This post doesn’t have to do with teaching American history so much as it does about living it, as I am sure you all know Nevada’s Democratic and Republican caucuses took place Saturday January 19th, putting Nevada on the political map as an early caucus state. You also probably know that Hilary Clinton won the caucus with 51% while Obama came in at 45% I am an unapologetic Obama supporter and believe he is the best candidate for Nevada and the country but because this blog is not a bully pulpit for my political views I will leave that topic alone. As a Nevadan we have much to celebrate in regards to the caucus but we also faced challenges that will need to be worked out before we do this again. The number of caucus participants surprised even our most elucidated political pundants including our own Senate Majority Leader Harry Read, I have to admit I was a little worried that our turnout would not be what it should and with the nation’s eyes upon us it could have been a disaster. As far as the caucus I feel that in general things were very unorganized nobody seemed to know what they were doing and many caucus goers became impatient as a result. Parking was a problem as was access for disabled folks, participants were required to know which precinct they were from to sign in and I noticed that this became an issue for many as they had no idea which precinct they belonged to. The lack of a PA system also made the process difficult to understand as instructions were almost impossible to hear. Despite the problems I was very excited to participate in the early caucus, I believe as many Nevadan’s do that our opinion matters, I also take pride in the fact that as a community we came together to do something I feel is very important.
I did bring my digital camera along as well as my mp3 recorder I did manage to give commentary as to what I observed at the caucus the intention was to share this experience with my students as I believe that as teachers we are role models and community leaders and as such we must demonstrate what it is to be an “effective citizen” by participating in the political process, it wasn’t until I got home that I realized that I should have interviewed fellow caucus goers to get opinions and impressions of the event, but o’well I am new to all of this and i suppose with practice I will get better. I have created links to my commentary if you would like to listen.
