WEDNESDAY JULY 27---DAY 3 AT THE DNC

WEDNESDAY JULY 27---DAY 3 OF THE CONVENTION

The adventure on Wednesday started in the afternoon. After exploring some of the city, Christine, Nico and I  decided to go to the Mutter Museum. I tagged along in my Wheel Chair. The trip was a bit different than Tuesday---it was longer and the sidewalks were  slanted to the street making my job harder. This museum is well known for its unusual medical displays.

  


I was first drawn to the Civil War room.  I was heartened to learn, much to my surprise, that most operations performed during the War involved the use of some form of anesthetic such as chloro-form to ease patient pain. Doctors in Philadelphia received many wounded soldiers and performed amputations and other surgeries in local hospitals.  Most arms and legs amputated were burned, but some doctors kept the limbs for medical research; and some of the arms are currently on display in the Museum.  Even though medical practice did not use disinfectants on wounds they did try to keep them clean and dry,  so if you lost an arm  or a leg, you were a lot better off than the guy who was shot in the torso.  I also saw some wounds that were fatal, like the skull with a round 1 inch hole through it.


They also had a body in a case whose fat had been converted to soap preserving her.  The soil where this person was buried contained chemicals that converted her fat to soap and this acted as a preservative.


Most of the Museum consisted of skeletal remains and preserved specimens.  Once you got past the two-headed babies and the huge tumors the rest of the place was quite interesting.  I asked the security guard who took me to the elevator if any of this stuff phased him? His answer---"No, I spent 20 years in the military."


On the way back to our hotel we passed through a park where a lot of young people were enjoying their day. We stopped at a fast food place where I had a milk shake and met "Tony Two-Canes". I had seen Tony earlier on the street and I had watched him using two canes in his struggle to carry items to his seat while in the restaurant.  As we were leaving I spoke to him and he told me homeless people gave him the nickname.  He had also been in a wheel chair but had graduated to using two canes. As I left he said "I will pray for you."  I thanked him. 


On our way back to the hotel, Chris helped me at times by pushing me up some ramps and when I got tired. But I wheeled my Chair most of the way and I was surprised I did not feel more worn out.


In the evening after Bea returned from the Convention, we went to a party. We took a cab---he got lost and we arrived late.  The food was great, but we did not meet any bigwigs.

TUESDAY JULY 26 DAY 3---BROWNS AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

TUESDAY JULY 26---DAY 2 OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

Each day of the convention I wore a Howard Dean hat from his presidential bid in 2004.  It had buttons on it and I got a lot of comments when wearing it. At breakfast on Tuesday, Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota gave the funniest political speech I heard all week.  As she was leaving, she spied my hat and came over and shook my hand and said how much she enjoyed working with Howard Dean.

My adventures started today after lunch. I decided to use my Wheel Chair.  On Monday I was able to get around with my prosthetic leg and a walker, but I had a lot of leg pain, so periodic rest stops were required.  I have very little leg pain when traveling in the Chair without my prosthesis.

I decided to start by going to the Convention Center to see what was going on there.  The buses in Philadelphia are equipped with chair lifts and the driver was able to load me on to the bus.  It was about a 15 minute ride to my destination.  The Philadelphia Convention Center is a block long building and once i returned to the street I had to travel for quite a distance to find a ramp entrance.

Inside they offered a set of three conference-like sessions on very specific topics.  I chose the Rural Council.  The presentations included individual speakers and panel discussions. Senator Tester of Montana, Senator Highcamp of North Dakota  and Rep Costa of California were the main speakers. Since there was no interaction with the audience, I thought the two hour program was interesting, but rather dry.  Much of the focus was on the problems facing farmers in the west with little reference to agriculture in the east. Suggestions included increased funding for  research at land grant schools (like PSU) and an improved Federal Farm Bill that helps the family operations instead if big business.  Also the aging of farmers, high levels of poverty in rural areas, the increase in drug addiction, as well as a declining population were presented as real issues for agriculture and rural areas as the country moves into the future.  The very last speaker was a native American who only had about 5 minutes to present. I felt that was unfortunate and expressed such to one of the organizers. Also I suggested that the plight of African-American farmers in the South and Hispanic farmers in the Southwest should have been part of the discourse as well.

On my way out of the Convention Center I visited a display set up by Progressive Change Campaign Committee and discussed a variety of topics with one of the staff.

