85th Mayoral Debate, D6 :: [ Bloom vs. Davenport ]

oh, my, my, so monstrous
for once i'm a giant

Calliope has been told more than once that she should hire a publicist, that she should care more about the public perception of her rough (read between the lines: poor) edges. Doesn't she know that the people at the top of the food chain cringe every time she curses in a speech or speaks too candidly about not giving a fuck about their bougie bullshit? She has better things to do than groom herself for their expectations and she refuses to censor herself for anyone. Josephine Davenport's opening speech is evidence of exactly how Calliope has been smeared at every opportunity for her refusal to be a good girl and play politics the way she's 'supposed to.' There's so much trash talking that Josephine forgets about herself entirely. The speech is all Calliope. The rhetoric is vague and generic while attempting to discredit at every turn, making it very clear that the only thing Davenport really cares about is taking Calliope out of the picture, whether or not there's anything of substance to back up her name calling. This blight on our society, the woman calls her. It's kinda funny... flattering, in a strange way. She has always known there are people terrified by the idea of a mayor they can't control, but this is next level. This type of petty slander is proof that she has been getting things done.

The moderator turns things back to her ("What’s the most pressing concern you have about our district, and how do you propose to fix it?"), but Josephine's words loop in her mind. The corner of Calliope's mouth hooks up into a wry smile and she turns her face to her opponent. "You tell on yourself by arguing that you should be mayor not by declaring your own merit, but by demeaning mine." The nerves that rattled her hands earlier have become adrenaline. For a gruesomely long moment she maintains eye contact, fearless, turning her gaze back to the crowd only after she's certain her words have been well and truly heard. "Honestly? It's concerning to me that I can stand here — a strong woman who has spent a decade fighting to better her community, attempting to empower and lend a voice to those among us who are so often considered to be nothing because we are too poor, our jobs aren't 'real' enough, our homes are small if we have them at all... It is concerning to me that I am not worthy of even the smallest fragment of Ms. Davenport's respect. In my attempts to declare that all people in our District are people, I have become a blight on our society."

"It's not about me. These words do not hurt my personal feelings. It is not the first time I've heard such insults and it won't be the last; there are others who share her opinions. The issue here is about what I represent — who I represent. News articles like to say that I came up from nothing, but just because my background is poor and difficult does not make it nonexistent. I did not magically appear from nowhere! I still existed; I was still a person each time I couldn't afford to pay rent. I was still a person each time I scrubbed hospital floors. I was still a person when losing my entire family one by one took such a toll on my mental health that I couldn't function the way society demanded. My neighborhood was real and it still is! My co-workers without medical degrees took up actual space in this world, regardless of how many people tried to treat us as invisible! I am concerned that there still exists a gap of respect in our society — that classism is so rampant — that even when one of us rises up from our 'nothingness' that we are considered a blight, that an entire movement is necessary to put someone like me back in my place."

Raising her chin higher, Calliope refuses to deny who she is and where she comes from. She will not be made to feel embarrassed or to cast shame on others in this community. She will not be forced into pretending that she has climbed up from anything, as if her feet haven't been firmly grounded in the gutter this entire time. She has simply grown tall. If there are people that think fighting for social equality means merely defending the middle class then, oh, the societal destruction she's causing has only just begun. "That mindset is toxic. One of my highest priorities is to change this way of thinking. Higher minimum wage. Increased focus on trade schools. Ending evictions. Expanding the rights of menial laborers and part-time workers. It is imperative not only to improve the living conditions for our citizens who struggle the most, but to improve their perception. Poor people are not a blight. Homeless people are not a blight. Addiction recovery is not a blight. Everything outside of academia is not a blight. A society that refuses to respect its own people? That is a blight."