Back to Volunteer

Yesterday, I left my position with MoveOn PAC and Grassroots Campaigns.

One of the reasons I have had little or nothing to post to this journal in the past 2 weeks, is because I have been extremely limited in the amount of meaningful contact that I had with people outside the office. Plus I was spending 14 hours a day at work.

I came into the position of field organizer to encourage and empower people to be politically involved, to give them the tools of action, to teach, and to learn. It has come to the point where I am no longer able to do any of that. I would spend six hours a day on the phone, trying to recruit people to help in the campaign, when I was not able to help the people I had already recruited. Why was I recruiting more people, with time I could be giving to the 150+ people I had a hand in recruiting already?

In addition, I was being micromanaged daily, my complaints would fall on deaf ears, and the overall emotional toll of the job's constraints was leading me to be depressed.

So, to console my heart and mind I am now a volunteer again. The beautiful thing about volunteering is that I am in control of my schedule again. And I can do the things that I think will be able to help people mobilize this election season. Plus, I can write, catch this amazing Yankees/Red Sox series, and begin to think about my own future after this election again.

Some of the people I met in the office were and continue to be amazing, motivated people. They too struggle with the constraints of the MoveOn/Grassroots Campaigns model, and I wish them the best as they fight to achieve their goals.

So, form here on out, I'm a volunteer all the way. I haven't given up on anything I believe in, John Kerry or the people of this country... I'm just moving on.