Being approached discreetly by a woman telling you to leave a line that you have been waiting in for at least 20 minutes seems like the beginning of some cheesy spy movie, but that is exactly what happened to me at the Obama Campaign Rally here at Mason and lead to one of the best experiences I have ever had.
Stephen Kline/Broadside
After arriving a little later than I should have and only realizing this after I got there and the line was already weaving through campus past the Johnson Center. After being in line for a while without getting anywhere, everyone around me began to talk about the possibility of not getting in and I was crushed. Here I was with the luck to actually get a ticket and I was not going to get in to the first Presidential campaign I ever had the chance to attend.
That is when a well-dressed woman walked up to me and asked if I would like to sit in the stands behind the President on stage. Her hushed voice and only a green post-it note made me hesitant to get out of line and head down to the front of the line. I decided that it was not a chance to pass up and moved from almost the back of the line to the front. When I got to the front of the line, I was taken inside and shown to the bleachers on the stage.
Once the event began, it was like a dream. All my friends were texting and tweeting me that they saw me on stage or on TV. The energy around me seemed to grow and grow with every speaker until finally the President was walking out of the curtains. It was such a different feeling sitting behind him. It felt like I was there to support and encourage him more than to just see him speak on his plans for America.
I got to shake his hand and see just how personable he really is when we were pretty much playing London Bridge when he was shaking the women’s hands that were seated behind me. It was a great reminder to me about what a great advantage being a student of Mason can be.
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