infy GIVES BACK: Get ‘em while they’re hot

Friday before last I got up early and left my house in Silver Lake for downtown. I rode to South Park, locked up on the steps of the convention center and went inside. A week prior I told my local Obama organizer I’d help register new voters for the Democratic Party.

Over 6,000 people entered as resident aliens to leave as American citizens. I’m handed a sign which I hoist over my head. It’s not too much longer before I’m heckling hundreds of new citizens as they stream past our table into the arms of their families. I can proudly say we had the south hall of Tom Bradley auditorium H-J on lock. We’re an odd mix of crusty old timers calling out slogans from Chicago in ‘68, empty nesters railing against Bush, and a smattering of young hipsters repping Obama.

As I pack up, a woman strides confidently up to me thrusting a sign-in sheet into my hands. She pegged me as an Obama supporter from across the hall. “I can pick you guys out pretty easily,” she says, casting an eye over my bag, cutoffs and boat shoes. I sign in, chat up the other Obama kids, then ride up to 2nd to meet a friend.