VOL. 19 NO. 17-AUGUST 19, 2024
Our Stories and Features
COLUMNISTS
Reflections/Jonathan Gramling
Kamala in Milwaukee
It ended up being a birthday gift to myself. Tuesday, August 20th was my 72nd birthday. (How did that happen?) Due to the place where my birthday lands on the calendar, more often than not, I end up working on my birthday. And sometimes it lands on the date of a festival. It was special that my 70th birthday landed on the day that Africa Fest was held. It was a wonderful celebration.
And so, as it happened to be, my birthday landed on Tuesday, August 20th, the same day that Vice-President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s nominees for President and Vice-President, appeared at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. I had been ill for several days the previous week and so this clinched the fact that this issue of the paper would be coming out late. I decided to take a “bird in the hand” and try to attend the appearance. Who knows when the next opportunity will occur.
While I always received offers of press credentials during the Obama years and went to just about every appearance he made in Wisconsin, Donald Trump apparently redid the list of the White House press corps and I was no longer on it apparently. I didn’t receive one press release from the Trump Administration. And I didn’t get much from the Biden Administration. But through some help from my friends and a lot of persistence, I was able to find the right people to ask. And I had to ask several times and was sent the wrong form once. And it wasn’t until Monday night that I learned that I would receive my credentials. I was headed for Milwaukee.