Hey Mister, That's Me Up On The Flat Screen TV

It is a somewhat surreal experience to be working out at the gym on the elliptical machine and see yourself on the TV screen in front of you as you watch the local news.  But there I was, standing on corner in downtown San Francisco near Union Square, 'tabling' for John Kerry as part of the last push for a voter registration drive and to promote WAKEup!'s event on October 19th.

Which is the real reason I'm writing.

Tuesday, October 19th is the day of the "Great Kiss-Off" where women across the country will be mailing in "dear George" letters from post offices at noon, kissing Bush "Good-bye."

Hopefully we will garner some media attention, which may in turn help us persuade undecided women voters that they need to take action and to vote for a change -- they need to help elect John Kerry.

For me personally, my work for WAKEup! has been my "clap if you believe in fairies" strategy.  Mom and Dad always give me a good ribbing about how hard I clapped when we went and saw a performance of "Peter Pan" when I was a kid.  And I remember that actually -- I clapped very hard to keep ol' Tinkerbell alive.

Does clapping really keep fairies alive?  Well, who knows?  But it felt good to do, and maybe it did help.  In the face of a national campaign, anything an individual can do seems like a drop in the bucket compared to the tidal waves of triviality that engulf the major media ("swift boats? National Guard memos from 30 years ago?  The Vice President's openly gay daughter is called a Lesbian? WTF!?" I hear future students of history cry when they study this election).  But this work I've been doing has provided me some relief from my anxiety about this election.

It also reminds me of a few line's from Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant"

You know - "You can't get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant"

For those of you not familiar with Alice's Restaurant, or have forgotten this timeless gem, the complete lyrics can be found at:

http://www.arlo.net/lyrics/alices.shtml

But the part I'm thinking about is this - the part where Arlo has just evaded to draft on account of being a litterbug and he explains:

"... you may be in a similar situation [the draft], and if your in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into the shrink wherever you are, just walk in say "Shrink, You can get anything you want, at Alice's restaurant." And walk out.  

"You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him.  

"And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.

"And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in sing'n a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an organization.  

"And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day -- I said fifty people a day walking in sing'n a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out.  

"And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

"And that's what it is."

This is of course made all the more timely by the talk of the draft which may need to be re-instated should Bush be re-elected (Bush may have convinced himself otherwise, but those of us who live in what is referred to derisively by the other side as the 'reality-based' community -- see Ron Suskind's article from last weekend's New Work Times magazine -- know that reality has a way of catching up with you...and when it does...).

So it's time to do a little bit to help elect John Kerry.  It's time to sing your bar of "Alice's Restaurant."  It's time for you to clap if you believe in fairies.  It's time for you to mail in that letter that simply says "Good-bye, George" -- and seal it with a kiss.  It's a snarky "Kiss Good-bye" for that man who's occupied the white house for four long years - four years of decisions that have been disastrous for this country and we will pay dearly for in the coming years.  

And it's a kiss of good luck too ... not for George of course... but for us. It is a kiss that, I hope, brings John Kerry good luck, come November 2nd.

And who knows, maybe hot pink web sites, posters in Laundromats and beauty salons and girls with bright red lipstick kissing envelopes will play a role in the outcome of a Presidential election.

P.S. Visit http://www.wakeup2004.com