My Journey to Save North Carolina from the Democrats: Part III: Election Day

Click on the North Carolina Democrats tag for the other two parts of my story. I am going to Georgia next week and feel free to contact me here or on patreon to help fund that. The money will be going to pay lodging accomodations for people directly impacted by loss of income this year. 

Waking up on election day, the gravity wasn’t lost on me. It’s like the feeling you get watching the Olympics, knowing this special moment will only come every four years and that’s not nearly enough. As much as I desperately want the election to change America for the better, I recognize the unique excitement of seeing the map of our nation light up red and blue and learning our true colors.

There’s a bittersweetness to the election season ending, but it could get all bitter if it doesn’t go our way and Trump wins. It seems a remote possibility, but I’m optimistic. My understanding is that four times as many polls have been conducted and Nate Silver and his colleagues have accommodated for missing factors from 2016. Besides, I’m religious or spiritual or whatever enough to figure the Universe has to even out. Sometimes bad things happen for a reason, but what would be the benefit of four more years of Trump?

My mom called and predicted danger because of shy Trump supporters who don’t want to admit their loyalty in the polls. I can’t fathom such voluntary pessimism.

I still felt like I’ve gotten the hang of canvassing and wanted to do more with it, so I woke up early (for me, that’s around 9) and jumped ship. It was also one of the last opportunities I’d be able to use a car as well. On this particular canvassing trip, I was set to go to Hope Mills which was one hell of a rich suburb.

It was jarring to see such a change in wealth after spending time in the sticks the day before. This felt like films like Pleasantville, American Beauty or the TV show Weds.  What also came to mind was the fake town in the beginning of the 2008 Indiana Jones sequel that was nuked. The sameness of the houses almost felt plastic in its imagery.

Naturally, all but two people in this neighborhood weren't home because I assumed many of these people worked throughout the day. One of the households I went to was a man who said that he voted for Trump (I assumed many people in this neighborhood would vote that way). I inquired why this household was listed as that of a registered democrat and he said that was his wife who was off voting for Biden as we speak. I imagine these guys aren’t as split as Kelly Anne and George Conway but I found it to be a start.

I also went to an apartment complex that was a little poorer and saw a notice of a guy who’s ballot had to be cured. I knocked on his door immediately and he wasn't in. His sister answered the door and said Matthew was an hour away in Chapel Hill. I tried to stress the importance of getting his brother back to Fayetteville in the next seven and a half hours so he could revote or at least call the appropriate number.

As my time was running out, I tried to drop as much literature as I could (even to people) who didn’t have the address.

After a lunch at the waffle house (a special treat I reserve if I’m on a road trip), I turned the car in.

Throughout the entirety of this week, I was hoping I might network and make friends. I had chance encounters with strangers and talked to a few locals, and my Air B & B hosts were nice. Still, I thought maybe we’d at least be able to celebrate with a party while we watch the election results. I told Genna  this and she said we could at least chat online while watching the party.

Every other day, no one was available to help with a ride and I had to shoulder the cost of an Uber myself.  But on election day, there were at least half a dozen organizations to help people get to the polls. As a poll observer they were also willing to help me out, fortunately. Even if I wasn’t a poll worker, Uber did its patriotic part by offering free and discounted rides. The idea that election day happens on a weekday rather than a weekend has often been a critical point of US elections, but little companies can do their part.

I arrived at a fire station which was supposed to be my polling site. I’d done this twice already and prepared for something boring. I also assumed I would be outside so I came armed with snacks, warm clothes, and books.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the poll chief, Angela, let me stay indoors even though I wasn’t on a list (I was ineligible for inside observation as a non-county resident). There was another poll worker, Collette, who branded herself a “judge” and policed me about no-nos like eating at the polls. There was also a talkative African-American man who was trying to make pleasantries with people at the polls. The polling place has often been described as a watering hole and he was probably the person most responsible for that atmosphere. I tried to be friendly but I wanted to read a book.

What made things more interesting was that for the first time, I wasn’t the only poll observer on site. 

A Republican poll observer named Rick showed up on site and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing which was pretty helpful since I had no idea what a poll observer does. 

When there was a dispute, however, I once again had an idea what a poll watcher did. Rick observed that the democratic flyer distributor was forty feet from the polling site if you walked outside the perimeter of the building from the entrance way but not from the parking lot. This was an issue because handicapped (or sick) voters are allowed to cast their ballots in the parking lot making the parking lot a voting site of sorts. Additionally, there wasn’t much pathway for the flier distributors to not be a distraction to people walking to the polling place with a parking lot so small.

