Tuesday, November 4, 2008
First Time Voter
The View From Your Election: DC
A reader writes:
At 3 p.m. on Election Day, the Foundry Methodist Church voting station in Dupont Circle was doing light but brisk business. As I signed my name to receive my ballot, one of the poll workers loudly asked another to ring the small bell on their table. "Everyone please listen up for a moment," he boomed while holding on to an old black woman standing perhaps 5'2" with a huge grin. "This is our special voter of the day. She's 95 years old and this is her first time voting."
As everyone in the room took her in and the thundering applause echoed through the old church basement, her glinting eyes quickly teared up and she somehow managed an even bigger smile.
The quote above is from Andrew Sullivan's blog, The Daily Dish. People are writing in with their voting experiences from the day.
Visualize President Obama
From: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gsxkmk
(I'm doing this now. This had Anna Sian and I teary-eyed).
Please join us on November 4th and invest ten minutes to one hour visualizing President Elect Barack Obama on inaugural day and being sworn in with Michelle by his side. See the flags flying, hear the crowd cheering! BE in the feeling of joy and celebration of such a triumphant moment.
During the primaries, this event had almost 1200 people signed up from more than 18 countries.
Now it's time to reconvene and use the power of prayer, mediation, focused intent and emotional visualization to bring this thing home.
Please sign up and tell us where you will be during your visualization time. Our last event had people from all over the US as well as from these countries: Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Jamaica, Kuwait, United Kingdom, Japan, South Africa, Nigeria, France, Finland, Costa Rica, St. Lucia/St. Kitts, Zambia, Sudan
Remember to let yourself see the inauguration in great detail. Imagine the weather, the motorcade, the world-wide attention, the crowds, the beautiful Obama family on the stage, etc. Allow yourself to FEEL the excitement you know will be reverberating through billions of people around the world. THIS IS OUR MOMENT! THIS IS OUR TIME!
I suggest we do this in two steps:
1. Before you go to bed on November 3rd spend from 10 minutes to 1 hour focused on the inauguration. Push aside any doubts about election day or whether the race will be called any particular time.
2. As soon as you awake on November 4th, before you even get out of bed, just allow the images of the inauguration to flow across the screen of your mind, almost like a dream. Maybe you even imagine the inaugural ball and Michelle and Barack dancing.
Throughout the day, you can return to this image. If you are doing GOTV like me, working the polls, serving as a lawyer to protect voting rights, or simply waiting in lines for AS LONG AS IT TAKES to vote. Be comforted by this image. FEEL the joy of it in your bones.
Remember to remain unattached to how things unfold on November 4th and focus instead on January 20th, 2009 - the first day of the Obama presidency.
(I'm doing this now. This had Anna Sian and I teary-eyed).
Please join us on November 4th and invest ten minutes to one hour visualizing President Elect Barack Obama on inaugural day and being sworn in with Michelle by his side. See the flags flying, hear the crowd cheering! BE in the feeling of joy and celebration of such a triumphant moment.
During the primaries, this event had almost 1200 people signed up from more than 18 countries.
Now it's time to reconvene and use the power of prayer, mediation, focused intent and emotional visualization to bring this thing home.
Please sign up and tell us where you will be during your visualization time. Our last event had people from all over the US as well as from these countries: Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Jamaica, Kuwait, United Kingdom, Japan, South Africa, Nigeria, France, Finland, Costa Rica, St. Lucia/St. Kitts, Zambia, Sudan
Remember to let yourself see the inauguration in great detail. Imagine the weather, the motorcade, the world-wide attention, the crowds, the beautiful Obama family on the stage, etc. Allow yourself to FEEL the excitement you know will be reverberating through billions of people around the world. THIS IS OUR MOMENT! THIS IS OUR TIME!
I suggest we do this in two steps:
1. Before you go to bed on November 3rd spend from 10 minutes to 1 hour focused on the inauguration. Push aside any doubts about election day or whether the race will be called any particular time.
2. As soon as you awake on November 4th, before you even get out of bed, just allow the images of the inauguration to flow across the screen of your mind, almost like a dream. Maybe you even imagine the inaugural ball and Michelle and Barack dancing.
