Remember "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" essays in grade school? Well, if I had to write one now as a 23-year-old recent college graduate, I'd have to say that the last four weeks of my summer have been interesting and inspiring to say the least. Being offered the opportunity to be a Planned Parenthood Campaign Organizer intern has been one of the most exciting, enriching experiences I've had. My days are filled with work that, while perhaps isn't the most glamorous or fabulous, is always exciting and challenging. And in the midst of an economically questionable summer in which many Americans are partaking in "staycations" instead of stealing away to exotic locales, I'd venture to say that not only is my summer work exciting, it's also pretty important.
Jenn and I have been working out of John Siptroth's campaign office in Marshalls Creek. We're really lucky in that we have an awesome setup. We have the entire headquarters to ourselves, complete with a plethora of office supplies, a computer, fax machine, and phones. Basically, we're laying a lot of the groundwork for things that will happen later in the campaign as we approach the election. We've streamlined databases, organized the headquarters completely, set up two MySpace pages (Women for Siptroth and Vets for Siptroth), make countless phone and walk lists, and coordinated the setup and volunteer staffing for the recently-held American Freedom Festival in East Stroudsburg, among other things. (Which also included a very Lucy and Ethel-esque hours long hunt for curling ribbon around downtown Stroudsburg…) So on the campaign end of things, it's been a lot of computer work, but I realize how crucial this foundation is in making sure that John is re-elected and can continue to advocate for our issues (among other issues of course!) in HD 189.
As far as our PPPA stuff goes, Jenn and I have done lots of phone calls and crowd canvassing, but we have even more exciting things on the horizon. On Wednesday, we're tabling the Mae show at Crocodile Rock in Allentown. We're gunning to meet AND exceed our Million Strong goal at this event. After that, we're hosting a house party at my house a week from Thursday and hopefully petitioning at MusikFest in Bethlehem and one of the upcoming Warped Tour dates. There's a lot to look forward to and a lot of really exciting work to be done as we continue on this particular summer adventure!
- Joy, Northeast PA
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