Once I exited the Center I moved to the spot where the bus dropped me off. When I arrived I asked a volunteer when the next bus would arrive?  She said there probably will not be any  buses due to street closures caused by marching demonstrators.  After about 20 minutes of searching for a bus or possibly a cab with no luck, I thanked them for their efforts and decided to head back to my hotel in my Wheel Chair. Now, I still have pretty good upper body strength, but this is the first time I ever tried traveling this far in my Chair.

My first stop was at Dilwurth Park near City Hall. This spot has about 100 fountains of water that pop out of a flat stone surface.  They shoot up to a height of about 5 feet and are situated such that kids can run into the area get wet and run back out.  Some of them just sat in the midst of the spouts of water enjoying the cooling effect---it was in the 90's.  A guy dressed like a Biblical character was walking back and forth through the fountains carrying a cross inscribed with "Vote for Jesus".

Just beyond the park I encountered the demonstration.  There were police everywhere.  One group I spoke to, were from New Jersey. The sidewalks were all blocked by police and there was not a ramp to be seen, so I asked someone to lower me down the curb and into the street.  When i arrived in the middle of the street it suddenly dawned on me that I was in the middle of the demonstration.

On my left were a couple of vans and maybe 400 demonstrators.  On my right about 100 feet away there was a phalanx of maybe 50 police officers on bicycles.

 I spoke to one of the guys by the van.  He said he had driven up from Miami to take part in the demonstrations.  He spent the previouus week at the RNC convention in Cleveland.   During the conversation he asked me how old I was.  When I told him 76, he lamented that I looked better than he did at 60. He was smoking a cigarette, had long scraggly hair and looked like a transplant from the 1960's.  Interesting fellow.

My next challenge was to get back up on the sidewalk.  I approached a couple of policemen on the other side of the street and they pulled me up onto the sidewalk and I was on my way. As I moved on, the demonstration remained  stationery with a woman yelling into a microphone about how terrible Hillary was. It was a ragtag group with no real cohesive message---just a group of boisterous people.  There was no violence---just a peaceful protest. As I traveled toward my hotel the streets were mostly blocked off and the sidewalks were empty making my mode of travel pretty easy.  At one point I stopped to take a break and parked back next to a building.  I had noticed an expensive looking bus sitting along the curb in front of me, but did not think much about it.  Suddenly at least 10 guys in black suits and sunglasses descended on the area.    Wow, this should be interesting. With the secret service, or what ever they were, stationed all around the bus, a tall black gentleman  wearing flowing robes and wearing a orange stripped hat emerged from a nearby building and entered the bus. He was soon joined by others including a woman in a beautiful blue dress.  I asked one of the guards who the person was and he wouldn't tell me. That was an interesting experience.

As I was motoring down the sidewalk the buses passed me going south on Broad Street with a full police escort---flashing lights and sirens blaring.  The man appeared to be an African leader, but I have no idea who he was.  But it was obvious that the authorities wanted to keep him safe.

Soon after I arrived at my hotel, the demonstration peacefully moved down Broad Street, past the hotel and on down the street. They had police cars in front and police on bicycles beside and behind them.  They were completely boxed in.  This tactic seemed to be very effective in allowing the demonstrators to protest and march, but at the same time preventing any outbreak of violence.

I checked a map---I had wheeled my chair about a half a mile.

This was a big day for Bea. At breakfast she signed a petition indicating her support for Hillary during Tuesday's roll call.  Later at the convention during the roll call of states she stood just a few feet from Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Wolf as he read off the votes for Hillary and Bernie Sanders.

Late Tuesday evening our daughter Christine joined us from Baltimore.


NOTE:  After the convention we were told Bea was shown on FOX NEWS during Bill Clinton's speech on Tuesday.  Wow, a TV star. 

THE BROWNS AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

INTRODUCTION

My wife, Bea Brown, has for years been laser-focused on getting Hillary Clinton nominated as the first woman presidential candidate.  Ever since Hillary lost to Barak Obama in 2008 she has been working on this project. This year she decided to take this passion one step further and run for a delegate position so she could vote for Hillary at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She and a team of volunteers successfully collected more than 500 signatures to get her name on the April 26 primary ballot. She used yard signs, handouts and visits with voters as she campaigned over her district from Easton on the Delaware to Harrisburg on the Susquehanna. She lost by about 800 votes to a former lieutenant governor. Disappointment? Yes. However in early June she was selected as an At Large Delegate by the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee. Her hard work paid off and she was going to the convention!!    

