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[personal profile] hyounpark
When I went in to vote today, I got a Democratic primary ballot and checked off Barack Obama for my presidential choice. Then I moved to the Democratic State committee choices and voted for a guy who I've maybe met twice and my friend Dorothea Jones. And then I moved down to the Ward Democratic committee. At this point, I was thinking "these ballot choices are so obscure. Who ever votes on these, anyways?"

So, I started looking down the list of names. I recognized a few of the names as people that I've run into over my past couple of years in the political realm. And then I ran into "Hyoun Park." Being the idiot that I am, my first response was "There are two Hyoun Parks in Roxbury?"

The answer is "No, dumbass. That's YOUR name on the ballot."

And then I remembered conversation that I had with the ward Democratic committee chair, Victoria Williams, a couple of months ago. She asked if I was interested in being on the Ward committee and I figured that would be fine. At the ward level, the politics is mostly confined to getting out the vote and scheduling debates, which I'm actually a big fan of. (And there's some petty intra-city squabbling, which I ignore so completely that I couldn't tell you who's ticked off at who.) I'm all about bringing political candidates into Roxbury to talk about the issues of our community, so I said that I was interested. Victoria mentioned something at the time about running for the committee, but I didn't even think about it at the time.

It was only when I saw my name on the ballot that I realized that she had meant that I was actually running for this position on a ballot. The actual vote was just a formality, since there were only 12 names listed and the top 21 vote-getters are in the committee. So, in the end, it really wasn't anything more than signing up for a committee with the side effect that every voter in my neighborhood now has seen my name.

But for this primary, I can claim to have been on the same ballot as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards, albeit for a different office and only in my section of Boston. When Lynne first heard about this, her first reaction was, "YOU ARE NOT HAVING A POLITICAL CAREER. I AM NOT GOING TO BE A POLITICAL SPOUSE." And I totally agree. As an atheist who isn't all that loquacious and loathes the idea of campaigning or fundraising, I would be an awful politician. Which is great! But I got the best of both worlds: I didn't have to campaign or put in any effort, but still had my name on a ballot with this year's presidential candidates, which is kinda cool, no?

Date: 2008-02-06 04:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tenar.livejournal.com
that's super cool!

Date: 2008-02-06 06:03 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] talamasca.livejournal.com
Ah, but what and when will be the great Hyoun Park political scandal!

Its...

Date: 2008-02-06 08:43 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] carbonatedbabe.livejournal.com
very, very cool!

Date: 2008-02-06 11:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] elkay.livejournal.com
Woohoo!

Date: 2008-02-06 04:02 pm (UTC)

Date: 2008-02-06 07:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] abraxas365.livejournal.com
What an awesome story Hyoun. I'd have voted for you. It would have been fraud, but, really who cares.

Date: 2008-02-07 12:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fes42.livejournal.com
"YOU ARE NOT HAVING A POLITICAL CAREER. I AM NOT GOING TO BE A POLITICAL SPOUSE."

I on the other hand would LOVE to be a senator's wife. Even a state senator. I'd be a good one too!

Date: 2008-02-07 02:05 am (UTC)
ursamajor: (filibuster vigilantly)
From: [personal profile] ursamajor
So if we switched, Hyoun would then become the wife-swapping atheist running for office? ;)

Date: 2008-02-07 02:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fes42.livejournal.com
Somehow even in this state, I don't think that is going to fly.

Date: 2008-02-07 08:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] xf.livejournal.com
Congrats!

You do know about Dan Savage's political career,right?

Date: 2008-02-10 06:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] elemmire7.livejournal.com
Cool beans! Now is there a copy you can keep as a souvenir?

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