Civil Libertarians Storm the Hill Today

I've been in the Action Center's podcast booth for a lot of the conference, so I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to what's actually going on. I occasionally hear wild applause coming from the direction of the ballroom, so I know something cool is happening.

But thankfully, sometimes the cool comes to me: I just interviewed an amazing young woman named Jessica Yee, who stopped by to record a podcast with us. Jessica's the founder of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network in Toronto, and she's posted a blog from the conference. You can check out her post on the Shameless blog, and we'll have Jessica's podcast posted here later this week.

And today is Lobby Day, where bus-loads of ACLU members will storm Capitol Hill for meetings with their representatives and senators. At the last membership conference in 2006, I tagged along with the California delegation, led by the incomparable Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel for the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office. It was a blast — and an education — to talk with representatives from Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Brian Bilbray's (R-Calif.) offices about immigration issues and the Soledad Cross, and to hear Tim's wise counsel on how to handle discussions with people who disagree with our point of view. Being on Capitol Hill for a even a few hours is a great experience; I wish I were with the ACLU'ers who are headed there right now.