Getting involved...

I remember a few years ago I was dating this guy who was "into politics." Obama was in his breakout days and we spent our first date sparring over the guy's flaws (mostly me) and merits (mostly him) while accidentally hiking up the backside of Mt. Timpanogos (and mostly agreeing on everything). Dreamy, right? Months later, as elections season escalated and everyone joined the zeal, he surprised me by one-upping the "into politics" fakers who can talk the talk with the help of MSNBC's election guide by supporting his local representative, Don Jarvis, one of Provo's only conservative Democrats. I set up a sign in my yard, talked him up to sound cool, and sadly, came away from the campaign with little else than a t-shirt.

I was excited about the idea of local politics, but had very little idea what that even meant. This was made especially clear to me a month ago when our public policy intern quizzed me on what a State legislator is and does and I failed miserably. The intern was prepping us for a work-sponsored field trip to the Capitol, where we'd go to lobby for hunger relief funding.

Why didn't anyone ever tell me that ONE, You're allowed to just GO to the Capitol and knock on your legislators' doors and TWO, They WANT to hear what you think?

DW, with all your activism oozing from your pores, you failed me.

Ooorrrr maybe they've been telling me this for years (and by 'they' I mean teachers, public service announcers, strangers on the streets with clipboards...)

I wowed the pants off one of District 5's representatives (figuratively, jeez!) and he wants to come by and see what we food bankers are all about. I also ran into my friend Troy who, in an odd turn of events, was there lobbying for some Pharmaceutical something or other.

No need for nitty gritty details at this point but the point is this: local politics rock socks! I could totally get into this. Federal lawmaking, schmoozing and decision-making seem so far away, all wrapped up in the mess that is The Man. Olympia is where decisions are made that affect my day-to-day life. And, though I'm sure there are doubters, I really do believe that I can have an impact on how those decisions are made. Maybe there's a locally-elected position someday in my future.

Good thing that 92 years ago women joined forces with posters like this, Comptroller Knudson has a ring to it...