Playing devil’s advocate, I mentioned that it wasn’t our fault that no Republican flier distributors were on-site. Again I’ll be brutally honest about my shortcomings and tell you that I was mostly just trying to say something remotely intelligent so that he wouldn’t be unchecked. I assumed I was there for that. At the end they compromised and had the guy stand on a different part of the parking lot.

At the end of this dispute, I pointed out to Rick that this particular flier distributor appeared to not be particularly aggressive anyway. Like George and AJ on the first and second day, he was paid $100 a day by congressional candidate Patricia Timmons-Goodson to stand and pass out literature. Whereas George and AJ made an effort to engage the public, this guy mostly just hung out and planned out fantasy football with a nearby friend (a whole other debate could be had over what to do with legality of the friend). This mutual point of agreement about his lethargy set off a friendlier conversation

In Rick’s efforts to make polite conversation, he asked me where I was from. Rather than say I was all about wanting to defeat the evil Republicans (which is true), I said that I wanted to explore a new place and have an adventure. He even agreed to give me a ride downtown if I wanted to watch the results near headquarters (I imagined some people would be congregating there).

Another friendly dispute between me and Rick was when a certain voter backed out of voting because he wasn’t well-educated. I tried to at least guide him to research the options because I assumed a well-researched voter would probably veer towards Biden and other Democrats. He didn’t hear the conversation but told me I wasn’t allowed to talk to the voters at all, in a sort of “by the way” fashion.

Before the election was over, Indiana and Kentucky started reporting results on the TV in the fire house lodge. I popped over and asked who the two Fayetteville firefighters on site were rooting for and they said they had an ironclad rule not to discuss politics. The thrill and fear of the map meant that I knew I’d be addicted for the rest of the night.

Then things got worse in every conceivable way. The Fayetteville fire station chief came in and said that the lounge was closed off to civilians and that I can only watch the results through the door and things started looking bad for us. Meanwhile, Rick ditched me for reasons I didn’t know.

A second member among the crew of poll workers, Miles, stepped up to volunteer to give me a ride but Collette, the overbearing judge who wasn’t in charge, forbade it. Collette likes to ruin the party.

As I checked on the phone, Florida and Georgia oscillated. It was the first blow of the night. After 90 minutes I was increasingly hungry, irritated at Rick for ditching me, and annoyed at the gap of information. Finally, the election precinct completed their results and the talkative poll worker gave me a lift to a local Buffalo Wild Wings.

Buffalo Wild Wings was full of TVs and customers but they were missing one thing: A television showing the election results. I understood the need for escape all too well. When I visit my parents, they watch too much news and I often want to turn it off because why expose yourself to painful news you usually can’t do much about? But not this night. My twitter feed was looking a little downcast but I had hope.

I asked the manager to switch TV stations and when that didn’t work, I made a dash across the street. I had hope and went to a bar across the street. The staff at this other restaurant was extremely pleasant and asked how I was doing it and, seeing that we were about to lose Florida, I replied “well, it’s the end of the world.” As I was looking at the results while eating a meal, I lost the sense of adventure of this trip. I woke up this morning thinking the worst possibility was that I might watch the results alone. Now, the stakes have suddenly become much more real.

I texted Genna and said I couldn’t fathom such an outcome. She said the country would be ok one way or another but I wasn’t really sure and I couldn’t fathom a bright side. It was fight-or-flight. 

I looked at the experts but for a while things looked bleak. Two of the handful of diners present were  Trump supporters. One was a bit of a crazy lady who seemed to process everything Fox News gave her without a filter. 

The second was a demure man with a mustache who looked like a shorter version of Will Ferrell’s character in Talladega Nights, and seemed pretty reasonable despite being a Trump voter. He said that he liked to vote for the economy. I really couldn’t muster much emotion except fight-or-flight but this guy gave me enough pause. I could sort of get him for a couple moments. I decided that in a sort of karmic way I would wish him a good night as well as Crazy Trump Lady. 

I resolved to make like the Buffalo Wild Wings crowd and go home and watch something non-political. But to make matters worse, Uber was surging like there was no tomorrow. I got a cab ride home and the driver gave me crap over not having a credit card. Back in my hometown, cab drivers used to pull this trick because they didn’t want to take the 6% cut. To combat this, I told cabbies that if they wanted a tip they’d have to take credit card. This jerk felt he was entitled to choose mode of payment and gripe about a tip. I started to feel like, screw Trump, this guy was enemy #1. Yes, I was in massive fight-or-flight on this dystopic night but I’ve endured dishonest cabbies for years and this guy sucked. When I went to get my cash from upstairs, I told the driver he should take credit card but when I realized the fare would come out to $13 change off $20, I gave him an extra dollar. I’m superstitious and thirteen is an unlucky number. I gave him $12 and explained to him my superstition because Biden would need all the help he could get.

