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A bike tax
i, some fashion tips, and a really long line—this effectively summarizes my experience at Hillary Clinton’s July 29th rally in Midtown, Harrisburg. And on that particular Friday evening, the temperature still hovered around 80 degrees, but the humidity made it feel more like 90. Was I hot? Absolutely. Did my visit to her rally unfold like I expected? Not at all.
My husband and I left Restaurant Row in downtown Harrisburg later than planned. Too far to walk in the heat, we traveled to the Broad Street Market via bike taxi. If you have never used this service while visiting the city, you absolutely should. Peaceful and relaxing, the open-air, slow-paced ride offers an environmentally friendly way to travel across town and authentically experience all the sights that the city offers to those who take the time to look.
Upon arriving in Midtown, I was immediately taken back by the amount of people who were waiting to get inside the gates—the line snaked through the streets of Midtown for at least a half-mile. However, we decided to stick around and immerse ourselves in the crowd that had gathered to listen to Secretary Clinton.
In line, we encountered people from all walks of life. What I found most fascinating—and incredibly awesome—was the comfortable, yet respectful way that everyone interacted with one another. My favorite person—a 10-year-old Puerto Rican girl who was with her father—was in line behind us. We talked with them almost the entire time about the heat, the protesters, and the incredible number of people who came from all over the Midstate. I was especially amused by the young girl’s banter as she carried on with my husband, teasing him about his clothes, utterly baffled by the fact that he wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt in the nearly unbearable heat. On Riley Street, I witnessed a women open the gate leading into her backyard. She offered complete strangers a peek inside to admire her patio and flower garden. With a huge smile, she gestured for everyone to have a look, remarking she doesn’t get many visitors. We also ran into several people we knew: a local photographer, a coworker, and a doctor who works with my sister. All came together in front of the Broad Street Market on a humid Friday night to be a part of the rally for one reason or another.
Of course, not everyone showed up in unwavering support of Secretary Clinton. Like most public political gatherings, the rally welcomed its fair share of protesters too. But for me, their presence didn’t cause a commotion; their voices were not a distraction. Instead, I fed off their enthusiasm, their passionately expressed convictions. All of it filled me with a great sense of pride – pride to reside in a country where public protest is permitted and pride to live in a city that peacefully supports it.
The interview with Secretary Clinton in this issue was not the result of a pre-arranged sit-down or a chance encounter after the rally. Instead, it was a result of my collaboration with publisher George Fernandez and Stephanie Formas, Clinton’s Communications Director for Pennsylvania. Because of them, I had the opportunity to ask Secretary Clinton and her National Director for Hispanic Media, Jorge Silva, some important questions that I know are on the minds of many Latinos. Oh behalf of George and the entire team at Latino Connection magazine, I would like to send an enormous thank you to Stephanie and her colleagues for all their work to connect our readers with Secretary Clinton!
I wish I could tell you that my experience in line at the rally concluded with an amazing front row spot to hear and see all the activity on the stage up close and personal. In reality, we never made it to the entry. When we heard Secretary Clinton begin to speak, we attempted to move to a better spot to hear her. We stayed awhile, in the midst of the peaceful and beautiful diversity, taking in Harrisburg’s historic moment. Later, we called our bike taxi and headed back downtown to grab a late bite to eat, feeling grateful to be members of the Midstate—a place in America that I am incredibly proud to call my home.
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” — Wayne Dyer