DAY ONE
I am not a religious person, but I am spiritual. I have been doing a lot of praying and asking god/universe/higher power/whatever to show me where I should be and what I should be doing. I started this blog just a little over a week ago and with the overwhelming response, it became clear that I was meant to hussle and get myself to Florida, and other Swing States.
I arrived at SFO with Sandra o Friday- mind you no tickets, just my check book to access the donations you all sent me. It became apparent that with the price of tickets we did not have enough money to send us both to Florida, so I made a sign saying "Fly Us to Florida!" and began talking to everyone who passed by as we walked to price check different airlines. The customer service agents at US Air were so helpful and supportive. There was a flight that was headed to Ft. Lauderdale within a half hour... it was delayed by 20 minutes, just enough for me to make the flight. The ticket cost $295 so we decided that I would just go solo. I didn't realize until I was at the gate that I don't know a soul in Florida. I text messaged some friends asking them if they knew anyone in Florida, and then I realized that if I just got to a meeting, I would be taken care of.
On the plane I saw this gentleman sitting in front of me. He was very tall and gave off the vibe of a mulleted Jesus. The flight attendants kept trying to talk with him which made me think that he must fly often. When I got off the plane I found out that there was a meeting at midnight in Sunrise FL. So I asked the giant mulleted Jesus man if he knew where Sunrise was and if he could give me a ride there. He asked if I thought he would kill me. I said I hoped not. He said "You know they write movies about me." "Sweet" I responded. (A side note only once at the SFO airport did I realize that I didn't have my wallet- only my check book with one check and my passport. So the original plan of renting a car and driving to Podunk was nixed). So I get in the car with Jesus and his friend who came to pick him up. He gives me shotgun... probably so i wouldn't kill them, and his friend starts telling me how Jesus is famous and that they have made movies about him. He tells me to google Billy Mitchell. Says that he holds world records for Donkey Kong and Ms. Pacman and that they did a whole documentary on him- The King of Kong. Turns out he was in LA meeting with Arnold Schwarzenegger and the 5 other top gamers in the world. Anyhow we drop off his friend and he gives me a ride to the meeting spot and tells me an amazing story about the pregnancy of his wife and birth of his son, his concerns with politics and how him and his buddy own a hot sauce company. He gave me a bottle and told me to call him if I needed anything while I was in town.
So I arrive in Sunset at the meeting and I say "Hey my name is Frankie, I'm from San Francisco, does anyone have a floor I can sleep on, I don't know a soul in Florida". I assessed the group to see who appeared to have the most sanity and calmness about them. I asked the man who spoke if he had a floor I could sleep on and how long he has clean. He seemed wary of me, however said he has twelve years drug and alcohol free and I could sleep on his couch if I didn't mind his white cat Monster. I gratefully thanked him and we went to his house.
DAY TWO
In the morning we woke up about 7:30 and he went and got us coffee while I got ready. He took me out to breakfast and then dropped me off at the Obama headquarters.
Mikaela (who had planned on coming however had a last minute emergency) had done all this research for me prior to my departure. She got in contact with the Ft. Lauderdale headquarters and told Jesse to expect me.
Jesse asked if I wanted to make phone calls. I was like "Heck no! I am here for two days and you want me to make phone calls!" He laughed and gave me a bunch of voter registration forms and directed me towards the homeless shelter I wanted to hit. So I began walking around this somewhat run down neighborhood in Ft. Lauderdale in my little yellow dress, black boots and my camera around my neck. The first person I registered was a man I hollered at in a black truck with his window down. The second person was a man in a primarily Haitian community a few blocks away. Supposedly this was a drug infested neighborhood as someone I asked too me not to talk to the kids on bikes cause they sold crack. Heck, everyone was nice to me. I registered a Haitian American woman born in 1928. Even with the language barrier there was one word we both understood that made us smile "Obama". I was in that neighborhood for about an hour before I headed towards the homeless shelter. There was no one outside the shelter so I started talking to a woman at the bus stop. She told me to get an all day pass for $3 and head downtown.
