The Party

“Anything for Obama," I said. 15 cases of wine later we had secured our spot in this historic moment- The Party. The Manifest Hope was the location, Unconventional 08 was the party.

Silversun Pickups, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Cold War Kids, Nada Surf, Zooey Deschanel, Death Cab, Johnathan Rice, Sarah Silverman… All absolutely wonderful and amazing. Shepard Fairy played DJ and 600 people danced.

Wine flowed; celebratory citizens from around the country came together and well, celebrated. We had huge hopes for the speech that would take place the night after. Its finally our time.

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Manifest Hope Gallery

The HOPE poster of Senator Obama created by Shepard Fairey has wrapped up national sentiment across generations. The strikingly diplomatic yet urban and progressive feel of the poster has helped turn Obama’s campaign into an iconic moment in history.

Shepard and several others brought grassroots activism and art to Denver through the Manifest Hope gallery. Artists including Ray Noland, Sam Flores, David Choe, and Ron English were a few of the artists showcased.

The Manifest Hope gallery was created because “art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum. The Manifest Hope Gallery celebrates that role and shines a spotlight on artists across the nation who use their voices to amplify and motivate the grass roots movement surrounding the Obama Campaign. The Manifest Hope Gallery highlights the central themes of the progressive grass-roots movement- Hope Change, Progress, Unity and Patriotism.”

I had the privilege to watch the artists create their pieces. Knowing how strongly I feel for the democrat candidate, I found the creative process mesmerizing.

SunFest

SunFest occurred on Wednesday, August 27th 2008. Robert Kennedy was the keynote speaker. He told me exactly what I had hoped to hear. Facts. Not just promises of what our country needs, but facts on how to make those changes and what the results have been in countries that have made significant energy policy changes.

Real capitalists vs. polluters. Great thoughts that make you shake your head and think, Yeah, that’s exactly what I have been trying to say…

Click on the links below for videos and more information:

Robert Kennedy SunFest speech

SunFest Video

More Information

DNC Denver 2008

I believe that there are only a few times in your life when you feel that you are part of something monumental. My experience at the DNC was just that- monumental. I was lucky to be a part of an event that comes along only once in a generation.

Living in Denver during the DNC was one of the most memorable and enjoyable weeks of my life. Being one of thousands of people celebrating an opportunity for significant change for their country gave me a sense of pride. I have never felt more American and more proud of my country in my life.

Green Festivals, free concerts and art shows- galleries and galleries of expression. Parties, dancing, speeches, comedy, drinking, singing, protesting, learning and laughing. It all came together beautifully.

Coming Home Crazy

My search led me to London where I volunteered for the Fairtrade Foundation. I learned more about the benefits of treating people who produce the goods that you consume more fairly. It was an amazing experience.

I was moved by Oz Clarke’s eloquent speeches and vigorous promotion of Fair Trade wine. Wine + Fair Trade. This was starting to sound really good.

I traded in the rice wine for lager, I bought an umbrella and I bought wine at the grocery store. They had Fair Trade wine and lots of it.

I figured, if the Brits can drink Fair Trade wine, why can’t we? The US wine market has been growing for 16 years, we were really learning to appreciate the once overly exaggerated snooty beverage. My MOTHER was drinking wine more than once a year for goodness sakes!

I was feeling less of a wine snob and more like an entrepreneur.

I came home and well, you know the story from there.

Now we are growing and I am trying to keep up. There’s so much work to be done domestically too. We have created new labels and found more amazing wines.

Any partners out there?

Ready to join the wine revolution?

China

This is the land of “stuff”. Not that the Chinese are all too consumed with the consumption of “stuff” but rather the economic driver of selling it to the rest of the world. It seems that until recently most of us just ate it up. Now that gas is so freaking high I think some of us Americans figured out basic economics. (Why this isn’t a class in every high school is beyond me.)

So here I am. I have a degree in international trade and China is the land of “stuff”. I move and teach and learn that everything I learned in school was actually useful. I’m glad I had the economic background but I somehow still stereotyped 1 billion people. Eventually I learned that living is learning.

American companies lined up to sell their wares to the billion people who were, we hoped, dying to get more “stuff “for themselves. “Stuff” made us happy so “stuff” will make them happy too.

A little leery of how the impact of a billion “stuffed” people would affect the rest of the world, I started looking for more sustainable business models.

“Stuff”

Long story short I was a history major in college. Obviously a great degree with no likely job or career direction in sight. So I went to graduate school to get myself further in debt. I loved the history of trade finding it mind boggling that “ethnic stuff” made in one country could be a huge hit in another. People who made “the stuff” didn’t know much about the people who bought “the stuff” and vice versa. I was a child of the ‘80s- Pier One and Multiples and there was so much “stuff” everywhere.

I day dreamed about “stuff” and soon became a consumer of “stuff”. If I had $5 I was shopping in an antique store buying weird Chinese or Japanese statues, trinkets and cheap goods that looked exotic and cool.

I wanted to get a degree in Marco Polo but instead read riveting books about trade treaties. When I learned how much “stuff” had an impact on everyone, I was hooked and wanted to figure out how.

And did I ever.