So, I saw John Kerry speak today. How was your day!

[TayTay]

It was wonderful. A beautiful day, I mean a real keeper in Boston. Got to hang out at Faneuil Hall which is so lovely it makes me cry and I saw the parade of Red Sox Fanatical Pets (don't ask) and, oh yeah, I saw John Kerry speak. It was great.

I am trying to get pictures. I have NEVER taken digital pictures before. They came out so-so. They came out great when I zoom in and crop. As I have NEVER done this before, it may take awhile.

Should I post what happened with yon humungo pics or try and zoom and crop them et al? Not sure. Whatever drives people the least crazy.

'Twas a lovely day.

[kerrygoddess]

1. Looking forward to seeing them!

[JohnKleeb]

2. Ok, I guess

Nothin too special, nothin too dull.

[TayTay]

3. Okay, an intro pic

Faneuil Hall is very old and has been a public meeting place since 1741. They announce their events and speakers on a public board outside the hall. Then the public queues up and enter the hall. (It frickin means something to me. I had found Faneuil Hall one of the most beautiful buildings and most historical in all of New England. And it got kind of tainted with sadness last year. For me, ahm, well, it got better when I saw the sign. Back to normal, thank goodness.)

[kerrygoddess]

5. Faneuil Hall is beautiful!

As is all of Boston!

I miss it!

[globalvillage]

6. Freedom trail!

I love Boston.

[globalvillage]

4. Well, I'm guessing

it was nowhere near as good as yours. I'm incredibly jealous.
I haven't seen Sen Kerry speak since the campaign.

:cry:

[TayTay]

7. Sigh! This is going to take awhile

How about some text, whilst I learn how to do digital photography and upload and crop and lighten and stuff? Deal?

Okay, so I got to Faneuil Hall and it was, surprise, another Red Sox special occasion day. (Mental illness on a regional basis is quite funny.) I looked around and saw all these dogs with Red Sox stuff on. (I shit you not, I cannot possibly make this stuff up.) There were big dogs with shirts and little dogs with caps. Perhaps I should spare you the photos and move on. Hmmmm.

Since it was so lovely a day (temps near 70 degrees) the street performers were out. There was this one guy who, for his finale, hung upside down from a 2 by 4 held by two big audience members and juggled three machetes while upside down. Yeah, that reminded me of last year's campaign as well, so I headed over to the Hall to get a good seat. (Honestly, it was a great metaphor.) I have a pic. Have no idea when or if you will ever see it.

[TayTay]

8. There was a lovely queue

wherein it was explained to me (with actual tickets for visual aids) that Teresa Heinz Kerry was supposed to speak at this event. There were several people who were a little miffed that she couldn't show because of a prior commitment. (No, I am not kidding. Teresa has this fan club in Medford, MA. Who knew?) Everyone agreed though that it wouldn't be a bad thing to see John Kerry instead. (But these Medford ladies really wanted Teresa. They love her. She is an inspiration to them. There was a lady who was with the campaign in New Hampshire inside. Even she wanted to see Teresa. I have no ideer what to make of this pining for Teresa. Apparently, she has been taken right to the heart of Massachusetts and can expect to be held there for a long, long time.)

I have no pic of this, as it is an internal dialogue. Sigh!

[TayTay]

9. So, I got inside lovely Faneuil Hall

and went into a mental fugue wherein I was ticking off all the great events that had happened there. (Sigh! Wonkiness has it's rewards.) I started talking to all the teachers around me who were there to receive recognition because their students had winning essays in the program. (Wife of School Committee guy very proud of this. We love teachers, even when contract season is not approaching.)

I was gabbing, so I missed Sen. Kerry's entrance. (Geez, I thought he was taller. Oh, I must have my moron glasses on today. He's hunched over those crutches. Otherwise, he would be taller. Duh!) Oh yeah, that must be him, and he walked up those 30 cement steps on crutches? Geez, I feel like a wanker. Those steps are wicked steep. Good on you Senator. A lesser man would have taken the elevator.

Okay, we then had the Girl Scouts present the colors of which I didn't hae a pic, but AP did and there you go. It was so sweet. Sen. Kerry held his hand over his heart. Same thing for the wonderful Choir rendition of the National Anthem. Oh, oh, oh. I was surrounded by parents who were beaming at their obviously wonderful kids who were beaming at Sen. Kerry and singing the hell out of the high notes. (Americana just kills me. I love it so much.)

