Living Vicariously Through Mara at an Obama Rally
I was doing home respite care for a Wall Residences client, so I let my friend Mara stand in the rain in a line that wound around the Roanoke Civic Center to hear Barack Obama for me. She called periodically with updates.
She was with her soon-to-be 11 year old daughter Kyla, who took the day off from school for the historic event. Mara describes Kyla as a “Vivacious (Or was that salacious? The connection wasn’t great) Democrat” who has demanded to stay up late each night of the debates. 
“We just got in. The stadium is 90% filled and people are still coming in,” she said at 12:15. She and Kyla arrived at the coliseum when doors opened at 10:00. Her sister Anna arrived just a little earlier and had saved them a spot in line. Mara said the line was the longest she had ever waited through. Barack was due to speak at 12:30.
The next update I got was at 2:30 and was more in depth and pitched with excitement. She said: “Boucher introduced Jim Webb and Webb introduced Obama. Rosemary was texting us and told me that Emma (her daughter) shook Barack’s hand! I think we saw her on the floor. It was crowded. We, on the other hand, got to see the back of Barack’s head a lot, but we might be on the news because the TV cameras were facing right at us. The best part, and the part that Kyla really loved, was when Barack promised to make college affordable for everyone who serves. Not just in the Military or the Peace Corp but in kitchens for the homeless or at schools. ‘I see a lot of young people here…. I know you’re not a special interest group!” Obama said…”
By the end of the rally Kyla was fully decked out with an Obama T-shirt, a button, and hat. Birthday presents, her mother said. After the rally when Kyla and her mother were in a restaurant, some older women commented on Kyla’s Obama attire. One of the women remembered when she was Kyla’s age and skipped school to see JFK when he came to Roanoke during his presidential campaign!
A van load of women friends who went to the rally have yet to report in. Later, I saw my friends, Michele and her son Preston, dancing Go-Bama on the 6:00 News and heard that another Floyd friend, Mama Lizardo, also shook Obama’s hand.
Post notes: Meanwhile I’ve been following British journalist for The Guardian Gary Younge’s daily postings on the election from Roanoke. It’s worth checking out HERE. And HERE is the Roanoke Times write-up of the event. Phone photos above are courtesy of a friend of Mara’s whose email address is parrothead. Happy Birthday to Kyla and to Emma’s friend Delie, who also got to shake Obama’s hand.
October 18th, 2008 6:36 am
Though tempted to go, I ended up passing on the Obama rally…I do the same with concerts now too: I think about going, then think about the crowds and congestion and then talk myself out of it. Glad to hear it was a hit and hoping Virginia will turn blue!
October 18th, 2008 8:56 am
I’m so glad to see this post – I read about Obama being in Roanoke last night in a piece that said Roanoke was the most conservative place in Virginia. I don’t know if that is true or not, but I found myself wondering how many people would turn out to hear his speech. It is good to know that the event was well-attended. I’m looking forward to reading more about the event!
October 18th, 2008 10:22 am
I wish I could have seen him speak when he was in Raleigh. James Taylor is doing a concert for him here on Tues., and I’d love to see that, too, but I’d have to stand in line for tickets and it may be more than I could take. :-/
October 18th, 2008 11:36 am
we are hoping he will be back here since washington is only “light” blue for some reason! joe biden is here this weekend. like june i can never be sure i will actually go when i know there will be huge lines and much congestion. we pushed ourselves to go in the winter to see hillary, and it was soooo worth it, so we will probably do the same thing for obama.
happy birthday kyla! glad she and mara had such a grand time.
October 18th, 2008 11:45 am
I so know what you, June, and Kenju mean. But I had a ride down and feel I definately would have gone if I wasn’t working. I had to be talked into going down for Hillary pre-primary by Mara. She said, “Don’t you want to blog about it?” She knows that usually works to get me out.
