PERSONAL NEWS #138

[Duchess Note – I’m abit behind on posting updates for “Personal News”, so the following will be a condensed version of activity since beginning of the new year. Views on Super Tuesday and such. Sincere apologies to my devoted blog readers … enjoy the news.]

Early Tuesday evening, January 1st, I jumped on a conference call regarding the NYC Kucinich Team Fundraiser planned for February 2nd. Caitlin originated the idea and we are both the main “point people”. It was a good, productive call with some of the Campaign Staff participating. Many volunteers from the Hudson Valley, Albany and NYC area we’re also on the call.

Thursday evening, January 3rd, was the monthly NYC Kucinich Team meetup. We had a good turnout for this meeting and several new members. Discussions centered on upcoming primaries, caucuses, fundraiser, tabling, phone banking and many ideas/suggestions were brought forth. Guest speaker was Doug Biviano, who’s been the NY State coordinator for about a month. Overall it was a terrific, productive meeting.

Early Friday evening, January 4th, the committee responsible for the NYC Kucinich Fundraiser had another conference call. This was also another productive call and Emma from Kucinich’s Campaign Staff was onboard.

Saturday, January 12th, a group of NYC Kucinich Team members gathered in Union Square to hand out fliers and talk with New Yorkers about the Congressman’s campaign. New team member, Amy Cooper, took the reins on this situation and organized the tabling/flyering. She did a great job, we collected donations for Dennis’ presidential campaign, talked with New Yorkers AND many NYC Kucitizens came out to help. [See photos below] While tabling in Union Square I was briefly interviewed by Greg Oliver. He took my 1 ½ minute interview and narrowed it down to 25 seconds. It’s posted, along with many other interviews, at “Farewell Mr. President” at … http://www.farewellmrpresident.com/view_video.php?viewkey=a167a5a36dedd4bea254&page=1&viewtype=&category=mr





On Sunday, January 13th, went to see a terrific Iranian film at All Souls Church called “Children of Heaven”.

Tuesday evening, January 15th, a “special meeting” was held for the NYC Kucinich Team to discuss phone banking, tabling and the February 2nd fundraiser. The latter will be held at “Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors” in Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The turnout at the meeting wasn’t very large, as many team members went to protest outside the NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center. This protest was due to NBC/GE banning Kucinich from the debates in Nevada. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr]

On Thursday, January 17th, I attended NYDoP’s first Board/Core Team meeting of the New Year. Last time many of us got together was at the annual holiday party at Marianne’s place in northern Manhattan. Speaking of Marianne, she chaired this meeting, as Carol was out of town at a retreat in CA. Thank you Marianne! Good, productive meeting and a new committee was formed to handle the issues/goals for the NY City Council Dept of Peace Resolution [#0627].

On Saturday, January 19th, a small group of NYC Kucinich Team members gathered at Bedford Avenue, near L train stop, in Williamsburg to hand out fliers and talk with Brooklynites about Dennis’ campaign. Devery Doleman was organizer of this endeavor and she did a great job. Thanks Devery! It was a colder afternoon then our previous tabling in Manhattan, but we persevered for four hours and drank lots of hot tea. We spoke with many Brooklynites and collected donations for the campaign. Overall a successful endeavor … photo of the group below.



On Wednesday evening, January 23rd, I had a dinner date with Phil. We’d met through the internet back in November/December and exchanged emails/phone calls. Due to a death in his family, we’d postponed dining out to the 23rd. As to the date itself, in a nutshell, it was very nice and had a good meal at a Spanish restaurant on West 23rd Street. Phil was a congenial courteous gent and sadly I was not attracted to him.

Thursday, January 24th, felt like a friggin roller coaster ride for me, as work was busy and then DJK “transitioned out of the race”, plus the NYC Kucinich Team had a “special meeting” that evening. On top of all that; Caitlin and I were in the final phase of plans for the Fundraiser. I’d just gotten Reverend Billy to do a brief segment, plus lined up the caterer. [Four days later we had to cancel the fundraiser due to issues and complications. This greatly saddened me.] When I learned that Dennis was transitioning out of the presidential race, well, it felt like someone kicked me in the stomach real hard. Eight months I’d put into the campaign and my senses were reeling. I even called David Bright for confirmation and details. At the meeting that evening, I told those in attendance that I would continue to spread the word on Dennis’ platform up to Super Tuesday. I could never support the other candidates, as they don’t even come close to representing my values like Dennis does. None of them! As for Super Tuesday, I proudly voted for DJK in the primary and walked out of that booth with a clear conscious.

Sunday, January 27th, I attended a 5th birthday party for Annie’s daughter Rachel out in Sheepshead Bay [Brooklyn]. Party was lots of fun, games, food, socializing and catch up on news with Annie and her hubby David.

Monday, February 4th, saw me back at the foot doctor for treatment of my left foot. That darn Plantar Fascia was acting up again, after being okay since Xmas. Sigh! Later that evening I jumped on a conference call with Joe and Kevin [NYDoP City Council Committee] to discuss our goal regarding Resolution 0627.

Super Tuesday, February 5th, is finally here and I proudly placed my vote for Kucinich. Felt so proud in seeing Dennis’ name on the ballot and the whole NYC/NYS Kucinich Team worked so hard to make that happen. The organizing part of it was tough, at times, but it all paid off in the end. I walked out of that voting booth with a clear conscious. My vote for Dennis was a way of saying “thank you” to the man for standing firm on values and issues. It was also my way of sending a message to the abysmal Democratic Party. My vote cannot be bought with lies, silken words, rhetoric, deception and false hollow promises. The Democratic Party can keep their Corporate Imperialists … they will never receive a vote from me. Never! [I’m switching back to the Green Party.] My vote has to be earned with honesty, truth, compassion and being there for us Americans. People like Dennis Kucinich and Cynthia McKinney embody that completely.