Mr. Dungan Goes to Washington

Quick! Update!!

Still alive, I promise!

Weeks have been long (but enjoyable...).

I will leave a long and detailed post soon, but long story short the clock is running out on Mike's Midwest events so I've just been working on that.

Hope you all are well, and keep checking the blog...I WILL update soon.

posted by gdungan @ 12:01 AM 0 comments

Nearly a Month...

Wow, I am completely shocked that it has been this long since my last update. While I feel as though so much has happened, it seems like I've only missed a week of updates. I guess I should try and fill you all in on some highlights.

New York was outstanding. Gina flew in and we spent a few days in DC just looking around and checking out the monuments, and then on that Friday drove into New Jersey and took the train into the city. It turns out that it's only 21 dollars round trip from Trenton to NYC, so that was a great deal. Once in NYC, we just had an incredible time. The hotel was only a block away from times square, so we were able to see some cool places and even catch a Broadway show (Guys and Dolls with Lauren Graham and Oliver Platt) all while attending some interesting seminars and meeting some good people. Also fun was stopping at Len's place on the way to Trenton. As I've said, it's been so nice to have someone that close who can act as a friend when I need to just escape for a weekend.

After my NY trip, things sort of started to pick up at work. The last two weeks have just been crazy trying to plan events in Kansas and Nebraska for Mike. Of those events, the only one I'm really worried about so far is taking place at UNL. Everybody that I invited gave me the "ehh" treatment on facebook and only replied with maybe to the event. Hopefully I'll be able to reach out to enough student groups and professors that the turn out won't be disappointing. For those of you reading this who are in Lincoln and have some relation to UNL, feel free to attend. It will be on Tuesday March 24th at 7:00 PM in the Student Union downtown. Ask me for any other details.

For those of you in Lincoln who might be reading this that don't have a relation to the University, never fear, for Mike will also be doing a book signing at Lee Booksellers that Thursday (March 26th) at 7:30 PM. I would really appreciate it if people could go to either (or both) of these events. I'm sure they're going to be fun and interesting, and hey, it really helps me out to have folks show up at events that I coordinate.

On the Lawrence side of things, Mike is going to be at Alice Lieberman's house (754 Sunset Ln.) on March 23rd at 7:00 PM. I'm hoping that this event is going to attract some professors and KDP folk, but the more students there the better. So if you're at KU and reading this, please consider taking some time out of your Monday and showing up.

(plug for events ends here)

While work has been getting busier, I also think that I've been doing a better job at juggling the craziness. Also, I really feel like I've been getting along with folks at the office better as they've gotten to know me more. For example, because it was so nice the other day Adam took me out for ice cream . Yes, that's right, my boss takes out employees for ice cream. Long story short, this is a great job.

Outside of the work realm, I've been keeping busy too. The other day the interns and I went to see a panel on women in politics at the National Archives featuring a few congresswomen and governors. While not all of the participants on the panel said what I wanted to hear (one of the congresswomen didn't seem to know what she was talking about) I thought the discussion was fascinating and inspiring.

Also with the intern group, I've had the chance to meet with various congressmen since I last updated. One of these was Jerry Moran from the KS-01 district. While I may not agree with the man on political issues, I'll be damned if he wasn't charming and amiable. I suppose people like Congressman Moran are important to talk to so that I don't associate everyone of the opposite party with it's more incendiary members (Limbaugh?). Obviously, when he runs for the Senate I'm not going to be voting for him, but I'll definitely not be taking hits at the his personality, and hopefully that kind of attitude will help keep the race focused on the issues and above the petty stuff.

I feel like there is so much I am leaving out, but I can't for the life of me think of anything else to update about right this minute. Hopefully I'll update again soon and try to include anything I forgot to touch on in this entry.

The weather is beautiful here.

I am excited for Spring.

posted by gdungan @ 4:23 PM 2 comments

Rumblings

So it is seeming more and more like Governor Sebelius is going to be our HHS Sec. I'm actually very happy about this choice. Even though she is doing great work in Kansas, it will be nice to get her out on a national stage. I've talked to some people here who agree that she would be great, and needs to get out of Kansas somehow, whether that means running for U.S. Senate (please...please...please) or doing something in the cabinet.

