Graig's blog

At the Spiritual Progressives meeting I was interviewed by Kelly Nuxoll, a freelance writer with some great NC connections who is here writing for the Huffington Post. She posted an article about that meeting which quoted me. I reposted the article here and she linked the HuffPost article to BlueNC so people could see my vlog!

We reconnected on Wednesday to talk about new media and old media at the Democratic National Convention. Doing a mutual interview with a real journalist meant I had to step up my game! It turned out to be a fascinating conversation about outsider stories at the DNC, how new media is changing the convention, and the role that young people can play in our political landscape.

Here's part 1:

James Andrews is the president of the AFL-CIO. He got us riled up at Monday's breakfast with a great speech. Then on Tuesday morning I heard him talking with a reporter. His answers were so good, I knew I had to get him on tape. Our interview went so well that it stretches 14 minutes. So I split it in two.

Watch the clips to hear his take on the impact of race on the issue and how we're going to engage white voters across North Carolina. He also asks me some great questions about how young people look at labor organizing, social security, and health care.

Here's the first video:

Part 2 is below the fold.

Here are two brilliant guys. On the heels of my post about how the Spiritual Progressives are failing to get young people involved, I got two interviews with guys who are masters at that game.

Meet Jefferson Smith of the Oregon-based Bus Project and Matt Singer of Forward Montana. Check out The Bus Federation and Trick-Or-Vote for some of the great work they're doing.

Here's a conversation I had with NC-2 Delegate Ian Palmquist. Ian is the Executive Director of Equality North Carolina.

It's a pretty simple conversation, but I'd say it's about the way most delegate conversations go.

Besides hearing Michelle Obama, the best part of my Monday was attending a meeting sponsored by the Network of Spiritual Progressives. They were presenting The Global Marshall Plan, a proposal for the G-8 nations to end poverty and war around the world within 20 years..

Sound far fetched? It sounds real good to me.

In fact, I thought they presented a compelling argument that this idea would be a compelling political platform. I think it's an idea that would resonate with lots of young people.

However, they're going to have a hard time engaging young people in their movement. Why? Watch the videos.

I wanted Jerry to be my first mutual-interview, but he was in high demand. Thankfully he made some time for me in the midst of the morning.

I love his final question to me. It's exactly the kind of moment I want to have in these mutual interviews. He asked me something that he didn't expect, but gave me the opportunity to talk about something that I'm really interested in.

I also caught up with U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge after this morning's breakfast. He was really excited to talk about engaging young voters. I think his questions to me were pretty good.

Warning: I held the camera myself and it shows! You might want to just listen to the audio. I'll try not to do this again. I bet you won't find this cross-posted on Etheridge's website!

After this morning's North Carolina Delegation breakfast, I caught up with NC Rep. Pricey Harrison. Pricey has been a great ally on two issues that are important to me: engaging young people and immigration. I started out by asking her about those issues.

This was the first vlog I taped. The audio quality is pretty poor because of the location. But it's going to be tough to find quiet spots this week!

So, I'm off to Denver on Sunday. I'm an Obama delegate, representing NC's 4th Congressional district. For months, I've been trying to figure out a way to document my trip that will be fun for me an interesting to everyone back in the Great North State.

I've settled on a video blog idea. James and Betsy have agreed that BlueNC can be the home for the vlog. I'll be contributing to the team effort of BlueNCers who will all be reporting in from Denver during the week.

I'm trying out a new citizen journalism technique I've invented called a "mutual interview." To learn what it is, watch my first vlog post here:

Attorney General Roy Cooper has reversed his stance on the right of undocumented students to attend our state's Community Colleges.

According to the N&O:

AG now says college OK for illegals

RALEIGH - The state Attorney General's Office says it's legal for the N.C. Community College System to admit illegal immigrants.

That advice, given to the colleges Thursday and made public today, represents a reversal for the office of Attorney General Roy Cooper, which advised the colleges in May to bar illegal immigrants from degree programs. The colleges took that advice and issued a new policy prohibiting illegal immigrants from enrolling, even at out-of-state tuition rates. Cooper's office said at the time that post-secondary education might qualify as a public benefit to which illegal immigrants are not entitled under federal law.

This is great news for the students that I work with. I'm very happy. And I think I owe our leadership in the General Assembly an apology of sorts...