Election Reflection

In the interest of getting organized I've been thumbing through the approximately thousand unread that have accumulated over the past year. I read the ones that interest me, delete the ones that don't, and respond where a response is long overdue.

A whole bundle of the emails are from the Obama campaign, which I donated a small chunk of change to once or twice and volunteered for on the final day of the election cycle, November 3rd of last year. For those of you who don't know my political leanings, they are simply that I am a moderate independent with no strings attached. In 2008 I saw two men I liked well enough to lead the free world and I picked the one I thought was best-equipped and most capable of effecting real, positive change in our country and abroad.

As I systematically wade through the sea of emails from Obama, Biden, and all the King's horses and all the King's men, I find a few worth reading, if only to help mark a moment in history or for value of reminiscence. I just spent the past 20 minutes filling out an Organizing for America survey sent two weeks after Election Day to ask for reflections on my involvement as a volunteer for the campaign (and, likely, to farm my name out for various volunteer "opportunities" in which I have little interest).

At the end of the survey I clicked "send" and got sent to a wonderful "This webpage is not available" page. I guess The Greatest Internet Campaign in the History of the Universe isn't much for technological upkeep. (Who fills these things out a year later, anyway? Don't answer that.)

Since I took the time to fill out the answers on the "short essay" section at the end of the survey, I thought I'd share my responses here.

OPTIONAL: What first inspired you to join this campaign?:

I didn't want to find myself standing idly by on the sidelines during such an important moment in history, so I opted to volunteer at the 11th hour, begging to be given the most valuable responsibility I could. Taking the day off work to canvass in Nevada seemed like the best sacrifice I could make so that's where I spent November 3rd, 2008.

OPTIONAL: What was the best part of your volunteer experience?:

I really loved the experience of driving several hours and giving my day and myself to a cause--interacting with other people from all walks of life, young and old, and being a part of something important, even for such a short time and at the last minute. I found myself a little sad I had not done so before.

OPTIONAL: What could have been improved about your volunteer experience?:

I walked into my local field office two or three days before election day and found the (admittedly busy) staff fairly unenthusiastic about and unresponsive to my earnest desire to volunteer. That was a real disappointment (though it didn't deter me) that I wish could have been avoided.

OPTIONAL: What was your greatest achievement as a volunteer? What was your greatest challenge?:

My greatest achievement as a volunteer was, I hope, perhaps adding votes to Obama's column by knocking on doors and being honest with real people about why I thought he was the best choice for president. The greatest challenge was braving the angry stares and reprimands of folks who didn't want me in their neighborhood, didn't want to be bothered and, most of all, did not want Obama to win.

OPTIONAL: Did you meet a fellow volunteer or field organizer who inspired you? How did they inspire you?:

To the contrary, my canvassing partner was highly inarticulate and seemed fairly ignorant about American politics or even Obama as a candidate. This was no deterrent, but I met a lot of well-meaning people who didn't exactly dazzle. I was very impressed, on the other hand, by the leadership at the Henderson, NV field office where I volunteered; they seemed like bright, passionate young folks who had worked themselves to the bone for the cause. I wish I had had the opportunity to interact with them.

If I Ever Lose My Faith

I've been looking for a new roommate for the past two months. The search has been a real challenge, with very few responses from craigslist and even fewer leads from friends and family. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps my place, once an oasis of thrift nestled between three gentrified areas, has suddenly become expensive with the current economic downturn. If that's true, then the recession has hit me hard as well, to the turn of over a thousand dollars as I have to pay twice my portion of rent each month.

Every week a few people come by to look at the place. I greet them with a smile and give them the best sense of my personality I can. I'd've thought the place, its location and the roommate speak for themselves, but it's been difficult to find any real takers. I had one fellow genuinely interested, a 28-year-old medical imaging specialist named Darren, but I foolishly strung him along while looking for someone I thought would be a "better fit." No one with a spine waits forever.

Whenever I have a showing I clean up the place as best I can and then turn on Sting's "Ten Summoner's Tales" in my room. I turn the sound on my laptop low and keep the CD playing on random song order and I want potential roommates to get a sense of my musical taste and the vibe I consider ideal for being at home.

Potential roommates have never commented on it either way, but I'm convinced it helps my case. The real problem is when someone I have an appointment with flakes, or calls to say they've just placed a deposit on someplace else and won't be coming by after all. Suddenly the sad songs take on a poignant new meaning (Fields of Gold, Shape of My Heart), the uptempo pieces wax ironic (She's Too Good For Me, Saint Augustine in Hell) and the album's Epilogue ("They still know nothing 'bout me/still know nothing 'bout me...") acquires a strangely defiant tone.

Exercises in Vanity, Part 1

The week after my last post, the Borders over on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica announced by email that it, too, would be closing its doors soon. I went in one night, hoping to take advantage of their presumably desperate push to get rid of whatever merchandise remained. Apparently Borders had no trouble attracting like-minded vultures, because the shelves were mostly barren.

At least the store went out with a bang. I waited on the longest line in recent memory to pay for my selections. As I handed the clerk my Borders card I asked him whether he was sad Borders was closing. "Yes," he responded. "Of course. But we're just happy we could serve our customers."

I stopped at another Borders just this morning to pick up--of all things--a book on modeling. I decided yesterday that I may as well give it a try. I'm a reasonably good looking guy--not terribly tall, not tremendously angular, but I've been known to hold a girl's (or a certain type of fellow's) attention from time to time.

That's the theme of the new year: to starting DOING all that I wish I were able to do. That way I won't regret not going for it ten years from now when I finally decide that, all these years, I should've been a model, or an actor, or a nuclear physicist.*

Anyway, the point of this little segment wasn't to inform you of this latest brilliant experiment in vanity I'm embarking on; I simply wanted to note that the Borders on Westwood Blvd. is still open, and I wonder how long before it, too, is forced to close its doors.

Speaking of exercises in vanity, though, have a look at my Vocal Arranging Demo:


Hi! I'm Michael's youtube video! I have no idea why I don't display correctly on his blog, but it may have something to do with Throckmorton's Reflex...

This reel is the first of its kind. I put together a demo CD to hand out at a dreadful choral event I got Shanghaied into presenting at last weekend. The event was a bust (to the tune of over seven hours and about fifty bucks in packets of sheet music, to say nothing of the all-nighter I pulled putting these materials together) but all was not lost: I now have a demo I can be reasonably proud of. I hope it will get me some work, someday, somehow.

Still riding the wave of excitement, I dumped the reel montage into iMovie two nights later and made a little video so I could showcase my stuff on youtube. It may--or, should I say, may it--be the first of many self-marketing ploys. I need all the work I can get.

If you read my blog and are interested in my arranging services--or would simply like to hear my work in higher-res quality--drop me a line.

*Book purchase on nuclear physics still pending...