The Convention: Part 1
As I type this Barack Obama has walked on stage and is giving his acceptance speech. All I can think of right now “I wish I was at Invesco Field.”
That however, was impossible. I couldn’t start school, help put out the first issue of the Bachelor, my school paper and attend the convention at the same time (although I most definitely would if I could).
So I’m settling for the next best thing. Tomorrow I will be driving ten hours to Minneapolis-Saint Paul for the Republican National Convention. I’ll be working for NBC as a “runner.” Although there really wasn’t a job description one can intuit its meaning pretty easily. Runner roughly translates to ‘go-fer’ or ‘hey, get me my coffee.’ But I’ll have an interesting vantage point from which to observe the convention. And hey – I’m getting paid.
Paid – that’s the upside. Downside – I’m driving from Fort Wayne to Minneapolis. It’ll take 10 hours or so. My mapquest route (which is pictured above) says it’s approximately 580 miles to Burnville, (outside of Minneapolis) where my hotel is located (evidently they didn’t have a room at the hilton reserved at the Hilton for me J). Downside part deux – I’m missing class at Wabash College. I have two political science books, a short fiction book and megabytes of articles to read for my history class. Although each of my professors were happy for my opportunity (and thoroughly confused by the convention I had opted to go to) they expect me to be up to speed with what we worked on in class. So, when I’m not working or blogging I’ll be reading things like Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” or Mainwaring and Scully’s Latin America:Eight Lessons for Governance. But I digress.
I’m gonna approach the convention much like the Iowa Caucus road trip. Although I am without the company of my good friends Chris and Tyler, the same unknown allure applies. I have absolutely no idea what’s in store – no idea what NBC has for me to do, no idea what I’ll see and no idea where I will be able to go.
Hopefully it’ll be worthwhile.
Cause I have a TON of school reading to do.
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Burnville, fort wayne, IRS, John McCain, Minneapolis, obama, republican, Saint Paul, The Bachelor, Wabash College