The more I talk about that, the more I see a divide in the kinds of democrats in Kansas. There are those who on November 4th were sitting in the smaller room at the election night watch party saying that they didn't care if Obama won, because to them local elections are all that matter. Then there those who appreciate local politics and their effect on how quickly progressive change can be brought about, but also feel that national level politics need to be a priority in order to bring about actual policy change. I'm not saying either of these are wrong, and I see the merits of both approaches, but I most certainly fall into the latter category. It isn't enough to simply create a number of liberal oases in a conservative sea. I truly believe that one must create big, bold progressive policy at the national level.

This isn't to say, however, that I don't believe in grassroots organizing. I think it is important to bring about this national change from a bottom-up approach so that individuals at every level can get involved. I just don't believe that grassroots organizing is a strictly local affair.

Getting back to Governor Sebelius, I read an interesting article that wonders if the pro-life backlash against her will be too much for President Obama, effectively pushing her name down to the bottom of the list of nominees. This same article claims that Governor Sebelius was much higher on the list of VP nom's, but given her tumultuous past with characters like Phil Kline, she was a much less likely of a choice.

I really hope that this does not hurt her chances. If we let others dictate our policy, then we've no right being here. Let's start taking chances and running into brick walls. We'll get no where if we sit still and try to make everyone happy.

posted by gdungan @ 12:13 PM 0 comments

Long Time, No Talk

And so it goes, once again, that I fail to update for nearly a week. Sigh.

This last week has been a good one though. Perhaps we can chalk up my lack of updates to the sheer awesomeness that was this last week? OK, it might not have been that great...but I did have a good time.

The work was more of the same: talking to schools and organizations about Mike coming to visit. I'd like to think that I'm really starting to get the pitch down seeing as I'm getting to the point that I don't tense up when I hit the send button on my emails requesting that folks consider Mike as a speaker. Whether this is due to an increase in my ability to sound convincing, or merely a growing numbness to rejection, I still welcome the comfort level.

I am,however, growing frustrated at the number of people who don't respond. While some school groups such as the Young Dems at USC just haven't updated their websites in a long time (it still has Clinton/Gore propaganda...) other student groups just don't feel the need to even drop me a polite "no thank you". I understand that school is busy and if you're not interested in having Mike come and talk to your group, but the least you can do is write a one sentence response...

Luckily, I have gotten a few events booked (i.e. the UNL one I spoke about) and am currently working on more. (To answer your question Kathy, it doesn't appear that Mike will be in the Nashville area...so sorry!)

I have had some good experiences outside of the work sphere in this last week too. Len came down on Saturday and we took a drive out to the Udvar-Hazy Center by Dulles Airport. It's sort of like an extension of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Simply put, it was incredible. Unlike the other Air & Space Museum, it was actually built as an enormous hanger where they can keep mass amounts of planes, helicopters, and assorted other vehicles year round. And I'm not talking about a Cessna here, and a hang glider there. This hanger has in it the prototype for the Boeing 707, an SR-71 Black Bird, a space shuttle, a Concord, and the Enola Gay. A trip that I expected to take only an hour, ended up taking about 3.5 hours and I enjoyed every minute of it. Had Len not have gone with me, however, I'm sure I would have appreciated it far less than I did. It was nice to not only see all of this with someone else who appreciated it, but could answer any question I asked in full.

Here are a few pictures of the place thanks to Len:



On Sunday, my roommate and I went to Mt. Vernon, which was equally impressive. What I expected to be just a house and maybe a visitor's center was actually acres and acres of gorgeous land open to the public to walk around. Not only was it really intense to walk where you knew George Washington had lived, but they had his tomb open for the public to see which was equally impressive.

Oh yes, and I saw his dentures. Cool.

Coming up this weekend I will be heading to New York with Gina (who is coming to visit tomorrow) for the Young Democrats of America winter conference. I'm looking forward to getting out of DC for a while, and hopefully attending some interesting seminars while I'm there.

And in case you were wondering, or if there was any doubt in your mind, the Kansas GOP is ridiculous. Right now they are essentially blackmailing Governor Sebelius by not allowing her to pay state employees (any of them) unless she approves a bill that has worked it's way onto her desk. I knew that they were desperate for attention, but to actually affect that many individuals in such a negative way is downright criminal.