I decided that my best chance was to simply take my mind off the results and pray. I watched some “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” to steer my mind as far in the opposite direction of politics as I could. I didn’t check the results before going to bed.  

The country was falling apart but there was only so much I could do.

30 Best Post-SNL Careers

 

 

Please chime in with your own picks or tell me where I've gone wrong.
Four rules:
-Rob Downey Jr is eliminated unless you count Tropic Thunder and Al Franken and Dennis Miller who did more politics than comedy are eliminated
-Anyone who's only been gone from SNL 3 or 4 years doesn't count yet (Taran Killam) but also the ppl who died young like Belushi, Farley and Hartman. A lot of those 3 legends would be conjecture
-Not just acting, but producing, hosting, directing, stand-up, podcasting, etc
-What's being judged is after you left SNL

In parenthesis is the last year they were in the cast

1. Will Ferrell (2002)-Ferrell stood out for his intensity and machismo out of the gate on SNL but he has shown a wide range that has translated well to a wide variety of movies including dramedies like Stranger than Fiction and Elf; and he has been very successful at the box office. He also has his own production company as the co-founder of Funny or Die and has found a directorial partner in Adam McKay. 
2. Adam Sandler (1995)-Love him or hate him, he is a tremendously dependable force at the box office, and has creative control with Happy Madison productions, in addition to projects with James L Brooks, Judd Apatow, Safdie Brothers, Paul T Anderson that have allowed him to shine
3. Bill Murray (1980)-He's been in many iconic films, and has been a commercial success for a long time, his brand of comedy has aged well as has his perosnality, has a highly respected status in the era stretching from Lost in Translation to Broken Blossoms to Life Aquatic,
4. Eddie Murphy (1984)-His heyday was mostly in the 80s, but he has a great and groundbreaking following in films and stand-up. Comebacks in Dreamgirls and his latest stand-up special in his SNL hosting, his 2019 stand-up specials and Dolemite is My Name show there's a large iconic status to him
5. Tina Fey (2006)-Her status is more on the writing end than the performing end for her 3 mega-successful TV shows that led to an updating of comedy and her film Mean Girls. She also has had a sizable presence as a movie lead
6. Ben Stiller (1989)-His movies might be on the safe side and less game-changing than say Christopher Guest or Mike Meyers, he's been successful as a film maker, writer, and actor and has created many films worthy of sequels and been part of cult films like Mystery Men, Zoolander, and more. Night at the Museum and Meet the Parents both led to sequels.
7. Chris Rock (1993)-It can be fairly easily argued that he is the most successful stand-up performer to emerge from the show. Even if you count Top 5 as a successful personal statement (though not commercially successful), he never translated it into moviedom
8. Mike Myers (1995)-If you sound the RIP to his film career around 2008 with Love Guru, that's still a 14 year run of being at or near the top with film franchises Wayne's World and Austin Powers as well as Cat in the Hat, Shrek, etc
9. Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1985)-Two mega-successful sitcoms bookended by the semi-successful (and Emmy winning) New Adventures of Old Christine
10. Martin Short (1985)-One of the most daring and iconic comedians in all varieties
11. Sara Silverman (1994)-She's hosting talk shows, her voice acting career is stellar, she's acted, she's had her eponymous sitcom, but she's also a big brand as a stand-up
12. Kristen Wiig (2012)-Her acting filmography has been both prolific and impressive. She's worked alongside Anette Benning, Cate Blanchett, Dianne Keaton, Matt Damon, and Robert DeNiro and has done plenty of indie films like The Skeleton Twins and Girl Most Likely in addition to bigger works like Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Downsizing, Wonder Woman and the Martian.
