Friday, May 31, 2013

Emerge Wisconsin's Woman of the Year - Tammy Baldwin

On Thursday evening, my wife and I had the opportunity to volunteer for and attend
Emerge Wisconsin's event at the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center in which they honored U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin as their 2013 Woman of the Year.

Given the fact that I work for Emerge WI, I have been to a few of their events and thought I knew what to expect.  But Thursday's event was such a success that it blew my mind.

There were hundreds of people in attendance.  They came from all walks of life and from all areas of the state.  I won't go into naming all of the politicians and community leaders who were in attendance because I know that I would miss some.

There were the speeches given by Bethany Ordaz, Emerge Wisconsin Board Chair; State Senator and Emerge alumna Nikiya Harris; Emerge Alumna Melissa Lemke; and Congressman Ron Kind.  There were also some very moving videos of other Emerge alumnae and political and community leaders. 

The most moving and passionate tribute came from Congresswoman Gwen Moore, who did the introduction for Baldwin.  As usual, Moore delivered a passionate and uplifting speech that really got the crowd going.

Baldwin, the recipient of many standing ovations, also gave a very moving speech.    She spoke of how Emerge Wisconsin is changing the social and political environment so that women no longer feel that they are unqualified to run.  She talked about how we are in this together and that no one has been successful doing things all on their own.

On a personal note, I have to say that the highlight of the evening was not the speeches or the videos.  Nor was it seeing so many friends and making many new ones.  Nor was even the fact that Baldwin went out of her way to thank my wife and I for volunteering to help with the event.

The highlight of the evening, for me anyways, was seeing the look on my wife's face as she got to meet one of her heroes.  Not only meet her, but to hug her and have our picture taken with her.   

The fact that Baldwin is such a genuinely nice person just made it all the better for both my wife and myself.

4 comments:

  1. You're damn right!

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  2. Nice report. I like Tammy Baldwin and Gwen Moore too.

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  3. Met her a few months ago. Gave her a hug and teased her about her "damn right" quote. She was fun about it and is truly sincere in her desire to be a great Wisconsin Senator.

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  4. I was unfamiliar with Gwen Moore till her Colbert appearance. Now, I've lived too long not to realize first impressions aren't always reliable but holy crap Moore seems like the kinda of person I WISH I knew in real life. Over the recent years I have seen many really mean comments from conservatives about Moore, and WTF is their problem! The people who can keep up in a Colbert interview are the few, the proud, and the strong, you gotta be smart, and keep your head out your a$$ at all times to ride with Stephen. Moore didn't drop the ball once. Sa-Loot! and when Moore and Colbert when for their invisible Harley ride, it was hard to tell who was in the bitch seat. Whatta woman. And Tammy is so admirable, and not "just another politician". And more importantly, she is the only woman alive who can rock that June Cleaver look, and not look like a fool. I can't see how she's pulling this off. She must have sarcasm hidden in the hairspray or something. As a brief aside, I'd like to take the opportunity to publicly note how HORRIFYING Alberta Darling looks these days, like the Portrait of Dorian Gray, 'cept the portrait is still lookin' good. IKR? Sumthin' went tragically wrong there. Zoinks.
    Anyways, I hope both Gwen and Tammy realize that when people say nice things to them, they really mean it, it's not just social BS.
    *squeeee* it just makes you glad you're a girl.

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