2020

Shortly after Trump's inauguration in January 2017, I joined the local (Lincoln Square, Chicago) chapter of Indivisible, a grassroots organization focused mainly on defeating Trump in 2020. My experience of canvassing for Democratic candidates in 2018 led me to believe that it would be interesting to keep a record of voter sentiment during the upcoming 2020 campaign. So I decided to keep a diary-a political diary-something I'd never done before. I kept the diary from January 1, 2020, through January 20, 2021.

Of course the pandemic interfered with canvassing, especially on the Democratic side. But I still got some feedback via phone calls and texts to voters. In addition, I tried to keep abreast of current political events and I included my thoughts about these in the diary. Also included are excerpts from a "Weekly Update" that I regularly sent to Indivisible Lincoln Square members, with headlines under various topics such as environment, social justice, voting rights, etc.

There is a long tradition of writers offering "materials for history." In that spirit this diary is being offered, complete with uncorrected misspellings, grammatical errors, and repetitions.