Turned out that Hillary (and Barack the next day) had to cancel because of bad weather and a problem at our airport. She made an auditorium conference call. That story is here: http://www.looseleafnotes.com/notes/2008/02/hillary_makes_a_conference_cal.html That crowd was 2,000. This one was over 8,000!
There’s a Democratic Rally here in Floyd next Friday the 24th from 6-9 at the Sun Hall.
October 18th, 2008 2:39 pm
How incredibly exciting, Colleen..And Historic, too! This will be something that Mara’s daughter wil never forget! I know I wouldn’t….! Obama is the first Candidate I have been truly excited about since 1968…! So to have had an opportinuty to see him speak “in person” and even maybe even getting to shake his hand would be not only memorabole, but THRILLING, beyond words!
October 18th, 2008 3:21 pm
WEll, I went to MICHELE’S for the first time in a very long time and guess where she sent me? LOL! YES! Here to you, my dear.
October 18th, 2008 3:26 pm
I wish I felt like either of our candidates were worth voting for. I also wish that you had been able to go, yourself, instead of having to live vicariously through someone else. That which you believe in is always better to have experienced first-hand. Good luck with your voting and such.
Personally, I’m keeping a running tab of who lies more via factcheck.org and going from there.
Politics are such a scary, scary thing to me. Geez.
October 18th, 2008 4:36 pm
To me there’s a chasm of a difference and it’s all about taking a step in the right direction to start digging ourselves out as a country. I have no reservations.
October 18th, 2008 10:16 pm
I hope that you have camera and notebook in hand next Friday at the Sun Music Hall. I haven’t seen anything in the Floyd Press yet about Obama ….
October 19th, 2008 11:35 am
I had really wanted to go but was too sick to attempt it. I love these photos and all the excitement they portray! I had an opportunity to meet him that I couldn’t do but I’d love to have another chance!
October 19th, 2008 5:14 pm
I am glad you had someone to go in place of you or to be your spokesman. Looks like it was great.
xo
October 19th, 2008 9:39 pm
While vacationing at the Floyd family farm this past week, I got a chance to see and hear many political ads in the “battleground” state. I thought the Obama ads were completely false and you can see the sources for the left-wing comments denoted by asterisks in tiny letters during each commercial. It’s kind of like hearing someone say, “Don’t eat meat” – source: PETA. What a shock. Next they’ll quoting blogs as reliable references.
I also noticed that the unattractive political signage was more garish and obnoxious for Obama in both dimension and placement. My guess is that native Floyd countians will vote but will not be quite so intrusive and in your face.
Lastly, while enjoying the decent music at the Friday Jamboree, the performance at Cafe Del Sol was seemingly pathetic. A group of 3 or 4 listening to a young man of 70’s image weakly singing “Strawberry Fields” made me laugh at Floyd’s non-Gospel/Bluegrass music scene. Maybe I just went on a bad night?
October 19th, 2008 11:58 pm
Even from very far away … we get a feel for the excitment around the Obama campaign. We’re all holding our breath here … Go Obama!!
I’m here via Michele’s …
October 20th, 2008 10:45 pm
Oh I wish we could have gone to see him but we were up in Jersey for a sick family member. My 12-year-old daughter would have loved it because here in Pittsylvania County, we Obama supporters are definitely the minority and all the kids on the school bus are rabid about it, scaring my daughter. One of them even has a picture of Obama on her pink cell phone morphing into a monkey. This is a little girl. What are their parents teaching them? Well, what can we expect from those kinds of supporters when McCain and Palin encourage people at their rallies to scream “Terrorist!” about Obama and “Kill him!”? Talk about trashy people. Obama has been nothing but a class act.
Check out my latest story on my blog about this election and why some people are voting for McCain.
http://www.GreenerPastures–ACityGirlGoesCountry.blogspot.com
October 21st, 2008 6:24 am
How exciting for Kyla! Like the lady who remembers seeing JFK, someday Kyla will tell folks how she saw the president on his way through Virginia.