Hello ITK listeners!
I’m Suyun Hong blogging live from the Clinton Global Initiative. Xorje is actually shooting the event behind me, so it’s the not the usual Xorje blogging, but I’m here live–ready to tell you exactly what’s happening as it happens.
It’s about 12 minutes before this thing gets started and people are still trickling into the Gregory Gym. One of the organizers said she was expecting about 3600 people here. They’ve got press in the middle with people in front of us and in the bleachers.
Got to say, this is one of the most exciting things I’ve done in a while. I think I can say for Xorje that we feel very special right now 
Former president Bill Clinton is going to be here–as well as (some might see this as more important) Natalie Portman and possibly other movie stars. Nobody knows for sure though. Who knows, some of them may actually pull out at the last minute, but let’s hope they don’t.
I’m not exactly sure how many organizations are involved, but it looks like there are a lot of different student organizations around here volunteering to help organize.
I think just about every media outlet in Austin is here right now. The press area is very packed.
Xorje wants us (Lee Ann is also here–one of our friends at The Daily Texan) to run to Natalie Portman with our recorder and ask her some questions. I doubt this is possible.
Keisha Senter– director of the CGI is talking now.
I believe the photographers are going up for a short photo session.
It’s now 4:06 and they have yet to start, hoping that the guests come out now.
The lights are off!!! And the music is off too….or not, now they’re playing as Lee Ann says, a “riveting intro video.” It sounds pretty inspriational, except I can barely hear exactly what they’re saying.
According to the video, we have two reps from UT Austin–didn’t catch their names. This just in—this place is really cold, at least to me.
End of intro video–nobody yet.
Okay ITK listeners, something to keep in mind. If in the middle of this whole shabang I stop blogging–don’t be alarmed. It just means that my computer ran out of the limited battery that it has. Oh well.
What better way to spend your Friday afternoon huh?
Clinton just came out now. I can’t see anything. Hopefully I can get a picture soon.
Nope never mind–no pictures for me just because my sad sad old camera.
Clinton’s already started talking.
He thinks that we need to “redefine 21st century citizenship.”
Bill Clinton is wearing an orange tie. Does that make me feel special as a Longhorn……uuuhh.
Now Clinton’s talking about all the money issues in Congress.
He’s now talking about the first CGI meeting last year in New Orleans at, I believe, Tulane University.
“Community service projects are going to be funded…more like political campaigns are funded…but society will be stronger…”
“The earth doesn’t know that there’s been a financial crisis.” Clinton now talking about the issues relating to global warming, children dying, etc.
“There are now 20million Chinese factory workers unemployed” because Clinton says that we don’t need or can’t afford their products anymore.
Clinton says already, 1600 commitments have been made, to what I’m not too sure.
I feel like a horrible reporter. Just found the sign that says, ‘Hosted by Student government.’ So now we all know where all these student volunteers came from.
Clinton says that if we had a meeting like this 30 years ago, then we wouldn’t have this diverse a group.
Calls the current financial crisis, a “sharp wake-up call.”
He says “to be a citizen in the 21st century, requires all of us to do the work.”
The change of the BILLS! Prez of UT–Bill Powers is now speaking. Such a raspy voice.
He’s calling him Mr. President—but is that right? Barack Obama is the current president. I believe the correct title would be Mr. Clinton, no? Hmmm…going to have to look that one up sometime later.
Bill Powers–not as great of a speaker as Bill Clinton. At least that’s my opinion.
Natalie Portman has just entered the room and the flashes are going off like crazy.
She’s sitting with three other guests of honor. There are four total panelists (other than Clinton), not exactly sure what they’ll be talking about.
They’re talking about food issues first. Bill Clinton playing reporter????! He’s asking each panelist questions about what they do, why, etc. Hopefully he gets to Natalie before my battery runs out…
On a side note—I just want to let all our listeners out there that there’s some type of weird feedback behind the press area, making it really hard to really distinguish what the speakers are EXACTLY saying. I can hear pretty well, it’s just not as clear as I would hope. So if by any chance I type something that doesn’t seem consistent, please forgive me.
Clinton is now talking to Natalie! Says he met her in 2004, when she “was even younger than [she] is now.” He wants to know why did she compelled at such a young age to do what she did.
She says during her last year in college, a close friend of hers was injured in a terrorist attack in Israel. She says she wanted to suddenly “solve” the
She says she can’t believe that after having graduated a public high school and gone to Harvard, she didn’t know that 2/3 of the world population was living under $3 a day. Saying that it took her until she was 21 years old to learn about the state of world poverty.
Okay ITK listeners. Our time together just might be up. My computer now has about 11% battery left.
I’m going to have to wrap it up now. If for any reason you’re reading this, thanks for bloggin with us…or at least reading my lame blog posts and updates. Don’t forget to tune in on Wednesday at 7pm to our usual ITK show, but until then, enjoy your Valentine’s Day weekend (or for singles out there, enjoy singles weekend!).
Yes folks, that’s right, we’re talking about sex!
