Sara Haile-Mariam

Simply hilarious.

Two new posts up on Derrion Albert, and what I hope his tragic end inspires us to do.

First, here on Huffpost, a reminder of why Derrion should effect us all.

The second, is a follow up posted on Global Grind . Much of what I’m talking about really does rely on my own generation.

Brace yourselves-we’re really not done yet.

I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. After all, had it not been for John Kerry’s loss we wouldn’t have had a Barack Obama win.

As it turns out, David Yassky is not going to be the next City Comptroller. Nonetheless, I will forever be proud of my candidate and the campaign that we ran. The group of people on Team Yassky were phenomenal and the friendships I’ve been privileged to make are the kind one can only hope to stumble upon over the course of a life time. I’m proud to call David a mentor and friend, he really is an extraordinary public servant and one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. I’m confident this isn’t the last we’re going to hear from him.

The campaign certainly helped shape the direction of the debate making sure that investments in biotechnology and green technology, advocating for more women and minority asset managers, and tackling the reality of pension reform were apart of the dialog.

I congratulate Councilman John Liu and Bill Deblassio for their victories.

As for me, I’m not done yet either. I’ll write more on the experience next week. In the meantime, just wanted to thank those of you who nominated me for City Hall’s 40 under 40. Honored to be in such great company on this year’s list.

I’ll leave you with (the always dependable) Barack Obama, for quote to move forward with.

“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. it’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere. ”
–Barack Obama

This is not a test. We didn’t hit 40% on September 15th, but that doesn’t mean we can’t win this election. This Tuesday is the Runoff for the NYC Primary for City Comptroller, and this time, there’s no do over.

This election is critical to our City’s future- and at the end of the day, there’s no question that David is the candidate who maintains the most potential to really do extraordinary things for our City. His record on the Council assures us of his potential. So please, this Tuesday, do not stay home or let your friends stay home. Go to the polls, wherever you voted on the 15th. If you didn’t vote on the 15th go back to where you went last January when you cast a ballot during the Super Tuesday Primary. Go back and vote, so that our City can move forward.

Sign up to volunteer here: http://bit.ly/dCm61. Find your polling place here: http://bit.ly/oROJK/index.htm

In runoff mode- Election day is on September 29th-please come out and cast a ballot for the City’s next Comptroller, David Yassky.

Check out my Global Grind Piece announcing his endorsement and detailing why I’m still solidly in Yassky’s corner. Excerpt below

We have an obligation to continue to remain involved in our communities– and for young people, in particular, that means that we must vote every time.

New Yorkers, there is a Democratic Primary THIS Tuesday, September 15th, and Russell Simmons signaled out David Yassky as the Comptroller who can lead us through this financial crisis. In a press release today he said,

“While I typically don’t endorse in local elections, this race is too important to sit out. We all owe it to the future of New York to ensure that we have progressive individuals in local office, particularly in an office as important as City Comptroller. I found Councilman Yassky to be sincere and I look forward to working with him to advance the causes of our youth and poor New Yorkers in the years ahead.”

Don’t let anyone you know stay home this Tuesday.

Updated: Also on Huffpost.

The lion may now rest, but our work lives on through what he did, and what he called on us all to do.
No, the dream will never die.

For the record, and disregard anyone who tells you otherwise, when you’re on a campaign, you’re on a campaign. There’s really nothing else…which is why I can’t imagine doing this for anyone that I didn’t sincerely believe in. Luckily, I can only imagine doing that, because with each day that passes I become increasingly convinced that David Yassky can and must be the City’s next Comptroller.

Blogging will be (if not nonexistence) extremely light until September 15th (the day of New York City’s democratic primary). From now until then, I’ll be focused on working with an incredible team to bring the creativity and energy of the Obama campaign to local politics. This isn’t a campaign of operatives- it’s incredibly young and justifiably dedicated. We’re all in this for the right reasons- and you can only hope, that at the end of the day, that amounts to something.

Interested in volunteering? Shoot me an email: sara@davidyassky.com

Just posted a new piece on Global Grind.

“So no, Gay is not the black, but we are in a time. While we face different challenges as individuals and communities, we also reside in a moment where our President is pleading with us to come together to recognize that while our differences are pervasive they are not perverted… prejudice has no place in the United States of America. President Obama revisited this notion while addressing the NAACP last Thursday.”

Full piece here.

Also- blogging will likely be slower until September 15th (NYC Democratic Primary) but I will try to take some time out in the next week to tackle health care policy. The debate surrounding Health Care reform is extremely important and I think we should all try to understand the parameters of the debate, and more importantly we should all chime in.

The very first thing I did for the Obama campaign was a video called “My Five Bucks” which encouraged supporters to donate five dollars to the Obama campaign. The above video is pretty full circle, as I’ve once again found another candidate who’s given me reason to put my amateur screenwriting/ video skills to use.

Please watch the video, spread the word, and consider donating-or I should say investing- five dollars towards the future of New York City.

You can donate here.