Last Thursday I left Michigan for a two-day dip into the Midwest battleground states of Ohio and Indiana. I wanted to speak with and photograph volunteers for both sides of the election. Through McCain's website and Obama's website, I found cities that had offices for both campaigns and then plotted my route. I approached everyone the same way. I explained that I was a freelance photographer and asked permission to speak with and photograph one of their unpaid volunteers. I did not choose the volunteers, they were either chosen by a staff person or volunteered themselves. Everyone was asked the same question: What is it about this
election year that inspires you to volunteer? Here is what they said.
On my way back to Michigan Friday night I listened my recorder, to all the answers from the fourteen volunteers I had spoken with. I reviewed the countless untaped conversations and thought about all that I had seen and photographed. I felt differently about this election compared to way I felt when leaving for the trip only a day before. You see, what I didn't tell these folks when I approached them was that I, too, am a volunteer, a very active volunteer with the Michigan Campaign for Change office in Ann Arbor. I work with a very organized, thoughtful, committed and enthusiastic group of people. They have impressed me but because it's Ann Arbor (a very liberal community), it made me wonder if I was just part of a rare group or if this was everywhere. That is why I made this trip and what I discovered was that my group, although special to me, was not unique.
So, in keeping with my theme of asking volunteers, "What is it about this election year that inspires you to volunteer?" I will answer it as well:
I started volunteering because of Barack Obama's policies. But on the morning after my trip, when I set out to canvass neighborhoods, it was because of the promise that Obama represents to the countless Americans who for the first time in their lives feel like they have a voice. He has engaged and inspired so many people to be a part of this process and that alone will make this country better.
A president hasn't been chosen yet but things are already different and, I
think it's fair to say, will never be the same.
Click here to see an interactive panorama
For more Huffington Post coverage of the 2008 Presidential Campaign, go back to HuffPost's OffTheBus, check out Huff Post's Politics page, and our HuffPost bloggers' Twitter feed.
