Nancy Pelosi, New Citizens, and Free La Croix: A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Democrat Intern by Alison Bogy

by tuftsigl
Aug 29

An average day at the San Francisco Democratic Party:

10am: I arrive at the Oakland Paramount Theater, where the bi-monthly New Citizen Swearing in Ceremony is almost over. I greet my boss and the five other interns, before picking up a pen and a clipboard stacked with voter registration forms.

10:30am: New citizens and their joyous families start streaming out of the theater, and I take up a place on the sidewalk, bracing myself for the onslaught of chaos. “Register to vote!!” I shout in a diversity of variations and languages. On a good day, I’ll collect 3-4 registrants from the crowd of 1600 plus.

11am: The crowd has dissipated, and I, plus the intern collectus, start breaking down tables, collecting pens, and folding up the life-sized Obama cutouts. We store it all in an associate’s car, before all heading back to San Francisco on BART.

11:30am: Back at the Democratic Party office, we plop into comfy swivel chairs and crack open a few complimentary La Croixs. After eating lunch, we start counting the number of voters we registered that day.

2pm: The intern collectus then takes BART down to City Hall for a meet and greet with a Democratic representative that the party has arranged for the interns. Today, it is Senator Nancy Pelosi. She explains what she is working on regarding her youth platforms and details how her policies affect us. We ask a collection of hard hitting questions, and some softballs, and take a group picture, before Rep. Pelosi has to dash out for her next meeting.

3pm: The intern collectus and our boss rendezvous in the City Hall rotunda to discuss what we learned with Senator Pelosi. We then slowly parts ways, heading home in buses, ubers, and BART trains.