Yesterday, Columbia's campus was taken over by ServiceNation, an organization that used our resources to bring Obama, McCain, and several other speakers to 100 students and 1,000+ people who have no relation to the university. (Yes, I am still bitter that I didn't get a ticket.) I can't play omniscient observer on this one, but here is how my day went down:

2:00 PM: Start a five-hour marathon of registering voters and doing interviews with J-school students, campus media, and random real journalists (including some French journalist and someone from the Huffington post).

3:00 PM: People are starting to realize that the Jumbotron is not so jumbo, and Low plaza will never fit all of the students who want to see the event. Dozens of students are already claiming spots, and I thank the flying spaghetti monster that I have the best roommate ever who actually came to find me and offered to save me a seat.

3:30 PM: I ask a girl if she is registered to vote, and she gives me an unnecessarily bitchy yes. When she walks away, a friend tells me that she is George Bush's niece. I feel embarrassed for a minute until I remember that she was chewing gum with her mouth open (a personal pet peeve that instantly indicates a lack of class). Oh, and she's W's niece.

4:30 PM: Find out that six students will be on Hannity and Colmes. This should be interesting considering how much Fox News loves us.

7:00 PM: The event is about to start, and the steps are PACKED. Mostly confirmed celebrity audience members include Angelina Jolie, Sarah Jessica Parker, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Usher. In case you forgot, the audience does NOT include about 14,900 students who registered for the ticket lottery.

7:30 PM: Not only am I stuck outside in chilly weather sitting on an uncomfy stone plaza, the Jumbotron is broken. There is no sound through all of PrezBo's speech and half of Governor Patterson's. When the sound finally kicks in, the color goes haywire, and we watch much of the first speeches in black and white. Through the rest of the event, the picture is super distorted. Grumble.

7:45 PM: Why is this dude talking about Tobey Maguire's film career and plugging an upcoming movie? Oh, Tobey is speaking? And he wouldn't speak on 9/11 about community service without free promo? I see...

7:48 PM: This Jumbotron makes Tobey look FUG! Only at Columbia....

8:15 PM: I know this is 9/11, but do I really have to hear from families of victims? Can I just hear Obama now? This is depressing. And, not that I want to challenge your credibility, but I find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that more people in Africa suffer from PTSD than AIDS and malaria combined.

8:30 PM: McCain takes the stage and says predictably generic things about the US, community service, and his campaign.

8:35 PM: Is McCain really a Republican? He just said that we need to prioritize the community over the individual and that he "loves" Ted Kennedy. Oh wait, he also said "the busier people tend to be busy, and the busier they are, the busier they get." I guess he is a Republican.

8:45 PM: The moderator asks a question about Putnam's theory of social capital. Yeah, sociology!!

9:00 PM: The crowd goes wild for Obama, especially when he finally acknowledges that Columbia is his alma mater and makes a joke about home court advantage. He continues to get cheers approximately every two minutes for mentioning things like eco-friendly policies, tuition credits, and how it's his job to "make government cool again."

9:30 PM: The crowd buzzes when the moderator asks an uber-loaded and ridiculous question about why Columbia allowed Ahmadinejad to speak but doesn't allow ROTC on campus.

10:15 PM: The event is over, and I'm attempting to head back to my dorm. Get in a fight with a cop who won't let me cross Broadway, won't tell me when I can get access to Broadway, and won't tell me where I am allowed to walk but just insists that I turn around and walk back the way I came. Can't she see that I am holding a big heavy box of voter registration materials? Can't she see that I'm kind of a big deal? A more intimidating cop comes over, and I decide to not get arrested and instead take the long way home.