I had a very eventful day volunteering for Constitution Day at Grange Fairgrounds. I originally was supposed to work at the First Amendment booth with Emma Lutz. The woman running the booth was going to interview the band, so she asked that Emma and I run the booth while she was gone. We were going to hand out fliers and ask people that came to our booth what democracy means to them. (To answer that question with my perspective, democracy is about equality and giving every voice a fair chance to speak) However, before I was able to ask my first booth visitor their personal definition of democracy, Emma and I were told that our help was not needed. The woman running the booth could not interview the band as they were busy warming up. So we joined the rest of the volunteers at the Gerrymandering booth.

Emma and I, late arrivals, were asked to “take the L” by Dr. O’Hara and dress up as Gerry-monsters. This task included wearing heavy, dragon-like onesies and going around to people at the fair giving them information cards. Once we gave out all of the cards, we were allowed to remove the costume and help with one of the games. As a Gerry-monster, we told fair visitors that we had “totally fair” games to play at our booth (how gerrymandering is “totally fair”) and gave cards that provided a website with more information about the candidates positions on redistribution reform. I enjoyed going up to people and introducing myself as a Gerry-monster. I got a lot of laughs about my pun and the costume, which made the experience a lot more fun. At the end of the day, it didn’t feel like I was taking an L, I genuinely enjoyed meeting new people.

I met a couple that moved to State College from Texas. They told Emma and I that they were very excited to be in a swing state as opposed to a state that always goes red. They were also very happy to see young adults volunteering and being active in their community. We discussed our classes because they were really interested in what students are learning, and wanted to know more about RCL. They thought that the civic artifact project sounded intriguing and were pleased to know that students were taking a rhetoric and civic life class. A lot of people that I talked to wanted to learn more about candidates’ opinions on redistribution reform and did not realize that they could find information about it online.

After I handed out the last of the cards, Emma and I came back to the booth and helped with the Gerry-monster drawings. With that activity, people were asked to draw a monster out of a gerrymandered shape. There were two little kids who drew terrifying monsters, and seemed to have a lot of fun with the activities. But the booth really brought to attention how unfair gerrymandering is, and how it is truly a monster.