We have lift off

Our 44th President Elect, Barack Obama is now our 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama.
Congratulations to him and the United States of America

Thanks to all who supported me and our new president
Good bye, and good luck

A Victory for the Ages

As I sit here in my living room I was reminded of this blog. I was reminded of the many good days cataloged and the many adventures depicted. I remembered the everything from the Convention to the Debate at Hofstra to Election Day and to this final moment. Because today on this Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 the culmination of everything that I believed in this year, and all of my efforts and hopes comes to together in a moment of true sucess as Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. If there is anyone reading this now. You know the story that has been written this year about Barack Obama and he quest for change. After the convention the posts stopped coming from this blog. Maybe because of the lack of effort or lack of desire that I had. Mostly because of my workload at school. But after everything that has happend. I decided to take a mental health day. Most reading might expect me to be at the inauguration but sadly, no. I was not able to attend this monumental event for one reason or another and so I sit at home and cheer on Mr. Obama to victory. Today is a day of sucess for me and the million or so Americans in Washington DC today. I'm thrilled for Black America who must feel a sense of relief and sucess. To have a dream realized and to see how far that they as a people have come.
Now, let us wait and see the Change.

A Fond Farewell

All good things must come to an end. And for me, Barack Obama walking off the podium at Mile High Stadium Thursday night was the end of many good things for me.

One, my stay at Denver, which is a great city and was fun to explore.

Two, my brush with stardom. Walking around on the floor of the Democratic National Convention allowed me to meet more famous people than there are on the red carpet.

Three, free stuff. Who doesn't love free stuff?

But now that all of the excitement it over, I have time to think about everything that went on. I won't bore you with too many details.

As soon as Barack Obama finished his speech my mind began to race. I thought about what I wanted to do with my life and what I could do to achieve the success that he has attained.
I now see politics as something that interests me especially when thinking about my future...

But back to business.

I really started getting into my schedule.
Wake up, blog corrections, head out to the city for lunch, go back to the hotel to change, and hit the convention for a night of excitement and politics.
I would have never used those words in a sentence before this convention.

Now the most important part of this good bye post.

I would like to thank Mark Abraham whom without I would never have been able to experience the wonder and excitement that is the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
He got me on the floor to get those pictures. He got me a Canon 5D. And he got me to Denver. I'm eternally grateful for his presenting me with the chance to go to such an outstanding event.

I would like to thank my Mom who pushed me to go and told me that whenever I see someone interesting, to go and talk to them. That is how I met Cory Booker and that is how I have pictures with a myriad of celebrities.

Finally I would like to thank all of the people out there who read my blog, forwarded it, commented on it and sent me emails. It made me happy to see such a positive response to what I thought was more of a personal diary of what happened throughout the Convention. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I just uploaded a photo album of all the pictures I could fit on flickr so go check them out.

I thank everyone for reading and especially any of you who managed to read through the blog in its entirety. I realize that I write a lot. I put a lot of time and effort into this project and to get such a great reception really influences me to pursue blogging in the future.

I thank you all once again, it has been a great journey and I hope that the future is bright for Barack Obama and the Democrats.

Finally, if you got anything out of this blog I hope that it is at least this:

"If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress."

Barack Obama 08'

A Night to Remember

What was a defining moment in American history was also the most exciting point in my life.

When Michael and I arrived at Mile High Stadium we had no idea where to go and spent the first half hour roaming around the stadium. When eventually we called that guy Jon Sachs that I mentioned in my first or second post, he didn't help us much.

But we did eventually find the digital dark room and from there we went out separate ways. I headed over to the camera stand to the right of the stage, as directed by Stan Honda, and Michael to the left. When I went over to Robin, the photographer I usually run for, she told me that she didn't really need my help for the day because she had a computer with which she could upload the pictures.
This didn't make me feel terribly good about myself but at least I had the rest of the Convention to myself.


So I walked around a bit, saw Lil JJ again, saw the Reverend Jesse Jackson but otherwise no one else really notable. Then it started getting exciting. John Legend and Wyclef Jean hit the stage to do a duet.









Up next was Sheryl Crowe. She did a whole 4 song set. Then Stevie Wonder did two songs. As always he got the crowd up and singing to "Sign Sealed Delivered" I really liked Sheryl Crowe the best and thought that all of the musical performances were great. The only disappointing part of the whole night actually was the lack of a Bruce Springsteen set. I was really thought he would jump up on stage during one of the dozen times they played "Born in the USA".
Oh well.

Bill Richardson, who didn't get a chance to make his speech last night made a very strong speech tonight. Now I don't have any quotes because I was so overwhelmed by where I was that I didn't get a chance to write anything down.

I was also being hassled by the police and what I guess you can call a "guard" even though they were just normal people keeping other normal people, like myself out of the closer regions of the floor. For this reason alone my night was dampened.

