This blog is coming to you direct from the heart of the Appalachians! I am currently stationed in a hotel room in Western Virginia outside of Lynchburg. The name of this city horrifies me but fills me with excitement at the prospect of empowering its African-American community. I will be opening an office in Lynchburg to register as many African-Americans as possible through Community Voter Project (CVP). Lynchburg not only has a sizable unregistered minority population but is also the home to the largest of America's Top Ten Conservative Colleges: Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. The town newspaper, The Lynchburg Ledger, features a spacious piece by Bob Weir commending a certain notorious hockey mom. I have my work cut out for me!

Now I will backtrack a bit. The series of events that brought me to the Commonwealth occurred in rapid succession (not secession!). I will share the CliffsNotes version of my adventures of the last 2.5 weeks.

Sunny days of Sept. 2 - 12: Canvassing Menlo Park for Environment California with intelligent and amusing activists

Sept. 5: Signed off on my Masters at UCD - Yipee!

Afternoon of Sept 14: Phone conference about my options within Progressive Future

Night of Sept. 14: Given opportunity to becoming a Canvass Director in CVP

Dreamy morning of Sept. 15: Proclamation of my departure to Virginia for a meeting scheduled the next day

Witching hour of Sept. 16: Hop a plane to Dallas

Ungodly hour of Sept. 16: Hop a plane to NYC

Sometime later Sept. 16: Hop a plane to Richmond, VA

And now back to the unabridged version. Imagine my surprise when I was picked up from the airport by two fellow Davisites in a PT Cruiser! We were given training both yesterday and today along with a handful of other directors from across the nation. This morning, I canvassed for votes for approximately an hour and registered two people in downtown Richmond. I was later given my placement assignment in Lynchburg and made the long drive out to town. And here I am! Tomorrow will be the first big day of building the office. I better go to bed now for a strong start in the morning.