the morning of 27th (DNC)

On an early morning in Denver, a kaki panted Donny Lumpkins does everything he can to not fall asleep at the Denver convention center. It was not the program that had me nodding off, in fact the panel I was attending had not even started when my eyelids became imposable to keep open. I get very little sleep or food here and the mixture of the lack of proper rest and the lack of adequate nutrition has made me little more than a zombie in blue gingham button down. In the morning hours when the sun is still reluctant to show its face I tried to sneak from my seat to hunt down some coffee, caffeine isn’t my thing so this expedition was particularly desperate and driven by my need to get the clouds out of my skull.

 

Past all of the cushy chairs set up in rows and a divider that separated one ugly section of the carpeted room from the other like a crusty eyed mirage I saw at the back of this room a table piled with breakfast foods and coffee. My mission was clear, get food and coffee by any means necessary.  As I inched closer to the table I was as focused as Rambo walking threw a hostel jungle. Rite then when I was close enough to taste the cheese Danishes’ my plan was side tracked. A very nice woman who I could tell couldn’t see the panic and hunger on my sleepy face introduced her self. Hi I said my name is Donny I'm a rock the trail reporter for rock the vote. She. She said, so you’re the reporter how do you thing she did last night?’ I paused I thought what on earth could she possibly be taking about? Last night? In the lag time between me thinking and speaking I tried think of everything that could have happened the night before involving a woman doing something good and the endless possibilities of the identity of ‘the woman’ and the thing she did only pushed me farther in to dizzying confusion.  I shifted from foot to foot so delirious hungry I couldn’t feel my knees and the seconds of silence since she had asked me the question were piling up so even if I did have a answer by this point there is no way out of this conversion with out some level awkwardness being brought away from it by both of us. Recognizing my distress and confusion the woman threw me a lifeline ‘ well I think her speech was great.’ she says.  Some rust fell of my gears and the wheals started to turn. ‘Oh’ I said in my mind, the ‘she’ she was referring to was Hillary Clinton and that thing ‘she’ did was a speech at the Pepsi center. A-hah! I was quick to role the credits on my little embarrassing moment and get to the grub but seconds later I had another opportunity to make a fool out of myself in front of this woman I'm sure is some kind of high powered master of the industry of the business of political world. Now that I knew the who (Hillary and the what she did (a speech) I remembered I didn’t see the speech. I was a rock the vote event and then a death cab show that night so the most I saw of the speech was like five minute of the beginning. It’s very hard to rap up a conversation with good insight on a speech you didn’t really see. My noodle wasn’t baking fast enough to remember the ABCs with out the help of Elmo let alone conger up a whole fictional opinion on an actual event. I thought, I cant tell this woman I dint see it, she will think I was a nincompoop! I had to think fast…real fast so my master plan would be to let out some sly “ummmmms’ and ‘well its…its’ Stutters and hold one hand on my chin as if I was considering the question in the deepest caverns of my brains squishy pink wrinkles. But how long could I do this before she realizes I’m doing my best Jeff Golbloom impression, and Why dint I know my golbloom was so good? I made a mental note for future social events.

 In the vacuum of events and tasks to take care of I have seen very little DNC coverage over the days I have been herein Denver. Its like going to Niagara Falls and not seeing any water. What does Denver look like to viewers at home, reading about it in papers and on line? Can they tell its a million degrees and traffics bad?

A rock the vote coworker eventually saved me by jumping in with her opinion on Hillary’s speech. Witch required me to only nod my head and agree. My hopes for food dwindled; I just made it out of the embarrassing conversion with my dignity. Going to eat food a that point would been  like a bear freeing himself from a trap and complaining of the sting when he’s lucky he got out alive. So I Returned to my seat and managed to forget about my hunger...

DonnY-

CNN: Black in America

If you didn’t watch the Black in America series on CNN then you missed out.

The two-day special highlighted more than Black America. It focused on American issues and solutions to work towards a more unified nation.

CNN discovered the exact problems facing Black America and tried to break down stereotypical barriers that divide races.

This yearlong investigation gave hope to the hopeless. Many tears were shed, many dreams were answered, many relationships were destroyed, some friendships were born and many Americans were at set at ease in this series. CNN examined the lives of many Americans and used their real-life situations to teach Americans about one another.

One touching story I recall from the first day of the series was an organization encouraging a young man to register for high school. This young man dropped out of high school before he completed his senior year. The memorable part was that this organization went to the gentleman’s house and wouldn’t leave until he left with them to register for school. The organization was successful in getting the young man to register but, according to CNN, he did not return.

I admire the work ethic of this organization. Their tenacity and effort to save the future of America's youth is a key method that many organizations, parents, and school faculty should consider. "No” was not an option that this organization was willing to consider- it shouldn’t be yours either.

The show left no questions unanswered. If you did find yourself with a question after a segment, the panel, which was comprised of celebrity experts, touched on it during the recap after the show.

The two-day special was awesome. If you missed it then you're not completely lucked out. You can catch the re-run this Saturday. You can even purchase the special on itunes. Either way, make sure you see it. There's a lot to learn.