It was my biggest fear:
Throwing a party and having no one come.
And this time, the stakes were so very much higher. "I"--me, myself, I, JJJ the person and the candidate for Salt Lake City District 3 City Council.
I was "The Party."
Would anyone come?
(Besides my children!... and The Dog!)
Everyday, besides walking the neighborhoods that are this wonderful area, I watch some of the movie Milk. It is my inspiration, and my Bible. We watched it at my campaign initiation, and I bought it, to be able to watch some part of it, everyday. (I usually fall asleep to it, the show running on my laptop, my bedmate.)
Where was my Cleve Jones, I wondered? (Cleve Jones is the curly-haired, bespectacled kid heading off to Spain with a no-care attitude about political activism upon first-meet with bearded, political neophyte Harvey Milk.)
Given the brief burst of this election (I decided/entered July 14... Primary election Sept. 15... General Election Nov. 3), I didn't have time to wait for my Cleve Jones to "summer" in Europe, then get ditched by a boyfriend, only to finally come back, full-circle-humbled to a patient Harvey Milk.
I needed CleveJonesOnDemand!...
Months ago (four months, to be exact), I had offered up my Avenues home to the Green Drinks social group as a local for a "house party." To date, all of their gigs had been held in bars or other commercial venues, and I thought the group deserved a homier, more residential feel. Serendipity ruling, the two leaders of Green Drinks, Mary Rogers and Kirsten Gellella, approached me about my "taking" the August date. Wilting a bit (because of the pressures of the campaign AND the thought of my yard in its current status), it took me all of... five seconds to jump at the chance to host. And host I did... Or rather, host WE did. My friends at Forbidden Fruit Catering did the food, Uintadonated some brews, JJJ's home team pitched in with not just administrative support, but music (son Jamison's band with friend Arash--"Rabble Rouser” played), and pal Jimmy Knobs (a.k.a. Jim Mooers, who is playing The State Room in October) and Jeffery Summers (hipper-n-hell!) cranked.
Circulating at the party, I met Deb Henry, a 27-YO UDOT engineer, KRCLvolunteer, and political activist from New Jersey (apparently, the same birth-city as Mr. Bruce Springstein, who, at age 60 is gracing this month’s cover of AARP magazine!). With a degree in civil engineering and significant coursework in urban planning, Deb worked on Ralph Becker’s campaign, helping him migrate from fourth-pole position to, well, you know.
“I want to help you,” she smiled. (In journalism class, we learned to never personify those sorts of verbs. But, that was then.)
This is now.
So very now.
Today, I spent about 90 minutes with Deb. In the course of our discussion, she told me that my enthusiasm, earnestness, and honesty had engaged her. A party that she came to…
From there, I leapt into another invigorating meeting, with another 27-YO. Aurora Shlien, environmental activist, policy-maker, and co-founder of Sustain Utah. Like Deb, Aurora found space in her busy schedule to accommodate me. A party that she came to, and even invited. Ideas will turn to design-build the afternoon of Sept. 11. Anyone wanting to bring high-voltage input is invited to a GREEN City (GreenCity@JJJslc.com) strategic meeting chez moi.
Chez.
Che.
Change.
I have found that, perhaps like Santa Claus, “Cleve Jones” is not just a single person in all cases. JJJ and J?
We are The Party.
And we are The Life of The Party.
Party on. www.JJJslc.com
nice!
Posted by: daisy JOHNSON | 08/29/2009 at 12:16 AM