Back from our East Coast concert tour

Hey all!!!

Fritz and I have returned from our East Coast concert tour which included stops in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago. Sorry Rob, no stop in Philly or I would have made sure to hunt you down in a mad attempt to mooch food.

The non-profit I direct paid for the tour so I figured I would give you all some highlights.

1) Washington D.C.: Fritz and I hosted Arsalyn's "Pathways to Participation: Volunteering and Voting" conference which sought to give young people some tools to bridge the gap between volunteering and voting. Young people currently volunteer at high levels, but fail to turn out at the voting booth. Featured speakers included: Former Press Secretary Mike McCurry, Jonah Goldberg of the National Review Online, Nick Gillespie the editor of Reason Magazine, and Peter Beinart editor of The New Republic. The students seemed to have a great time. All went well.

2) New York, NY, a helluva town...: The Arsalyn program sponsored three youth journalism organizations (Children's PressLine, 8-18 Media, and Y-Press) to cover both the Democratic and Republican conventions. Fritz had already observed the diligent young journalists in Boston and since we had to be in Chicago (from DC) in two days we decided to both observed them in NY. We didn't get to go on the floor (at either event), but we did get to watch the Governator speak. I just wish he'd play the soundtrack for Conan behind him whenever he spoke or at least end each speech telling us what the greatest thing in life is!

3) Chicago: Here we attended the American Political Science Association's annual conference. We attended various panels where "peer review" and "discussion" about various political models occured. Always an enlightening, if dull, experience. But at least we ate a wonderful steak and got to see a White Sox game Friday night. Fritz wasn't impressed with U.S. Cellular, which does lack the class of PacBell or Camden Yards, but I liked it. After all, I grew up watching games in Candlestick. Now that was a miserable place to watch a game.

So...We're back and just in time to say...Fight On!!!! Let's hope USC finishes in the top 10 this year!!!! Oh! And that Nevada does as well in Football as it did in Basketball!!!

Might as well hope big!