3D's daughter's review (she who is in ninth grade)

We took a shuttle from Coors Field to INVESCO Field/Mile High Stadium after getting to Denver. The shuttle took us almost all the way to the front gate, dropped us off & made us walk all the way to the end of the line which was growing every millisecond. The line was long but you didn’t really think about that since there was so much stuff going on around you. People talking laughing, people on bikes with flags talking about how you were selling your soul to the devil, something like that, & then this man who went up & down the line with a big banner that was talking about the same thing. Then there were people selling foam fingers, pins, shirts, etc. all up & down the line. At one point there was even a place where they were even selling hotdogs & stuff.

When you got up close to the main gate again they took away all of the foam fingers & really big hats. Then when you got even closer you went into this tent that was kind of like the airport because they checked your bags & stuff. My Dad & I had water bottles in our bag so they made us take a drink of it to make sure that it wasn't poisoned or something weird like that. After the tent you were free to go inside but after you were in you couldn't really go out until the very end.

When we got inside we looked around some & I got to get this cool little USA shaped pin that says Obama 08. After we got to our seats my Dad went to get food & we ate while watching speeches & music acts. While we waited for the acceptance speech I took pictures of all the people while listening to the music & the people's speeches.

Our seats were on the side of the stage but that didn't really matter because you could like still see everything that was going on down there. The only thing that I didn't really like about the seats was that we were up at like the very top so it felt like if you leaned too far forward you would fall & like squash at the very bottom part. I'm not saying it wasn't cool to be where we were. I mean it was just a little creepy is all. When I was taking the pics I was trying to find things that stood out. Things that I thought were pretty awesome! There's this one that I took when all these people around the stadium were doing the wave! It looks really cool. I also took one of the pony/bronco dude statue where some of the secret service guys were hanging out. It was fun to take pics of them because there were just so many & because they acted like there wasn't some big thing going on around them, yeah it was fun.

The speech that I would have to say was my fav was the one by Al Gore. He's all for stopping global warming & recycling ya know but he doesn't want to recycle Bush's polices. I really liked the line "Hey, I believe in recycling, but that's ridiculous." I think what made that line so good is that right after he said it everybody started to clap & laugh just proving his point.

I really liked Obama's speech, even if I couldn't hear it at some parts since people got all excited. Sure maybe I didn't understand all that he said, but I liked what I heard & with all the noise people were making I have a pretty good idea of what it was about. It was a good thing that I got to go to the speech. It was an awesome experience that not everybody got to see, so I am very lucky. It makes me think about the future – about what things are going to be like since a woman & an African American man ran for President. That’s why we went to see/hear Obama's speech. He would make an excellent President.

3D's review (he who isn't grey yet)

My daughter doesn't mention that when she got back to school on Friday, her English teacher asked the class to name the most memorable day in their life. The question related to a book they were reading. My daughter said August 28, 2008 had left the biggest impression on her. Now, the skeptic might smile and think my daughter's choice only reflects what she had done the day before.

Except, attending Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium felt like an auspicious event... Scheduled to coincide with the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President in front of an audience of 80,000 people, plus another million watching on TV. How often do political speeches draw the crowd of a rock show? Never. But Obama's speech did.

What's more, the audience where we were sitting – way up at the top of Mile High Stadium – paid attention to – and practically hung onto – Obama's every work (along with those of the speakers who had preceded him; which is remarkable in its own right).

And in fact, I cared about what Obama said. I – and those sitting around me – might have been hanging onto Obama's every word, but we weren't hanging onto him. Obama acknowledged this in his speech and said, "But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me; it's about you." In any other context that assertion would have sounded like a meaningless abstraction. However, coming from Obama in the late summer of 2008, he nailed my sentiments exactly. He's the choice we have; the man at this historic moment; and I'm convinced he'll do enough of what needs to be done to take us away from where the last eight years have brought us – and move us towards the American promise his acceptance speech celebrated.