Stop Canceling, Come Canvassing!

Or: "Did you know there's an election coming up?"

People – I know we’re all mad at Bezos, but I don’t think canceling WaPo subscriptions will do much except ensure a bunch of reporters are laid off. There's no indication that the integrity of the reporting has changed (yet) and clear indication from WaPo op-eds that pretty much everyone is bemoaning Bezos's cowardice. (Canceling Prime, obviously, is another matter).

So redirect that ire: Donate. Phone bank. Drive people to the polls. Canvass!

The first time I canvassed, in Philly in 2016, it was still the clipboard era. In 2024, there’s a great app that facilitates the process (in addition to the old school clipboard and lanyard).

Canvassers are also provided with a script. In the frantic pre-election sprint, it’s hard to deliver the line "Did you know there's an election coming up?" with a straight face, but it can be a good ice-breaker. (I understand the concept of ‘low information voters’ but anyone still unaware of the election is no doubt actually living under a rock and unlikely to answer the door for a ‘get thee to the polls’ pep talk). Sometimes, watching coverage of the heartbreaking global calamities currently unfolding and listening to the cruelty of our national political discourse, I’ll admit that I want to crawl under a rock myself.

But to canvass not crawl! On my first trip to Bucks County (about 25 miles northeast of Philadelphia) I joined three friends – Valerie, Aaron and Peter, all public school teachers – and Sylvan, Aaron & Valerie’s super smart, 13-year-old son. A fair number of people did answer the door, although our knocks unfortunately coincided with NFL season and we definitely interrupted a few football watch parties. ("Go Birds" is now in my paltry sports lexicon.)

Our first canvass of the season was somewhat disconcerting: Trump signs outnumbered Harris signs by about 20 to 1 and Harris voters whispered their support with furtive glances, scared their neighbors would overhear. One social worker told us she feels more afraid discussing politics than she's ever felt working in Philly's most deprived neighborhoods.

The second canvass, also in Bucks County, was more reassuring. I teamed up with Sylvan, who is not only confident and articulate but helped with navigation (not my strong point). The area was less aggressively Trumpy. The weather was cooler. And I felt more confident as a canvasser. Our beat included more affluent suburbs and a run down apartment complex, where one woman in her 60s with bright pink hair said: “I’d rather kill myself than vote for Trump.”

So that’s where we are, dear readers. (Probably three readers, since this is my first post). I’ve been thinking about starting a Substack since Substack became a thing. But…. procrastination. I never intended to debut with a political post, but here we are.

Going forward, I plan to write about music and travel and photography and binge-learning Philip Glass’s etudes and my Jewish-Christian-Hindu-Muslim family and cats (obviously). I’ll certainly be writing about my experience as an ESL teacher and what I’m learning as I work towards a TESOL certificate. I sincerely hope that teaching immigrants English will not be a contentious issue after Nov. 5.

Thanks for reading.

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