How the Other Half Lives

Sorry I haven’t blogged for a bit. I’ve been superbusy with activities related to “Project Keep Emma in Berlin.” No actual news to report right now, but watch this space for updates in a week or two.

Tuesday night I went to a Democrats Abroad meeting (for my work, of course). As a lifelong conservative and sometime Republican, I was excited about observing Democrats in their native habitat for the first time.

What are Democratic party activists really like? Well, turns out they’re just like Republican party activists – self-involved, self-satisfied, and long-winded - except they have more tattoos and body piercings and some of them are gay.

Michael, the head of the organization, proposed an agenda which featured six items – the very last one being the big voter registration drive that they are sponsoring this Saturday. One very sensible lady proposed a parliamentary motion to move up discussion of the voter registration drive and make it the first item on the agenda. Michael took exception to anyone amending the agenda that he had put together. So there was lots of discussion and various parliamentary motions and after fifteen minutes a compromise was reached: the voter registration drive was placed third on the agenda.

Wow.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun. Met some cool people. One lady invited me to her “anti-war social club.” Well, that’s what I’m calling it. Apparently, it’s a group of Americans who formed an anti-war organization in Berlin about 6 years ago. They now do little more than go out for drinks once a month.

I am actually just back from there. It was held at Barcomi’s – a very hip café here. The weather was wonderful, and we sat out in the courtyard surrounded by high buildings. I drank a café au lait, met some interesting people, and got invited to a party. All in all, not a bad night’s work.

I can go to sleep feeling satisfied.