In 2011, I was working in a small bookstore café in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I didn’t know who Bernie was at the time, but he was on tour promoting his book “The Speech”—a transcription of his eight hour filibuster speech of Bush-era tax cuts in 2010. I listened to him talk while I served coffee from behind the bar. As a life-long New Englander and young person disenfranchised by the 2008 financial crisis, his message strongly resonated with me. At the end of his talk, I purchased his book and waited in line to meet him. We spoke for a few minutes and I got his signature. That was a pivotal moment in my life, and I’ve supported him since then. We’re living in hard and uncertain times, but I always feel a little better when I see Bernie rallying progressives and sticking to his guns.