AND SO IT BEGINS...

The Nuns on the Bus campaign team,
photo courtesy of aflcionc.org

It was my first day in Cleveland since the convention has started and it was pretty crazy to see so many streets being shut down, the incredible amount of security service and police offers, many streets being taken over by media organizations, etc. I've lived in the Cleveland area for 19 of my 20 years on this Earth and it truly is home to me; it was amazing to see my hometown being transformed into the location of what might go down as one of the most famous (or infamous) conventions in United States history.

For the week I will be interning with PBS' "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly" mainly shadowing Lauren Tally and Kim Lawton. This was my first true experience of the "behind the scenes" aspect of journalism and it reaffirmed the reason why I chose journalism: spreading a message of cooperation and unity against the evils of this world.

My first day at the convention was spent greeting and following around the NETWORK's Nuns on the Bus campaign, which consists of a 21-city campaign preaching the message of unity and community. You would never expect that this was their ninth city in just one week with the energy that they walked off of the bus with, radiating positivity as they walked to the United Church of Christ HQ to gather and plan the day's activities.

Today's plan was to walk around the downtown streets, passing out lemonade and spreading their message to anybody and everybody they possibly could. Before leaving for the day, however, Sister Simone Campbell delivered a touching prayer that motivated everybody in the room. Of course, no day is without hiccups, but before the wagon's front wheel fell off the lemonade was saved and the wagon was fixed without a drop of lemonade spilled.

Most would probably ask, why lemonade? Cause that's sure what I was thinking. When I asked Sister Campbell why they chose lemonade: "Well a lemonade reminds one of a picnic, and picnics represent community."

Today left such an amazing impression on me and made me much more excited for the convention than I previously was - and today was only day one!