13. Amy Poehler (2008)-As an actor, she created an iconic figure in Parks and Recreation's Leslie Knope and has been moderately successful in some of her movies like Sisters and The House, but there's so much more including her work for the UCB theater (Founding the NYC branch was pre-SNL) which fostered so much talent, and how she produced Broad City, Russian Doll and Duncanville.
14. Billy Crystal (1985)-Though his Borscht belt humor isn't for everyone, he's been able to make his passion projects like City Slickers, Mr Saturday Night, and Analyze This with creative control. He's also hosted the Oscars probably more than anyone. He's less prolific from 2002 onwards.
15. Christopher Guest (1985)-Though he's a little less well-known as an actor outside of Princess Bride, but he took This is Spinal Tap and created an entire brand of comedy with four more mockumentary movies. He also does the occasional acting gig like Night at the Museum and Mrs Henderson Presents.
16. Seth Meyers (2014)-In my opinion he's become the voice of a generation since Jon Stewart stepped down and Stephen Colbert became a regular talk show. He's also produced Documentary Now and AP Bio as well as his own animated show The Awesomes (admittedly middling)
17. Chevy Chase (1976)-The show's first alumnus, he was active in a number of hits in the 70s and 80s. Other than Community, of which he didn't do particularly well on, he's faded quite a bit.
18. Fred Armisen (2013)-Highly prolific as a guest star and makes tons of movie appearances. He has co-created three TV shows to date-Los Espookeys, Documentary Now, Portlandia-and had recurring guest roles in Looney Tunes and Difficult People
19. David Spade (1996)-Isn't really a movie headliner (his big hits were alongside Chris Farley or Adam Snadler) but has been successful as a stand-up, TV host, and most importantly, he has had supporting roles in Just Shoot Me, 8 Simple Rules and Rules of Engagement that made those shows infinitely better.
20. Andy Samberg (2012)-His brand of humor has done well for this era as he has headlined Brooklyn Nine Nine, headlined projects with Lonely Island (a comedy music career if you will), and ventured into more serious stuff like Celeste and Jesse Forever and a mental patient in Brigsby Bear (Kyle Mooney's project was comic but Samberg's role was serious)
21. Bill Hader (2013)-Been extremely active as an actor in many projects, having prominent roles in Inside Out and the Skeleton Twins and popping up everywhere else. Barry has been extremely successful.
22. Maya Rudolph (2008)-As strong an actress as Poehler and Wiig, she's mostly just been acting rather than doing more but she's shown a wide range.
23. Laurie Metcalf (1981)-She only lasted one episode on the cast of the show though it was meant to be more before the writer's strike of 1981 took hole. She has an Oscar nomination, a prolific actress with two Tonys and she has won Emmys for Roseanne
24. Dan Aykroyd (1979)-He's been a durable supporting player more than anything else but he's done well for himself by those means.
25. Joan Cusack (1986)-She's earned two Oscar nominations, iconic in supporting roles like School of Rock, and been in some rather off-the-beaten path comedies like Friends with Money, Perks of Being a Wallflower, High Fidelity, Mars Needs Moms, etc
26. Jimmy Fallon (2004)-I'm not a fan but he does have the Tonight Show and will be the gateway to pop culture for the foreseeable future
27. Rob Riggle (2005)-He's been a daily show correspondent, a reliable guest actor, and has a brand. He's known for his manic energy
28. Damon Wayans (1986)-In Living Color was humongous and he's been steadily on two sitcoms. Plus he headlined a Spike Lee movie
29. Molly Shannon (2001)-It's not entirely her fault. She didn't have the network of Fey-Poehler-Dratch-Rudolph-Wiig alongside her when she graduated that would have given her better female parts. She's done quite well and even had her own NBC sitcom for a season (Kath and Kim).
30. Jason Sudeikis (2013)-He's been the lead or co-lead of movies (We're the Millers, Colossal, Horrible Bosses) and is a reliable masculine lead (think Sam Malone in Cheers) for many parts