SUNDAY---JULY 24

Bea, our grandson Nico and I headed to Philadelphia and  the Democratic National Convention shortly after noon on Sunday. We arrived in Philadelphia and found our hotel without any real problem.


In the evening we attended the Pennsylvania Party at the Kimmel Center, just down the street from our hotel. There were hundreds of people there.  After being screened with a metal detector we were greeted by a woman dressed as a plant who moved as if blown by a breeze. Another acting like a tree walked about extending her branches as she moved.  Really cool.   Servers walked around with trays of tiny sandwiches and other hors-d'oeuvres'.

We spoke with Senator Bob Casey whom we supported when he first ran for the Senate and with former Governor Ed Randell who headed the work of setting up the convention in Philadelphia. Nico came for the food and soon went back to the hotel.  Bea and I spent the rest of the evening watching a show in the theater. There was a variety of music types from rock to a chorale.  An African-American dance ensemble of 9 dancers was really cool to watch.

MONDAY JULY 25---DAY 1 OF THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

Most members of the Pennsylvania delegation stayed in the same hotel. Each day of the Convention opened with a speaker's breakfast.  All the delegates in the hotel were required to attend and pick up their credentials for that day. They received a new set every day. Nico and I came as official guests, so we were able to eat breakfast and listen to the speakers. The room was always packed with hundreds of people and the speeches were given by a variety of well known political figures.

On Monday the speakers included:  Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Wolf who shook my hand as he was leaving. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who gave a rousing speech about standing up for what you believe in. Representative Keith Ellison, a Muslim American, who spoke of electing Democrats to the House. This meeting usually lasted about 2 hours and included instructions for the delegates day.  All the delegates and other people with credentials were expected to be at the DNC site in the Wells-Fargo Center by 4 pm or so.  This facility is the arena where the 76ers and Flyers play their games.


I always passed the Pennsylvania Donkey on my travels back and forth to the dining rooms.  It was positioned right on the hotel grounds next to the street.  It was brightly painted.  There were 57 donkeys scattered around the city to signify the 57 entities that sent delegates to the convention. 

At lunch there were more speakers and shortly thereafter Bea headed to the Wells-Fargo center for the beginning of the convention, Nico and I were on our own for the remainder of the day. The Temperature was 96 degrees and it was very humid. Nico went to Independence Hall and Washington Square. After that he returned to the hotel room where it was considerably cooler.

In the afternoon, I hiked around the area with my walker. I ran into Gov Wolf again and shared my concerns about the spread of the Zika virus. He listened and agreed with the seriousness of the epidemic. 

I can travel for awhile, but then have to sit. I sat in some shade next to a street band for awhile. Great music. I have had a 2008 Phillies hat for some time with no real plan for it, so I brought it along on the trip. Today a young family walked by where I was parked. I motored over to them and asked if anyone was interested in a Phillies hat? The youngest boy, about 10 years old, indicated an interest so I put it on his head and said "its yours". Later, I heard an older brother ask him where he got that hat. The father asked me why I did not want it and I told him I was a Pirates fan. I think the hat went to a good home.

As I traveled I discovered a second donkey, This one celebrated the state of Iowa and was being studied by a man in a scooter---handicapped like me. He has cerebral palsy and has a lot of trouble walking. 

As part of Politicalfest I visited an historical display in a local library. They had original documents including a hand written copy of the Constitution. They also had a civil rights display.

Just up the street I was amazed by a mural painted on the wall of a building. I do not know the history of this painting, but it was quite detailed and impressive. It reminded me of the murals we saw in Lake Placid, FL in 2015. 

I stopped at a bar called the Irish Pub, had a Guinness and a cheesesteak---service was good, the food was marginal.

On my way back to the hotel I observed people begging for money. Not a new phenomenon, but it is always sad to see. One, a young man in his thirties approached me as I was resting in the shade. I interrupted his sad "sales story" by asking him some questions about himself. It seemed to get him off track and he soon was telling me things he had experienced and how he felt. He has an anxiety issue, spent time in prison for burglary and is a heroin addict. He spoke  of wanting to get off drugs and doing things for $100 or $150. As we were talking, he was approached by a man in his 50's who said "I have not seen you for awhile". They walked off down the street together.

I returned to my hotel and rested my weary leg. Another interesting day in the big city. 

In the evening we had a terrible thunderstorm that knocked out our TV, so we could not watch any of the speeches.