Also, I'm glad that the Stimulus was finally signed today. I'm still worried, but any concern I have over the stimulus is fueled by my concern that the package is too small. I wish that someone would sit down congressional Republicans and explain to them that not only are they holding back economic recovery, but they're not even listening to those within their own party.

Hopefully NYC is enjoyable, and I'll be able to update on the road.

I'll try to get some pictures of Mount Vernon up soon, so keep an eye out for them.

posted by gdungan @ 5:35 PM 0 comments

Snowboarding and such

This last weekend was one of the best that I have had in a long time. After a rather low-key Friday in the office that consisted of emails and reading, I came home, packed up my laundry, and took off to go see my Uncle Len in Delaware.

It was only about a 2 hour drive, and to tell you the truth it felt really nice to get out on the road and go somewhere. One thing I did notice that was ridiculous were the excessive tolls that I had to pay on the way out there. It was, literally, 15 dollars on a trip that wasn't even 2 hours. Besides that it was a really easy drive and I had little trouble getting there.

After I arrived Len and I just kind of sat around and chatted for most of the night. It is really nice to have someone up here who is not just family, but really feels more like a friend. We stayed up pretty late, and decided that the next day we would wake up late and head up to Camelback in PA to go skiing/snowboarding.

The snowboarding, let me tell you, was great. Granted, I fell quite a bit, and I am rather sore today, but it was really fun. I took a lesson and after learning how to stand-up, stop, and turn I feel comfortable enough about it that I am really looking forward to doing it again. There's no point in taking the lesson once and then just dropping it, so my goal is that by the time I leave DC I am able to say I can "snowboard" and mean that I can do it without going down the mountain on my hands and knees.

Coming back from Camelback, Len and I drove to my Grandma and Grandpa (Dungan)'s house (which was about half of the way to his place) and had dinner with them. It was really wonderful to see them both again. Given that they live in PA and I'm always in the midwest, it is hard to see them frequently, so it was great to sit and talk with them for a while. Plus, Grandma was great and made me a cake, so that's always a plus.

On Sunday Len helped me a bit with my car (It was leaking water into the passenger side whenever it got wet...no good...) and showed me some cool stuff about how the car actually worked. Once again, it was nice to just spend some time with him and hang out with some people outside of the program for a while.

So, that takes me to today. Adam, Mike, and Carla from my office are all in New York for an event, so it was a very laid back day for me and Phil. In fact, I got to leave around 2 pm. That really made my day. With the time off, I decided to check out the museum of American history, and that was incredible. I actually got to see the flag that Francis Scott Key was looking at when he was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner. I know that it might sound nerdy, but I was completely enamored with it. Just feeling that sort of historical presence was amazing.

So that catches everyone up. I really have got to start doing this nightly seeing as I am not a fan of just writing "I did this....then this...then this..." kind of posts. I like keeping you all up to date, but also being able to just talk about random things, as well as share my opinions. Hopefully I'll get better about this soon...

One cool thing that did happen during work was that I was able to watch the town hall style meeting that President Obama held to talk about the stimulus bill. I thought the entire thing was brilliant. There was no screening of the questions so it felt natural, and he was actually answering the majority of the questions with (somewhat) straight forward answers. I think the President plays so well in those kind of situations that it might be the best way for him to get his message across to people about what needs to be done.

Along those lines, I am watching his press conference as I type this, and am enjoying it for the most part. I wish that he had straight up said "yes, I will overturn the policy banning media from covering the bodies of soldiers who are killed overseas as they fly back into the states". I 100% agree that it is shameful for us to just slide them in without letting anyone know what is going on. People need to a.) see the men and women who have died over there, and b.) realize that this ridiculous war in Iraq is affecting people every single day whether or not we know it. Hiding the bodies as they come off of those planes is like trying to convince us that nothing is really wrong. It really, really bothers me.

That is about all I have for now.

KU is playing Missou tonight...so, go Jayhawks.

Hope you're all well. I miss you.

posted by gdungan @ 8:17 PM 3 comments