Beautiful Tragedy: Tent University and Town Hall with Anna Eshoo

Today I participated in two very different events:

First, I spent the afternoon in Santa Cruz at Tent University. Tent U is a project inspired by Tent State (www.tentstate.com) at Rutgers in New Jersey, and the idea is to hold a week-long convergence of students who run their own direct democracy and set-up a working community outdoors on their college campus. The Tent State initiative brings awareness to education budget cuts, and the link with increased spending on the war in Iraq, connecting global-local politics with the demand, "Money for Books, Not Bombs!" Tent U. at UC Santa Cruz was conceived by Will, this rockin' activist from Oakland, after he and I met the Tent State kidz at the UfPJ conference in St. Louis. It is incredible how Tent U. sprang up over a period of less than two months, and I was astounded by how much time and effort went into the planning process, which seems, from the outside, to be very organic. Tent U. began with a rally on campus and a march down the hill to the free speech zone. Students carried big paper mache puppets and signs, and walked en mass all the way down to the meadow. The whole thing was a beautiful site... when I wasn't bemoaning the thought that I gave up four potential years of schooling nestled in the redwoods and valleys overlooking the ocean ;-)

The administration is opposing the students' plans to camp in the free speech area, and threatened to make arrests if students slept there overnight. Because of this heightened tension (the Tent U. organizing team has had very little sleep, and...) the community spent the afternoon discussing strategies in small groups and taking their input to a large fishbowl dialogue. By the time I had to leave, at around 5 p.m., they had still not decided what they were going to do: occupy the space for the duration of the night, or move their nighttime activities to another area. Had I stayed, I would have been concerned about the lack of bathrooms for the 70 or so people who were there... and a group of students actually showed up to protest the bathroom/sanitation situation, mocking a proposal for composting toilets. Such is student life at Santa Cruz: for every protest, there is a counter-protest!

In the evening, I went to a Town Hall meeting with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo in Half Moon Bay. It seems that I have grown up with Anna in politics, as she has held office in our district since 1992. I have received letters from her office commending scholastic achievements, echoing her support of environmental measures to save the old growth trees in California, and updating me on her work with energy policy. I will never forget her speech during the California energy crisis, in which she shared with us her experience with the other politicians, who were each fighting with each other to be the "savior" of the crisis, to heroically produce the IT plan that would bring California out of its mess with private energy companies. This added to my formative understanding of the absurdity of martyrdom, and the crucial importance of teamwork and collaboration.

Anna took questions from the community written on notecards and answered a great deal of them. She spoke at length about social security and the dangers of privatization, the need to end our oil dependency and produce more fuel efficient autos using our tech savvy edge, and the disastrous effects of the Patriot Act, Leave No Child Behind, the carte blanc end of the Estate Tax, and the absence of a Congressional Ethics Committee (which was the only balance Republican-Democrat committee in the House, and now no longer exists, thanks to Mr. Delay). Anna told me she supported our campaign to bring the California National Guard home from Iraq. She was her usual humorous and optimistic self, and it was warming to see her speak so candidly and honestly, admitting when she didn't know the answer to a question, and joking here and there.

What was disheartening about the Town Hall was that the community assembled, which filled the IDES hall, was composed predominately white older folks. With the exception of Anna's aides, I felt like the only twentysomething in the room! And there was no Hispanic contingency to speak of! This demographic, in a town which is home to so many Mexican laborers and their families, and holds a burgeoning youth population, as the middle and high schools are hard pressed for space, is appalling. Anna seemed excited about the idea of holding a Town Hall at the high school, and this made me hopeful at least.

So there you have it: from youth uprising and university take-over, to political meeting with retired Caucasians. What can I say? Working with CodePink makes for an incredibly interesting life!