philadelphia day three

the combination of a long and hot friday combined with the jet lag, i think resulted in me waking up on saturday morning feeling pretty bad, so rather than hauling myself back into the city, i chose to lay low at the hotel. better to fend of any illness than push thru and end up being forced to miss part of the convention: the whole reason i’m in philadelphia to begin with.

so, on to day three….

by sunday i was feeling better, which was fortunate, because there was a “climate change march.” i’m not usually keen on marches, as i find them little more than pep rallies that do little to actually advance a particular cause. however, given the timing and location of this one, i thought it important to participate, if only to show solidarity with other so many other progressives who turned up.

it was huge! it’s hard for me to guess how many progressives and bernie supporters participated, but it was easily several thousand. plus, a few of us wandered into the march after it had already begun so i’m not sure may people had started ahead of us.

it was what you’d expect, so there’s not much more for me to say and here’s a couple clips (sorry it’s a bit shaky) and some pictures can be found below:

the march found it’s end at the mall between the constitution center and independence hall.

by sunday, volunteers from the dnc were in force spread out across the city to answer questions, offer assistance, and promote “politics week,” a series of events, meetings, and programs. it also provided free access, for credentialed delegates, to some of the museums and special exhibits. so a few of us got our passes for the week and spent some time in the main exhibit of the constitution center.

though it was an interesting place and i’d recommend it to folks, there was nothing that struck me as particularly great or memorable. as much as anything, it was a chance for us to get out of the stifling heat and humidity that had descended on philly.

as the day was moving into the afternoon, we decided it was time to grab a pint and a bite to eat. i had been told the day before by one of the dnc volunteers who lived in the area, about a few good micro-brews and foodie spots, so we decided to check out strange loves. it happened to be not far from where we were, though the heat made the walk feel long…. though the food was ok and served its purpose, i thought the beer was pretty good.

while there, we heard from reed, who had been the bernie campaign staffer who had “parachuted in” to hawaii with a handful of staff in february to help us organize and prepare for our caucuses in march. though the rest of the “gladiators” had moved on to other jobs and weren’t able to join us in philadelphia, it was good him. he’d spent the day volunteering with the bernie campaign and offered to drive us back to our hotel, where we talked story for a while before he went back to his parents’ house, where he was staying, and we turned in for the night. monday promised to be a long, busy, and emotional day.

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