February 2004

Gabe has been taking his video camera around Boston filming his own news stories and vignettes. On Monday, February 10th he interviewed people at the “Massachusetts State House Rally Against Amending the Constitution.”

Massachusetts for Dean sent this announcement out to its mailing list earlier today about this weekend’s open house and office hours.

Massachusetts for Dean Email Newsletter, 2/13/2004

Grassroots volunteers have joined together to open the Mass for Dean
campaign headquarters in Central Square, Cambridge. Stop by for campaign
literature, phonebanking, lawn signs, bumper stickers, and good times. We
are of the volunteers, by the volunteers, and for everybody!

Open House Saturday, 2/14/04
Noon until 5:00 pm

605 Massachusetts Avenue (near Essex Street)
Cambridge, MA 02139-4030

(617) 245-3930

The office is staffed entirely by volunteers. To volunteer, please stop by
and sign up. For the coming long weekend, the office will be staffed as
follows:

Saturday, 10:00 am to 8:00 pm
Sunday, 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Monday (President’s Day), 10:00 am to 8:00 pm

Come by and visit, pick up a lawn or window sign, make phone calls to
Wisconsin (bring your cell phone), and learn how you can get out the vote
for Howard Dean on March 2nd in your community!

Donate to the Mass for Dean Radio Ad Fund!
The grassroots organization www.truthandhope.org is producing radio ads in
key primary states to set the record straight about Governor Dean. We’re
raising money to bring the ads to Massachusetts. Go to
http://www.aspenwilde.com/dfa.htm to listen to the ads and make a
contribution. These ads are entirely grassroots created and funded.

Call Voters in Wisconsin before February 17th!
Individual volunteers can go on-line to get call sheets, scripts, and
instructions. To get started, send an e-mail to wendy@dialingfordean.com
with your phone number and a brief note about yourself. Phonebank
captains can download call sheets and instructions at
http://commons.deanforamerica.com. E-mail wicalls @ deanforamerica.com for
additional details.

Rich Chouinard, a volunteer organizer for Massachusetts for Dean, took a few photos of the Mass for Dean office that the grassroots group recently set up. It’s independent of Dean for America. The location is excellent — it’s a 5,000 square foot space at 605 Massachusetts Ave in Central Square. The office is home to the group’s volunteer activities and a clearinghouse for materials. Click on the photo to see a larger image.

Update: If you’re coming to my website by way of Dave’s link at Scripting News … Mass for Dean started up at its first Dean Meetup February 2003, not when the volunteer office opened up this week. :)

Michael and I met up with other Massachusetts for Dean volunteers in Harvard Square last night to put up the Dean Screen near Au Bon Pain. The Dean Screen is a homemade kit consisting of a traveling video projector with a PVC tubing frame that supports a bedsheet on which we broadcast speeches Dean has delivered around the country. Click the photo to see a larger image.

Gabriel Ben-Yosef interviewed several people who talked about why they support Howard Dean. Check out the video on his website. Michael’s tidbits are towards the end.

Jim Moore at Dean for America wrote on his personal weblog about the bat that is bringing in lots of donations today.

You decide as a individual to make a contribution.

And then about mid day–or perhaps later–you realise that you have been part of an historic event–a “perfect swarm.” For most people, this will be a surprising and gratifying discovery. You realize that thousands of other individuals made a similar commitment at the same time. It feels a bit uncanny.

What is going on? Swarm power, emergence, something larger than ourselves. Here is a fun thing to do: Take a large crowd–perhaps you are giving a speech–and ask them to clap together to an aligned beat. But don’t give them a lead beat. Just ask the crowd to find a beat, by paying attention to their neighbors, and syncing up as they can. I’ve done this dozens of times, and the amazing thing is how fast a group can come together when it wants to.

Massachusetts for Dean volunteers and supporters are gathering at the big New England Patriots rally tomorrow, Tuesday February 3rd at City Hall Plaza in Boston. Organizers will be in front of the Dunkin Donuts next to the Government Center MBTA Station on the Green Line as early as 10;30am. Additional details are on the info page for the Mass Patriots for Dean event.