I can't help but feel the history of the South as I drive through the aged streets of Lynchburg, Virginia with the other directors (who are both named Chris). The African-American sector of town is composed of old, brick homes separated only by wide margins of grass. Fences are virtually non-existent in Virginia. In California, houses have yards or back patios. In Virginia, stretches of green have houses dotted across them. Many of the houses in these African-American neighborhoods are centuries old. The irony is staggering. The original inhabitants of these homes made their wealth off of the great-great grandparents of the families who now live in them. Greenery is abundant in Lynchburg - crawling over walls, up buildings, and bursting off the hills. Iron curlicues hide among the bricks not far from the massive geyser along the river.

Now that I've established that Lynchburg is beautiful, I must admit that I've spent a great deal of time in some of the less sightly locations of the city. Today I canvassed registrations for hours in front of The Dollar Tree (one of a dozen or so "Dollar" stores in town"). On that shift I out registered anyone in the short history of our crew! The Chrises and I are recruiting more and more locals to work with us everyday. Yesterday I hit up almost every Mini-Mart in town for permission to poster information about the job in their front windows. The highlight of the day was when I stopped into the Starlight Cafe - which is two doors away from a tiny music shop that I would love to scour if I ever got a free moment. The cafe manager said that he was having a voter registration concert that very night and would plug the Community Voter Project between every song! We are also now featured in an ad in the local paper, a radio station, and in the orations of a few local ministers. We have spoken with the headmasters at the historic black college and numerous enthusiastic participants in the electoral system.

It is so easy to register people in Lynchburg. If I speak with a handful of African-Americans in town there is a good chance that at least one of them will be interested in registering to vote. I believe that there are two reasons for this phenomenon of massive registration. Firstly, a large portion of the African-American population of Lynchburg has NEVER registered to vote. I have registered numerous adults and elderly people who have never voted in their lives. Can you imagine? A seventy year old woman who is only now for the first time planning on voting. The second reason is the enthusiasm for Obama in the African-American sector of town. I have been exposed to minor but powerful examples of regional racism in speaking with local White people and observing the interactions between the staff members of different races at diners in town. I can imagine that after a lifetime of experiencing and witnessing bigotry it must feel uplifting to participate in this election. I know that I am really excited to vote Obama but my anticipation is minimal in comparison to the old lady who told me today, "I wouldn't miss this election for the world. I'll crawl to the polls if I have to!"