Convention Volunteering - Opening Day

Convention draws political and media celebs, and they draw stares and applause

As a volunteer on the "media distribution team," my view of the Democratic National Convention is a narrow one. I am a very small cog in a very large wheel. I and more than a dozen volunteers on my shift pick stacks of photocopied speeches and deliver them to media pods all over the Pepsi Center and in the surrounding parking lots. Sometimes we hand them to individual media desks; sometimes we leave a stack at the press information centers (PICs) for reporters themselves to collect.

There are several outdoor routes to four pavilions (i.e., large air conditioned tents with plywood floors and partitioned or curtained-off "offices") that house most major and some minor print media. There are runs to individual network complexes -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox -- with trailers and satellite dishes. There are areas within for within the Pepsi Center for print, broadcast and online media: Radio Row, Radio Suites, Writing Desks, Bloggers Alley, International Media. I had my pedometer on and walked just shy of nine miles today.

En route to the convention center to pick up our day's credentials, my Boulder friends were delayed due to a couple of demonstrations. Marching placket-wavers took up street as well as sidewalks, causing the shuttle on the 16th Street Mall to run only intermittently, because protesters were blocking the bus lanes. One group chanted, "No We Can't!", but it was unclear as to whether they were disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters or were grinding some other ax. Another group waved signs with clearer messages that were both evangelical and homophobic -- and also predictable. Then, we veered away from the 16th Street Mall, which had ceased being energizing and fun and was just annoying.

In the Pepsi Center my friend Laurel shook Jimmy Carter's hand but didn't get a picture. I saw media stars Anderson Cooper and Donna Brazile and soul singer John Legend but didn't get pictures. Here are some famous people whose pictures I did manage to snap with my little digital point-and-shoot, which doesn't allow for the rapid sequential shots of the bigger SLR:

Here's Dan Rather in the hallway (too far for my camera's modest flash to reach):


Here's Senator Ted Kennedy, riding to and from the podium area, ailing but inspiring by his very presence on the podium, let alone finding the strength to speak. As he rode along, he blew kisses to onlookers (trust me; that's what he was doing, which might not be apparent from the expression I caught in the one picture I managed to snap):

Here's Michelle Obama (just behind the sleeve of someone who walked into the one frame I managed to snap), heading down the same hallway en route to giving her evening-ending speech (someone behind her was carrying a garment bag with that beautiful teal green outfit she wore):


Here's (I think) fast-moving Caroline Kennedy (in black and mostly blocked by a women in a white jacket) who introduced her Uncle Ted:

Here's House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: