cha-cha-changes...

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 1:20pm.

first of all, let me say to all my republican friends threatening to leave the country: GO!


seriously. we spent eight years dealing with a man who wasn't really elected and who won by such a small margin that the country was literally divided. we stuck it out for eight years trying to answer questions like, "is our children learning?" Now, now that a gracious, eloquent, thoughtful individual gets elected by the people, by a LANDSLIDE, now you want to go? AWESOME! BEAT IT. you take all the assualt rifles and creationism; leave us due process and freedom of speech.

last night was SO unbelieveable. it felt like the whole world was there.

we got on the train to go downtown at around 5:30 and it got progressively more and more packed the closer to downtown it got. we got off and headed into grant park about 6 (with some pit stops to buy tee shirts and flags). when we got there it wasn't so bad. you even had room to turn around or sit on the ground. we got a great spot not too far from the stage and under a huge projecter screen. then we waited and waited and waited. and got hungry. while the giant screens broadcasted all the CNN updates. it was so cool to be around people with the same ideals i have, it was so cool to feel this crazy electricity running through everyone. at around 8:30 i started to get really paranoid and claustraphobic when i stuck my camera up in the air to take pictures and realized we were surrounded by literally a million people. i started freaking out a little thinking Oh My God if anywhere is vulnerable to a hate crime it is here, in front of a million people, during a victory rally for a black president. i stopped sitting down after that for fear of getting crushed.

actually though, the security was pretty insane. i think they did something to scatter the cell phone signals because my phone/internet was completely unusable. orion was really frustrated by this. i think he felt more panicked over not being able to call his fam than i did over the fear of becomming a human pancake. there were pat downs and bag searches going into grant park, and about a million narcs, helicopters, and police officers. so, i think we were ok.

when the news broke that we won Ohio everyone went crazy. people were screaming and chanting. it was so cool to be a part of that.

the news was running a countdown to the polls closing on the west coast, so it was totally like new years eve. the last ten seconds everyone was screaming together "ten...nine...eight..." and like clockwork at exactly ten'o'clock the screen started flashing "Barack Obama voted President Elect!"

everyone. went. insane.

people were sobbing and hugging complete strangers. even oprah was clasping these two weird looking old white people who she laughed about on her show this morning saying, "i had never met them before in my life." I have never experienced such outright jubliation. it was like nothing i have ever been a part of before. everyone loved everyone. it was like we were all apart of the same larger organism. without getting too shmaltzy about it, it was almost like an out of body experience. i don't think i will ever feel that again. complete unity with a MILLION other people. it was so beautiful to see all these people crying together and generations of black families gathering together, grandparents sleeping in wheelchairs and babies asleep on their parents shoulder and everyone screaming "yes we can!" together. wow.

it was unseasonably warm for november. most people were in tee shirts. it was just altogether the perfect night. on the news this morning they were talking about how many celebrities were in grant park last night and seriously no one even noticed. supposedly brad pitt and angelina jolie were there without any security. it was like we all were the same.

trying to get out of grant park and onto the train with thousands of other people was not easy. it turned into like a mardi gras atmosphere. everyone was dancing in the streets and singing. it was like being in a parade. we walked all the way to the beginning of the loop to catch the train before it traveled downtown so that we could get a seat and not be squished like sardines.

we finally got home at about 2:30 AM and watched the late news wrap up and to look for ourselves among the millions of people and cameras on TV. i have SO many pictures of complete strangers. i wonder how many of them got pictures of me? i was standing behind a woman being interviewed for a Danish news channel. it is quite possible we are broadcast all over the world. that is stunning. it's weird to think that in fifty years someone might be watching file footage of this election and see me and orion crying and kissing at the victory rally. like woodstock. whoa.

i am feeling so grateful and so emotional :)




COMMENTS:
Victoria: You do realize that many events are from events perpetrated way before the 8 years of our current prez... and that it will take a quite a few years before you can see any real change? I hate to see this country be divided by what party is in power as opposed to dealing with the fact that the president seat right now is a postition of extreme burden and needs to be handled as effectively as possible! Party affiliations and racial affiliations should be left at the door.

November 5, 2008 at 1:24pm

JL:  It sounds amazing. I echo Victoria in that if folks are truly grateful and excited about unity and less of the same, then the last thing to do is what the far right did in 2001 and 2004, which is basically say "Love it or leave it." I know... you're just expressing your joy, and you should. As a young voter, you have your Kennedy. I felt similar when Bill Clinton took office in 92, my first election. I remember crying as the balloons fell, and that wasn't even remotely the same as Obama's impact/vibe. But until the cycle truly ends, until people stop just talking about coming together and actually sacrifice their desire for a bit of a "fuck you" moment, however seemingly justified and desirable, it will only continue to engender bitterness and frustration.
November 5, 2008 at 1:38pm

Sara: Hey, um, remember when I called you last night? Not a highlight, eh? Well, at least I know where I stand.
November 5, 2008 at 1:42pm

Grace: sorry guys, i see what you're saying, but i refuse to bite down on my enthusiasm (on the day after the election for cryin out loud!) after eight years in the sahara. also, i hate to sound like a total hippie (not to mention a teenager) but... here goes:
you wouldn't understand. you weren't there.
November 5, 2008 at 1:56pm

Tranette: Amen, Grace! People have become so freakin jaded it's hard to just take a day and be happy, if not for Obama, that some resolution has been reached in this country! At least after the longest two years EVER!!!! we know where we stand and wh...at we face. As an Obama supporter, I wept in a bar with people I didn't even know, who pulled me inside to watch the speech because I was walking down the street trying to get to the train to get downtown. That's love right there. We all know he's got a lot to do! Duh, he's the president of America! And he inherited a pretty crappy America but "for the first time in my adult life" I can say, "God bless America, I am proud to be an American!!!!"
November 5, 2008 at 3:11pm

Grace: thank you tranette!!! I couldn't agree more. also, I think that the phrase "cautious optimism" is such a sad contradiction. what happened to plain ol' optimism?
November 5, 2008 at 3:24pm

Tranette: It's not the cool thing to do. You have to make sure you don't sound too anything that isn't cynical. We're supposed to be "intellectual" which is supposed to = apathy and cynicism. I get a lot of flack for my faith that is completely unwar...ranted and undeserved simply because it requires faith. I'm not some overbearing evangelist but I get lumped in with them all the time because I subscribe to something that is more traditional and that's not what the cool kids are doing. Personally, if people stop worrying so much about other people's personal business, we'd all be able to have a love-fest the likes of last night!
November 5, 2008 at 3:55pm

Grace: haha- I don't think we'll ever be able to recreate last night's lovefest, but I'm all for trying
November 5, 2008 at 3:59pm · LikeUnlike · .

Victoria: Moments can always be grasped! Collective emotions of that magnitude are electrifying-perfectly understandable that Grace felt so elated.
November 5, 2008 at 4:31pm

Jacqueline: Tranette said it. Thank you for sharing this. It was delightful to read. I'm not sure about the race thing...I think we want to think we can ignore it, but I think this assumption is sometimes based on the idea that race is about color, when (and really, I'm white so I don't even feel comfortable acting like I know anything about it) it's really about experience. that's why race matters.
November 5, 2008 at 4:49pm · LikeUnlike · .

Tranette: Race will always be an issue. Hopefully we can get to a point where it's not a problem. You made a really good point and, as you said, you being white comes with it's own set of experiences so you have as much right to discuss race as anyon...e. You can't talk about the Latino or Black or Asian experience but you have experienced things in a certain way because you're White. Once we can all share or race experiences without awkwardness and apprehension, then we'll have truly moved forward. That's my opinion, of course.
November 5, 2008 at 5:05pm

Jacqueline: I live in the south. It's a deep wound here, actually. I hope Obama's presidency furthers the healing process.
November 5, 2008 at 5:18pm

Mom: Well, just to nitpick: He won the electoral college by a large amount but the popular vote was 52% to 47% (last I heard). Sounds like the country is still divided to me. I also agree with Victoria that events percolate for a long time. ...Obama even said last nite "...it might not happen in a year, it might not happen in one term..." I think JL is a bit stodgy, but he's just trying to say let your joy be contagious so curb that acid tongue. But I am happy to see the joy and hope that this has brought people of color. I think election night in Grant Park was a once in a lifetime experience. I'm glad you went.
November 5, 2008 at 5:57pm · LikeUnlike · .

Kelly: excellent note grace, im glad you went too...if people have problems with what you say, you know who really matters anyway
November 6, 2008 at 3:44pm · LikeUnlike · .

Tranette: Oh it's a deep wound in the North, we're just better at hiding it. My mother was raised in Mississippi but didn't go to her first segregated school until she went to Crane HS here in Chicago. How's that for a mind trip?
November 7, 2008 at 7:27pm