Throughout the day, you can return to this image. If you are doing GOTV like me, working the polls, serving as a lawyer to protect voting rights, or simply waiting in lines for AS LONG AS IT TAKES to vote. Be comforted by this image. FEEL the joy of it in your bones.
Remember to remain unattached to how things unfold on November 4th and focus instead on January 20th, 2009 - the first day of the Obama presidency.
New York Times Word Train Graphic
The New York Times website has an amazing visual representation of the mood of the country right now. You can type in the word that best describes how you're feeling and it'll go into the data. The most frequent words are the biggest at the top and you can re-describe your feeling each hour. The words are even divided by McCain and Obama supporters so you can get a pulse on how each camp is feeling.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/04/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_WORDTRAIN.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Russian boys singing to Sarah Palin
I don't fully buy that these boys are in Russia, looks like part of Brooklyn in the background to me, but who cares? This video is catchy.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Gay Thoughts, Race Thoughts
Something about living in Texas makes me get teary-eyed when I see beautiful, solid, media representation of gays (see example below). Austin is safe for gays as a whole and celebratory in some ways too, though there are always weird incidents that happen. Sometimes the incidents are far worse than just weird; there have been a few recent bus-beating incidents in Austin that definitely made me think about my safety as a lesbian.
I will say that Austin is a largely happy and progressive town, but there is a lot of general ignorance here about race, sexuality, and gender identity. The ignorance is remarkably high and un-checked compared to my experience in New York/ New England. I can only attribute it to the relative isolation of this enormous state holding down the center of our country far from the big cities of both coasts.
I was talking to my friend Amber about this last night: We all, from whatever racial background we are, need to be doing as much intentional anti-racism work, and pro-inclusion work around sexual and gender identities as we can. Let us allow each other the space to be honest and challenge each other for the parts of the collective, societal racism that we carry. It is all the unchecked bits and pieces of institutional racism we allow to survive in us that keep the collective racism alive. It is all the little unchecked pieces of racism, in even the most tolerant among us, that allow people to still be uncertain a bi-racial man could lead our country.
Now for what got me teary-eyed. I just watched the preview for a new film coming out November 21st, "I Can't Think Straight." The film is transnational writer Shamim Sarif's directorial debut and is a romantic comedy in which the lead protagonists are both women of color. More on it from the film's website:
[In] “I Can’t Think Straight”...the cultural backdrop forms an intelligent base for [the protagonists'] journey towards self-awareness and each other.
Tala, a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian origin, prepares for an elaborate wedding with her Jordanian fiancé, when she encounters a timid Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend Ali.
I Can't Think Straight opens in New York and Los Angeles Nov. 21. For more on the movie visit its official website.
I will say that Austin is a largely happy and progressive town, but there is a lot of general ignorance here about race, sexuality, and gender identity. The ignorance is remarkably high and un-checked compared to my experience in New York/ New England. I can only attribute it to the relative isolation of this enormous state holding down the center of our country far from the big cities of both coasts.
I was talking to my friend Amber about this last night: We all, from whatever racial background we are, need to be doing as much intentional anti-racism work, and pro-inclusion work around sexual and gender identities as we can. Let us allow each other the space to be honest and challenge each other for the parts of the collective, societal racism that we carry. It is all the unchecked bits and pieces of institutional racism we allow to survive in us that keep the collective racism alive. It is all the little unchecked pieces of racism, in even the most tolerant among us, that allow people to still be uncertain a bi-racial man could lead our country.
Now for what got me teary-eyed. I just watched the preview for a new film coming out November 21st, "I Can't Think Straight." The film is transnational writer Shamim Sarif's directorial debut and is a romantic comedy in which the lead protagonists are both women of color. More on it from the film's website:
[In] “I Can’t Think Straight”...the cultural backdrop forms an intelligent base for [the protagonists'] journey towards self-awareness and each other.
Tala, a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian origin, prepares for an elaborate wedding with her Jordanian fiancé, when she encounters a timid Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend Ali.
I Can't Think Straight opens in New York and Los Angeles Nov. 21. For more on the movie visit its official website.
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