March 13

I should say a few words about volunteering. I am probably an expert on the topic now, having failed out of so many of them. This last weekend was a retreat for state Democratic county officials, such as chair persons and others on the board, so I went, thinking I could learn a thing or two. Only cost was gas, a meal or two, $20 and a hotel. Of course March weather is often iffy, but what the heck.

I had the usual issues of not being able to understand everyone, so that made me hesitant to ask a question, for fear of being called dumb. But I got a few things that a treasurer needs to know. I’m still unclear as to how much I need to know about donating to a campaign. That has not come up yet in my few months as treasurer. As far as I know, I just record the donations, and pay the bills and make sure the account balances. And of course, make the donation filings where necessary, and that’s one question I had that I’m waiting for an answer to. Since we had no donations this cycle, do I need to do the March 27 filing? I’ll be in Seattle at that time.

I’ve been getting grief from my board about when I understand the donation recordings are to be made, so I also asked that by email and waiting for a response. It makes no sense to me the way they want it. It isn’t the way I understood it from the former treasurer.

The weekend quickly devolved on Sunday, when I woke to four inches of snow and more promised. I was headed to Green Bay for Sunday night for a visit with my aunt, which was closer to where I was than going back home afterward. I sat at a table closer to the front so I could hear better and two ladies also single joined me. I got out my From Lincoln to Trump 2nd edition to start working on editing it, mostly since I didn’t want to look bored or lonely. These two ladies were nice. We exchanged a few words and that first session was about how to approach people during canvassing, as we need to do these next few weeks.

The problem is that the Supreme Court justice candidates are not running as political candidates, so we are really not expected to support the more liberal one. But we can talk up the idea that she is the fair candidate, the more experienced candidate. But we’re not to use the terms “liberal” or “conservative.” Interesting. Okay. I’m planning to canvass next Saturday. They also say not to answer questions about the attack ads. Wait a minute. Are you saying that I ‘evade’ and ‘deflect’? That’s what people hate about politicians, when they don’t answer. Are the charges true? That’s what we should answer. Well, what I got was that I can say, at least she has experience as a prosecutor, so maybe there was a time or two when she appeared soft in her 25 years. What context did the attacks give? Nothing. And her opponent has never tried a criminal case, as lawyer or judge.

The bad part of the whole thing was when we broke up into group sessions to learn new online systems. Now I know this was a retreat for county board personnel, chairs and them, but we are all volunteers. As such, we should be delegating what our duties are, and our county board does do that. So when it came to learning the canvassing system, I asked if that wasn’t what the lead worker of canvassing should do. And then I don’t have to. And another in the ground said, “That’s dumb.” So I leave that session and go to the others, find they’re both working on Tic Tok, and so I just leave. That’s enough. I think there’s a limit to how much a volunteer should be doing, and I’m treasurer. So that’s enough. I’ll help with mailings and canvassing, but that’s enough. And if it’s not, find someone else.

Honestly, I’m just running out of energy, I think. I wore my cursed jacket again, to break the curse, and instead am trapped a foot of snow. Oh, not trapped, but you know, the pain of shoveling out and driving in the shit. And I get a fortune cookie with nothing in it. For a person who believes in synchronicity, I can’t help but wonder what it all means. I wrote up an editorial, my first in Rock County, and no one comments on it? Every volunteer position I’ve had has gone sour. Now I have my opportunity to blow it with the Red Cross. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed on that one. I just want to be where I’m needed.