I'm thrilled!

Tonight was my first night of participating in the phone bank, so I dont have any great stories... yet. If any of you living in Portland want to gather your own stories and experience it for yourself, I'd LOVE it if you'd join for a night or two :) Yes, I am already trying to recruit volunteers...

Yay for new opportunities and learning more new things!

A New Kind of Stability

"Disorder is inherent in stability. Civilized man doesn't understand stability. He's confused it with rigidity...and the blind pity is, rigidity isn't the same as stability at all. True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed...It is open, period. Gracefully open. That's stability. That's alive."

-Tom Robbins

I love this definition of stability because, in the past few months of life, "stable" is a feeling I rarely experience; everything feels new. Sometimes its simply eating Ethiopian food for the first time or going kayaking, and other times its as potentially complicated as learning how to navigate old relationships while at the same time forming new ones. For being unemployed and bored out of my mind half the time, I am often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of newness that seems to occur all the time.

That being said, I also love it. I love that being in Portland--coming "home"--is a new and exciting thing. I love that I feel like this is a different environment for me and somewhere to make my own. I love approaching this place as somewhere with just as many things to learn and experience as Viet Nam.

And because of these things, I love the idea that stabilty exists as the unexpected, the waiting, the disorder, the newness. I may have no idea what I'm doing the majority of the time, but that doesn't have to mean that I'm unsure of where I am and where I'm going.

So, for the sake of the two faithful readers that I think may exist, I have decided to return to this little blog of mine. If for no other reason than to acknowledge the new things that are happening, to help myself cope with them and to give Liz something to read at work :)