{"id":2338,"date":"2023-10-20T01:34:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T01:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2338"},"modified":"2023-09-16T15:28:51","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T15:28:51","slug":"chap-28-eloise-wins-the-school-board-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2338","title":{"rendered":"Chap. 28 – Eloise Wins the School Board Race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter 28<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eloise Wins the School Board Race!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Tuesday, November 7, 2022, Election Day across America, and we\u2019re in Norman, Oklahoma, staying with a guy who said he gave up on voting after the Nixon re-election in 1972.  Said he didn\u2019t know any Yang-Gangers.  Had never heard of the Pirate Party.  Wasn\u2019t sure there was even a College Republicans Chapter on campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Early afternoon, the temperature a pleasant 52 degrees, we went for a walk around campus looking for a good public place to Skype with Eloise and Susie back in Boulder, Montana.  Max had been back in touch with Eloise on a regular basis the past week and reported that she was a nervous wreck at night, but gaining confidence with every class she taught.  Student after student was reporting that his or her parents were voting for Eloise, saying things like \u201cI told them you are the best teacher ever \u2013 you make learning fun \u2013 and you\u2019d be the best school board member ever because you\u2019d set a high standard for what it takes to become a tenured teacher.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     \u201cPretty astute stuff for high-schoolers,\u201d Rocky said.  \u201cThey must be drop-out material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     About 4 p.m., we settled on the architecturally beautiful student center, straight out of Colonial Williamsburg, with a tree-lined path to the street where we had the Land Yacht parked.  We painted a new sign \u201cWe\u2019re The Rumpkins – Out Harnessing the Spirit of Imagination,\u201d and a second sign, \u201cWatch the election with us.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Moments after parking, the school security patrol showed up and asked if we had a permit.  Steve told him about our first hours in Norman, got out his recently printed copy of the \u201cTen<\/em> Amendments<\/em>\u201d, and spoke like this, \u201cLike the good judge said\u2019th, thou shant deny the Citizens their right to peaceably assemble \u2013 or risk damnation.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     After hearing us out, the campus cop went back to his golf cart, and came back with a permit slip for us to fill out, saying \u201cI got the authority to sign off on this \u2013 good luck to you guys.  God speed, you can hold off Trump winning again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     At 6 p.m., Susie, skyping from Boulder, reported that it looked like a heavy turn-out, \u201cThese kids are so great \u2013 they\u2019ve been going door-to-door since school let out.  On one street there was even a parade of people heading to the polls!  Our cowboy friends were driving around town in their pick-ups with bull horns blaring to get out and vote for Eloise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      At 7 p.m., Susie reported the first volunteers were starting to arrive at election night headquarters . . . \u201chere at the Chat & Chew, and Eloise is home writing two speeches, one in case she wins, and the other \u2013 don\u2019t even think about it \u2013 she\u2019s going to win!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     At 8 p.m., we were skyping with Gregory, that volunteer of Eloise\u2019s who had come to San Francisco with her for our hootenanny, \u201cHey, you guys got any more Hoots planned?\u201d  He said he\u2019d get back to us as soon as the results started coming in, \u201cWe\u2019ve got runners at every polling place with instructions to race over as soon as the vote is tallied, and we\u2019ve got a big chalk board set up.\u201d  A few minutes later, we could hear cheers go up and assumed the first runner had arrived with good results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     By now Robin, the Professor, had joined us saying, \u201cYa know, you guys make me feel like I need to start voting again, last time it was McGovern, next time it will be Pirate Jack \u2013 you\u2019re running, right Pirate?\u201d  And we actually had a throng of students starting to gather, sipping beverages Skip had raced out to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     At exactly 8:47 p.m. Mountain Time (according to Patty who had the time running with the live video she was taking), Gregory came back on the screen and screamed, \u201cShe won!  She won!  We\u2019ve got a winner.  All the results are in – it was a land slide!  Let me see if I can turn this to Eloise\u2013 she\u2019s starting to give her victory speech.\u201d  Here it is captured verbatim by Patty:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am so happy I am going to hug all of you!  Thanks so much!  Thanks to each and every one of you.  Thanks to the voters for their confidence in us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe won because we had the most volunteers, not the most money, the most volunteers. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe won because we got our message out there, each of you going person to person, one at a time. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe won because we were different, not running as a Democrat or a Republican.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe won because we had the BEST message \u2013 one that all of you helped create:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          First, hire the best teachers, and we\u2019ll have the best schools;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, include parents in deciding which teachers should get tenure;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, have grade-schoolers help teach pre-schoolers;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, pay high-schoolers to tutor grade-schoolers;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifth, reduce the size of administration and use the savings for a college scholarship fund.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReally we won because we created the most excitement.  We made this fun.  We were optimistic.  We were smiling.  We were enthusiastic.  We had a positive message.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe won because we earned the trust of the voters that we meant what we said, and we\u2019d do our best to get it done.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore I end, I want to say we\u2019re part of a larger world out there, and this is just the beginning.  We can win any election, anytime, anywhere using our simple formula:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          One, reach out to everybody;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          Two, get outside the two-party box;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          Three, appeal to peoples\u2019 better instincts;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          Create hope, not fear:  WE CAN DO THIS!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinally, something my father taught me:  Be Sincere; Be Brief; Be Seated!  Who wants the first hug!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     And guess what?  Everybody by the Land Yacht started clapping too, including the dozen or so students who said, \u201cWhere do we sign-up?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 28 Eloise Wins the School Board Race!       Tuesday, November 7, 2022, Election Day across America, and we\u2019re in Norman, Oklahoma, staying with a guy who said he gave up on voting after the Nixon re-election in 1972.  Said … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2338"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2342,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338\/revisions\/2342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}