It made me angry because the "authoritative" people keeping me from a good view of the stage told me to keep moving back and "clear the aisle". There is only one problem, there was no where else to go. They closed off the exit to the right wing, if you will, of the field.

So I'm stuck in limbo moving back and forth, getting told to go back. It was probably the stupidest situation I have ever encountered. The speeches go on until Al Gore, Nobel Peace Prize winner, hits the stage for a solid, Pro- Obama speech.

Al Gore went on for a bit about where the country would be if he was elected president. Gore told of a greener future possible if Obama were elected President of the United States. When I see these men and women making speeches talking about how Barack Obama will accomplish what they wanted to accomplish had they been elected to office I hope that the following of these people will take to Obama. That is obviously the goal but if it worked than Obama and McCain wouldn't be 50 50 in the polls!

After Al Gore, Vice President candidate Joe Biden came to the mic to just keep the tone on Obama and warm up the crowd, like they would need much warming up. He said that with Barack Obama the country can become a powerhouse again, a leader and a visionary.

After Biden left a myriad of common people from all over the country came up to the podium to tell their stories and why Obama is their vote for President.

One woman was a republican turned democrat. Another was a man who lost his job to a foreign worker. I found these speeches a wonderful addition to the entire experience. The whole message of the "change America needs". Then a senator from Illinois made a speech followed by a long video telling part of Barack Obama's story.

And without introduction the man himself, the reason we were all the, the future of the country, nay, the world, stepped on to the floor and up to the podium to address the country. Barack Obama opened his speech with his accepting the democratic nomination for president of the United States. It didn't take that long to quiet down the crowd either time due to the respect from the crowd and the desire to hear what their future president would say.

Obama made many important points during his speech. He said that he didn't think McCain didn't care about the problems of the people in America, he just didn't know about them. He also answered some questions brought up over the campaign such as his patriotism. Obama argued that he can't disagree with other politicians without them questioning his patriotism. I also have a take on this. If Obama didn't love this country why would he be doing everything in his power to make it better?

Barack Obama stated that the campaign was never about him but about "you" the people. Obama stressed that the election was not just about politics or even other worldly matters. It is also about reviving the sense of common purpose. To care for your brothers and sisters and to achieve your own goals. This is what Barack Obama tries to drive home with his powerful speech.

"What some people don't understand is that change isn't coming from Washington, but to it" This was welcomed warmly by the crowd because it insinuates that the Obama campaign message of "Change we can believe in" When the speech ended, fire works erupted from all around the stage.

Joe Biden came out and he and Obama posed around the podium while the most patriotic of patriotic music played. When he finished I had chills throughout my body. I had stood for so long that my legs were numb but my mind was rushing. I kept thinking about what I had witnessed and if Barack Obama was the man for the future. I know one thing, if I could vote my choice would be simple.

I just hope the rest of America sees what he will bring and what this country can be capable of with a visionary like Barack Obama as commander in chief.

The 2008 Democratic National Convention ended on the note "Yes we can". I can only imagine what Barack Obama felt as he accepted the democratic presidential nomination. He becomes the first serious African American man to be nominated. He, alone, represents how far the African American race has come in this country. Will he win the presidency? Maybe. Maybe not. But for the first time in my life, someone has come along to bring the change that I need. To help change the future for the better. To secure my chance at being something in this world.

That someone is





Barack Obama

Third Times' a Charm

There is no biz like show biz and tonight was the closest thing I've ever come to that.

I might as well have walked onto the red carpet. Such celebrities as, The ever present Spike Lee, Jamie Foxx, Chevy Chase, Kal Penn, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, and probably more hidden between the rows of the delegates sections.

There is so much too much to tell for the amount of time I have before the coffee wears off and my creative mind shuts down. So bear with me, I'll get down what I can tonight and finish it up in the morning.

Today Michael and I headed out for a quick run to the MSNBC out door studio where we encountered the usual characters:

We then hopped on the shuttle to head over to the Pepsi Center for it's last day hosting the Democratic National Convention.
Cutting right to the chase today? That's because we woke up so late due to my staying up until 2.

We arrived at the Pepsi Center earlier than usual. We hung around the dark room and walked around the floor until about 6. A man with Canon approached us telling us that Mark had asked him to hook us up with some Canon 5D's! Now all of my pictures will be high res and awesome to match my writing skills.

Equipped now with my Canon I headed over to my camera stand running into Katie Couric on

the way.








After I entered the convention hall I didn't leave it until the convention recessed for the day.
Almost immediately Robin and I entered the buffer. Our plan was that since yesterday I got locked out I would hand the disks off to Joe, the editor correspondent who would meet me at the gate. This method worked excellently.

