concerned – OpenExchange

Cool moments and Green Chile Stew

As the days wind down, my greatest regret is that I could not capture the most compelling aspects of this journey for you. The discussion, laughter, and candor that often occurs only when the camera is turned off.

Today was no exception. I pulled off in Lyman, Wyoming when I caught sight of a weathered Cowboy Cafe sign to my right.

Probably the best representation of a ‘local’ cafe it is in possession of the absolute best Green Chile Stew to date. This accomplishment just steps away an independent gas station and the interstate cannot be overstated. It is filled with locals and enjoys a staff that is friendly and connected to this distinctly Wyoming community.

Please meet Tyra, recently engaged and from Colorado originally, her insights on Lyman and what really matters here is remarkable.

What I love is that this perfectly captures two repeated themes. It starts with a dire hyperbole (doomed) and then the top of mind single issue (guns) that concerns the speaker and, in this case, the community.

But my favorite part occurred moments later when my camera was placed on the stool beside me. Tyra explained the importance of being able to protect yourself in a rural area. When the subject turned to background checks, gun registration and semi-automatic weapons bans, we were surprisingly in alignment. When I mentioned that my understanding was that Hillary did not want to ban guns, but to enact legislation in these three areas, there was a pause.

And like Mr. Beasley, it probably did not indicate agreement. But it was cool.

A Tale of Two Rallies

It was hard not to make comparisons. I cannot remember an election when the contrasts were so stark, and seeing both candidates in one day, back to back, was an exercise in mental juxtapositioning (yes, I invented a word) Lets start with size. My estimate was that there were approximately 3,000 people at Hillary’s rally, while I would put Donald’s (yep I am going with first names) at just over 4,000.

Hillary’s campaign organization and volunteers were widespread and busy arranging get-out-the-vote activities. I did not see much active campaign efforts at Donald’s rally, most notable, they did not even collect the tickets which had our contact information. Not surprisingly (Hillary’s rally was the Iowa Democratic Party “Women Win” early vote rally) was predominantly women (I am guessing 70%) who brought their children while Donald’s leaned male and far less children.

Most of all, you can notice a significant difference in tone in their introductions and opening comments. Oh and Hillary had an advance team filled with people like Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood. Donald had a former Celebrity Apprentice.

Curve Two: Moments after arriving at the Hillary event and having established myself in a bleacher with a good view of the crowd, my cell phone went off. My boss had texted me ‘oh my did you pick an interesting day to go to the rallies’ I was speaking to a group of African American women and had no idea what we was talking about. My cell phone lit up with ambiguous messages like ‘what is happening???’ Please people, text in complete sentences! Then finally, ‘was texting because of FBI news…. reopening case against Hillary’. Sigh. I looked up and surrealistically (yep, a new word) watched as attendees faces turned down to their phones and slowly learned the same news. Other worldly.

Curve Three: And the best moment of my day. It occurred at the Trump rally when I met Mike Brown. He defied my assumptions and presented one last turn in a day full of them.

S-Curves and Campaigns

There is a reason that the good people who design highways labor to keep the routes straight and flat. Any curvature, whether vertical (hills) or horizontal can wreak havoc with vehicles expecting to continue at high rates of speed without a line of sight to what lays ahead.

The approach to Cedar Rapids brings this into sharp focus as I-380 curves dramatically right, then left as it rises to cross the Cedar River and circle the huge historic Quaker Oaks factory. One of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the country (I have this on good authority from a local sheriff, interview to follow) the resulting I-380 S-Curve was the perfect metaphor for my experience at the Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump rallies.

My long day yesterday resulted in about 3 hours of video and wonderful stories If you will bear with me, I will (like any good s-curve) go slowly and start at the beginning.

The most surreal aspect of the day started first thing. I was capturing the line which formed early, when a young woman approached with a dog. It appears that he had gotten away from his owner and she was frantically looking for him. More, the young concerned woman was wearing a Trump/Pence shirt. Instantly, the Hillary supporters in the area rallied to help. Within minutes, a young man ran up, clearly delighted to find his dog. It was a lovely moment, and I turned on my GoPro to capture it. Please indulge me and watch the video below before reading on…

Curve one: When I turned from filming, I noticed a camera crew to my left. They were filming me, filming the scene. This was a professional production crew of about 8-10 people. Turns out they were filming a documentary and had staged the scene with actors. A social experiment, they had also conducted the same scenario at Trump rallies with actors in Hillary apparel.

This was just the beginning of a day full or turns and surprises.

UPDATE: On election morning I was getting ready for work with the TV on in my bedroom when I glanced over to see a dog on the screen. I knew that dog. So here you go friends, the ‘documentary’ was a commercial and now stands as living proof of my no-make up, bad Walmart dye job and cow pants.