O-bomb-A!

I will never forget where I was last night, the strangely distance anticipation, blankly hearing the snide babble of the BBC anchors. Everyone in the room was certain that Obama would win, but I still had an unforgivable pain in my side that reminds me over and over that we have made the wrong decision before. I will never forget the walk home from dan’s house. It’s a misty twilight at 4:30 AM. I hear the birds rousing from their nests and perches as I walk steadily homeward. In one hand I’ve a bottle of half-drunk shiraz in the other I flip two keys over each other and over and over. I feel a surreal calm. A parched lip that had been brought to water, a fever that had finally been broken. And I go to my  bed, in England, assured that I don’t have to be frightened for the future of my country, at least that I don’t have to fear that I am part of a country whose policies are dishonesty and deceit. I can be proud that we have moved forward when we could have easily stepped back into the shadows of familiarity. I can be proud of the person who stands as an icon of America, and can at least be hopeful that this person had my best interests in mind, and the best interests of my compatriots. 

Cody and I were talking about the election on our way home from European Realisms lecture. He commented how he thought it was frightening in a way, because the media was treating Obama as a messianic symbol. And we compared him to JFK. I agree that it can be dangerous to think of a politician with this kind of non-political rhetoric. This rhetoric of hope and change so closely resembles the speeches of Martin Luther King, that I can’t help but a cringe a little. Remembering the last time someone tried to overturn injustice. But then. I know that we are ready to face this opposition, and I think that this is the reason Obama has become so symbolic in the few short hours that he has been declared our 44th president. He is a symbol of transition, of bridging a once insurmountable gap. A gap between races and religions and human beings in general, that has led our country to be bitter and divided and scared to death of each other. We may have gotten past the civil rights movement, the same ‘rights’ may be alloted to ‘all’ citizens, but we never talked about it. We’ve been trying to push it further and further into the deepest darkest corners of our closet. We cover it up with gossip and entertainment, and popular culture that operates on the shallowest principles of human relationships. We slayed the dragon, but we never buried it. It’s been the white elephant in the room for 40 years and we are finally acknowledging its presence, and saying “Hey, why don’t you have a seat? I think we have some things we need to talk about.”

The injustices allowed by ignorance + time, have been mostly ignored, but the eyes of the man who does not blink while facing the fiery beast will not tremble in fear, indeed, he will be mostly right on.

Halloween and Elections!

I should be writing an essay right now. It’s funny how, when you’re supposed to be doing something else, you find all kinds of other stuff you haven’t taken care of yet. I mean, I had a ton of pictures on my computer that just NEEDED to be converted over to my external hard drive. And my Myspace account, well that needed some serious attention. I had so many spam comments that I just HAD to delete from my profile page, I don’t want to look lazy. Facebook, though, is the most appealing distraction ever created. Something is always happening. It’s like watching a really entertaining ant farm, where the ants are always getting into these dramatic tiffs that would be incomprehensible if you stopped looking over every ten minutes. I tried to unplug my Internet, but I kept finding reasons to plug it back in. “Hmm, I would like to know a little more about Plato’s concept of forms before I can go on with this paragraph, and I mean, while i’m at it, I might as well whack up my e-mail, give it a little look, won’t stay too long though, no I can’t spare a minute for it- just a few seconds.” And on and on, so needless to say, I decided to write a blog entry, because well, I  mean, it’s been awhile. I know you are all anxious for updates. So I can’t leave my audience anticipating now can I?

Halloween was less great than I expected it to be. I thought that since I could go to bars that it would be more fun. But I was wrong, going to the pubs just seemed like a cop out. I would much rather be running around in the streets dressed as a used car salesman, than sitting in Woody’s dressed as what could only be described as a Dutch Cheese Maid (that label was contributed by my Dutch friend Maurice- thank you).

Dan, Bri, and I in our kitchen before the night

Don’t get me wrong, I had fun. I always have fun, but I didn’t have Halloween Fun- spooky, creepy, guts and eyeballs Halloween candy out my ears and teeth fun. But it was nice. And the night before, I carved pumpkins with a group of Americans. Dan (English) had never carved a pumpkin before, so it was nice to see his pumpkin carving cherry popped, and I do say he carved a pretty good pumpkin. Although it did end up with a little bit of a cleft lip, but all pumpkins are unique.

So elections are TODAY! Jesus Christ. For the first time since 1964, Indiana is a yellow state. We might actually have something to say other than “Yes Republican, of course, what else would we vote for?!” I am cautiously hopeful. I know a lot of people who have voted for Mr. Obama, and I hope that trend continues. My prediction (however slanted and unrealistically optimistic) is that all those republicans who said they would support McCain, are just puttin up a front. You know how they’re saying that those who have ‘committed’ their vote to Obama might change their mind at the polls because he is a black man? Well I think the opposite is going to happen. No NRA supporting blue collar white man in Mississippi can go around saying he supports Obama- but we all know he does. Because that blue collared white man is more intelligent than we give him credit for. He knows who to vote for, but I mean, he has an image to keep up doesn’t he? Let’s hope. 

Tonight they are hosting an all night elections event at Woody’s (my court’s pub). It will be nice to be around a lot of people who legitimately care about this election. And to watch some television. I won’t deny that I do love television. But seriously. This election is going down in the history books. This is the election that will influence everything. Everyone is holding their breath. The world is looking at America right now to make the right decision- because it is a decision that will ultimately have effect on the rest of the world. I just hope that I will not have to be the representative for a terrible mistake on the part of my people. I don’t want to answer those questions, those accusations that the people of my country are stupid. Because we aren’t stupid damnit! We know what the right decision is!

But in case you are still unsure, just think of Jewel. And ask yourself:

Who will save our souls?