Pinko Magazine Hedonism + Activism

I had a few minutes between events in Denver and I’m working on a long post about the bad puppets  protests on Sunday but I wanted to offer some initial thoughts. This shit is interesting, to say the least, and whatever it looks like on television it’s just madness here. Managed, police-state madness clad in bunting, but madness nonetheless. 

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell showed up at the Salon.com party with two young women on his arm, causing a little bit of a stir. Last night I was eating dinner next to Cokie Roberts (She had the clams. Anyone?) and walked past Madeline Albright, sans brooch. The funny thing here is that there are so many important people that basically nobody is important; I saw a congresswoman from Florida lost on a corner, looking at her map of Downtown Denver and then asking for directions at a Chipolte. 

The point here is to party. Last night we hit 5, clearly pushing the boundaries of “this invitation non-transferrable” email forwards. We missed Kanye West by 20 minutes at one party; Charleze Theron was supposed to be at this art museum thing but I think it was just a random blonde lady. There are free bikes, free booze, pro-lifers driving a bus around town wrapped in photos of a fetus, which is ineffective because the fetus-arm is like, all you can see on one side of the bus and there is maybe some collapsed skull on the side but you just can’t make it out. The message is simple, that Barack Obama wants to kill babies, but why else would we have voted for the guy? 

Lastly, and to depart from cynicism for a minute, there is a palpable sense of hope. I said it. I’m sorry. It’s true! These people are psyched, and there are literally conversations about race, gender, history and social movements happening every ten feet. I’ll write more later — tonight is Michelle night I love her! 

(Quick thing: my colleague Richard Kim has a great post up that nails Denver in a nutshell, describing the strange scene on 16th Street which is basically this street with every chain store ever made. PF Chang’s y’all! It’s good and it links the scene in Denver to the efficacy of the protesters here in some interesting ways.) 

* What garrulous swing-state Governor showed up at the Salon.com party with two young women on his arm? 

* What former Secretary of State was seen noshing on oysters and clams sans her trademark brooch? 

About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.