Andres Idarraga: Stop the presses!  Question 2 in Rhode Island passed by a narrow margin.  Now everyone outside of prison in the state can vote.  Andres and other formerly incarcerated people who worked on the campaign to Restore the Vote are now eligible.  Of course Andres has already availed himself of the opportunity and went to register to vote with his happy mother and nephew along.  What’s next for Andres?  He’s not completely sure but assures us that having participated in democracy as an activist has had an impact on him. 

Paul Robinson: Paul continues to devote his energy to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort and feels that though it has faded from the forefront of public consciousness, its effects are still keenly felt.  Specifically for Paul, relief efforts have focused on New Orleans while other places like his hometown of Mobile are overlooked.  He’d like to change that.  As a community activist, he is regrouping and reconsidering how he pursues his work.  Far from being ready to quit, Paul wants to scale up.  He feels strongly that the issue of felon disfranchisement is an extension of the civil rights movement but isn’t being taken seriously as such.  He feels similarly about the effects of Katrina and wonders if there isn’t a large-scale movement waiting in the wings that brings all his concerns together and gets a big ball rolling. 

Jimmy Klinakis: Stop the presses part 2! Jimmy has had his voting rights restored. After a great deal of work on his part and not having heard anything in response for several years, a letter arrived in the mail shortly after last November’s elections restoring his right to vote. Jimmy was glad to have avoided having to travel to Tallahassee to appear in person at a clemency hearing, as many others are forced to do.  On top of Jimmy’s personal success, both gubernatorial candidates in last year’s election committed themselves to changing the restoration process in Florida.  Jimmy and others working with ACLU Florida in the effort are hopeful new Governor Charlie Crist will be true to his word and that the path to rights restoration in the state will be made much simpler. Jimmy will now be voting in addition to his continued activism for the cause. 

Yvonne Cardona:  Yvonne is now settled with her family in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  She has taken a full time job to maintain her family and has also found time to become active in the community.  With a group of women, she has founded Woman To Woman, an organization dedicated to uplifting and empowering women in Alabama.  Working alongside other organizations in Alabama, Woman To Woman helps people in the state understand that many solutions have to be administered through women. Her daughters are doing well and her oldest, Angel, has started dance ministry of her own.  Clearly Yvonne is conscious of passing along the torch of activism she got from her mother. 

Jesse Clausen: Jesse has spent a lot of the last year rebuilding his personal life after having spent the previous few years working mostly as an unpaid activist.  The work paid off in Native American participation and increased clout in South Dakota but cost him a lot career-wise.  He has reentered the construction business, overseeing some large projects on the reservation and building a house for he and his wife Carol as well.  Jessie guesses that voter turnout on the Pine Ridge Reservation won't be as high this year for a number of reasons, the lack of a close race among them. The LaCreek District Civil Rights Committee he helped form is less active these days but Jesse continues to register voters as he works his way around the reservation.  You can bet all the Oglala Sioux he employs have heard from him how important it is to vote.