Spring Break
Joining the 'big political circus'
Jon Xavier
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: News
When SJSU graduate student Joshua Barousse arrived at the Democratic National Convention last week, he said he didn't know what to think at first.
"None of us had ever been to a convention," he said. "The best way to describe it is a big political circus. It was so crazy. You see protests; you see a lot of different people just lobbying and advocating for all different causes. It was really an experience."
Roberto Garcia-Cerallos, a senior sociology major who was also at the convention, agreed.
"(When you watch the convention on telivision) you only see the one platform," he said. "But the convention is happening in all sorts of places. There's different caucuses and different organizations, and different events all over the city. It's sort of misleading to just see the convention as what's happening at the arena."
Barousse and Garcia-Cerallos were two of four SJSU students who went to the convention to represent the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, a student organization that lobbies to create a public works program to benefit recovery efforts in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Their goal was to meet face-to-face with policymakers to drum up support for House Resolution 4048, a bill they helped introduce into the House of Representatives, said Scott Myers-Lipton, an SJSU sociology professor who organized the trip.
It was a task that was daunting at first, Garcia-Cerallos said.
"The first day we got there, we were kind of shocked and we were kind of disoriented," he said. "But by the third day, we were talking to all these congress members and knowing where to go to be where these congress members were to advocate for our bill."
The students got to meet with a lot of congress members over the course of the trip. On the last day alone they were able to meet with about 10 congress members, Garcia-Cerallos said.
"That was at the Congressional Black Caucus Institute," Barousse said. "That was, I wouldn't say the highlight of the trip for me, but it was the most effective. ... It's chaired by Bennie Thompson, he's chair of the Homeland Security Committee. He was really key. I got him to sign on."
"None of us had ever been to a convention," he said. "The best way to describe it is a big political circus. It was so crazy. You see protests; you see a lot of different people just lobbying and advocating for all different causes. It was really an experience."
Roberto Garcia-Cerallos, a senior sociology major who was also at the convention, agreed.
"(When you watch the convention on telivision) you only see the one platform," he said. "But the convention is happening in all sorts of places. There's different caucuses and different organizations, and different events all over the city. It's sort of misleading to just see the convention as what's happening at the arena."
Barousse and Garcia-Cerallos were two of four SJSU students who went to the convention to represent the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, a student organization that lobbies to create a public works program to benefit recovery efforts in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Their goal was to meet face-to-face with policymakers to drum up support for House Resolution 4048, a bill they helped introduce into the House of Representatives, said Scott Myers-Lipton, an SJSU sociology professor who organized the trip.
It was a task that was daunting at first, Garcia-Cerallos said.
"The first day we got there, we were kind of shocked and we were kind of disoriented," he said. "But by the third day, we were talking to all these congress members and knowing where to go to be where these congress members were to advocate for our bill."
The students got to meet with a lot of congress members over the course of the trip. On the last day alone they were able to meet with about 10 congress members, Garcia-Cerallos said.
"That was at the Congressional Black Caucus Institute," Barousse said. "That was, I wouldn't say the highlight of the trip for me, but it was the most effective. ... It's chaired by Bennie Thompson, he's chair of the Homeland Security Committee. He was really key. I got him to sign on."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Ted Rudow III,MA
posted 9/04/08 @ 9:13 AM PST
How America loves her oil! She's dependent on it, and worst of all, she loves it more than life itself. That oil has taken life -- life after life after life. (Continued…)
Megan Fluke
posted 9/04/08 @ 10:32 PM PST
Great job Gulf Coast Civic Works Project!!
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