The first famous person I met that night will make my mother very happy:

Luke Russert

I found him interviewing someone for CNN in the stead of his father no doubt.

I only ran about 3 times over the course of the exciting, speech filled night. The list of the speakers for the night are as follows:
Sen. Jack Reed
Former Sen. Tom Daschle
Bill Clinton








Sen. John Kerry
Gov. Bill Richardson (Did not speak)
Rep. Chet Edwards
Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth
Sen. Joe Biden (To accept Vice President Nomination)

Right as I began to head down to the buffer I saw, you guessed it, Spike Lee yet again. I was very close to getting a picture but he didn't look to thrilled when he was mobbed by a group of people. So I decided to back off.

It didn't take long for me to find out that tonight would be the most exciting night so far.
Because as soon as Bill Clinton was brought on stage the crowd exploded waving American flags and cheering their hearts out for literally 10 minutes. It took so long to quiet the crowd down that Bill Clinton had to get very serious and tell every one sternly to calm down.

Bill Clinton's speech was pure dynamite. He started his speech by saying that Barack Obama hit the ball out of the park when he picked Joe Biden.

"I love Joe Biden." Was exactly what he said.
Bill Clinton also talked about how people called him "too young and too inexperienced" when he was running for president. "Sound familiar?"

Of course Clinton was hinting that Obama was called that as well. Clinton won when they said that he led America through one of the strongest economic time periods in it's history.

Bill Clinton told the audience that "Barack Obama is ready to lead"

During this speech the coolest thing of the night happened to me. I was crouching down in the buffer and I turned around to see the one and only Chevy Chase! I was so shocked I took a double take. Then as fate would have it a woman came over to him and had the nerve to tell him that he was in her seat. So being a chivalrous celebrity, Chase removed himself and knelt down right beside me.

Some guy said to him "Welcome to our world" and that was when I extended my hand to him and said "It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Chase." I'm way too courteous for my own good when meeting celebrities. He shook my hand and I asked him for a picture, obliging, I flipped the camera around and took a picture of us.













Too bad I am such an ugly person or it would have been a great picture.

After Clinton's amazing, true speech John Kerry was up.

A lot of people said that his speech was redeeming. I thought it was pretty good but he looked so old. Just four years ago he looked so young and hopeful. Now he looked old and worn. But his speech "raised him up a step" said Mark.

After a few other speakers the Man of the night, Joe Biden took the stage.
He was an amazing sight. His story is phenomenal. Elected to the senate at 29, lost his wife and daughter in a car crash and spent 4 hours a day commuting from D.C to Delaware just to see his kids.

He also kept up with the theme of the convention: "McCain is wrong and Obama is Right" Simple and true. Biden claims that Obama and him will help raise the minimum wage. And keeping with his "Violence Against Women Act" he stressed equal pay for women who do equal work.

Well the night is over right? Biden gave his powerful, enthralling, speech. But wait, a special guest? Could it be? Oh yes it was:
Barack Obama

When Barack Obama walked out of that door and stepped onto the stage already burning from the fiery energy that was the people in attendance at the DNC I was sent into shock. For whatever reason, seeing this man so close and so alive was just the turning point in the trip for me. I have never been more excited about Change then I ever was that moment. He began to talk, simply congratulating Bill and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Bo Biden, who introduced his father and the rest of the speakers.

He told us he'd see us Thursday and proceeded to greet the Biden family and whoever else was on stage.

Right before he left however He pointed at the people in the buffer, right where I was standing and looked everyone in the eye. He covered about a span of 10 feet with this motion and he caught my eye for about half a second. It probably helped that I was the tallest one there.

This made my night.

Or so I thought i had thought...

After the spectacular final day at the Pepsi Center Mark, Michael, Larry (a guy on staff) and myself went out the Denver Diner for some quick food. When we got there however we found that a rumor was going around that Barack Obama would be showing up to eat there that night!

I became ecstatic. I've never eaten a hamburger so slowly before. We all did everything we could to keep us at our table. Ordered dessert, coffee, made small talk with the waitress. But in the end it was just an extra hour of time I didn't have to write up this blog. Because all the signs that were posted up touting "Obama

Biden" were taken down after the "Check out" guy came and left. He came to check on the place and make sure it was safe for Mr. Obama.

Well I guess something went wrong because we never did see Barack Obama in that restaurant. But we were ready for him. All Camera's and handshakes.

So now I sit here in bed at 3 am desiring nothing more than to go to sleep so I can be ready for the biggest day of them all tomorrow.

Hopefully I will get enough sleep. We plan to head over to Mile High Stadium ASAP. So no afternoon posts. But I will have more than enough to talk about tomorrow. But for now

Goodnight.

Peace.

...

Yes.

Dies Duos of Monesterium

Sequels are never as good as the first they say. Lucky for me the sequel to day one of the Democratic National convention was not a movie.
Though with people like Spike Lee and Charles Barkley present it sure could have been.