What I'm Watching: Thanksgiving Edition

A Teacher (FX)-A thought-provoking look at female teachers who sleep with high school students as exemplified through one example. Kate Mara plays young teacher Claire Wilson who’s stuck in a bad marriage and forms a friendly relationship with an economically disadvantaged student named Eric (Nick Robinson). The characters are based on composites rather than a real person which gives the show freedom to expand in any which direction.

Watching the show and absorbing it’s aftertaste on the internet reveals a dissonance. The TV show is about a complicated forbidden love affair. Wilson makes bad decisions but so does Eric (who instigated the relationship twice) and it’s a progression of mutually consummated destruction that the pair goes through.

The internet chatter, however, wants to make clear that Claire is the instigator and this is a horrendous crime. I’m not personally well-versed on the psychological case studies on this phenomenon, but the TV show does what it should do by showing us complicated characters in a horrendous crime. It’s gripping drama. If you wish to know what’s behind this issue (as you’re supposed to do with every other work of fiction), research the cases behind it.

 

Studio C (BYU TV)-From what I can gather, there's a sketch comedy group on campus at BYU in Provo, Utah. Some kids from this sketch group decided "hey, let's be professional sketch comedians." I'm sure there are lots of other capable college kids in college sketch groups who have had those same thoughts before reality and student debt hit them. But these kids had two advantages: 1) The college owns a successful TV station with a base that pulls on the Mormon community which includes half the state of Utah and 2) These kids have a distinctive brand of comedy.

BYU, and Mormon culture in general, is watchful of things that are PG-13 rated entertainment-wise. As a result, all of BYU's content is family friendly which means no swearing and limited talking about sexy stuff. There might also be other stuff they're not allowed to do on TV- like portray demon worship, express enjoyment towards the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or show people drinking hot tea*-- but I have absolutely no idea as I don't have a copy of the standards and practices in front of me.

*They did a pretty clever sketch with a couple going on a romantic dinner and milk was used a stand-in for wine. Maybe that's poking fun at a restriction the writers have on using alcohol in sketches?

The end result is a sketch comedy that goes out of its way to be family friendly. The show might be less edgy in terms of blue content but one can admire the way they work with less punchline options to produce more. 

Another great thing is that, regardless of your religious affiliation, most parents wouldn't let their kids skip straight from Sesame Street to Saturday Night Live. This show has the potential to get kids involved in sketch comedy before they're old enough to watch Saturday Night Live.

The show's cast was originally comprised of students transitioned from college to the show. They deserve credit for taking the idea and launching it successfully but it was clear that this was a college sketch troupe.

At some point, the old cast went to form a patreon-funded sketch troupe independent of the TV station and there was a nationwide casting call that drew in professional actors to the show. The show now has a new level of polish and a universality (the original cast relied on inside jokes) that takes the concept to a new level.

Animaniacs (Hulu)-I grew up on this show and it personifies the 1990s for me. As a result, it’s a bit jarring to see this show updated to have Dot reference having a crush on Chris Pine and having the theme song discuss being pronoun neutral, but I’m no purist. Rebooting a good thing doesn’t ruin the original and the show does a pretty darn good job of keeping the spirit of the original in tact. It’s a little disappointing to see the lack of Slappy the Squirrel, Rita and Runt or the Goodfeathers. It’s interesting that those sketches were based on then-recent hit films (Goodfellas, Rain Man) but those films have survived the test of time and one would hope they’d do some of their long-storied rejected characters.

One thing I can appreciate is the way the animation supplements the comedy the way Mad Magazine or Futurama does. Everything from Easter egg gags in the background to the way faces are drawn to convey what we should expect from their personality sets the stage.

Bless the Harts (Fox)-I love this show. Each of the four main characters is extremely 

endearing and there’s been a lot of world building towards some of the lesser characters (the high-pitched Randy is becoming a favorite, the cheery news lady who’s mouth is glues into a smile like the Joker’s victims in the 1989 Batman, etc). The show is about a lower-class family in small town North Carolina features a waitress with modest aspirations to rise within her station, her sly mother (whose primary motivations in life are besting her rival Crystal Lynn, feeling young enough that she can flirt with construction workers, and pulling off semi-fraudulent schemes), her boyfriend (a trucker persona with a teddy bear persona underneath), and her dead panning daughter. It’s an extremely strong quartet of characters who exhibit great chemistry.  

Saved by the Bell (Peacock)-I’m not sure if this is needed past Saved by the Bell The College Years and The New Class. Let’s not act like this is the only sad attempt to revive the show. This show is a bit more woke but it’s also self-conscious about the limits of that wokeness. On paper, the show’s not bad but it’s far from the best teen comedy on the air right now  

Fargo (FX)-I’ve rarely seen organized crime justified so well through a work of fiction. Much of the television I’ve watched in the mob genre simply takes killing and mob violence as a necessity but this show portrays it in pragmatic economic terms. The show is a masterclass in visual storytelling and it shares the touch of Joel and Ethan Coen of a fascination with the quirky sides of dark characters.  

We Are the Champions (Netflix)-For a long time, I’ve been fascinated with some of the world’s craziest sports and have even played underwater hockey myself. This is a documentary-style TV show that’s heartwarming, revels in the bizarre, and tells a consistent narrative.

Nine Observations from SNL's First Season

I have to confess, despite watching a lot of SNL and having heard and read second-hand about much of the whole history, I’ve never seen a full episode from the Aykroyd-Belushi-Radner-Chase era….until this week and damn, mind blown!

