Last night, I decided, along with some friends, to partake of the revelry surrounding the Democratic National Convention. First, we went to the Red Hat(one of my favorite neighborhood bars, located behind the State House) where the Young Democrats of America were holding a DNC Watch Party. A good crowd was gathered and it was the most packed I'd ever seen this bar before, especially for a Monday night.

I informed my friends that I was going outside to take some pictures around the Fleet Center. I stepped outside and right away who do I see? Ben Affleck. He was sitting in an SUV with the window wide open so that everyone could see him. I saw him chatting it up the some cops as he waited at the stop light. At the time I was trying to take a picture of one of those right wing billboard cars that has been going around. Many of them have large pictures of aborted fetuses or terrorist attacks, this particular one had the words "homosexuality is a sin" written in rainbow colors. When I went to take a picture of it, I started fiddling with my camera and looked up to see Ben looking at me. He gave me a look like he thought I was going to take his picture. Immediately I put the camera away to put him at ease. I'm not sure if he cared that much, but it made me feel like an evil paparazzi who'd been caught even though I wasn't trying to steal a picture of him.

After that brief encounter I proceeded to the convention area where I did see some protesters, even though most of them are hidden behind North Station. At the security entrance to the convention some kids were shouting at the delegates things like "shame on you democrats!" and "aren't there enough white men!"...stupid shit like that. I was stopped by an attractive girl to put on a "Stand Up for Choice: Planned Parenthood" sticker, I happily obliged. On the way back to the Red Hat I spotted former CA governor Gray Davis, a mild celebrity but still cool.

After the Red Hat we went to the Harp, a bar right across the street from the Fleet Center. I was a little peeved because the convention and red sox game were on at same time, but the audio was on the baseball game! That didn't make any sense to me. It gives you an idea of where this town's priorties lie though. Of course, I also wanted to see the sox game but I also wanted to listen to Al Gore and Jimmy Carter speak instead I just watched them off and on. Al Gore seemed fired up and Jimmy Carter seemed old and stagnant, that's all I got from those speeches. I met up with a friend of mine who works for a Mass. Representative and had a pass to convention last night. He borrowed my camera, so hopefully I'll be posting some shots from inside. I stepped outside for a smoke and RFK Jr. walked by me, just a side note. Luckily, after the game ended of course, the audio went to the convention. When Bill Clinton finally came on, the bar went fairly silent and people were glued to the TV's. Watching him speak filled me with nostalgia. It made me forget about term limits, for 25 minutes he was my president again. God, I miss him. The night ended with my friend Chris and I passing out pro-Kerry tickets in a semi-drunken stupor as we wandered home. We walked along chatting up with a very friendly Danish journalist. Who knows what other random events tonight will bring.

The convention being in town has scared a lot of people to take vacation or stay home. I must say that I don't understand this mentality. Why else would you live in a city? I live in the city because I want to be where stuff is happening. An event like this only happens once every four years and will probably not be here again for a long time. People seem more concerned about the inconveniences of traffic and accessibility, or about a terrorist attack -- this hype and paranoia has caused much of the population to sit this one out, which probably was the point. If everything goes smoothly when people weren't expecting it to then the city comes off looking great, like they pulled off a miraculous task. I am disheartened with the fact that not many people are EXCITED about this. So much for "liberal Massachusetts"...You could bitch about the security I suppose but it's kind of fun to pretend for four days that you live in a police state. Of course, if the election goes the wrong way then we could end up living in one for four years.

DNC - Tuesday plans
We’re going to venture into the “protected” zone across the river tonight. Tbone describes his DNC outing last night, spotting Former CA Gov Gray Davis, and the less talented half of the celibrity fomerly known as “Ben-ifer̶...
Nedward on July 27, 2004 02:02 PM