Over the last 7 days, I’ve taken 5 long walks through my inner-NE neighborhood. I’ve taken 4 very different routes, going as far as NE 33rd to the east, NE 7th to the west. I’ve been as far north as Siskiyou, and as far south as Weidler – alongside high-volume roads (NE 15th) and slow neighborhoods where I never saw another person. (It’s all part of my #whimstomp campaign; read more about it here…)
Part of what I love about these walks (some with headphones/podcasts or music, some without) is that I do get to people-watch. Or house-watch. (It was very cool to see the daffodils I sweated over planting 14 years ago blooming still in the median near my old house, for example.)
And since we’re in the midst of an election primary season, I’m seeing plenty of lawn signs. For congressional reps, city councilmen (or woman, in the case of Mary Nolan) & for Portland’s next mayor, where the top three candidates now are ex-councilman Charlie Hales, Bus Project wunderkind (and current state congressman) Jefferson Smith, and entrepreneur Eileen Brady.
I’ve put in 12 miles on foot in the last 7 days.
I’ve seen plenty of signs for Charlie Hales.
I’ve seen plenty of signs for Jefferson Smith.
I’ve not seen one single, solitary sign for Eileen Brady.
I believe they have signs – I was told I could pick one up a few weeks ago via an Brady for Mayor email (I got myself on the list, and haven’t yet bothered to unsubscribe.)
The same email that trumpeted Eileen’s new ad with a nod to Portlandia: Put a Job on It. (My friend Robert Wagner wasn’t at all impressed, nor was I when I finally got around to watching it. Today.)
But here’s the thing: In order to get a job, you have to first do the leg work. Even the boring, what seems to be mundane work. (I’ve volunteered for enough school campaigns in my day to know that’s the kind of work that ends up paying off in the end, in fact.)
Which means you have to get in front of voters. With lawn signs that hit people as they’re walking, driving, biking or running by. Not so much videos that people have to add to their to-do lists to go watch ‘later’ (as in my case).
I’d say in this day and age, if you want to get a job – well, you have to be persistent. Memorable. And make the impression that you’re going to be consistently there, working hard, for starters.
But the very best way to get a job is to first prove you can do the work. Including (in this case) the work of getting her name out there, her presence visible to the average, ordinary voters as they go about their average, ordinary days.
Brady hasn’t done that for me, sorry.
