We got up early today, and were out of the house a bit after 8:30 am. I got all spiffed up in my suit and Dave and I followed Hardy out to Burlington High School. BHS is Jay’s high school, and he was able to arrange an assembly for us at like 9:30. We got in, and brought in a bunch of tabling supplies. Jay was waiting for us out front. He took us in to speak with the principal. She was nice.

We set things up in the auditorium, we set up a table in the back, Hardy set up the video camera to record my speech. The principal found me a microphone. Heavenly and Jeremy came to help out with the table. It was empty and then everyone showed up at once. But of course they were being herded by their teachers so most didn’t have time to stop at the table. I was up front with Jay and the principal. It was up to the teacher’s discretion whether they wanted to bring their classes to the assembly or not, but a lot did. Jay figures we had around 500 people there. It was nice. The principal got started by introducing Jay, and then Jay introduced me.

The microphone sucked, so I just spoke loudly without the mic. I think everyone heard me, I spoke well and clearly. Jay told me that the key thing I should push would be to convince everyone that they are actually being discriminated against. So many are complacent about it, and accept the status quo no matter how negative it is to them. Frederick Douglas has a quote about that, about how much oppression people will endure before they dare to try and fix things. I don’t have it off hand though, but I’ll link to it later. Anyways, Jay is completely right that that is what we need to do.

So I was a bit more passionate with my speech than usual, cause I was really trying to impress upon people the fact that they were oppressed (without saying that word). I dunno, sometimes I worry that if I give a more passionate speech, and the others aren’t really feeling it with me, then I just seem silly. So its a difficult balance to make. Personally I like small speeches better. Then I can get intimate with people and really connect with them. Its much easier to connect to 20 people than 500. So instead of my usual, casual, conversational talk, I had to make the speech more traditional and then I slipped into a bit more passion (which may or may not have worked). Also at Jay’s request I touched on all our main issues, not just the drinking age.

But I didn’t talk too long, it was opened up to questions soon. The less I just monologue the better. I like answering questions better than speaking. Because then I can respond directly to someone’s concern, and then I get a sense of what the audience is thinking and can respond to that. The more interaction with people the better. The questions were tough and almost all about the drinking age. They had the same kind of skeptical questions about it as anyone twice their age. So the folks who think of youth as unthinking self-interested automatons are consistently proved wrong in my experience. They have as many thoughtful things to say on the issue (on both sides) as any adult. So I answered people’s questions a bit, and we ran out of time, and I encouraged people to talk to me afterwards and get involved.

A crowd of people gathered around me afterwards to continue hashing out the issue. Hardy came down and video taped us talking. This was nicer because it was more intimate, and I could relate to everyone better. Jay was there too talking with people. He knows the issues well, and did even before we got here, but he’s picked up a few good soundbites and arguments from me over the last week. Jay is very impressive, and he will make a great president of the chapter when elections are held again next month. He is well connected and has run youth organizations before. After talking to us, several of the students went back to the table and signed up. They are all Jay’s classmates, so I hope he can spark a NYRA chapter at his high school.

The speech, I thought, was pretty good, though I may not have brought them along as slowly as I should have. Perhaps I dived into stuff too soon and came off as radical, I’m not sure. But not many people signed stuff at the table. Mostly because they had to get to class right away and didn’t have time. But who knows what everyone thought about it. I wish we had more time so I could get a better sense from people. A lot of the questions though were highly skeptical, so that bothers me. Perhaps I should have done less of a passionate speech trying to get youth rights to click, and more of a standard, patient, rational delivery of the main issues and arguments involved. That usually works better for me. But who knows, maybe they dug it and the supporters didn’t say anything.

Dave and I left right from the school for Bennington. Hardy gave us directions to Bennington and to a few other schools in Southern Vermont. We headed south along Route 7, the same road we took to Rutland last week. Apparently we drove right past Middlebury then, but didn’t stop. This time Dave and I stopped. It was absolutely gorgeous out outside. I think it was like 70 outside. And since I had put a tie and crap on for the BHS thing, I was all hot. But it was alright, I wasn’t too formal.

We found a spot where a bunch of people were outside eating. It wasn’t the main cafeteria, but it was a secondary eating spot. Lots of people were outside enjoying the great weather. I went around from table to table signing up people. Dave stood near the exit and signed up people as they were leaving/entering. I was tremendously effective, very high percentages of people were signing. One of the first girls I spoke to was really into it so I gave her a stack of cards, as I often do, so she could gather sigs on her own and mail them back to us. I gave her Hardy’s business card too. I continued on signing up people, then after half an hour or so that girl came back with half her stack already finished. I was very impressed.

Dave and I only stopped for an hour or less, but we got like 80 people to fill out the cards. Then it was like 1 o’clock or so and the lunch crowd was starting to thin. I wanted to hit Marlboro College as well before my scheduled talk that night at Bennington, so we left Middlebury and continued south along Route 7. It was very pretty country along the road, especially south of Rutland. We were going through (or to the side of) the Green Mountain National Forest, and there were lots of cool mountains and such along the way. I’m sure it would be spectacular in the summer or fall when there were leaves on the trees. For now though, even with everything dead and barren, it was still cool looking.

We got down to Bennington, but we didn’t stop. I got on Route 4 and drove east to Marlboro. The road was very windy compared to the others we’ve been on, and it was going through the mountains the whole time. Very nice country, also through the Green Mountain National Forest. Not too good when someone is in a hurry, but pretty to look at. Of course it always sucks when I’m going past great scenery when I’m driving, because I can’t really stop and look as much.

I was worried about how long it would take us to get to Marlboro, especially since the road was all windy, but it ended up working out nice. It was really far out there in the middle of nowhere, and it looked like a summer camp. Didn’t look like a college at all. We only had like half an hour, because we needed to get back to Bennington, but I figured it’d be good just to say we hit it. Marlboro was such a cool little hippie college. I pulled up and a bunch of people were sitting outside playing frisbee, smoking weed, sitting in a circle talking (maybe that was a class, I dunno). It was funny, but cool. I went to the group sitting in a circle, and I sat down with them and talked about the issue. Everyone was into it and signed. One girl was very into it and I gave her a stack of stuff to hand out, and some flyers and such. I marked her as a leader prospect and someone to hit up to be a chapter leader. Hopefully she and another guy I spoke to can start up a chapter at Marlboro. We also spoke with a guy from the school newspaper who was interested in doing a story on us if we sent him a press release. I took special note of all three of them.

We left Marlboro after just a short time there with like 36 cards filled out. Just as we were pulling out of the school I passed two hitchhikers and their dog. I stopped and they said they were just hoping to be driven halfway down the road. It wasn’t far and they seemed like nice folks (hippies are always nice folks) so I gave them a ride. I had to clear out the backseat for them though, there was a bunch of crap in it. My car is all messed up now. My trunk is just filled with flyers and handouts and cards and posters and everything else. Its going to take a while to figure it all out.

So I gave them and their dog a ride, it was only like 5 minutes, but I got a chance to talk to them about youth rights. They didn’t sign the card because neither were from Vermont, and I’m guessing neither really had a phone, e-mail, or permanent address at the moment, heh, so we just talked a bit. They sounded interested, so that was cool. We dropped them off and continued back down the road to Bennington.

We got on campus, and were signing up people as soon as we got out of the car. There were like 3-4 people filling out the cards right on the trunk of THABOAT. I had to wait till they were done before I fished out some more stuff from the trunk. I called Sarah, out contact at the school, left a message and then we walked to the main part of campus, a bunch of people were outside having a BBQ. I went to hit them, and Dave went to the Commons Building and got people standing around outside there. We weren’t at it long, maybe 15 minutes when Johnny Law had to bring the party down.

This guy was just hilarious. He looked like some small town sheriff from the 50’s. An older guy with gray slicked back hair, walked with the swagger of a gunslinger. He clutched the flashlight in his belt as if it were a gun. Clearly this guy takes his job way, way too seriously. He came up to me and said, all seriously “you are in violation of school policy, you must cease and desist your solicitation immediately.” Then he escorted us down to student activities, all the while talking on his shoulder mounted walkie-talkie to “headquarters” I guess. If he was trying to intimidate me, it wasn’t working. I dunno, I think Dave was worried a bit, but it was all I had to resist laughing. That definitely wouldn’t be good, cause he might have shined his flashlight at me menacingly.

We sat there in the waiting room watching Bill “Robo-Rent-A-Cop” Reynolds pace around all serious and listening to some girls sniffle and cry next to us. I felt bad for he girls, but I had no idea what happened. Thinking I’d want to remember this all later, I started taking notes on particulars about our middle-aged tormenter. Finally the Dean, who we were waiting for, was done and we could go see him.

We entered the office of a very nice, but VERY gay dean in a paisley plaid shirt. He explained that there had been two deaths in the last two weeks on campus. But he kept like exaggerating the details, and then apologizing and retelling it. “Just last week two girls fell out of their window on campus and fell to their deaths…. I’m sorry, that’s not right at all, actually one died, and the other is in the hospital, I’m sorry.”

He explained since the deaths (also another girl in a car accident) that because of the “emotional fragility” of the campus, that something like us going around asking people for signatures could trigger an emotional response from tramuatized students and result in someone breaking down in tears. So in order to safe guard the fragile emotional state of the students, soliciting was now banned. Ummm, ok. But whatever, its his decision so whatever. He asked us for our names and I gave him my business card. Then he let us go on our way but stressed again we could not solicit and we must leave campus immediately after our event.

We walked back over to the Commons building and figured we’d just wait for Sarah. Thankfully it didn’t take long before she found us. She seemed cool. We hung out a bit, and I shared our brush with “the law”. She knew Bill quite well, and said he was a dick to everyone on campus. And that yes, he just takes his job way too seriously.

We had an hour to kill, she asked what we wanted to do, and I suggested dinner. We went over the snack bar. I got a bacon cheeseburger and small salad, Dave got cheese quesadillas. Sarah put it on the school’s account or something, so awesome - free food. It took forever though. Finally they actually finished the burger and we ate.

After eating we walked back to THABOAT to grab some tabling materials, and then we grabbed some food that Sarah bought for the event. We had to stay with her the whole time, since we were visitors we needed an escort. We got the food, headed back to the Commons building and set things up. She had a nice spread, flavored humus, bagel chips, strawberries, snicker minis, cookies, and goldfish crackers. Good stuff. I had a bunch of strawberries. The room was all hot so I opened up the windows. They were all old though, I was worried they were going to crash down on me. The breeze was nice though

People started to file in. It wasn’t a huge crowd, but that’s alright. Unlike the speech at Burlington High School I was able to relate to everyone better. I was totally relaxed and totally on my game. Unlike BHS when I was all serious and trying to be passionate, I was just casual and, with the small crowd, funny. The whole talk was very personal, and Sarah and others asked more personal questions like how I got involved and what it was like being on CNN, and that was cool, cause I could tell some of my stories. I’m a great story teller I think, but I need to be asked and drawn out. They did, and I enjoyed that a lot.

I learned that Bennington was like 80% women, which made sense cause there were like 2 guys in the room and the rest were girls. Plus the school has a reputation for nudity. Apparently people will always walk around naked or topless. Wow. Awesome. Sadly I witnessed none of this debauchery. Not even a breast. Sigh. I think the girls were digging me though. I was a charming son of a bitch. Not that I was trying to charm, but when I get in NYRA mode I’m totally cool and relaxed and in control.

I felt as good about that talk as any this entire campaign. It might have been my best. We talked about more than the drinking age too. I brought up a bunch of issues, and while I don’t know whether everyone was sold on the idea, I think I really made an impression. I can usually see a difference when doing a talk between when folks ask the tough questions the entire time and when like halfway through someone asks “so what can I do to help?” They asked it this time, and I was quite pleased. I talked about setting up a chapter and working with NYRA-Vermont. I think people are definitely interested in getting something going at Bennington. I’m pumped.

It was like the youth leadership conferences I used to speak at. I just adored those because it was so relaxed and informal, and I hit it out of the park nearly everytime. When I can connect with an audience in such a way that it ceases to be a speech and becomes a bunch of friends hanging out, joking around, debating the issues, and sharing personal experiences about youth rights, then its a huge success. I definitely prefer intimate talks like this over the lager speeches like this morning at BHS. The more relaxed, comfortable and familial it becomes the better. I totally achieved maximum familialness at Bennington. I had them cracking up a few times too. I rule.

Sarah helped a lot too. She guided the discussion a bit and asked some cool questions that helped to personalize it all. That was great.

After the talk, we packed up the food and the materials and walked them out to the car. Then we went across to the security booth to find Dave and I a place to stay. Sarah offered us couches in her living room, which I wouldn’t mind, but considering she lives in a 24-hour party house, there would be people coming and going and making noise at all hours. So…no. We called around to various places in town looking for a cheap motel. Ack, there weren’t any. The best I could find was like $55 bucks - the Knotty Pine Motel (say it outloud, its funny). Yuck, I was hoping more for like $30. But oh well. Hopefully NYRA will raise some money this week to cover it all.

I made reservations and then we followed Sarah down to the game room. Two of her friends (they were at the talk) were down there playing pool. Sarah “snackabee/snackababy/mackabee/mackababy” didn’t play, but her two friends played Dave and I. Crap it was embarrassing. That first game they totally swept us. Neither Dave nor I got a ball in the entire game. They scratched on the 8-ball at the end, so technically we won, but damn it was humbling. Not that I want an excuse, but the balls were smaller than standard and they hit all weird, so I had to adjust to that.

Sarah’s roommate, Emma “Pim” (right?), was damn good at pool. I was humbled. Her other friend was good, but not pro like Emma. She was fun though, all zany. She said she was destined to be a crazy old lady with lots and lots of cats. She started humming some tune and then challenged us all to guess it. None of us had any idea. Then she sang it. Still, none of us had any idea. It was some bizarre song, and we all figured she made it up. She kept singing “my white knight, or ocelot, or my angel with wings” hehehe. We started calling her ocelot. Then she and I would sing that song to mess each other up. And damnit, I would have totally won this one game if she wasn’t singing that darn song and totally messed me up. Sigh.

Ok, I just looked up the song on Google, and amazingly it IS a real song, and she actually wasn’t too far afield with the lyrics. The funniest part of the song wasn’t accurate though. Sorry dear, it was lancelot, not ocelot. hahaha. The song was “My White Knight” from the Music Man.

Ocelot, Emma, Dave and I played a few more games. The rest were a lot closer, but still we didn’t win any unless they got the 8-ball. It was just nice to hang out with some people though. They were all cool girls. I kept threatening them about what I’d write up in my blog. But don’t worry, I left out all the scandalous details of the fun we had on the ladies couch…… (just kidding Cathy! I swear!) Oh and since they will be reading this, don’t forget to go check out and get involved in the NYRA Forums. Hint hint.

We said our goodbyes, and Sarah escorted Dave and I back to THABOAT and we headed out to the Knotty Pine. We caught the last half of some Michael J. Fox movie from the 80’s, I wrote notes for today, and then we went to bed.

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