G and I handed out campaign stuff this morning for Jeff Schwartz to AZ Senate LD-23 and Effie Carlson for AZ House LD 23. We did it also last week, bipedal. That sucked, walking basically sucks. Its boring and tedious and very important work to delivery material to specifically-targetted houses. I figure they were all Independents, who make up over 30% of AZ voters and are mostly a moderate right bent. If only the anti-social people could agree to force everyone leave us the fuck alone, we would be Gods!
This weekend we were rolling up and down the steep streets of Fountain Hills, which is kinda fun with mtb gearing, your #1 riding buddy of all time, and sweet views. Fat tires also make doing anti-riding things like standing, zig-zagging, criss-crossing up 10% pitches all feel like just a neato way to watch the lake, drink coffee, and give a civics lesson. We *heart* fat tires. The DH’s got to 20mph instantly woot woot!
G, me, and the last band of sane people in AZ LD23, standing against the Armies of Whiteness and their fear of a browner AZ, rallying to the xenophobia and anti-school message of John Kavanagh.
Most people were polite but distant, if not cautiously friendly. Utmost in my mind was how annoyed I am when anyone calls me or leaves stuff on my door, so I tried to be appreciative and respectful to whomever i met. If you want to volunteer, convince people, go knock on doors, and meet people face-to-face and don’t alienate them…you have to first connect with them on a very neutral neighborly level. Its something I’ve never done, and it was a political personal paradign shift akin to me waiting tables for a year after i got my Princeton degree. We went to 50 houses, and actually spoke with 4 people. 4! Actual! People! Breaking down walls with a little blonde girl, and genuine sensitivity to me creeping my way into another decent person’s personal space. Halfway through we took a break in the park to watch the fountain go off, climbed and bombed down a few more hills, finished off in the FH splashpad, then checked out the art plaza and museum. Fountain Hills is a throwback, and Fountain Hills is a really great community, full of so much history about the Valley and so much respect for the generation or 2 that got us to where we are today.
Which in many cases are scared people, responding with their lowest instincts to a wingnut who spouts teabaggery. It was Trump’s populism several years earlier, right here at home. You can’t hear the boring minutia of school funding, when you are deaf to everything but your echo chamber. I guess you’ll need to hear the screaming and gunfire. I don’t understand how all the seniors i meet seem to honor and respect their role in the community, and how they care about giving back to what got them there and will protect their future, and don’t understand how the zombie apocalypse starts with 50,000 Mexican children a year crossing the border without adults. Fear and recalcitrance is not a viable response to changing realities.
I would point G to a house, giver her materials, then hop a few houses up the street to the next one. it was a first how much i let her be on her own. She did great, no helmet today and neither of us were worried. The kid DEFINITELY has figured out how to carry her speed. Vivid memories of awkwardness, trying to explain this phrase that cannot be understood without saddle time. You can’t carry nothing, but its a person-place-thing. i wanna go fast. *confused*. And today, she jedi groks these mysterious forces of momentum and looking ahead.
Her mind grows do make distance relative on a bike – she’d be a couple hundred feed away and out of sight on the street, and we both felt really good about her being 2o seconds away. i heard her tire skip as we were bombing down a hill overlooking the lake, the roads had faux names like Montana and Arriba de Lago and Alto de Todo Bendejo. Tireskip-silence-tire rumble. G 1.5 seconds behind me, no helmet, 20mph.
we saw Kavanagh pull up on the way in. He and his wife, the Mayor of Fountain Hills, looked like they were going to a Bar Mitzvah and just as happy about it. Next time, I will prep G with a written question:
G: Mr. Kavanagh, the voters mandated inflation-adjusted funding for schools. You lead the charge in the lawsuit to stop it. Why do you steal my school’s money? Why do you hate children?