Indivisible SE IN "Where's Waldo" Themed Town Hall

02/28/17 • 59 min

Hopping Mad with Will McLeod & Arliss Bunny

28 February 2017 - Indivisible Southeast Indiana (@IndivisibleSEIN on Twitter and Indivisible Southeast Indiana on FB) met on Sunday, 19 February, for our second meeting. We gathered in the home of one of the organizers and decided that we needed to act immediately. One week later, on Sunday, 26 February we hosted a "Where's Waldo" themed constituent town hall. We invited Congressman Luke Messer (R - IN-6) and Senator Todd Young (R-IN). Both declined to come. In fact, neither held any open-to-the-public town halls or events anywhere during this recess. We persisted.Our Where's Todd? Where's Luke? Town Hall was held in front of the lovely and historic Ohio County Courthouse (the oldest in continuous operation in Indiana) located in little Rising Sun, Indiana (population 2304). Sunday was cold but sunny and with little notice and very little publicity in this red, red corner of Indiana, about fifty people turned up. In San Francisco this would be an embarrassing turnout but in Rising Sun it was exceptional and you could feel the excitement in the air. We even had (briefly) a tiny Trump contingent but they left when they didn't draw attention or a fight.The event featured life-sized Todd and Luke Waldos, lots of handmade signs and really darling Waldo scarves that one of the organizes made and handed out. Several planned speakers told their two-minute stories and then other attendees asked to speak and we were thrilled to have them. The thing which most struck me was how well informed these voters are and how wide ranging their issues of concern.For Hopping Mad I recorded a brief interview with two of the organizers, Rebecca Barhorst and Christine Craig, just after the meeting on the 19th and then the entire town hall on the 26th. I think what people had to say during the town hall was as important as any of the interviews we have done on this show. I think you will enjoy this and when you imagine what people are thinking about in these midwestern states, remember what you heard here today. Carrots! - Arliss

Previous Episode

February 2017 Roundtable

This week we were joined by Travis and Rachel of Irreverent Testimony and Tom of The Coffeecast. We discussed the direction of the US, and the future of the republic. Unfortunately, this will be our last show for a few weeks. As our broadcast goes out Monday morning, Arliss will be in surgery to correct a longstanding illness. All of us are wishing her a speedy recovery, and we will keep you updated about our schedule - and her health - moving forward. - Will

Next Episode

We. Are. Back!!!! Today's Guest: Carolyn Fiddler

We are celebrating our return from hiatus by joining in the celebration for the arrival of the brand new Daily Kos Political Editor and Senior Communications Advisor, Carolyn Fiddler (@cFidd). Carolyn begins her work with dKos today so it seemed the perfect time to interview her. She comes to dKos from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) where she was the Communications Director. She has deep knowledge of state-level campaigns and her hiring signals the fierce nature of the focus dKos bringing to its work to elect Democrats nationwide at all levels of government. Today is also the beginning of a new format for Hopping Mad. Will and I feel like we had set-up a show which was too dense and difficult for us to sustain indefinitely but we vey much wanted to continue it so we have evolved. I think you will find that the show is more conversational, there will be more "umms" and pauses and, in fact, it will move a bit slower because we are going to stop trying to cram too much show into too little time. We are going to keep our focus on the resistance, 2018, modern money (#MMT) and, inevitably, Scotland (*wink*). We are also going to continue to be one of the few US-based podcasts which will bring you news and commentary about international issues. Annnnddd - we are inviting you to join us in the weekly segment, The Lying Liar Lie of the Week. You can submit your nominations here, on this site, or directly to us at [email protected]. Again, we are happy to be back and so glad you are still with us. Carrots! - Arliss