Some urgent thoughts I have to get out:

1. So first, things first, I wasn’t expecting to like it

I’ve never been majorly impressed with these people or their later careers. I admire Ghostbusters which was written by someone from the first class (Aykroyd), but I didn’t ever think Dan Aykroyd was a must-see as an actor. I saw various sketches in isolation but out of context, they don’t give a picture of the full experience. Instead, I’ve always (perhaps wrongly) felt people were overly worshipping of these guys who were there first but not necessarily the funniest. I also feel like so many other casts (particularly the 1980 cast) suffered from having critics say “It’s not like it used to be” so I had that bias against it….

However, I should not have judged a book by its cover because…

2. This season was wild and certainly eventful

The sketches are not as fully-formed as today’s SNL and sketch comedy world and some of them don’t qualify as comedy but I can imagine turning on the TV in 1975 and 1976 when comedy on TV was in a very stale place and just being thoroughly shocked. Not that it was risque but it was just so bizarre and you never knew what you were going to get with each passing minute. There was Andy Kaufman acting like a nervous foreigner on stage, there was a brilliant comic named Valri Bromfeld acting like a disciplinarian school teacher in a monologue late in the first show, there was something with puppets called the Muppets even though they were different characters, there was a dance trope in one episode, there were Andy Samberg-like camera tricks, there were field segments, there were sketches that maybe lasted 45 seconds long and was just one joke, there was stuff that wasn’t really framed as comedy.

On top of that every stunt I’ve ever heard about like offering money to unite the Beatles, actually reuniting Simon and Garfunkel, pesrsonally going to the White House to film Gerald Ford, having voters decide if Andy Kaufman was funny happened in the first season.

Today’s SNL has had its highs and lows, but its format is rigid and predictable. Wayyyyy too many of its sketches are framed as game shows or talk shows. This cast was truly awful at celebrity impressions but at least they didn’t overmilk them like today’s cast does.

3. There were not seven original cast members?!

I have seen my fair share of pictures of the original cast and it always shows seven people.

As a pretty avid SNL buff (despite this embarrassing hole), I always assumed there were seven original cast members, but there were nine….and then some! There was an older broadway vet named Michael Coe and this shady fellow (he had a beard and sunglasses) guy named Michael O’Donoghue who was just nutty, who were there too and their names appeared in the opening credits. O’Danoghue’s did this bit where he says, “Here’s an impression of _______, oh and by the way, in the impression they’re getting their eyes gouged w/needles and then he sheiks in pain.” Some of the other stuff he did later in the season (that I haven’t seen but read about on Grantland) is even darker.

He seemed to behind the scenes be torturous enough in 1981 that he scared Catherine O’Hara from appearing on the show and wrote “danger” on the wall”, so he must have been pretty insane. I wonder if he was erased from history and the other cast members denied he was that prominent in later interviews?

4. I always assumed Belushi was a fast, slovenly type

Decisively less chaotic was John Belushi who I assumed was like this slovenly out-of-control fat guy and I always felt that was a turn-off so I never had much interest in his life. Comedians who are slovenly, fat guys and that’s their whole schtick, I never am drawn to. Maybe in later seasons he becomes obese, but he’s basically a regular joe sketch player who’s only heavy by comparisons to his co-stars who are generally skinny and tall (both Chase and Aykroyd are ridiculously lanky, Garrett Morris to an extent), so he looks heavy by comparison. I this other picture of him I googled, he’s not really that much heavier than the people in the shot.

5. Damn, Chevy Chase loved tripping

I have this feeling Chevy Chase never actually watched Gerald Ford do anything, but he just loved tripping. He tripped in the SNL audition. That’s pretty much the whole Gerald Ford shtick. Darrell Hammond sure would’ve been embarrassed.

6. Weekend Update’s hit to miss comparison is actually pretty good

Despite not being entirely aware of the news on any given week in 1975, I laughed quite a bit. The most traditionally comedic efforts clearly went into Weekend Update with solid jokes. Nothing particularly subversive or out of the ordinary about it. I really loved a bit where Chevy Chase did a field segment cutting to a reporter in Angola and getting the time zone wrong so she wasn’t there or cutting to her roomate

7. I don’t get the Blues Brothers

It’s just two guys singing the blues. I don’t even see it vaguely qualifying as comedic. A 1975 sketch didn’t necessarily require a punchline or an invitation to the audience to view a sketch as comedic but this was just two guys blowing off steam

8. I don’t specifically feel like these guys were bad boys or rebels

Michael O’Donoghue was bizarre but not cool, and the three main male leads (the show was really trying harder to market the personalities of the guys than the ladies) didn’t particularly strike me as cool or rebellious. As far as I can gather, it was heavily publicized that he press quite often that backstage it was a non-stop party of drugs, screwing and anti-authority attitudes as they thumbed their nose to the network and made things up as they went.