I talked to people on the bus and when the majority of people got up to get off the bus, I figured that this was my stop too. I hung out at the bus stop and registered a bunch of people there then someone told me to go to the library a block away. I stop a car with two kids in it and asked them if they were registered. Tums out they both had felonies, however Florida just passed the Clemency Act which allows non violent felons to have their civic rights automatically restored. A young couple on the street registered with me and a man who didn't speak any English came up to me with his printed registration form already filled out. Again- the one Universal word was Obama. I stopped at the McDonald's on the way there and registered 4 folks and then went to the public library.
I spoke with a bunch of homeless kids out front who had a variety of reason to not vote. A young black man said he didn't want to sign Obamas death wish. This was an interesting conversation. The points I made were that at some time in history we are going to have to cross the racial boundary. I know I personally don't want to forever be represented by middle aged white men because that does not accurately represent this country. This is history being made and whether it happens now or in twenty years, we will face the same fears. Obama knows what he is up against. He is not naive. The second he spoke about running for President they put Secret Service on him. He is the first presidential canidate to have Secret Service years prior to publicly announcing his intention to run.
I wandered through every level of the library and got folks to register. One young couple gave me $10 and told me to buy myself lunch. After leaving there I went back to the bus stop and met some kids who looked like me. Shaun suggested I go to the mall to find more young people- since it was raining, no one would be at the beach. I hopped on the bus and began talking to a really sweet woman Amber Gris who is opening a book publishing company. The bus stopped at a Salvation Army filled with people so I quickly got off and went in there for about an hour and a half. I met talked to so many people who were from different walks of life. Religious, non-religious, white, Indian, black, gay and straight, republican and democrat. I registered 6 people there and then got back en route to the mall.
By this point I was starving. I wanted to just keep talking to people but I knew I was no good to anyone if I was hungry and dizzy. I sat down and immediately two men started talking to me. The father must have been in his 80's and his son in his 50's. They gushed about what I was doing. After eating I approached every table in the food court, registered a couple people and then began going to the stores asking customers and employees if they had registered.
The most amazing conversation I had was with a young couple in their 30's. He says he is voting republican and she is voting democrat. What amazed me was not only how they completely allowed each other to have differences of opinion, but they did it with absolute love and respect, even in a joking manner. I was also impressed and moved by how open minded they were to discussing politics with me in a non-judgmental and completely supportive way. I left that conversation truly feeling blessed and beyond hopeful for humanity. After we parted ways, the husband ran back to me and gave me $20 and told me to buy myself dinner. I got all welled up with emotion and hope and had to go sit down.
I finished up at the mall and headed a meeting. Completely confused about where I was going, I ended up in the pouring rain a few miles from where I needed to be. I walked up to this kid Nate at a gas station and asked if he could give me a ride. He said he would, however his car battery died. I said "Oh great! I'll get you a jump!" the second car that pulled up was another 20 something year old who was happy to help. I told them of my travels and checked to make sure they were registered, they were. Nate took me to the meeting where there ended up being about 30 young people who are drug free. We went out to eat and talked politics and recovery. It was amazing how welcoming everyone was to me. Jerry came out to eat and then he and I went back to his house and Monster kitty and fell asleep.
Day 3
We woke up later than we had hoped- 8:30am and Jerry got us coffee while I got dressed and packed. He dropped me off at the Obama office with Jesse and I began doing data entry for the campaign. Jay Z and Wyclef Jean put on a free concert, however the only way you could get tickets to the event was to come to the Obama headquarters and register to vote. This was a great idea. This music/video artist SPAWN came in to register and we got to talking. Turns out he had one of the most talked about videos on
YouTube for 3 weeks after making a video about a controversial quote. He said we should start a documentary. I think it is a great idea. I told him that he should meet me at the next swing state I go too. He said he would look into it.
Jerry picked me up, drove me to the airport, and gave me $20 towards my next Swing State which was super unexpected. On the plane I met a woman Maureen Malaugh, wife of musician Rick Washington. I told her all about what I was doing and she donated $10 towards the next State as well... mind you I never asked for money! People just really want this to happen. People want Obama in office. A republican also bought me a soda!
Anyhow I am home now... actually at work. I am researching which state to go to next... I will keep you al updated.
With Love,
Francesca
415-225-0747
Http://FrankieNorstad.com
