Originally, this story was supposed to be an opinion story about signing up for the Freedom Dividend raffle. This was going to be a soaring epic about the process of signing up for a chance to get $1,000 a month, and realizing myself as a person in the process. I was going to get really deep: “Maybe the real Freedom Dividend was the friends we made along the way”.

Unfortunately, the raffle deadline passed a few days ago, and the story got moved to the back page. Fortunately, I am pretty experienced with haggling out due dates. I hopped onto the Yang campaign website and slid into the chatbot’s DMs.

“Hi, just wanted to start by saying thanks for your time. I had some internet issues, so I couldn't turn in my application for the Freedom Dividend raffle on time. Could I possibly turn in the assignment now, maybe for half credit ($500?) or something? Sorry I couldn't catch you during tutorial. I appreciate it, Allen Chen.”

Mr. Yang and his underlings never got back to me for some reason. I decided to switch gears. Searching through his website, I noticed an artist collaboration section. Recalling something my mom told me about making more political art, I decided to contribute a piece. I got a piece of binder paper and drew Mr. Yang’s face with some Expo Markers I found on the ground. Then, I scanned it into a computer and did some light cleaning in Photoshop.

Now that I have contributed somewhat to the Yang campaign, I think I have successfully replaced the premise of signing up for the Freedom Dividend raffle. Also, I now have the high ground to tell my friends to participate in politics.

Although I don’t have $1,000 a month or the grand saga I was trying to write, the fulfillment of having spent 5 minutes submitting artwork to Andrew Yang’s website more than compensates the disappointment. From now on, I am proud to be an active member of American politics.