For much of the past eight months, the only house on the 9600 block of Jonathan Lane in Eden Prairie with Barack Obama lawn signs was the Hill house.
Tori Hill, a first-time delegate from Minnesota to the Democratic National Convention, became enthusiastic about Obama after attending a rally in Minneapolis. "It was electric. It was just a madhouse. I began asking, 'How do you become a delegate?' How to you get involved in the campaign?'"
Now, she and her husband, Leon, and their three children, are in Denver, attending caucuses, participating in community-building and, for Tori Hill, participating in determining who the Democratic presidential nominee will be.
"The mere fact that I can show my kids in this lifetime that this can happen is amazing. I was raised that you could reach, that the sky is the limit," she said. "Leon and I raised the kids to try and make a difference in everybody's life and promote that you can be the best."
Tori Hill admits she can cry at the drop of a hat, but the prospect of having a hand in the history-making process of nominating the first black presidential candidate makes her especially emotional.
As a black woman, witnessing the speech of Michelle Obama on Monday also made her reflect on her own life.
"All women were sitting there, just thinking how proud they were of her," she said.
On the bus ride back to the delegate hotel with her son afterward, she reflected on what she had just seen.
"I was swelling up with emotions, I felt like I embodied everything that she said. That it is us," she said. "That it is my time to make a difference."
MARK BRUNSWICK
