Attending the first couple of Brooklyn for Barack meetings, Paul Boyer heard many Obama supporters talk about their feelings about the senator and their experiences with the campaign. As a result, he decided to initiate a video project, believing that Senator Obama’s eloquence is matched only by that of his supporters. On March 31st, the day of the first series of national house parties, Paul biked all over Brooklyn with Robert Wood & Matt Yeager. They hit parties in Red Hook, Williamsburg, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Prospect/Lefferts Gardens, and many others. The people they met and recorded ran the gamut—retirees who admire the senator’s religious commitment, hipsters who are worried about medicare, and young couples who admire his consistent anti-war stance. They encountered all ages, religions, and ethnicities. There was an amazing Episcopal priest who said that he hadn’t felt this way since Bobby Kennedy, and many of the younger people said that this was the first time they had ever cared about a politician. They were invited into homes, fed, and told stories.

The crew is turning the stories that they heard that day into a series of web shorts on BrooklynForBarack.org, and eventually, hopefully it will be something the whole country can enjoy. To hear Paul tell it, “We didn’t have the best equipment, we’re all kind of shy, and not in the best shape, but we care about our country and we did this simple thing to try and make some small difference. It didn’t help that I got hit by a car before we made it to the first party, but hey . . . We’re from Brooklyn and you have to be a little tougher here.”

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