9. Garrett Morris might have been the best player on the cast

He seemed to have the strongest personality (outside of Michael O’Donoghue) and acted. Too bad he wasn’t marketed as highly as Chevy Chase.

Journey to Save North Carolina: Part II

As of now, I'm posting this without a lot of proofing. Please do not take this as a professional sample of my writing ability.

Day 4:

Why don’t I start out with the most eventful thing to happen to me:
“Get the f---- away from my door lawn or I’ll get my gun.” I heard this at the very end of the night on my last house on my route and, frankly, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner considering what I’ve heard about how Fayetteville has more guns per capita than anyone in the nation (unverified). Also, lest you think that everything can be easily explained by race, it was a young black guy.

I’ve had four stints with the United States Census since 2010 so I know that people get irritable with home visits and while you get more people home late at night, some people go to bed before 8 or 9 pm. Are they 9 years old? Anyway, last night I probably pushed it a bit far but Roni said I could go out until 8. I felt like for the amount that’s being invested in me, and that I didn’t hit my first house until four pm, I might as well push it. I ended up splitting the difference and going out until 7 pm (it felt like 8 because of DST) and hit up my final four houses. Two of the final four houses were people I had a positive impact on so it was better on the average.

Since Saturday, I’ve found more of a groove doing GOTV (Get Out the Vote) canvassing and that has been more comfortable for me. I like knocking on doors and talking to random people and I like collecting data.

We’re not knocking on everyone’s door but rather people who are already registered with the democratic party and haven’t yet voted. The first two questions I ask on the script gauge if they’re still supporting the party. If they are, we try to help them identify how to vote. If not, they’re on their own. There was one young woman who came down with mono and couldn’t get to the polls in time. She was somewhat heartbroken that she couldn’t get to the polls and I found out that she could do curbside voting and the election workers would have to accommodate her. Because Mono isn’t Covid, I’d imagine people will be thrilled to serve her. Another problem case was a guy moving to Germany who tried to vote online. This is a thing that North Carolina allows provided you ordered your ballot by a certain date.

I’ve seen both some of the really nice parts of this city and some of the poorest locales I’ve ever seen. There’s a city called Spring Lake a few miles up the road and it seems to be trailer parks and dilapidated houses (pictured below). Most of these houses look like what the big bad wolf came across before he reached the one with bricks.

This is where I encountered the angry voter but that’s par for the course. People don’t want to be bothered at nearly any hour of the night.

 

Day 5:

A glitch with my booking (mainly that I forgot to book more days, so I guess I was the glitch) led to me having to get a new air b n b. My host, Jocelyn, an easygoing single mother to a four-year-old had been a perfect host so this was a loss. She volunteered me to drive me to the airport where I picked up my rental car and this might have been our first real conversation. She said she was apolitical so there’s not a lot of insight to gleam there, and we talked about our career paths and how she wound up in the army.

She pretty much loves the army. She dropped out of college after three semesters and spent the first two years of her career in Germany where she didn’t visit home once. She’s also heavily tattooed which she says isn’t that uncommon for army folk.

After renting a car, I had a robust day knocking on doors for the GOTV campaign. 

Leaving Jocelyn’s home, I still hadn’t nailed down a permanent location for the night. Considering the password problems and phone verification system, I figured, I’d just use the computer app rather than downloading it on my phone. It was a little worrisome because I kept having to check throughout

In the last two days, I feel like I found my groove in the field although I always felt like I could have done more. Sometimes, the act of going downtown and finding my bearing pushed me far enough that it was fairly late in the day when I got my first house. On this day, it wasn’t until about 1 pm that I got out and my coordinator wanted me to go Fort Bragg where I waited in line at the welcome center to find out there was no chance in hell I had of getting on the base. While getting my bearings, I stopped at a lavish golf resort (owned by the Fort but open to the public) and bought a slice of cake while figuring out my bearings.

It was around 3 that I left Fort Bragg and realized I needed a better GPS, I think because I took two massive wrong turns and I imagined things were getting later and later. My voter disenfranchisement sign was planted on some random Biden supporter’s yard (I figured if he was for Biden, he wouldn’t mind and it was better than throwing it away) and Roni now had an answer over whether Fort Bragg accepted canvassers (answer: no).

Around 5 or 6, I finally sat down for dinner and worked the wifi there on my computer so I could get in touch with Air BnB hosts. I found out I wasn’t allowed to book two hosts at once which I thought was bad. Technology sucks most of the time, doesn’t it? Somehow, I asked one guy to call me via telephone and was able to connect with him. I got there around 9 pretty exhausting after canvassing about as late as I could.

