I took off from work last Friday and drove to San Antonio
with my daughter to attend, as a guest, the Texas Democratic Convention. This
was a first for me, and I felt oddly amateur about the whole endeavor. I hadn’t
planned on going, since I couldn’t attend the county convention, but my
daughter said “it would be interesting,” and I couldn’t very well argue with
that.
I
managed to navigate directly to the AlamoDome. The tricky bit was finding the parking entrance. The building entrance wasn't obvious either. I followed some people who hopefully knew more
than I, and found a sign that said “guests.” We got our badges and programs and
then sort of guessed a general direction to walk which turned out to be the
right one and landed us on the floor of the AlamoDome. This was sectioned off into four big meeting rooms and a maze of booths by blue and
white curtains. We oriented, checked the schedule, and decided we had time for
a quick bite of food before anything of interest happened. This turned out to
be a not-thoroughly-heated pre-frozen breakfast sandwich, which we ate standing up. There
were a few chairs, but I observed the large number of elderly attendees and
chose to stand.
Since we were guests and not delegates, we were free to roam
as we pleased without responsibilities. We gravitated quickly to the Women’s
Room where we found a few familiar faces. After I sat down and got adjusted, a
woman in a big cowboy hat asked about the empty seat next to me and sat down.
Then she said “Geraldine?” and wrapped her arms around me in a bear hug. I’m as
huggy as the next person, but I was glad when she whispered her name into my
hair. Facebook friends aren’t always easy to recognize in real life,
but turned out she was indeed a dear friend and fellow administrator of our
Facebook group What Happens in Texas. We watched a bit of presentation and discussion
panel about reproductive rights. Shortly after we met up with a few other buddies. More hugs and selfies, Renee and I then decided to prowl
the booths for a bit. This turned out to be not very exciting. There were a few
politicos I knew, a few I didn’t, and a bunch of people selling pins and
tee-shirts to support their local party org or campaign. I decided not to
engage the anti-vaxxers (who invited those fools?) or the NRA (seriously?), but
I did get entangled with an eager young Tesla salesman who clearly hadn’t taken a spin selling
class. 
Back to the Women’s Room to take in a presentation by Annie’s
List. They’ve updated their training, and I think it’s definitely an
improvement. It was really hard to hear anything, because there were other
equally well amplified and well attended events happening on the other side of
a flimsy blue and white curtain. My friends were getting hungry and restless,
so we decided to join them in a hunt for real food. I abandoned my car in the
AlamoDome parking lot and rode with them on a bizarrely hilarious hour-long trek across
downtown San Antonio in the vain attempt to find parking anywhere near a
restaurant. Luckily a retired nurse, a chaplain, a hangry 14-year old, and I
all managed to keep our sense of humor and not eat each other before we finally
landed at Fuddruckers. After a beer and a salad (healthy!) I took Renee aside
and asked her if she wanted more politics or some Riverwalk. She opted for the
river, so the rest of the afternoon was spent wandering slowly in the heat,
sketching and taking pictures. We ended the day at the Marriott bar, which was
filled with democrats for a change.
So, my deep thoughts about the whole thing, for what it’s
worth.
- Party politics are mostly run by elderly women, so why aren’t more women running for office?
- I don’t understand nearly as much about the political process as I thought I did, but apparently I need a cowboy hat if I'm going to be taken seriously at this sport.
- Event planning isn’t for amateurs.
- Just showing up is really important.
- Downtown San Antonio is a freaking nightmare.
- Nobody really looks like their profile picture.
