A Broad Abroad

i’ve been volunteering at the obama HQ in berkeley this week. basically, i’m conducting an experiment. if i feel i can contribute more by coordinating many people to go to NV (the focus of the office), i will do this rather than give my one body to the cause in NV. by many accounts, nevada’s 5 electoral votes could be deal-makers/breakers. at times i feel very useful and at times i feel like i’m searching for something to do. i’m being patient about getting plugged in. i will resist swing-state-wanderlust for now.

there are many fantastic people giving any hour they can to campaign for obama, often phone-banking to swing states. that is thankless work. my mom in TX was asking about the office and the work there, so i forwarded a link to some pics i found on flickr. she said they looked very “berkeley”. i took a second look, because i was curious to know what she meant. here is the link. i guess it’s the women with no make-up and generally longer hair on the men? yes, TX and CA are different places and the fact that i notice coiffed ladies in TX airports, but don’t notice the “berkeley girls”, tells me a lot. i’m 40 yrs old and no longer wear mascara. i would have NEVER done that at texas tech U. you know what? i like being able to rub my eyes without looking like a racoon!

along those lines: i often observe behavior to identify patterns. every day is an experiment and i learn a ton. while walking around the lake i see cormorants “herding” fish underwater, while pelican’s swim above and eat. wow – working together?! i conduct social experiments about smiling at people as i pass. i think about the neutrality of my experiment’s controls. how might my ingrained biases or assumptions effect the outcome? fascinating! please comment if you do the same or read this and think i’m silly.

my life may not currently have much structure, but i try to keep my brain exercised. now i fear i am failing. i recently had a HUGE brain-failure. when i realized it, i was stunned. i bought a salt and pepper combo. only the size of the holes in the screw-top of each glass container were different and i decided, after trying the salt with the small-holes, that these holes would be better for the pepper. i started to change the contents of the containers and then realized – the containers are identical except for the size of the holes in their screw-tops! i could simply change the tops!! how often in life are there simpler solutions to problems but we don’t realize it? hmmmmm… the containers were in the shape of bears. did i inadvertently anthropomorphise them?

ok – enough. cheers pals.

i left camp obama inspired, educated but still not exactly clear where my efforts are best directed. so i’ve decided that i will spend the next week or 2 at the N CA headquarters to hopefully help coordinate the heaps of volunteers that have been contacting them. i figure this will give me a chance to see the campaign from the inside and see where the chips fall after the first debates. my hope of all hopes is that obama runs circles around mccain in the debates, shrinking the battlegrounds.

Some NV facts: in 2004, NV registered republicans outnumbered dems. NOW registered dems outnumber repubs by over 60K. that’s an amazing voter registration success story. voters can register thru Oct 4th – so the push continues. early voting (at designating polling places) begins on Oct 18th – so the goal will change to GOTV (get out the vote) at that time: get people in to the station and committed so the campaign can focus on smaller and smaller groups of voters. If you have a weekend to spare – you can help, too! trips to NV are being coordinated each weekend – check out the drive for change campaign.

i just finished-up day one of “camp obama”. it was a day of emotional and tactical highs and lows. an amazing group of people gathered to find out how to play a bigger role in getting barack obama elected. it was seriously inspiring. at one point we broke out into groups to work on how to verbalize our “personal story”: who we are, where we come from and why we are motivated by obama. apparently, being able to succinctly communicate this can be an effective way to canvass. each small group chose one compelling story to share with the larger group. i had to hold back tears as i heard from people who had fought their way out of gang culture, had their families murdered in el salvador, or where adopted from columbia after begging on the streets until age 9. most of these people have not been involved in politics before now, but have found a voice in barack obama. this white girl from TX, with wonderful parents who gave her every opportunity to succeed, is so happy to stand with them.

the lows were a result of an agenda that tried to be everything for everybody. IMHO, the biggest challenge of the bay area campaign is harnessing and focusing the energy of thousands of volunteers. each volunteer is different – different availability and different skills. it’s a huge logistical challenge! i still haven’t worked out how i can be most effective. i’m realizing that the berkeley office needs help from people who can volunteer full-time. people who can help coordinate the people who only have a weekend or evenings. so i may do that for a few weeks before i do swing-state work. we’ll see – it’s evolving and i’m ok with that.

