Getting my vote on

I was just about to start this blog post with a statement about how this is my second election to vote in the state of Washington, however I just had the chilling thought that I think I may NOT have voted last year. Erm, well that would be a sad fact, but now that I think about it I think I was so thrown off by this whole “ballot in the mail” thing (and my recent cross-country move) that I may neglected my duty as a citizen. Well, if that is true and I did forget to vote last year, I am totally going to make up for it and vote twice this year! I mean that’s totally how it works right? Just save up all your votes for the really important stuff.
Well sarcasm aside, I think this is the year where I actually realized how handy it is to have your ballot in your home, where you can take your time to read the thick and somewhat incomprehensible voter’s guide, check out the voter’s guides of your choice (I found a nice balance between Washington’s Progressive Voter’s Guide and the Stranger’s endorsements). I am also happy to say that while my ballot was close to a straight democratic ticket, I did vote for a Republican, a moderate who is running for Lieutenant Governor and seems to be an all around better candidate. While not an frequent choice, I do value the chance to vote outside party lines, especially in today’s uber divided political atmosphere.

So there you go, my biggest accomplishment today. I wish everyone a happy voting day tomorrow, may your lines be short and your votes counted.

 

you must watch this

I love Jon Stewart

In this clip he explains succinctly why he doesn’t like Sarah Palin.  Here’s a clue, it isn’t because she is pretty and from Alaska.

the sun I didn’t sit in and how my weekend went

Today was absolutely spectacular weather, or at least it looked like it through the windows of the library.  I shouldn’t be too whiny about my lack of outside activity today I did get a nice 20 minutes at lunch, a short walk to and from the ministry center.  But I would have loved for today to be one of those days in which I could have walked to the lake or read a book on the front porch.  Especially because tomorrow looks to bring back the 40s and 50s more appropriate for mid-March Chicago.

This past weekend was a bit of a dreary one, mainly due to my own brilliant idea to postpone finishing my assignment during the week, because gosh darn it spring break means not doing homework!  Obviously this translated into doing homework all weekend.  Fortunately I did get to do a few fun things including, but not limited too: a crazy full too bursting early St. Patty’s dinner with the girls (plus Josh) at Celtic Knot, church workday that including wiping dusty books, pulling up carpet and sealing a sandblasted brick wall.  Oh and Saturday night, Tim and Charletta caome over for dinner and we played a round of Evo, a quirky game in which you attempt to evolve your dinosaurs faster and better than your opponents, only to have everyone wiped out by the game-ending meteor.

I think the other highlights of the weekend would be watching two rather solidly done movies, Happy-Go-Lucky and Milk.  The first tells a story of a stubornly happy and very quirky British woman, who seems somewhat oblivious to the rareness of her joy.  If you like British humor, internal story lines and films set in London I highly recommend Sally Hawkins as Poppy.  The second tells the powerful story of gay-rights activist, Harvey Milk, who became the first openly gay man elected to major public office in the US.  This movie worked really well, portraying an incredible person and the troubling reality that may homosexuals endured during the 1970s, while not sugar-coating either the humanity of Milk or the solution to our nations’ problems with equality.  In the end it wasn’t the ending of this movie that I found hard to watch, but the venomous lies spewed throughout the film from so called “Christian” leaders.  Leaders who used their mis-interpreted Biblical teachings, to encourage bigotry and propose the unfair laws focused on in the film.  Especially in the wake of the recent passing of Proposition 8, I find the way Christian churches, of a variety of denominations, played vital roles in the success of that bill, so endlessly sad and frustrating.  The Christian church, who should be on the forefront of defending equality, seems to so often come down on the side of supporting and enforcing the status quo.  It is this part of the church that I find so hard to reconcile with my personal experience of church as a place of welcome, love and service.  That all said 🙂 I would recomend the movie Milk to those of you who have a pulse, care about issues of equality and enjoy well-done movies.

I was there and I am so glad to be here

Last night a few hundred thousand of my closest friends and I converged on a park in downtown chicago to eat slices of incredibly overpriced pizza, see CNN results on a jumbotron and listen to overly loud music piped in over speakers.  My little group of four (a splinter of the original eight) found a small hill at the back of the park so that we wouldn’t have to stand in the packed out crowd for 4+ hours.  Around me there were people of all ages and races, probably one of the most diverse crowds I have ever been a part of.  Cheering after every state went blue on CNN, the crowd was excited, loud, but also respectful.  Of course the real event started at 10pm, when the race was called (2 hours earlier than my highest hopes) for Barack Obama.

I have to admit at that moment I got a teary eyed, for the first time (in my relatively short life) I was watching the beginnings of a presidency that not only inspires and excites me, but I think holds the potential to heal a few of the rifts within both America and the global community.  Around an hour later Obama and his family finally came out on stage and I watched those tiny figures as they smiled and waved to the crowd and I realized what a huge responsibility must have settled on those shoulders.  And then I listened to an incredible speech, which more then once sent shivers down my spine that we as a country have such an eloquent, compassionate, forward thinking leader.

So yes I am very glad to have been there last night; to have stood in crowd lines waiting for checkpoints, metal detectors and bathrooms; to have been a part of a crowd larger then the population of Alaska, to have seen the next president (even if he was only a tiny little dot on a far away stage); to have listened to a voicemail from my parents informing me that Indiana was by most accounts going to go blue after almost 40 years of red; to have joined the huge mass of people who emptied out of the park and made our way to the CTA (which ran smoother than I have seen it run on nights where it is not transporting a quarter of a million people).

But a post about last night would not be complete with the huge disapointment that, according to CNN, it looks very likely that Proposition 8 will pass in California, which will once again take away the right of people to marry the people they love.  Also another large disappoint were several other ballot measures that banned gay marraige and even in one state took away the right of non-married individuals to adopt children.  But like Obama said last night, if 106 years ago a black woman could not vote for multiple reasons and today our country elected a black man as president; then I do have hope that in another 100 years (and hopefully far sooner) this country will treat its citizens equally regardless of sexual orientation or gender.

I just gave and so should you

For those out there who a) don’t know b) live in Canada c) live in Indonesia, this election season is big stuff around here.  People all over are getting involved in a variety of ways.  One of my co-workers makes buttons at the local Obama office, another teacher I know travels to Wisconsin on the weekends to get out the vote and people from all over are making donations and caring.  Which I have to say is pretty awesome to see.  Yesterday I got an email from my dad announcing that he has broken his 56 year habit of not donating to presidential campaigns and gave $86 bucks (see comments) to Obama.

I was so inspired I followed suit (but not as much because I am neither that old or that having-the-money right now) and I also donated money to the Human Rights Campaign (a pretty awesome organization that fights for the rights of all regardless of sexual orientation).  This past year California did a wonderful thing and legalized same sex marriage, which was beautiful, inspiring and long overdue.  Some really cool people I knew from college got married and lots of other happy couples around the nation.  But unfortunately a little thing called Proposition 8 is threatening that.

So without further ado, go! Yes, go right now over to HRC (or your other favorite advocating organization) and donate.  Maybe only 5 bucks or your leftover lunch money or your entire 10,000 dollar inheritance, but just go and give a little.  Maybe it will be your 5.73 that makes the difference and preserves the right for people in California to be awesome with whoever they want.

Looky Daddy is another one of those wonderful parent blogs and he recently created this and other posters to help build awareness about Proposition 8

Now is the time to donate. Let your support be known.