Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/426191
14 Winter 2014/15 x AEA Advocate AROUND AEA Post from lilysblackboard.com by Lily Eskelsen García On our Vote for Education tour, everyone is so kind and happy that team NEA is in the house. We visit schools and talk with parents and teachers and support professionals and principals and school board members about their greatest hopes and their greatest fears for the future. There are hugs and selfies and there's a feeling that if people only knew how important these elections were to students, we wouldn't be facing such nail-biters in Arizona and Colorado and Florida and Michigan and too many others. But we've also visited folks outside the education world doing important work getting out the vote – Mi Familia Vota. In Tucson, I visited this group of community activists – some of them surprised by their activism. They began with a few dreams about making sure that all those in the most impoverished, marginalized communities of the city would be encouraged to exercise their right to vote. They gathered friends and neighbors and word got around. I met with about 30 of them, mostly young, but really of all ages, and almost all from these same communities. All were bilingual, and their job was to canvass the neighborhoods, knocking on doors and asking folks if they had voted early and how they could make a difference in their communities by electing men and women who respected their families, honored their work and invested in their children. I heard their stories about their own conversion to activism, and how at first they came along with a friend and without much enthusiasm for walking neighborhoods when it's still 90 degrees outside. And then how it felt to have doors slammed in their faces or the suspicious looks at the questions they asked to start a conversation about voting. But then how it felt to have someone open the door wide and smile. Someone who said, "Yes, I've already voted," and a talk about the candidates or about the issues. Someone who said, "I'm not sure how it works. I was hoping someone would explain it." Someone who said, "I've never voted before. You're right. It is important." One young woman said, "It just takes a few of those to tell you that it's all worth it." It's been an exciting ride, but I must admit I'm feeling the schedule. This morning in Denver I woke up pretty grumpy. We'd driven from Tucson to Phoenix, taken a late flight to Colorado, and gotten to the hotel at 1:30am. My first radio interview was by phone at 6:10am. I was tired. I felt I had a right to be a little grumpy. Drive time radio hosts are always relentlessly cheerful. I felt energized by getting out our message, and the grumpy didn't stay long. I talked about our Vote for Education tour, and what was at stake for students. I also talked about our civic responsibility to make an informed decision and get out there and vote. The conversation turned to the influence of money in politics. The host reminded me, "There's never been more money in these campaigns. How do you compete with a handful of billionaires who don't even live in