dear friends,

as you may or may not know, i am still gainfully unemployed. i’m quite good at it, however i’ve found my disciplined study of doing-very-little interrupted by unease over the election in progress. feeling helpless out here with “the choir”, i’ve decided to take a month to volunteer for Barack Obama in a western swing state. that would be NV, CO or NM, not some country-music induced trance :).

so i have this to ask of you: if you have friends, family or non-homicidal acquaintances in these states and you believe they would be willing to provide room, board or some other service (a tank of gas, laundry room use, etc) to an obama volunteer (me), please forward this to them. i can be contacted by leaving a comment here. i am attending “camp obama” this weekend and will coordinate with the obama campaign, but there are limited resources available for housing, etc.

I wish i had a more detailed itinerary to share, but i currently do not. for those with interest i can send details as i get them. i will be firing up the travel blog again http://blogs.bootsnall.com/peggydaly/ so i will post updates, observations and photos i acquire along the way. i hope you’ll pop in regularly between now and 11/4. it’s likely i will hit some of our country’s beautiful national parks along the way so i can practice my landscape photography :).

i hope this finds you well! cheers,
peg

i remember fondly my crossing from guatemala to MX. i hadn’t had a good pork dish in FOREVER. but so many things made me fall in love with Chiapas, MX: great food, natural wonders, friendly people and history. i had amazing experiences around san cristobal which is why i post these 2 videos. first is a little tour of posada morales in san cristobal. for the awesome room and view i thought it was a bargain. after that is a video of a procession i came across in chamula, outside of san cristobal. locals walked from the town center to the cemetery, carrying new crosses to honor the dead. guitars and accordians accompany.

i’m so fond of chiapas

ok – it’s not new a “new” meat at all, but cooking it is new to me. if you’ve read my blog you know i am a HUGE fan of cochinita pibil (yucatecan recipe for pork slow-cooked in banana leaves). tonight the pork is marinading and tomorrow it will be wrapped in banana leaves (found in fruitvale tienda) and slow roasted in my oven. woohoo! but right now the skin under my nails is burning from the habanero pepper :). i have no idea if it will rival the meat that filled my salbutes in MX. if it’s even close i will have a happy soul (and belly). and then i will start sharing the love……. and we will assimilate you….

and here is the subject of the “ode to my pack” posting a few weeks ago. there’s been a problem cross-blogging from flickr for several weeks but they seem to have cleared it up. so here is a pic of the pack i loooove so dearly :).

My Trusty Pack, originally uploaded by peggydaly.

i gave a lot of thought to what would be part of my “technology entourage”.  photography was important to my travels and i’d previously traveled to india and senegal with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi, but the whole question of lenses, bags, protection, and photo-uploading gave me fits.  I thought i would share with you what i ended up bringing and how i might change the selection in the future.

as i mentioned, i was attached to my Canon XTi but my load needed to be manageable.  the best way to do this was by only carrying 2 lenses:  my all purpose Canon EFS 17-85 mm and a telephoto Sigma 70-30 mm.  i also have a lovely Canon 10-22 mm wide-angle lens (nice considering the angle-of-view loss in digital SLRs) but i couldn’t justify dragging 3 lenses around.  since i’m a people photographer more than a landscape photographer, the telephoto won out (no need to get in people’s faces to get a good shot).  the 17 mm would have to do at the wide end.   so that’s my body and lenses.

My small, canvas Domke bag was inconspicuous while traipsing around and offered easy access to my camera (as opposed to a backpack-style). slung over the shoulder it looks like a grubby messenger bag, not a target screaming “steal me!” it’s a smallish bag and i wanted to leave room for my guidebook and a snack, hence the decision to bring only 2 lenses. It will carry the camera body and 3 lenses in a pickle, but not much more than that.  this bag does not have a zip-closure over the top of the camera, only a flap, so i needed a quick solution in case of a downpour.  i did this by carrying a small, lightweight sea-to-summit drysack.  it was easy to zip this up in the side pocket of my bag and in a rainstorm my entire domke bag could be stuffed inside.  in dusty locations i would carry my lens and body in individual ziplock bags.

