Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate.

Monday, August 25, 2008

LIVE from Denver: Elizabeth's vantage point

Elizabeth Willmott is a fellow delegate, though she is from the 7th CD. One of her recent posts about the convention is as follows. Enjoy.
Denver... the first time I visited this fair state was 1995, on my graduation from high school. I was a Boston girl on an Outward Bound program, rafting and sport-yaking down the Green and San Juan rivers in southeastern Utah.

I remember being stunned by the scale of the landscape features. My dad had encouraged me to try something adventurous and farther afield from my home coast of New England. It was the first time I had been to the American West (not counting Cali, of course) and I fell in love with it.

That trip sealed the deal for me: I would be an environmentalist all my life. I remember thinking, "What if all the politicians who make the decisions for us had to come here on an Outward Bound program? Wouldn't they be environmentalist too?"

On some level that trip may have also been a stepping stone to my life now, working for a brave leader in another western state... to reduce the impacts of climate change on our land and our lives.

Now as I sit in our Washington State delegation's hotel getting settled in for the Democratic National Convention this week, I look out at the black-eyed susans in the garden and it's clear where I am. Denver... and I hope this trip motivates me to do as much as the first one did.
Hopefully Elizabeth will sign on and post here herself soon.

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