[TayTay]

10. Oh yeah, the speech, gotta talk about the speech

This wonderful Indian-American (India) woman who is the Pres of the League of Women Voters (and 1 guy) in Massachusetts gave the intro. (I love India-n acents. Beautiful clipped pronouciation.) She turned to Kerry and said, "Teresa had to cover for you in the election campaign. Now she gets her revenge as you must cover for her today." The intro speech was long and full of praise and thank yous. And she ended it by saying:

"Now here is our Senator, yours and mine, the great Senator from our Massachusetts, John Kerry."

At this, there was a standing ovation. It came complete with foot stomping and some whistles, such as I have heard at union meetings. It was great, just great. There was a real sense that the crowd was welcoming back on of it's own. This was most gratifying and I was a bit teared at it. We in Massachusetts have been accused of not backing Sen Kerry as perhaps we should have in the past. Well, not today. A standing O with foot stomping and union whistles clearly touched him and it showed. He knew he was home.

[TayTay]

11. I will attempt a pic, but it is not good yet.

[ginnyinWI]

12. wonderful reporting!

it's the closest thing to being there ourselves--to have one of our own Kerrycrats give us the eye-witness account! Thanks so much. Looking forward to the rest of the pics!

:bounce:

[TayTay]

13. The speech, talk about the speech

Okay, okay. I'm getting there. I had impressions you know. Geez.

The Senator started out by talking about why he was on crutches and that he had had some cartilage damage in his knee repaired. He said that he hated them, as everyone who has to walk on them does. He regretted that he even had to use them in Rome during the recent visit for the Pope's funeral.

Kerry said that his colleagues at the funeral suggested that at one point he might want to dramatically get up from kneeling in front of the Pope's body and throw the crutches away. ("I'm healed!") However, cooler heads prevailed and this moment failed to occur. (That would have been pretty cool, I admit.)

Kerry then spent some time talking to the kids who were assembled and praised them as being true guardians of the future of Democracy. (Loved this part.) Their essays proved that they were the future voters of America and had to be on guard for 5 things. (Of which I wrote down 3. Sue me.)

[ginnyinWI]

14. well we would have had a few international headlines the next

day if he had done that, lol! "Liveshot" strikes again.

His mom was a Girl Scout Leader for 50 years, remember, so it was very appropriate for him to be there.

[TayTay]

15. The point of the speech

The subject of the kids essays was 'What was learned in the last election.' The Senator said that he didn't want to talk too specifically to that, but instead wanted to concentrate on what was needed in America to affect change. He used the phrase 'felt need' to imply that this is what would lead the people to take back their agenda and their government.

In 1971, Kerry said, environmental activists met on April 22 and targeted 12 Reps for defeat because of their poor record on the environment. The 12 Reps were called 'The Dirty Dozen" and 7 of them were defeated due to the activists' actions. There was a 'felt need' for action, and that action resulted in change. We are approaching another time in America when there are 'felt needs', and people have to step up to the plate and begin to take action. (Great segway to the kids and how they are the future of America and will inherit this agenda for change. The 'felt needs' will directly affect them. Again, I loved it anytime he addressed the kids directly. It's one of my things that you talk to kids. It makes a big impact.)

The first of the 'felt needs' was for Health Care. (For all the reasons that we know.) It is still unconscionable that the richest nation on earth has 11 million uninsured kids. This must change. (Not going into detail on this, as we know it.)

[TayTay]

16. More speech, it was only about 20 minutes or so long

Sen. Kerry continued about the other things that he thought were acumulating needs in America. We needed to figure out our place in the world and repair the bad relations that we had with other nations. We must figure out what we are doing with the war and with what it is we want to do in the Middle East.

We have a big responsibility to address envirnomental needs again. The Senator used the line about the Good Lord only blessing America with 3% of the world's oil, so we have to figure out a better energy policy because what we have is not working. This is an urgent need and we had better get to it as time is running out.

The last item mentioned was the election problems. This was addressed both directly and indirectly. Senator Kerry talked about it being wrong, flat out wrong, that people are denied their rights to vote. He specifically mentioned how some Democrats got fliers that said Democrats vote on Wednesday. (Ohio, right?) He also mentioned the injustice of having people wait in line to vote for hours and how this was a policy that specifically affected minority voters. We cannot attempt to import our democracy abroad when it is in such a dire state at home. This must be changed. He was emphatic about this. The ethnically, racially mixed crowd gave a very strong reaction to this and applauded for a while. Everyone knew what he was talking about and to whom he was talking. It was a powerful statement.

[paineinthearse]

17. Thanks for the heads-up in the Massachusetts forum.

See if I alert you to area events!

[kerrygoddess]

18. You guys are lucky you get Kerry events...

Some of us transplanted MA'ers don't!

[TayTay]

19. Nooooo, I was told he wasn't coming

Geez, we heard about this on what, Thursday? Do you have any idea how rare it is for me to be able to just go to Boston on 3 days notice.

