Angelo and Edz at the 2024 Democratic National Convention

Edz and I attended the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.  This was my second turn as a delegate from the Northern Mariana Islands.  I was also a pledged Clinton delegate in 2016.  Edz was not a delegate, but came along for the ride.  As a second time delegate, I had a much better set of expectations heading to Chicago.  The DNC is a chaotic, overwhelming, exhausting experience where you get very little sleep.

Our first stop in Chicago after dropping our bags at the hotel was Wrigley Field, where we caught a game between the Cubs and the Blue Jays.

I had read that the Daily Show was going to be at the stadium.  I thought that meant they were going to have cameras doing interviews for the show, but they were doing meet and greets with the correspondents.  We went to Wrigleyville two hours before the first pitch and met Desi Lydic and Michael Kosta.

There was a delegate party later that night, but only Laila Staffler and I went.  We couldn't get Edz a ticket, and all of the other Northern Mariana Islands delegates were either stuck doing convention work or arriving too late.

On Monday, the first day of the DNC, our delegation met up for breakfast and then took the shuttle to McCormick Place for the caucus meetings.  Tim Walz spoke during the AAPI caucus and Edz took this selfie with him as he worked the crowd.

At the 2016 DNC in Philadelphia, Edz and I were featured in a fashion article in Newsweek.  We knew there were going to be thousands of journalists and something like this was likely to happen again, so we had some fun planning our outfits for each day.  I dressed up as Where's Waldo on the first day.

This is hardly a novel idea, but I was the only one who had this idea for the DNC.  As we walked around the United Center people would point and say "Found you!" or "Look, it's Waldo."  It was very fun.  A reporter walked up and asked for an interview.  He asked me about my outfit and what I was doing at the DNC and I talked about the Northern Mariana Islands a bit.  He said he was from NPR, so I assumed I'd pop up in story about the diversity of delegates, or their outfits or something.  Turns out they were recording a daily podcast for Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Back at our seats, a lot of people were taking our photo.  And I kept getting messages on social media, "Are you at the DNC dressed as Waldo?  You were just on TV!"  A photographer from Mother Jones took this epic photo.  I wish I remembered who was speaking when this photo was taken.  I think it was probably Hillary Clinton?  She and AOC were my favorite speakers from the first day.  My costume was also on the Daily Show for half a second.

Edz and I got a chance to explore Chicago a bit on Tuesday.  We walked through the big park along Lake Michigan and took photos in front of The Bean.  We also ordered Italian beef sandwiches at Mr. Beef.  

The rollcall was on Day 2 of the DNC, so in the evening we wore our best island formal because we were all going to be on TV.  Nola Hix, our executive director, purchased everyone mwaar and leis handmade in Saipan to go along with our outfits.  There was a big mural of Kamala Harris near the entrance to the United Center, and we all took turns taking photos with it.

While we were taking photos, a woman ran up to us, introduced herself as a photographer for Vogue magazine and asked us to pose for a photo.  The photo below ended up in an article, Brat Green and Zany Hats Rule Street Style at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

The roll call was one of the first things they did on Tuesday.  Our delegation, sandwiched towards the back of the United Center between Texas and Rhode Island, lined up waiting for our turn to cast our votes for Kamala Harris. Our walk up song was Ain't No Mountain High Enough, and Nola talked about nature and culture representing our islands and people.

I think we can all agree we win for best dressed!  We were photographed by several outlets, including this photo in the New York Times:

My favorite speeches on Day 2 were Doug Emhoff, Michelle Obama, and Barack Obama.  It was also the earliest night of the entire week -- and we could have gotten some sleep except we decided to go to the Boys II Men concert at the House of Blues.

On Day 3 of the DNC, Edz dressed up like Taylor Swift (she was hoping Taylor was appearing at the DNC) and I kind of matched her as an Island Disco Cowboy.  The AP came up to us and asked us about our outfits and I ended up on their TikTok making some Taylor Swift predictions.  We also recorded a short comedy bit with the Daily Show -- meaning we were on the Daily Show twice in one week.  Also, if you look closely, Michael Kosta is wearing an NMI Democrats button on his lanyard.

My favorite speakers on Day 3 were Pete Buttigieg and Tim Walz.  It was only my second time hearing him speak -- the first being on Monday.  I like the guy.

By the fourth day we were all exhausted, half of us were still jetlagged, but we were having the time of our lives.  Edz and I skipped the caucus meetings and went for a walk in the city again.  We ended up taking an Uber to a Filipino restaurant called Kasama with Leila where we ran into Justin Jones from Tennessee and his Filipina lola and somehow ended up having late breakfast/early lunch together.

I think this was probably my favorite moment of a week -- just a couple of mixed race Filipinos and Chamorros sharing stories over chicken adobo and longanisa.

Heading into Day 4 of the DNC, the big question on everybody's minds was, "Will we see Taylor and Beyonce tonight?"    For some members of our delegation, this was more exciting than nominating Kamala Harris to be our next president.

We dressed in all white for the last day and accessorized with purple orchids I had ordered from Hawaii.  These next two photos were snapped by a photographer from Atlanta.

We didn't walk around the United Center on the last day because there was a threat that you wouldn't be let back in to your seats.  This also meant that I had to hold going to the bathroom for several hours.

My favorite speakers on the last night were Deb Haaland -- who spoke about climate change -- and Kamala Harris.  I'm pretty sure that Hillary Clinton had the longest applause, but Elizabeth Warren had the loudest.  It was ear-splitting, the loudest applause I think I've ever heard in my life.

And then it was all over.  I'm told we were on TV a lot during many of the speeches the last day -- including during Deb Haaland's remarks.  We stayed around long after the balloon drop just to soak it all in before heading home.

We ended our week in Chicago with a baseball game at Guaranteed Rate Park on Friday where we watched the Chicago White Sox lose to the Detroit Tigers.  This was my 15th MLB stadium -- meaning I'm halfway towards visiting all 30.