Sunday, October 01, 2006

Patricia Madrid @UNM


Patricia Madrid on campus
Originally uploaded by plucky punk.
So last Thursday my Evolutionary Anthropology class got out early and I happened to come across Patricia Madrid giving a little talk to a small crowd. I paused to snap a few photos with my cameraphone.

Patricia is running for Congress against republican Heather Wilson. Not sure where the polls or anything like that stand, but from the ads Heather Wilson is running saying how independent she is from George Bush and how she voted for stem cell research and everything I kind of think Madrid might be looking good.

Anyway, in her speech to the crowd of young UNM students, and a few older looking people I think might have been UNM employees. She talked mostly about the war and how bad it was for young people, being they're the ones going off to die. She also mentioned how republicans in Congress had voted to increase student loan interest rates, which I hadn't even been aware of.

Mostly I noticed she was talking about how bad republicans are without mentioning anything she'd do differently, but she is a democrat so that's not surprising.

After she was done she came down from the podium and started shaking people's hands. I was curious as to how she stood on abortion and gay marriage, two things that I can see having more and more legal barriers raised against with little protest or fanfare, so when she got to me I asked her.

Now I'm kind of tall, and Patricia Madrid is teeny eensy weensy. So it was a little awkward, me totally towering over this woman. And as I was talking all these photographers surrounded us and I got totally nervous.

She said she was pro-choice (good!) and "against placing any impediments to gay marriage." Which sounds to me very weaselly, like she doesn't want to say same-sex marriage is *okay,* just that she doesn't think it should be illegal. But again, democrat, lesser evil, etc.

So what do I, the 28-year old with unbrushed hair, clothes I haven't had time to wash that probably smell like spit-up, and a 50-lb bag of books on her shoulder making her list seriously to one side, do to the dignified teeny weeny woman with a stylish, yet not *too* stylish suit and haircut gazing up slightly chagrined at my sleep-deprived countenance, after hearing her answer?

I pat her on the shoulder. Kind of like she was a little kid who just said please and thank you. Then, I get completely embarrassed and scurry away, winding up at my next class a full 45 minutes early.

Ugh. I have a problem dealing with semi-famous people.

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