The time has come for Congress to return home from the bustling capital and enjoy a summer recess in their districts. They will be in their local offices for the month of August, while all of us are left waiting and fretting over pending health care, climate, and  student aid legislation. Well, now is not the time to wait and wonder what the future will bring – we have to get out and take action!

Don’t let your Reps and Senators enjoy their vacation too much; call them, write them, but most importantly set up lobby meetings[pdf] with them in their local offices.   Congress members will be hearing from plenty of lobbyists and conservative naysayers while they are home in their districts, we can’t let them be swayed from the progress they have made thus far. Get creative and make your voice heard.

In order to spice up your in-district action this August recess, Campus Progress is suggesting a few creative events that can accompany lobby meetings with your Reps and Senators and make your time a little more memorable:

Creative Event: Aerial Photo

We already took a bird’s eye view of things when we decided to fight for clean energy, college affordability and healthcare reform, now it’s time to share what we saw. Show your representatives and community members that there are tons of people (literally) spelling out our demands with an aerial photo. Aerial photos are a fun and engaging way to mobilize your volunteers and will certainly get you some good media. You can even turn your creative action into a flash mob by having people converge in a crowded room wearing similarly colored shirts and freezing in place in a formation spelling out your message of change. Just make sure you have a way of taking the picture from above!

Climate Crisis Example

Fact: The American Clean Energy and Security Act is the first piece of climate legislation to be passed in the House of Representatives, but its chances of being passed in the Senate are getting slim.

Scenario: You and your group of friends run an online/offline campaign to build the buzz about an upcoming flash mob happening in the atrium or in front of your legislator’s in-district office; the only instruction given is to wear green and to meet at a nearby park 30 minutes ahead of time. When they get there you hand them a piece of paper showing where they need to stand, then have them walk in at random intervals and freeze when they get to their spot. When all of the 100 participants freeze, your group’s photographer will take the shot of them all spelling out “Stop Climate Change” and yell out “Climate Action Now”. At that point everyone unfreezes and joins the chant that is then picked up by all of the participants.

Creative Event: Pranks

One idea is to conduct “pranks” at your Congress members’ local offices. Now we don’t mean wrap their toilet seats in plastic or super-glue their phone receiver down. We mean go in there and get your point across in a memorable and humorous way (well they may not think its funny) but they will certainly catch the irony of your actions and it may just open their eyes to how ridiculous they will be if they choose not to vote for the economic opportunities you are demanding as their constituent!

A “prank” would be an intentionally ironic or witty way of approaching your Congress members’ local office to demand health care for all, clean energy jobs, or college affordability. There are many opportunities for this creative event that could work for any of the issues you will be pushing for, please see below for one such example:

Health Care Example

Fact: Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) recently answered a constituent’s concern about not receiving good health care benefits by saying the constituent should come work for the federal government in order to receive the same great health coverage as he receives.

Irony: Senator Grassley sits on the Senate Finance Committee; responsible for drafting health care legislation right now, yet he has been opposed to real reform from day one. Despite the fact that he could help his constituents receive quality, affordable health coverage by voting for strong reform, he apparently thinks the solution is for everyone to work for Congress if they can’t receive health care otherwise.

Scenario: You dress up for an interview, prepare your resume, have a cover letter ready and call your Rep/Senator’s office to schedule a meeting. You show up at your meeting fully prepared to “apply for a job with Congress” in order to receive the health care benefits that they receive, especially since so many conservative and moderate members of both parties are blocking real reform by delaying the legislation and/or voting against the public option and other components of health care reform that will prevent you from receiving the same quality, affordable care that your Rep/Senators receive. It is important to ensure you have talking points about health care reform (included in the toolkit[pdf]) so that other than the obvious “prank” your Rep/Senator realizes your demand for reform.

Creative Props

It’s what Yorick’s skull, Bond’s stylish gadgets, and Holmes’ pipe have in common. Bringing something really big to your meeting—like a giant version of a student loan statement—or even something really small—like a grain of rice carved with a message, like “maxPellin2020w/oSAFRA”—can help you get across your message in a memorable way. It can also help you show broad support. For example, getting people to sign a costume arm cast in support of health care, borrowing a friend’s old crutches, and hobbling into the office.

Now get out there and make your voice heard!