Day 6:

I’ve gotten to know Roni who works in the central office distributing campaign materials.  Campaign workers are supposed to go downtown to check in with her every day so I get a small taste of talking to her. There are a number of people like Ruthie or Ian or Macie who are sending out a number of e-mails on a daily basis but I don’t really have much to do with them and I keep getting calls for CUREing when I’m not part of that operation. Other than that, very little social interaction. Seeing Roni's office (pictured above) is generally a good starting place.

I had time to make a visit to a park and do a little bit of tourism and even got to try some North Carolina bar-b-q while getting almost all my houses done before dark. I say almost because I didn’t quite make it, so the last 12-15 were in the 6-7:30 range as my phone was going dead. Because it was daylight savings time, that was pretty dark and I had to record some of my responses by hand. Realizing that I was going to be left with a ridiculous surplus of fliers, I dropped off as many fliers as I could to doors that weren’t even assigned to me. 

Today, I was not in the trailer park doldrums but an apartment complex on the west end of town. Judging by the people and surroundings, it seemed like it was unquestionably a lower class neighborhood. I saw a man from across the parking lot who was black and wore a military uniform. He was black, a military man, and living in the relative doldrums of North Carolina. I was extremely eager to hear his political views and I was in a unique position to intrude upon his home to find out. By the time, I made it across the street, however, he was gone.

I tried to remain festive and offered stickers to people or pins from the campaign. I was even told I could give one t-shirt away but how would I pick that one person? Because the app on my phone showed me to the doors of registered democrats, I didn’t really deal with the opposition much but I was prepared for it.

There was a gang of kids, all black, who was walking all over the complex and playing. At one point they were walking where I was walking and one of them playfully said something like “if you’re following me, I’m going to beat you up” to make his friends laugh. I reacted quizzically and he said in a way that felt like code-switching to talk to a white person “where are you going.”

These kids were a hyper-active group who felt like they were experiencing the joy of being unconstrained by adults during summer break. One kid asked me “are you racist?” which strikes me as the question of the year if you read most liberal media outlets today or hang around 22-year-olds. Was he trying to entrap me like a school yard game? For all the abstract woke literature that’s been out there floating about race and the white patriarchy that’s dominated magazine, it’s much different than being in the awkwardness of conversing in a predominantly black crowd. I know that historically they have been oppressed and micro-aggressions have more of an effect towards the black community. I’m just talking about awkwardness.

I have my own views on the futility of the word “racist” and subscribe to the song from the musical Avenue Q “Everybody’s a Little Racist” in that we all have our own unconscious biases when we see people. These kids thought I was gullible, full of white guilt, out of place, and lacking in street smarts because I was in a black neighborhood.  Likewise my parents likely educated me to be afraid of black people in subtle ways.

We’re a society dominated by a cancel culture that’s aggressive towards those with those initial intentions. What really matters,in my opinion, is what you do with those thoughts and how you course-correct to recognize that way of thinking.

So of course, I told him “I think everybody’s a little racist in that we all have our own…..” It might have been too much for a (what I imagine to be approximately) ten-year-old to rattle with, as he was like “awww…” before I could finish. I’m assuming the next part of his phrase was “I’m telling.”

The next time I saw my young friend, he seemed to have forgotten my racism and asked me for a sticker and kicked me a soccer ball. His friend asked me if I wanted to fight him. I don’t know why these specific words came out of my mouth but I said “sure, I can beat you in a fight. I’ll be done flyering at 8 if you want to wait until then or you can help me flyer.” I hopelessly thought I could channel their enthusiasm in a positive way.

This group of instigators appeared to have ADD as they never really finished that thought either but they gave me a lot of food for thought.

What was more disturbing about this day was the apathy that a lot of the people to whose doors I was knocking on.

There was virtually no way that these people were not lower middle class unless they voluntarily were choosing to live in squalor. A number of people would say something like, “the government doesn’t do much for me” or “I don’t follow that stuff”

To me, that might be the problem that got us into this mess in the first place.  These people see it as some distant corrupt mess and am wondering what the government does for them, so when any outsider comes along and echoes that sentiment they’re attracted to them.

If people were properly educated on what government can and can’t do for them and what the government is doing for them in ways they might not realize, they wouldn’t be willing to throw it all away for anyone who yells loudest.

Tomorrow is election day….It’s going to be such an emotional ride, I’m not ready for it.