Help Spread the Word!

We left San Francisco two months ago today. I could not have predicted that we'd meet such a diverse group of people, including a Democratic cowboy who calls Bush a "wannabe cowboy," a Pentecostal "red neck" who used to stage solo hunger strikes in East Texas and is about to release a book about activism, Democrats who are breaking the rules by speaking out and protesting for the first time, moderate Republicans who believe Bush is the worst environmental president in history, Republicans who oppose Bush's foreign policy, but are afraid to speak out, a Republican who has a poster of Bush in her kitchen and Republicans who don't think Bush is conservative enough.

I'd like to believe that those on the left and right will gain new insights by reading these interviews. The reason why I'm transcribing the interviews in their entirety is because the mainstream media lacks depth. It's difficult to understand why someone holds certain beliefs based on one sentence in an article or a quick sound bite on television.

Because I spend so much time interviewing, transcribing and writing articles, I have little time to publicize my project and Web site. I'd appreciate it if you would forward my latest dispatch and Web site URL to your friends and lists. Subscription and donation information can be found here.

If everyone could get a minimum of five people to sign up, that would greatly increase my subscriber base and help me achieve my ultimate goal of writing a book about my experience.

Since I've been on the road, I've received many comments from readers and would like to share a few:

"This is so interesting to read - it's like hitch-hiking (by which I mean it reminds me of the conversations I got to have with people who picked me up hitch-hiking - they were people of all political stripes and people I'd never have met in my ordinary life, yet they were ordinary just like me). Thanks for doing this."
-benjibopper

"You should get an award for this series. I'm so impressed with your work and dedication - and I look forward to each email update on your trip."
-Caity

"I am about to move to pursue a master's degree, and I am in no position to donate to your efforts, but I will do so as soon as I am able. Thank you for the amazing work that you are doing. I am a 23-year-old gay man, and I cried several times as I read the comments from your interviewees in Texas. Lancaster County, PA is Bush territory, and there is an outright hostility to gays. Living here is hell, yet I know that when all is said and done, most of the people who so despise everything in which I believe are not evil. Thank you for going out to talk to these people. There will be no peace and no happiness in my life until I can come to understand why there is so much fear, mistrust, and hatred of gays in America, and your work is a comfort to me."
-Anonymous

"Reading this is addictive... I can't stop!"
coffeeguzzler

"Thank you so much for doing what you are doing; I've been just transfixed, reading post after post... it's amazing. I've sent the website address to a bunch of friends and family. I'm from NY, and came to Houston, TX to attend graduate school at Rice, and have managed to make a living here, so my wife and I have stayed. I must admit, living here amongst so many Republicans is truly bizarre; we both feel like fish out of water, and look forward to leaving some day..."
-George

"This whole project is absolutely amazing. keep up the fantastic work!"
-Art

"Congrats on your site...it's really taken off...the interviews are more and more illuminating, and it's good that you're letting the interviewees speak for themselves. I'm making all my friends look at your site - especially the lefties with a knee jerk reaction to the words Bush and Republican, simply because what you have is so much more balanced than what is traditionally available."
-Derrick from Sydney, Australia

Thanks for reading and spreading the word!

-Rose