I'm sorry. I suck. I will now go and drown my self. (Oh for the old days when said drowning would occur in a bucket of Sam Adams.)

Mea Cupla, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa, okay?

EDIT: Ahm, in my very real guilt about not alerting on the MA forum (cuz I always assume everybody knows more than me on a regular basis) I just went Catholic-speak, the language of guilt. The above phrase means, Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grevious fault. I admit it, I screwed up. Now I will have Catholic guilt for days. Thanks a lot. Aaarrrrrgh. It's been a while since I have had a Mea Culpa moment. I'm going to hell now, I just know it.

[TayTay]

20. The friggin computer ate my last post, then I got dissed

Shit! Let me try a pic.

[TayTay]

21. Finishing up

The Senator ended his speech by again congratulating the kids who won the essay contest and telling them how proud we are of them.

He got a real nice standing O again, complete with foot stomping and whistles. (This was great. I loved the foot stomping. Really showing the love here.) You know, Faneuil Hall has a really great sound system. And Senator Kerry has a really great, deep loud voice. I had no trouble hearing him. I don't think the people in the next block had any trouble hearing either.

The picture referenced upthread shows just how clever and wicked smart parents in Massachusetts really are. When poor Senator Kerry hobbled off the stage and attempted to leave the building, he was waylaid by well-wishers and people who wanted autographs and pictures. He managed to get to the back of the hall and nearly out of the building before it dawned on the assembled parents that if they sent their kids, the Senator would be held in place until every autograph was signed. It worked.

Oh, and the Medord ladies in the foreground of this pic still seem disapointed they didn't see Teresa. Cie la vie!

Okay, I'm done for now. Tomorrow I will go back to phots 101 and attempt to make these pics viewable.

Thanks for your patience.

[kerrygoddess]

22. Medford fan club!

I love it.

Tay Tay try using the bright/contrast adjustment in your photo edit program.

[TayTay]

23. I know, but I am feeble in the head

and can't edit photos and text in the same night. I'm spent. I will adjust both tomorrow.

[TayTay]

26. Okay, one last try on a better pic

Is this better? Sorry it's blurry. I just loved it when he spoke directly to the kids in the front rows.

[wisteria]

25. Thank you for the reporting and pictures.

I thought your pictures were good. They certainly are 100% better than I could take.

[politicasista]

28. Thanks Tay Tay for everything

Looks like it was a cool event. :yourock:

[elshiva]

34. Thanks, but I love that picture!

Thanks TayTay!

[Siyahamba]

24. Not as good as yours!

Glad you got to see John Kerry speak. How close were you? Hopefully you were able to get closer than most people could during campaign rallies.

[TayTay]

27. About 60 feet away

Faneuil Hall is not that big. It seats maybe 200-250 downstaris and maybe another 150 upstairs. (Or so.) I thought it was pretty full. It certainly was loud.

I was there with about 300 people. It was cozy and nice.

[saracat]

29. Thank you for this. I don't know which makes me more jealous

you getting to be in Boston or getting to hear and see JK! Probably JK, but Boston is one of my fave places on earth!

[karynnj]

30. sounds like a great day!

Your reporting is great. It must have been wonderful for the kids who were at this. Your pictures are really very nice. The news story seems to only quote the election problem stuff. Your description sounds like he is trying to get the kids and others involved in the process.

I loved his joke about saying he was healed and putting the crutches aside. Would that count as the first miracle for JP II (or cause the RW to declare Kerry lied about needing knee surgery)? He looked great in your pictures though.

Congratulations on seeing Kerry - It's nice to hear that he was so warmly received in Boston.

[JI7]

31. thanks for the report and pics

i love the pics, he looks great in them. and the entire event just seems really nice.

i love those ladies who wanted to see Teresa also.

[muse]

32. Great first person account, TayTay!

Thanks for taking the time to report all of this to us. I love the pics! Of course, I am terribly jealous. Boston is wonderful and JK is even better!

[TayTay]

33. Just a finishing comment:

An AP story had the following closing comment on this event:

The event's organizers had said Kerry would reflect on the lessons he learned during his presidential run. At the outset off his speech, however, Kerry made it clear he wouldn't talk about campaign politics.

See, he didn't feel like it. That was supposed to be Teresa's job.

[Hans Delbrook]

35. Screw them, thank you and way to go JK

As for AP - they made him sound petulant but no Kerry story would be complete w/o a little bashing. The man gets no credit for his grace and courage. Sigh.

As for you TayTay - a sincere thank you for the play-by-play and pictures. It was almost like we were there. :bounce: (Almost but not quite!)

Love ya' both! :loveya: