- Joined
- Oct 22, 2009
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He paid tribute to a great son of Oklahoma Woody Guthrie and ate at Caz's Chowhouse, while I would have recommended far better for the presidential candidate when it comes to food (I mean, all he had to do was ask) he left a huge imprint on my city.
I've been to plenty of concerts, Tulsa, while not well known in comparison to Austin, Chicago, or St Louis, etc. etc. what many consider the defining cities in the region. Has an incredibly storied history, as does the state, even if it's sort of the Ireland of the United States, a history steeped in sadness with a underlying sense of perseverance. People often joke "Is Tulsa in Oklahoma, or is Tulsa surrounded by Oklahoma?"
Tonight, Thousands upon thousands lined themselves down the street, around the block.... then down the street.. and another few blocks to get to see Sanders speak. The volunteers who traveled from around the country were blown away by the result. I stood in line behind thousands of people and they spoke to us, thanking us for coming and assumed we were the last. Thousands more lined up behind me. It was a shocking thing to see in a downtown I spend so much time in, and the air was electric. Due to the crowd, the doors were to close at 6:30, and after waiting three hours after the door opened and still about an hour away I was growing nervous. Bernie himself said to keep the doors open until we got as many as we can inside, unfortunately two thousand waited outside.
The speech was surreal, someone passed out and Bernie froze, waiting to speak until the person was attended to. People had been standing for as long as seven hours or more to see him speak, and we're not a state known for our health unfortunately. His promises, his campaign resonated in many people of many different lifestyles, the supporters seeming to be lower middle to middle class, "You can be a progressive, you can be a conservative, you can be a moderate, but very few Americans believe in Billionaires buying elections." was a soothing cry to our borderline broken state. Talking of rebuilding crumbling infrastructure through New Deal-esque job production caused many of us to tilt our heads and think about our crumbling streets and poisoned river.
I walked out the doors after his speech joking about how Sanders needs to introduce height line reform into rallies and was shocked to see 2,000 people waiting to get in
To those that waited outside.. well..
Sanders jumped out of his motorcade tonight to speak to some of those still waiting.
Overall an incredible experience. The entire time we kept asking ourselves "This is Oklahoma?" I like to think Woody Guthrie smiled down on his fellow Okies from somewhere up above.
