Well, it was a brief encounter. This past Monday, I attended Warren’s rally held in Washington Square Park, where over 20,000 (!) attendees gathered to hear her plans for big, structural change and fighting corruption in our nation’s capital. The crowd was of a younger demographic, who were unbothered by the blip of rain before the candidate came on stage and who loved her campaign playlist (or maybe that was just me). When Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” began playing, the audience knew it was time for Warren’s grand entrance and the cheers rolled through the crowd like a tidal wave, causing me to forget how long I had been standing.
Her speech focused on the power of women, the ability to change the structural issues in our government, and the needs of the working class. Some of my favorite lines included, “We’re not here tonight because of famous arches or famous men. In fact, we’re not here because of men at all,” and “Donald Trump is corruption in the flesh.” Her points may not have been subtle, but at least they were true. She told the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in great detail, met with appropriate melancholy from the crowd. This story became the fuel for great change when it comes to labor laws and the working class in the past, and how she plans to do that in the future. One of her catchphrases is “I have a plan for that,” which she stressed many times throughout the rally.
The most exciting part came at the end of her speech, where she invited everyone to line up for a selfie. The group I came with vastly underestimated the size of the crowd, thinking we’d be out within the hour. Three hours and many confusing line changes later, we all had our moment with the potential future president. As we approached her we all fixed our hair, practiced our smiles, and tried to think of the best thing to say to such an influential person for a two-second encounter. In turn, it didn’t matter one bit, since I blacked out and completely forgot what I said to her as I shook her hand. But I got my picture, and that’s all that matters. I learned I despise waiting in lines but I regret nothing, and as I went home I emailed my grandfather the picture with the subject title, “This could be a very important photo one day.” I guess we’ll have to wait and see if that’s true.
Find out more information about Elizabeth Warren’s campaign here!