last week in Wisconsin we celebrated the fact that Democrats won two of 9 historic recall elections and lost none. (Until this month, only two Wisconsin lawmakers had ever been removed from office through recall.)

This week I will be attending the Democracy Convention http://democracyconvention.org/ to be held at The Madison Concourse August 24-28. During my participation in the â€˜Wisconsin Middle Class Revoltâ€, Iâ€™ve seen first hand the dire need to strengthen American democracy in our politics, our media, and our constitution. Attending the convention will continue my education, begun February 15, 2011. Here are all of the brand new things Iâ€™ve done since then:

Witnessed amazing historic uprising and decided to dive in, not sit it out

Paid full attention to state politics, especially budget-making

Participated in protests (I never did it in the seventies-)

Volunteered as a crowd marshall during frigid winter demonstrations

Spoke in front of hundreds of people in our Capitol rotunda

Created and carried many protest signs

Used Facebook for the first time (to spread my eye witness reports)

Learned to follow Twitter daily to learn whatâ€™s happening via #wiunion

Began to Tweet

Followed live blogs

Wrote with sidewalk chalk to express my feelings

Studied Wisconsin history

Watched Rachel Maddow and the Ed Show

Started to sing daily in public (!) at the noon Capitol Sing Along

Spoke at public hearings

Attended legislative sessions

Worked on recalls and traveled (with strangers!) to recall districts

Volunteered in 2 Citizen Exit polls to protect election integrity

Used iMovie to edit my first video

Posted my first YouTube video

Began writing a weekly blog post here . . . I could go on and on.

Itâ€™s amazing to me that I was motivated to learn all this in six months, especially the very software and social media I had been actively avoiding using! And, even more amazing, I have met many others just like me here in Wisconsin.

Carrie Scherpelz is a freelance graphic designer here in Madison. Sheâ€™s always asking the question: â€œWhat motivates people to take action?â€ Her keen observations of human behavior help her create compelling communication that gets results. As a designer, photographer, and writer, she has an integrated approach that will help you increase your direct marketing response rates.

Contact her for graphic design and copywriting services that will improve the effectiveness of your website, logo, direct mail and other print communications.