"A horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible day for personal photography, but a great day for Washington democracy!" -MandiCrocker
Today I went to my very first caucus! While I really didn't feel like going (I'd rather sleep in and eat donuts when I take a day off, who are we kidding), I left feeling a bit exhilarated and grateful we live in a country where we can hash things out. Especially on a candidate level, you really know that your vote counts for something. It's hard to feel that way about politics most of the time. It was also great to meet more people from the community!
My camera, so it seems, slept in and ate donuts. (It couldn't possibly be me). Every picture I took was blurry. For the most part, I've taken a majority of my photographs in natural lighting. I now realize what a dreamy scenario that is! In harsh gym & cafeteria fluorescent lighting? BARF. GAG. YACK. It was a caucusf*ck!
To zero my histogram, I had to crank my ISO all the way to Jupiter and reduce my shutter speed and increase my aperture. I played with it a bit and I just couldn't seem to make much progress. I brought my 35mm f/1.8. So maybe I should have used a different lens? When I switched out my wide angle, I think I had slightly better results because I could at least start at f/4. In other news, I could have hit a wrong menu button or something weird & for lack of experience, wouldn't even know.
All stuff that can be frustrating when you want good shots... But still fun!!! Like-- 'as fun as eating donuts' fun. That says a LOT about how much I'm loving this. Because we don't have any photography classes out here (not to mention Sensai Stacy doesn't live here in Washington anymore, sad face!!!), I bought some photography books online and am patiently awaiting their arrival... SO EXCITED!!! There's a wealth of information online but I don't always want to be staring at my computer screen.
With all that said, the caucus was really interesting...
I arrived early.
All of the volunteers deserve a round of applause!
It filled up fast and ended up being
a really good size turnout!!!
Bernie supporters...
LOVE THE BAG.
BLURRY.
UGH.
Everyone filled out their forms...
They put us in the cafeteria for announcements...
And the pledge of allegience! I'm so bummed this picture is blurry. But the blurriness is also kind of funny with the angle cause it looks like we're fighting for deli lunches. Ha!!! "In a war ravaged cafeteria, eaters unite..."
"YOU CAN'T TAKE OUR
TURKEY WITH MUSTARD!!!!"
It was soooo cool to see young people. They're always so passionate about the process. Cory, one of the local kids, actually stepped up to be our 'chair delegate.' (Excellent job, too, might I add!)
I love this picture...
Actually I really just love this little chunker!
All generations... so cool. :)
After they split us up into our precincts,
we did an initial tally.
Then, folks got three minutes per person (if they wanted) to talk about why they believed in their candidate. We all had places to be but it was inspiring to know that people were there because they really cared about something. Knowing that everyone got a chance to speak from their heart about who they were passionate about and why, made it feel like your voice mattered. It was also just being a part of a community. I got to hear from doctors and youth and neighbors about how the issues of the day affect their life in a day to day way. Really neat and educating!
After the opinions and rebuttals, we did a final tally.
In our precinct, it was 19-9 in favor of Bernie. We only get two delegates in Mazama, so I think they each ended up with one.
When I left, the overall tally so far was 30-4 in favor of Bernie. With 39% reporting at this moment, statewide, it's 3 to 1 in favor of The Bern. We came. We saw. We caucused. ;)
Even though I consider myself an independent and I registered Democrat specifically to vote for Bernie, as a community we were united on one front, however... ANYONE BUT TRUMP. It's gonna be a long year...
Fingers crossed,
Mandi
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