What an interesting few months it has been! During Dan's run for a seat at Mountain View's City Council, I (Assana) have seen and learned so much!
I learned that people feel entitled to know everything about you regardless of relevance: someone wanted to know Dan's position on abortion and gay marriage… relevant to the council position? Nope! Didn't matter!
I learned that Mountain View's newspaper, Mountain View Voice, in reality is just an editorial newsletter vs. a journalistic newspaper: there were lazy reporting cut/pasted out of our private website (Dan an inventor… inventor of Danning!); there were reporters' subjective and emotional commentaries about candidates, both positive and negative, scattered all over articles (Aaron-the-wunderkind!), and there were a lot of partial truths! What happened to reporting the objective facts, people?
I saw the spectrum of treatment from the incumbents towards Dan, all the way from polite and cordial (hi Jac!) to indifferent, to… well… what's the opposite of cordial?!
I was overwhelmed both by the amount of support from random folks, and by the sheer amount of venom that was thrown at Dan by ignorant citizens! Someday I'll post some of the voicemails… my favorite was some dude accusing Dan of spending the Democratic party's money (Dan is openly NOT a democrat).
We both met a lot of great folks, with most of whom we hope to remain friends.
And so much more.
All in all, 4,003 people cast their ballots for my Shmoopy! He came in fourth after the incumbents. Dan will continue to attend the council meetings, write letters to the editor, and ask difficult questions. He will continue to care about Mountain View. And I will continue to adore him.
Dan, I admire your courage for, against all odds, standing up for what you believe in. You continue to impress me with your poise, your grace, and your passion. You might have ended up in fourth place in the election, but you will always be #1 in my heart.
Love you baby.
Assana
