No Ordinary Kid

“… and a little child shall lead them…”  [Isa. 11:6, 8-9]

Children are magical creatures.  Like cherubic sponges they soak up knowledge at a staggering rate, going from totally helpless at birth to skillful escape artists in a matter of months.  They are what keeps the Earth spinning on its axis.  They are the spring rains that renew the life and hope that starts to elude those of us who have grown jaded and tired.

Meet Nicolas Seminerio of San Anselmo, California. Nick is the son of dear friends of mine.  I take great pleasure in claiming credit for his very existence.  Nick’s dad, John, a talented and successful graphic artist, was once hired by me as a temp in my company’s graphics department.  He became a protégé first and then a friend.  

One Christmas Eve we were sitting in a San Francisco diner after the office open house for families had drawn to a happy close and our chat took the inevitable turn to our respective love lives.  John seemed unusually taken by a young woman he had encountered professionally and I encouraged him – no, I practically ordered him to give her a call and ask her out.

My gift to them was to coordinate their wedding in one of the San Francisco Civic Center’s magnificent buildings.  I was quite proud of myself when the  lovely couple became partners for life.
Nicolas was born 16 years ago, two years after I had reluctantly transferred from San Francisco to Atlanta.  

Nick is no ordinary teen.  He is obviously handsome.  He is popular at Sir Francis Drake High School in Marin County, and he plays varsity tennis.  He even umps at Little League games. All that might be considered ordinary.  But not too many twelve-year-olds observe their mothers making campaign calls for Democratic candidates and ask to help.  Nick did. And he ended up training other volunteers and traveling to Carson City, Nevada to help get out the vote during the 2008 Presidential Campaign.


An ordinary teen is not named Volunteer of the Year, ahead of volunteers much older than him, by the Marin Democratic Party for the work he did for organizing for the Democratic Central Committee of Marin and for Organizing for America. Nick was. 

Today he leads two neighborhood teams in Marin, as well as the San Anselmo Youth team. The groups work to put on events, call likely voters, and encourage residents to vote in elections.  Nick says their recent work has been focused on working to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell and keeping healthcare reform from being repealed.

Nick has made hundreds of calls to voters and constituents, urging them to call their representative. He's trained older volunteers and led groups of young volunteers. As one of only 20 Organizing for America young interns in Northern California, Nick is now focused on getting more youth involved -- including establishing clubs at high schools. Drake, where Nick is a freshman, doesn't yet have a club.


His work has not gone unnoticed on the national level either.  In July 2011 Nicolas was invited to the White House to meet the World Series Giants and be present at an Obama presentation. Accompanied by his mom Jann Russell, Nick headed off to the White House!


Last week I was almost depressed by the way Washington has conducted itself.  I was feeling helpless and hopeless, as if everything we’ve worked so hard for was vaporizing into the ether.  Then I looked at this picture of Jann and Nick and saw the future.  Maybe it is time for us to turn to the youth of America and encourage kids like Nicolas Seminerio.  Maybe it is time for us, the warriors of the mid-20th century, to look to the warriors in training for leadership.  Nick’s not sitting on his sofa complaining about “them.”  He’s out there beating the bushes (excuse the pun) and making a difference.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to receive an invitation to Nick’s inauguration in January 2033.