DAY 327
02.25.08
TREE 203
I got up early this morning and drove to Cincinnati. I went straight to the University of Cincinnati for Barack Obama’s political rally. I turned into Burnett Woods, a nice park just north of the campus, hoping to find free parking and I did right by a play ground. Then I trudged through the icy snow to campus and got in line outside the arena at about 10:30am. Then I waited and waited and watched the line grow and extend out to the street and up around the baseball field. It was amazing how many people were showing up. My toes began to freeze, I had to pee, and my back hurt. I ran to the closest building to relieve myself and it warmed me up in the process. Then back in line. We finally started going inside at about 1:30pm.
The stadium was packed. 13,000 people filled the seats. Music played and a few people opened for Obama before he finally got on stage around 3pm. Then he gave his stump speech. It would have been more inspiring had I not already heard every part of it before, watching his speeches online. But it was still great to be there in a crowd so pumped up.
After it ended I wandered around campus looking for the arts building but gave up and just went back to the play ground to climb a tree.
I first chose this big oak tree and went to the end of an overhanging limb to get started. I pulled it down and started to put more weight on it when, snap! I was on my ass in the snow with my hands straight over my head keeping the limb from falling on top of me. I laughed and jumped to my feet to look around and see if anyone saw that. Thankfully no one had so I moved on. I tried a second tree and tried jumping for the lowest limb but the snow made it impossible to get enough height.
So I settled for a smaller tree near my truck.
(see it?)
A ginkgo whose first branch I could also not reach. But the trunk was small enough to shimmy up. But these limbs were about four inches in diameter and very bendy. I tried to stay as close to the trunk and distribute my weight for fear of another snap. I struggled to get up into the first set of limbs, where three grew out of one place. But I did make it up and began my climb to the top.
The bark felt moist and soft and the limbs seemed to get more flexible as I went up. I think it was just the fear increasing the higher I went. As thick as this tree’s branches looked, there weren’t a whole lot of strong ones to use. Enough, though, to almost get to the top.
I was high up in this tree but I just ran out of limbs. I tied a pink ribbon and took pictures.
I also stood quietly in the tree as I watched a car drive up and park right next to my truck. I was worried that I would get a parking ticket since the lot sign said there was a two hour limit and I had been there for almost 6 hours.
The guy sat in his car, then got out and looked in my truck. He walked on and went to another car with someone in it and asked them a question. He wasn’t wearing a uniform so I relaxed and went back to enjoying my climb. I also watched a man with a tiny little dog. He yelled constantly at this dog and called it stupid. I imagined it wasn’t his dog but perhaps his girlfriend’s and he was asked to take it for a walk. Either that or he’s just a bad and uncaring owner.
Anyway, the day was cold with grey above and white below. I carefully climbed back down without major breakage and got in my truck. I drove straight to Obama’s headquarters, introduced myself and said I was here all this week to canvass. Alex Holt, a guy from New York, was just ready to leave to canvass so I joined him. We drove to a neighborhood nearby and I watched him talk to one Republican for Obama. Then he sent me on my own. Nervous, I knocked on the door… no answer. It was a relief since I really hadn’t received any instruction. We didn’t work long since we both had dinner plans but I kinda got the hang of it.
We went back to the headquarters to turn in our packet then I fumbled my way to Bob and Marilyn’s. It was nice to finally be in a warm place where I could relax.
3-6-09: My mom grew up in Cincinnati. Bob is my mom’s cousin and Bob and Marilyn have lived on Glen Edge Lane (right next door to where my mom grew up) for as long as I can remember. My grandfather and grandmother passed away quite a few years ago so no one I know lives in the house next door anymore. Bob’s a Catholic school principal and Marilyn is an English teacher. The two of them have made family get-togethers worthwhile. They are incredibly nice and I was very fortunate to be able to stay with them for the week I canvassed for Obama.
As for the canvassing. That first day, or I should say hour, was an interesting start. I didn’t really get the hang of it till the next day but it was good to jump into it. It’s kind of amazing how differently people can interpret the goal of canvassing. As I am often a stickler for the rules and organization, I didn’t really like this guy Alex’s approach. He jumped all over the list which was organized by address, and his annotation skills were suspect. All we had to do was identify the Obama supporters so that when the approaching Ohio Primary came we could offer them encouragement and assistance to the polls. Alex had the right attitude, but if you don’t mark the list accurately you aren’t doing much good. Oh well. He’s president, right?
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Back in New York City for my third and final Tuesday, February 24th 2009. The weekend before when I was at a bar with Scott I met his friend Katie Cooper. I discovered that she had been following my blog and seemed very interested in my tree climbing. She asked to join me sometime the following week. So Tuesday was the day. I was to meet her on her lunch break at Madison Square Park which is right outside her building where she works. Katie was planning to change into suitable climbing clothes but by early morning we could tell it was going to be too damn cold for it to be much fun. I told her I still had to climb no matter what so she agreed to just watch.
I walked from my brother’s apartment in hopes of getting warm with a brisk pace. I waited at the Shake Shack in MSP and soon Katie was there. I had been doing some scouting for a tree as I waited but a cop cart was parked at one end of the park and all I cared was to avoid him. So we walked to the other end of the park. She made some suggestions but I wasn’t feeling many of them. We went around full circle back to the Shake Shack and I saw the cop had left. I was free to pick any tree so I selected one I had seen in the very beginning.
I gave me camera to Katie and asked her to film me. The only problem was the cold weather. I have found that my camera battery will run out of power if it gets really cold, but I took my chances.
As you can see, the battery died just before she was able to capture my last drop to the ground. I rejoined Katie and she seemed surprised…like it wasn’t what she expected. I think she thought it was moredangerous than she had imagined. Often people wonder why I climb trees everyday. Then some people, after seeing me climb, wonder even more. I think that may be what she was thinking.
She treated me to a dog and shake and I thanked her for watching, filming, and supporting. We walked back to her building and said our goodbyes. I went back out and warmed up my battery with my hands. When I popped it back it I had enough power to shoot a couple shots of the tree from the ground.
