Archives for 2024

Nelle is an inspiration to me, and I’ll bet that we can all use some inspiration right about now, so I asked if Nelle could talk to us about how she talks to her neighbors, and even strangers on the street.  Because we all need to be doing that this tine around!

I did that all the time in 2007 and 2008.  I very much felt that it was my job to get Barack to the caucus in Iowa and prove to everyone that he could win.  I talked to everybody.  In the elevator.  In line at the grocery store.  At the train station.  Everywhere.  I wore my Obama hope pin, or my Obama necklace, or wore an Obama button on my jacket.  I was an Obama evangelist!

I always carried extra Obama buttons with me, and if someone commented on something Obama that I was wearing, my reply would include, “would you like a button?”  I don’t think anyone ever said no!

I bought the buttons in batches of 300, and I’ll bet I bought them at least 5 different times!

That was a different time.  I had SO MUCH HOPE.  Now we all have to learn how to do that again, this time perhaps more motivated by FEAR than by HOPE.  Or maybe I’m wrong about that last part?

In any case, let’s hear from Nelle who somehow manages to put herself out there all the time, now, in 2024.

Talking to People

by Nelle

I’m focused on building community, both within and beyond political connections.  I’ve moved a lot, mostly due to my husband’s refusal to change scientific data to suit government officials (he’s a water quality specialist).  I have had to build a sense of community over and over (eight states and two countries in our 44 years of marriage).  I don’t have time to waste, waiting for others to come to me.  I usually had a list of ten or twelve things to do the first two weeks in a new place.  I would discard what didn’t work.

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Boots on the Ground, and Out In the Field, Nelle Style!Post + Comments (111)