Planes, Delays...and More Delays

After several hours of frustrating delays, three hour long trips in rented cars with complete strangers and hoping against a string of bad luck, it was a relief to see a welcome face at the deserted San Antonio terminal... Parag Mehta.

We had both arrived from different corners of the country for the Hispanic Leadership Summit, and after similar episodes of airline craziness had arrived in this great Texas city within five minutes of each other, at about 5 a.m. The obvious question was, after 12 hours plus of traveling, where were we going to find the energy to keep us going into and through the Summit? The answer was easy. This is why we support the Democratic party, why we travel long distances to help in primaries, ... at some level, it's why we exist.

Its uplifting to see so many members and leaders of the hispanic democratic world gathered in one place. We've just heard some great remarks from Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (CA-38), and also some remarks from DNC Vice Chair Linda Chavez-Thompson.

As I look around the room, at the hundreds of faces, my first question is "who are these people?" I recognized a few of those present, most of the organizers are familiar to me, but the majority of those in the room represent the current and potential leadership of tomorrow, and they are hear to listen to new ideas, learn from each other, and most importantly, to provide invaluable input on how to work from within the hispanic community to help them organize and reach their political goals.

I wish I could interview each one of them, find out where they were from, what was that special magic moment or event that got them interested in participating in politics and the Democratic party.

--Jerome Wiley Segovia

Editor's Note: It took Jerome over 12 hours to get from Washington to San Antonio. I just want to publicly append our thanks for taking the time - in the face of what he went through last night - to get there and blog this summit.