sooo…how to store and/or upload pics?  it’s not a problem if you are gone for a short period and can carry all the pics you want on your memory card(s).  but when your pics are 10MB/per and you are gone for 5 months, having your pics on cards is plain $illy.  my dilemma was this:  carry an external storage device or bring my 12″ powerbook.  why did i want my powerbook?  mainly for these two reasons.  One – to blog.  I could type my entries off-line and upload when i had wi-fi (increasingly easy to find) or got wired-up.  Two – I could “work” on my pics while i traveled.  surprise!  my pics on flickr are generally straightened and cropped at a minimum.  the prospect of coming home and culling then editing hundreds of pics was daunting.  but if i could do it on quiet evenings while traveling – that would be so cool. OK – so the powerbook and a neoprene cover joined the entourage.  whenever i traveled in wet places or on a boat my powerbook got its own little drysack :).

now – knowing i would go places i didn’t want to carry my SLR, i brought a point and shoot as well.  I choose the Canon SD870 IS ELPH.  good all-around, tiny camera.  while in its padded bag it still fits easily in a ziplock.  great for adventures and i liked having the movie (avi) capability.

accessories?  padded lens filter holder, 2-format card reader (waaay faster than uploading from the camera), battery chargers and extra batteries, for the SLR two 2GB cards and two 1GB cards, for the ELPH one 2GB card, a few lens cleaning accessories and that’s about it.  oh, i brought an iPod.

so that’s a fair bit of loot.  i definitely had my concerns about traveling alone with this much equipment, but i did make it home with everything.  how did i safeguard it?  i had my backpack for all my “regular” gear.  that is what got thrown on top of the bus.  in addition i had a large Patagonia Critical Mass messenger bag.  it has a padded laptop sleeve and my camera-loaded Domke bag fit inside the main well, still leaving room for several books, a water bottle and a few other necessities.  this bag, filled with all my goodies, stayed with me while on buses, etc.  and i ALWAYS kept a good eye on it.  no stuffing it under my seat where it could be pilfered.

i didn’t carry my laptop and camera everywhere i went.  i did accept some risk and left it in my room at times.  I stayed in many budget hostels but not in dorms.  I was fortunate and never had a break-in.  i know lots of people debate whether it’s wise to bring laptops, nice cameras, etc.  i can only share my (fortunate) experience.  my photography was important to me and having my camera and laptop enriched my experience because i was able to better capture the beautiful world around me and share it with my friends and family (and maybe you, too!). and don’t worry……….i unplugged often :).

what would i do differently?  i was surprised to find that even tho i was skeptical about my laptop, i really liked having it and would bring it again.  but my camera, which i had no second thoughts about bringing,  i would re-think….at least for loooong trips (unless photography is my main objective).  what i would look for is an “advanced point-and-shoot”.  something with a good zoom, that shoots in raw format, good manual controls, and image stabilization, etc.  these are really evolving and i met several people on the road who had these and i was very impressed with the performance.  this would allow a much smaller camera “package” and reduce a LOT of weight.  that messenger bag did get darn heavy.

so B and H Photo – i guess i’ll be back :).

The Dust of Several Continents……that is what i saw floating around you in my tub. yes, i bathed you lovingly in preparation for our TX-family-visit. i’m terribly attached you, my decade-old pal. how old are you in pack-years? we both cut our travel teeth on our first journey to Africa when we met my sister at her peace corp home in Niger. since then you have been with me to other parts of Africa as well as India, Europe, Turkey, much of the USA and, of course, you were my constant companion for 5 months in Central America. i looked at the brown water and the memories came flooding back. you have been mercilessly thrown on and off buses, planes and boats, dragged across floors, sat upon, laid upon, survived encounters with flowing vomit, fish juice and other substances that roll across floors of the aforementioned buses, planes and boats. you have taken all these indignities with dignity.

my passion for travel began on that trip to Niger, where you first met my back. i never gave you a name because i didn’t even realize how attached i’d become to you until recently. in central america i saw many younger, sleeker, firmer models with fashionable color palettes and a dizzying array of straps, buckles and zippers. they only made me love you more. they made me fearful of the day you are no longer able to contain the burden i carry. i, from this day forward, pledge to take better care of you and prolong your life as best i can. you deserve nothing less. thank you for your faithful service and companionship as we’ve traversed the globe. and here’s to many more amazing journeys!

when things got a little hot on isla holbox, i headed for the roof of hotel la palapa. there was a lovely shelter over a few hammocks and the breeze was always sweet. or one could lie in the sun and periodically rinse off under the conch-shell shower-head up there. heaven!!!