Friday Five #12
Did you vote in your last elections? Yes, for what little good it did.
Do you know who your elected representatives are? In general, yes, but for some reason the Mass press never identifies the difference between state and federal legislators, so it's a little confusing. That's exacerbated by recent redistrictings and the fact that there are so many legislative districts within such a small area.
Have you ever contacted an elected representative? If so, what was it about? Geez, several times, on bicycle, pedestrian, and noise issues mostly.
Have you ever participated in a demonstration? Hmmm. Nothing too major, that I recall. I did Critical Mass once, just to see what it was like, and decided that it wasn't for me because of how poorly the participants behaved. I went to a rally to keep Boston's public transit open later at night. I would have gone to the recent anti-war rally on Boston Common, but I was out of town at the time.
Have you ever volunteered in an election? What was the result? When I was in my teens I volunteered on the pro-nuke side of a referendum to ban nuclear power generation in Maine. I was a good little reactionary conservative at the time. I worked a booth at the Windsor Fair, had several letters printed in local newspapers, and was invited to the electric company's headquarters to watch the election results. We won.