Fourteen years ago I was videotaping a welfare rights demonstration at Hennepin County when a short, balding man stepped up to speak. "My name is Paul Wellstone and I'm going to be your next Senator from the great state of Minnesota," he said. There were about twenty people milling around; he caught everybody's attention. Later that year Paul Wellstone came to MTN to tape in our studio. He was a grass roots candidate who understood grass roots community media. Senator Wellstone appeared regularly on public access throughout his public career. On the day of his tragic and untimely death, Senator Wellstone was featured on "Somali TV."  In the weeks leading up to his death he had appeared on "Lao TV" and "Gaze TV." On "Lao TV" he began his speech by addressing the crowd in Laotian. On "Gaze TV" he was featured at the Minnesota Aids Walk. He never missed that event. Public access cameras are truly an eye on our community and the fact that Paul Wellstone showed up on more public access programs than any other politician is a testament to the kind of public figure he was. The loss of Paul Wellstone has hit many of us hard. In these difficult times we need to remember that our community production work is what he stood and fought for. It doesn't always seem like our messages get heard over the glitzy commercial programming on the channels next to ours. However, he role-modeled that substance is more important than glitz. We must remember that as we forge ahead. --Pamela Colby