“Duh” Political Lessons Learned

So as some of you may know I am currently stationed at a halfway house between college and adulthood.  I occupy a liminal space because after finishing up college in December I started working for my college. My job responsibilities generally consist of me working on diversity and inclusion initiatives-though one of my job titles, ” communications correspondent,” makes it seem like I am interviewing athletes on the sideline of an athletic field.  Anyway last night i saw one of my projects “chili night” come into fruition.  Idea is that people get together, eat chili/cornbread, learn about some pressing national issue, and talk about it.  Well while those in attendance got to learn/ think critically about how financial policies at colleges like Dartmouth, which allow those making under 75 grand to attend for FREE, are affecting matters of diversity and inclusion, I learned some things of my own about political organizing.

Some Tips and lessons learned.

1.) Political events are no different than social ones–the more people you know the more people come.  Want to be a big political organizer???–GET POPULAR.  Seriously.  Friends can be coerced into supporting just about anything and bodies in seats send the message that something is important.

2.) Offer booze…food just doesn’t cut it.  People particularly the young ones enjoy a drink more than a suburban housewife nick named Peeky after tennis practice.  offer booze and you are bound to attract large amounts of people…take for example the senior gift dinners.  They advertise an open bar and they get people who have no desire to fork over a penny. While these alcohol scavengers come with no intentions of giving money there is still  a chance that after enough sauce they will fork something over.

3.) Don’t mention the word diversity in the title when you are on a predominantly white campus. The word diversity for many white students is kind of like a sufjan stevens album for me–I know I am suppose to like it but I really have no desire to sit down and listen to an hour of it.  Be sneaky with your advertising.  Not deceptive…just sneaky.