The World of Stuff .com

A special visit

Yesterday some news was spreading around the school like wildfire. I heard my first block teacher, Ms. Boudinet, talking about it, although I wasn’t really paying attention, and I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Apparently there was going to be a political rally in the school auditorium on Saturday, and there was going to be a very special guest. Who, you might ask, would go to such a quiet little school as mine? None other than former President Bill Clinton, in fact. He’s campaigning for state Senator Ron Klein, who’s running for the US House of Representatives in Tuesday’s election. You may ask what I think about all this hubbub. Hint: Bill Clinton is the only politician whose picture I have hanging in my room (besides George Washington, but he doesn’t really count). Creepy? Probably.

Of course, the big question was how to get there. Would it be easy? Difficult? It was hard to say since I had just found out about it and because I’ve never been to a political rally. The first official confirmation I heard of the event came at the end of the day when the principal announced a meeting for all the faculty members right after school. Hoping to snag Ms. Boudinet on her way to the meeting, I just made it to her room as she was leaving, and I asked her if it would be possible for us young future voters to go. She said she would get the details in the meeting, and that she didn’t see why not.

This morning before school, I heard that tickets were available for free from Ron Klein’s office. Today being the last school day until the weekend, a plan formed in my head immediately. I was pretty sure where Ron Klein’s local campaign office was, as I had passed by it several times. It’s not far from school, actually. So I figured that in Ms. Boudinet’s class, I would verify the location of the office and call my dad to ask if he could get tickets on his lunch break. But then I asked Ms. Boudinet about it, and she said that I could probably get them right from Mr. Gordon, the principal. Apparently he had been given 200 tickets, and he was giving one to each teacher (or, because some teachers couldn’t make it, two to the ones who could go). She suggested that I catch Mr. Gordon at lunch. Throughout the day, I had found that it was pretty easy to get a ticket if you were in the right set. For example, the Student Government kids were supposedly invited, and I know that some people from the TV production class were going to cover it for our school’s morning TV news-type show.

Lunch rolled around, but I decided that I would eat first and then look for Mr. Gordon. The school seemed to be abuzz with excitement about the visiting ex-President. I had heard that the Secret Service was in the process of checking out the campus, and a lot of people had seen agents walking around. But anyway, I couldn’t find Mr. Gordon, and I didn’t want to go into the office and ask for him — I was afraid of what they’d say. “What? Students at the rally? What about us important grown-up-type people?” So my next idea was to ask my teachers if they had extra tickets. I didn’t go through with it, though. Instead I thought I’d swing by the office after school and ask for a ticket. I figured I would have to have a good reason, so I decided that I would cover the event for our de facto school paper, the Pompano Pulse. (I figured that my friend Luke, who sort of runs the show there, wouldn’t mind.)

So it was time for the moment of truth. I told the receptionist that I would like to get a ticket for the event so I could cover it for the Journalism Club (i.e., the Pulse staff). She referred me to an administrator, whom I subsequently flagged down. She told me to wait, and while I was supposed to be waiting, I ran into Luke, and he decided it would be a good idea for him to get a ticket too. So I ran to tell my sister, who was waiting for our ride, why I hadn’t been there. “I’m getting tickets,” I told her excitedly. “Oh,” she said. “I already got one.” With no time to discuss the matter, I hurried back to the office. Soon, I signed for a ticket and had it in hand. It was that easy.

So on Saturday, Luke and I are going to do some work as journalists in the field. Of course, the kids filming for the school’s morning show will probably have the upper hand in this department, seeing as they’ll have big fancy cameras, but we writer types should at least be allowed to bring our own cameras. But if the Secret Service agents decide that we shouldn’t have cameras, I’ll acquiesce to their request and have a pen and paper to take notes instead. Either way, seeing a former president speak is, for an average young person like me, the opportunity of a lifetime.

Halloween was pretty good. I went to Sean’s house with Mike, and we pretty much hung out the whole time. There was some food, of course, and it was good. It’s kind of sad to think that this will be like my last Halloween, but I guess I’ve outgrown it.

See pi in color.

Neighboroo is a site that maps various nationwide statistics (US only, apparently). Maybe it does something else also.

Two years ago: “It was October 15, 1998, and Jeb Bush (W’s brother and former President Bush’s son) was on the campaign trail running for Governor of Florida. He visited our school, and Reid and I were part of the welcoming committee thing.”
Three years ago: “I’m also looking to have Tredici published in a book and/or have a Tredici computer game made. Anybody want to give a hand?”