Senators, Diversity, and Famous Authors, Oh My!

It was right after I arrived at Bartlett High School for Mark Begich's Health Care town hall that I learned that not only was I missing Countdown, I was missing my friend Shannyn Moore on Countdown. Well crap, this town hall better not be boring.

My first impression was that the place was packed, but just who had packed it? Rational citizens interested in learning more about Obama's potential health care reform plan and Mark Begich's take on it, or a bunch of moronic Fox News viewers dedicated to yelling insults and stalling the health care reform process?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot I was in Alaska.

The very first question of the evening set the tone.

"Since you are a politician I know three things about you. You are a liar, a thief, and a lapdog for the DNC". Oh God it was going to be one of those nights.

The questions came fast and furious with several morons yelling out questions without benefit of a microphone, or of IT BEING THEIR DAMN TURN! Okay, so yeah it kind of irritated me.

For some reason, which I still cannot quite figure out, whenever somebody rose to speak that claimed to be a veteran or currently a member of the armed forces the crowd burst into sustained applause. I mean yeah, I honor their service, but they are all either current or past recipients of federal health care. Isn't that what the majority of these imbeciles were against?

And when somebody finally stood up to thank Mark Begich the applause was cut short by the moderator, who seemed to pick that moment to enforce the rules of the forum. (Julie Haskett, Mark Begich's Press Secretary who was standing to my right, leaned down to say "I wish we would allow this applause to last a little longer." Yes, I agree it would have been nice to allow some of the more positive applause drown out all of the negative hand clapping.)

I stuck it out until 7:00 and then left to drive downtown for the True Diversity Dinner. (To read a more expansive take on this town hall let me direct you to AKMuckrakers wonderful post over at Mudflats.)

I arrived at 7:23 and the PLACE WAS PACKED! The change in atmosphere from the stuffy negativity of the town hall to this dinner was almost enough to give me a mood whiplash. Smiling nattily dressed people were all over the place, and let me just tell you it was not a "diversity event" in name only. There were Alaskan native dancers, African Americans, Asians, gay couples, bloggers, politicians, gorgeous women, and a few token white guys just for balance. It was one of the few times in this city that I have felt like part of the minority. And IT WAS GREAT!

I frantically looked for a familiar face, figuring I would sit with my fellow bloggers, but then I spied Bob Poe and his lovely wife Terzah and I knew that was where I wanted to sit.

As usual Bob was happy to see me and his wife Terzah, who I had never met before, broke into the biggest smile when he introduced me as Gryphen. (Apparently the lovely Mrs. Poe is a fan as well.) When I sat down I realized that I was also sharing the table with Diane Bensen as well.

I knew what conversation I was going to be having later.

I sat and talked to Terzah for quite awhile before the presentation started and found her to be extremely knowledgeable and very funny. (I almost wonder if the wrong Poe is running for Governor. Nah, Bob's cool too.)

There were a number of great speakers, including Assembly woman Elvi Gray-Jackson (Who looked especially fit and showed off her amazing arms ala Michelle Obama.), Diane Benson (Who talked with great emotion about the violence against women and native people in our city), then a wonderful song by Steven Alvarez, followed by a fiery speech from Marquita Pierre, and finally the Keynote Speaker, the lovely Shannyn Moore.

Shannyn delivered a bawdy, laugh out loud speech that had the crowd cheering and laughing at all the right moments. (The only misstep Shannyn made was calling the crowds attention to a very flamboyant drag queen who promptly raced to the stage snatched the microphone away from Shannyn and did almost three minutes of improvisation theater.) Shannyn ended her delightful speech with the line "Next year let's see if we can pack the Sullivan". A double entendre concerning the sports arena named after Mayor Dan's father, that took the crowd a few minutes to finally catch on to. The titters of laughter went on for several minutes as John Arronno prepared to start the Diversity Dinner Awards. ("Did she just say pack the Sullivan?" he deadpanned.)

And then the awards were announced.

The Excellence in Business Award went to CIRI.

The Excellence in Non-Profit Award went to Identity, Inc.

Excellence in Print went to ADN's Julia O'Malley.

The Excellence in Online Media Award went to Mel Greene of Henkima.

The Excellence in Outreach Award went to Tiffany McClain.

And the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Jane Angvic and Vic Fischer.

After the awards were all handed out, the tables were pushed to the side as the dance music was cranked, up and people started to mill around to press flesh with some of the numerous political figures that had graced the gathering with their presence. Ethan Berkowitz, Les Gara, Diane Bensen, Bob Poe, Evi Gray-Jackson, were the ones that I noticed though there were undoubtedly more. (Hollis French could not make it due to a death in the family.)

And then just when I thought we had seen the best and the brightest that Alaska politics had to offer, who should walk in the door but Senator Mark Begich! He appeared at first to be completely drained from the bruising experience of the back to back town halls he had just endured. But as he walked into the welcoming embrace of the Diversity Dinner he visibly brightened. By the time he finished his short speech and started meeting the attendees, and getting his picture taken like a rock star, he looked completely refreshed and the boyish dimples were once again on display.

I soon left the gathering and drove to Shannyn's house where we sat talking politics and gossiping until Max Blumenthal's plane arrived, at which time Shannyn and I drove to the airport to pick him up.

Back at the house we talked about Max's book, Republican Gomorrah (available in fine book stores everywhere), his website Max Blumentahl.com, and his experiences in the deep dark recesses of Sarah Palin's Wasilla. (By the way Max does the most spot on impression of witch hunting African preacher Thomas Muthee I have ever heard.)

The hour was late so I took my leave and drove home to get a few hours of sleep before my busy weekend officially began.

By the way tonight at 8:00 you can meet Max for yourself at UAA's Arts Recital Hall and you can also listen to him right now on the Shannyn Moore Show.