Lobbying Post #4 - Communicating with Blondell Reynolds Brown

For communication, I chose to write a letter. Why? Because I honestly was scared to call. I had three ways I wanted to communicate: phone call, visit, or letter. I figured with a letter, I can just put everything down on one paper and I won't feel so scared anymore. This is my letter that I sent out:

Dear Ms. Brown,

            My name is Briana Stroman. I am a Senior that attends Science Leadership Academy high school on 22^nd & Arch. I am writing you for my history project.

            In my American Government class, each student had to choose a topic to lobby about. We write blog post on our school website about the topic research, how we feel about it, and actively taking an approach to it. The topic I chose to write about is curfew. I read in a document about curfew that you’re one of the council members that are in charge of it (if I’m correct). Why am I lobbying about curfew? It’s probably a question you are wondering as you read this letter.

            It’s not that I disagree with minor curfew. I understand the reason why it was set in the first place. I also agree that teens need to understand the danger they put citizens into by causing “Flashmobs”. The problem I do have is that how are officers going to tell who’s a flashmobber and who isn’t?

            For example, I wouldn’t want to be accused of being a flashmobber type person, when really I’m just a teenager rushing to get home from work. In my situation, my mother doesn’t have a car right now so I would have to take Septa basically anywhere I have to go. Or if I’m doing a digital video project somewhere and it ends at a late time.

            What I’m wondering is, do they want a note? Would they like some type of proof? I just think that the city government were fast about setting the curfew law, without having thought of the outcomes of teens having fines because of accusation of being a flashmobber, the reactions of parents becoming super angry because they have to pay for something they know isn’t true. I’m only taking it in from how my mother would react because she knows I do positive activities.

            So, I was wondering if I can meet with you one day to discuss more of this, or if you have the time, you can write back. I would love to have a response from you. Thank you for taking the time out to at least read this letter.

Sincerely,

Briana Stroman

I won't sit and say that I knew what I was going to write, because I had to think. Because I usually write things down, it doesn't always come out in order. So I had to write how I wanted it to come out (in order), so it could be clear to Ms. Brown. I tried to set a certain tone for this letter also. I wanted to show that I'm a nice high school student, and at the same time I wanted to show how serious I am to figure out this information. 

I tried to provide examples on situations that could happen to me, or any other teenager. I already sent it out but I realized that I should have added more to this letter. While I was in poetry club we were talking about different topics, so I brought up what I was lobbying about. And one of my club mates asked me, "why are the police trying to be the teenager's parents?" It was such an interesting question. I felt that I could've added an extra paragraph on that topic, also go more in depth about why parents get angry when someone tells them they're not doing their job right.

I did not get a response yet, but I look forward to one very soon. If not, I can always contact someone else. I also want to ask the extra thoughts I was thinking about. I thank my clubvmates, because without them I wouldn't have thought to want to ask more questions about my topic.