Categories
Photography

Photo Set: Bernie Sanders Rallies

Every letter contains the word
Forward by Jen Scholten

Portland’s rally last Sunday, August 9th drew together thousands of increasingly conscious minds — nearly 30,000 to be precise. The overall volume of physical bodies and voices was enough to boom our souls into space and away from the issues so immediate in our world. We remain grounded with a man who lends his name to many titles: democrat, senator, socialist, activist, independent, underdog, progressive, transcendentalist, idealist, dreamer: Bernie.

Since the official announcement of his campaign April 30th, 2015, Bernie Sanders has stomped all over the United States in search for people who are ready for a serious transition. He’s found it across the board in those of differing age groups, social and economic classes, both minorities and majorities, those with little political knowledge and others who are well versed. During the last four months he has managed to raise over 15 million dollars in campaign funds, compared to $100 million and more from both the Clinton and Bush fronts. His average donation reaching $35 per contributor, he campaigns on the premise of a man who cannot be bought or sold.

It is this level of transparency that more of us are finding ourselves attracted to. This is what is drawing us out of the narrow view of our survivalist lives and into focusing on the issues at hand. The man is urging us to use our similar values as a moral compass toward greater change. He is asking us to come together and have these conversations in real time.

Even if Sanders doesn’t successfully enter presidency, he has carefully culminated a grand-scale social awareness that did not exist before now. The work being done here is not in vain. This is not to say that everyone has been politically ignorant, only that now we are awake and maybe a little less groggy. He’s brewing within us a contagious sense of hope for reform. Like espresso for the people; he’s dragging us from bed and putting us to work with each other.

Pictured in this photoset are moments from the rally that can and should be relived. Because no matter how crisp or high definition these photos may be, they don’t accurately give life to the energy that was experienced in the moment. As pictures of mountainous terrain often don’t.

The experience is through the lens that is our physical bodies. We feel it in the stadium floor as it vibrates with uproar beneath us. It’s in our ears and eyes as we observe people coming together on core issues. We taste it in digesting the struggle of others while relating our own separate experience. It’s hot on our skin as we feel the breath of bodies nearby. All of them part of a conscious shift. All awaiting change.
Organizing Meeting hosted by Watershed PDX, July 29th,  by Kathleen Dolan & Sean Ongley
Moda Center Rally, August 9th, by Kathleen Dolan and Sean Ongley
Moda Center Rally on August 9th, by Jen Scholten
Thru Collaboration

By Thru Collaboration

Sometimes it's good to work together. That is what this article is all about. Not one author can be attributed to this work, so it is a collaboration. Details are in the text.

Have anything to say?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.