the day after
I cried during the 2004 elections. After working with MoveOn canvassing and volunteering to keep watch at my local polling station, I lost it as the Colorado Democrats gathered at a downtown hotel to watch the election results come in. (Remember that amazing, however futile, moment when Ohio went back up for grabs? I thought I was going to piss myself.) The night wore on, and it became clear that we had another unbearably long four years ahead of us.
I called in sick to work the next day. What else could I do when I knew all I could say to my students was “Look kids, we’re all fucked. It’s no use. Go home.” Yeah, I could have been mature about it and used the defeat as a “teachable moment” about our so-called democracy. Instead, I stayed home, yelled at a door-to-door church guy when he continued to press me after I pointed to the Kerry sign in our window and warned him that it wasn’t a good time to bother me. He then had the gall to tell me that if I believed in God, it wouldn’t matter who was in charge. Wrong move, buddy, wrong move. Anyway, I went to visit our friends whose son was unlucky enough to enter the world on the day Bush “won” another presidential term. Holding a brand spanking new life in my arms and smelling the top of his little head was just what I needed to put things back into perspective. However, going to his 2nd birthday party last weekend just reminded me that, damn, we still have another two years to go.
But this election year, I didn’t call in sick and I didn’t cry (although Colorado conservativism retained its “hate state” reputation by passing homophobic legislation). Rummy is gone, Pelosi is head girl, and the Senate is turning blue.
Things are looking up.