I'll start it off with the highlight of my night:

BAM, the Charles Barkley
Too bad I'm not as photogenic as I should be due to the fact that my father is a photographer.

Now that my personal ordeal is over with, Day 2!

No really big speakers tonight except for the number 2 democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton.
I guess it is appropriate she spoke on the second night. Other notable speakers in order from first to last are as follows:

Rep. Dennis Kuinich
Gov. Ed Rendell
Rep. Rahm Emanuel
Gov. Janet Napolitano
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius
Former Gov. Mark Warner (key note speaker)
Gov. Deval Patrick
Gov. Brian Schweitzer
Hillary Clinton









When I arrived at my station (by the New Mexico delegates) Robin, the photographer I run for had nothing for me to do so I walked around a bit, saw Spike Lee again (wearing his Undrcrwn
t shirt I may add). I also met this guy:















I thought my mom would like that. Again, I wish I was photogenic.

So the night continued on containing some if not most of the thrills of the previous night. But the coolest part by far was going to the buffer.

Down right in front of the stage there is a roped of place called the buffer. It is where all of the photographers with the proper credentials kneel and capture the magic of the speaker. Robin, has those credentials. I do too.

We went down to the buffer where you might as well have been sitting next to the person at the podium. So I'm sitting there, bewildered at how close I am to these famous politicians such as Mark Warner.

When I realize, I'm going to be here when Hillary Clinton comes up! Now I'm not a big fan of hers but I do appreciate all of her efforts and her strong determination to fight the prejudice she faces as a woman. But that is beside the point. So here I am taking these really good shots from my (calling it a front row seat would be an understatement) position when my photographer signals to me to come and pick up some disks.




I begin to head over to her but before I do I encounter some trouble with one of the "overseers". He tells me I have to go wait with the other runners (total runners: 2) but Mark, who was down in the buffer as well told him that I can wait right where I was waiting. I was very grateful to keep my perfect spot, or so I thought I would be keeping it.









I begin to push through the aisle and head towards the dark room. I deliver the disks successfully and begin to head back to the buffer when I am stopped by the guards at the entrance to the convention hall. Apparently no one was allowed in, NO ONE, except of course Bill Richardson who's guards got him through. I did get his signature though.










What happened was the Fire Marshall declared it a fire hazard for there to be that many people in the hall. Well Mr. Marshall don't you think it is also a fire hazard to have at least one hundred people blocking the entrances and exits of the auditorium? No I guess that didn't occur to you, or any one else.

To make a long brutal, saddening story short I was stuck in the outer hall for the reast of the night and I missed my perfect chance to snap some great photos of Hillary Clinton.
But as my editor correspondent told me, "Such is life". That allieviated some of the frustration because just because I'm missing Hillary Clinton doesn't mean it should ruin my night. I'll wait until Barack Obama is speaking for it to ruin my night. I should not talk such.

So I listen to Hillary Clinton's speech via television feed and occasionally run back to the gate to try and get a better look.





Her speech was pretty solid, it wasn't Michelle Obama's the previous night but it was extremely Pro-Obama. In her speech she emphasized the necessity of health care for every one in this country. She also talked about how voting in Barack Obama will help to alleviate our massive debt to China. "We can not depend on foreign oil any longer".

She also included in her speech saying that "Veterans should be receiving the care that they deserve" which is something I myself find trouble understanding why we have such a problem. These men risk their lives and when they come home they are resigned to low rate jobs, little pension and most are mentally and physically damaged from their experiences in war.

Hillary didn't seem too upset with Obama's pick of Joe Biden as Vice President either. She said that Joe Biden can help lessen the economic stress in our country because he has been through it.

"Experienced" is a very important quality in this election. People like to know that these men running for president have been through some of what they themselves have been through.
Mrs. Clinton also talked about how John McCain doesn't care about Women getting equal pay for equal men.

This night had its pros and cons.
Pros:
Met Charles Barkley
Got as close as possible to most of the speakers
Got a free pretzel and water
Learned a few more names

Cons:
Didn't get to be in the convention hall for end of speech giving
Didn't see Hillary Clinton's speech
Once again did not finish blog before next day. SORRY!

I am excited for the third day and hope that it gets more exciting. Oh and when we got back to the hotel Death Cab for Cutie was apparently finishing up their set in some warehouse like building across the street from our hotel.

Today Michael and myself will be heading up to the Center early to catch some of the musical acts. So no mid day post like usual.

In other news, KanYe West is rumored to be playing some where around the convention hall and we fully intend to go.

I have posted a photobucket album of all the pictures that didn't make it into the blog. I'm currently uploading them and it takes a while but you can still check it out.

Thats all for now.
Peace.
-Graham