(no subject)

Whenever a storm system's moving in after several clear days - on a day like today, for example - it starts up.

"Hey," my body says suggestively. "You have a metal spike through your thigh. A metal spike. Right down the middle of your thighbone. Shouldn't that hurt?"

"Shut up," I say. "I have a little residual stiffness and pain in my hip from the hip replacement, sure. But my thigh never hurt the whole time I had severe arthritis in the hip, and it doesn't hurt nineteen days out of twenty now that I don't have severe arthritis in the hip, so you must just be trying to make me imagine things."

"Throb. Throb. Throb," my body says in response. "A big ol' metal spike, that's what you have. Right through your thigh."

"Shut up," I explain. And maybe it does, for five minutes.

Then: "Throb." "Shut up!"

It's going to be like this all day. Damn it.

Meetup report.

Tonight was the July Meetup for Dean.

I volunteered in advance to help out, and when I showed up at 6:30 I was immediately put to work signing in newcomers. (We collect names, contact information, and interests, and pass the info on to the national campaign if the person permits.) Because I was the only person behind the sign-in table, I also wound up selling buttons and bumper stickers. From 6:30 until after 7:30, when the meeting began, there was a steady stream of first-timers - about 70 in all. I did my best to try to make everyone feel noticed and welcome, even if I only spoke with them for a few seconds. It was hectic, but fun.

One hundred and twenty people came to the Meetup, not counting the media. (The City Paper and the Baltimore Sun were both present.) There were nowhere near enough chairs - the crush was incredible. After a couple of brief speeches and announcements, we were put to work writing letters to Iowans. Each of us got a sheet of paper with the names of three Iowa Democrats or Independents, and were asked to write personal, handwritten notes explaining why we support Dean and inviting them to write back to us. People all over the U.S. - and more than 50,000 people are registered with Meetup for Dean - were doing the same.

I think it's a truly inspired project. I love the personal touch. I love that it gets each of us involved, on an individual level, attempting to make a genuine connection with someone else. I love the idea of handwritten, handsigned, personal campaign literature. I love that each and every person who came to the Meetup tonight got to do something to help their candidate right away - which will strengthen their willingness to come back and do some more.

It's also a cool project because it takes advantage of something Dean has that other candidates don't - a huge grassroots volunteer network. In addition to, hopefully, being successful in its own right, the fact that we have the resources to pull this off makes a statement about how broad and deep Dean's support is running - sixteen months before the general election.

I came home tonight so excited, so energized. Working for Dean makes me feel so good. It's... I was about to say "it's been a long time since a politician made me feel this way," but I've never had a politician make me feel this way before. It's great to have something to believe in again.