August 6, 2004 - Kansas City,
Missouri - It was First Friday in the newly minted Crossroads
District of Kansas City. Once a deserted part of town held
together by three galleries and one building dedicated to artist lofts
set behind the train tracks, the area has blossomed into a sprawling den
of galleries, coffee shops and restaurants. With the area
revitalized, a huge crowd was on hand to scope out the mostly
disappointing work in that graced the walls.
Gen and I were snaking our way through the city blocks, edging our way
in and out of gallery after gallery, ducking some folks, chatting with
others. We turned the corner and saw a big gathering of folks
outside the Hereford House, some of them wielding KERRY 2004 signs,
others had cameras in hand. The Democratic nominee was scheduled
to speak to a crowd of 30,000 at Union Station mere blocks away, and he
was inside as word got out 'he was finishing his desert'.
Amused, and a bit cynical, I led Gen across
the way and we milled about the crowd. I was spewing all sorts of
caustic comments about my apathy towards the next election, mainly
because I live in a Bush stronghold and my vote doesn't really mean much
of anything at all with the electoral college. As we shuffled our
way along the line of folks, probably 60-80 strong, I stated to Gen
aloud, "And you want me to vote for Kerry? He comes to Kansas City
and eats at the Hereford House and skips
Arthur Bryant's?" This drew a some
applause and cheers, my ego emboldened by the show of support.
But then, a funny thing happened, this tall, lanky creature with a long
droopy face stepped out of the restaurant, his wife in tow, waving and
smiling with a cautiously clumsily walk. He waved and smiled, the
crowd cheered. he started shaking everyone's hand. Gen and I
were in the middle of the pack, and as he drew closer Gen got out her
camera-phone, and I tried practicing a way to slip the Presidential
nominee a SCHLIEFKEVISION business card.
He finally made his way to us, a weird sense
of importance came over me as he ducked into my vicinity, shaking some
of the Mexican hands in front of me. I reached out and offered my
hand, he met me halfway, and I looked him in the eyes and earnestly
wished him luck. Exasperated, John Kerry, hopefully the next
president of these goddamn United States, exhaled and said, "Thanks,
we're going to need that."
Thinking my moment with Kerry was over, the unthinkable occurred, he
took a step back from the throngs of people holding their hands out at
him, snapped up at attention, and inexplicably saluted me. I
was too stunned to react properly, and Gen smiled, I was flabbergasted.
We then walked towards the end of the line, wondering just what that was
all about. We laughed endlessly, and ran into a lady we joked with
before Kerry came out. She asked how we got on, and I told him we
shook his hand and he even saluted me. She was bewildered and
said, "You're not even in uniform?" Gen, who was rifling through
her purse six feet away for something that Kerry could autograph,
blurted out, "Oh, that's Mike, he commands respect".
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SCHLIEFKEVISION: CAUGHT ON FILM
Pictures from that night:
click on a picture to enlarge |
Setting the scene:
Outside the Hereford House |
Vietnam vet? Or Unemployed Artist? |
Gen waiting her turn
(camera-phone photography by Michael) |
Kerry with Michael's blurred hand
(moments before the salute)
(camera-phone photography by Gen) |
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