Aurora's Blog

I had a very gorgeous, lovely, wonderful meeting in Cory Booker’s office.

I met with his Chief of Staff, Matt Klapper. And talking to Matt is almost like talking to Cory. He is so inspiring, and I really enjoyed my talk with him.

(Did you know he was a firefighter and EMT? And that he went to law school? And that he’s one of the most polite charming people I’ve met?)

In addition to meeting with Matt, I swung by a bunch of other senators offices.

Did you know you can just do that? I went to the senate offices because I had a meeting, but anybody can just go in! You can go in tomorrow if you feel like it.

Some interesting things I learned:

1. Did you know that you can have “Breakfast with Al?” When the Senate is in session (which it’s not right now), you can have breakfast with Al Franken. (You don’t even have to be a Minnesota constituent. You can just sign up.)
2. You can get your hair done in the basement! Are you looking for a place for a great haircut? (You can even get it dyed there.) Just head to the basement. Who knows, maybe Elizabeth Warren will be there getting her hair cut in the chair next to you. (I didn’t see any senators while I was there. But she could be there for you, perhaps. Ya never know!)
3. Senators have signed headshots! You can just walk on in to Senator Kaine, or Sanders, or whomever’s office and say, “May I please have a signed headshot?” And you’re handed one!
4. You can get on a wait list for inauguration tickets by heading to your senator’s office and asking to be put on the list, in case any extras are to be given away from their office. (They told me this in Barbara Boxer’s office. She’s retiring, but you better bet I went to Feinstein’s office!
5. You can just eat in the cafeteria… Not the fancy Senate dining room. (It was closed since the Senate wasn’t in session. Also, I don’t know if commonoers like me can get into that.) But you can get into the cafeteria. I sat down there forever. I met a man with a moving story there to try to make a case for a change in the laws for the trucking industry.

   I can hardly even imagine being a senator and having oh so many issues coming at you. They’re all important! How can you prioritize? And what all can you get done?

6. Lastly… and this is super random. I just saved it for last ’cause it’s not important. So, just in case you’ve stopped reading… Anyway, there are these random red dots on the clocks around the Senate building. I don’t know what they mean, but the man at the gift shop told me about them and that apparently they do mean something. So, if you know, go ahead and comment here!

In conclusion, the Senate rocks. I wanna go back when it’s in session, get my hair done, and see if I can get a ticket to the gallery to actually see a session happening!