(no subject)
I am sitting here filled with nervous energy, and I know I'm going to open the CNN results tracker at 7:00pm, even though that early it'll be meaningless. I am not far gone enough to look at exit polls, because they are a joke. I know as soon as real results start getting tallied I'm going to get phone calls, texts, and emails from a number of family members, who will be watching as intensely as I am.
That rule about no politics and religion at the dinner table never applied to my family. Politics and current events were and are often the default discussion subject. When I was in pre-school I was singing old union songs, and added '60s protest folk/folk-rock songs a few years later. The only baby or bridal shower I've been to that I enjoyed was a few hours of some of the women in my family eating fancy cheese and talking politics. The first election I could vote in was 2000, my first year at Smith, and I stayed up all night glued to my computer and that tracker. (So I didn't have the experience some did of going to bed with Al Gore president and waking up to Bush.) Four years ago the night Barack Obama won the nomination my dad called me when I was on the bus on the way home from work, because it was so historic. When Obama won the election I started crying, because up to that moment I wasn't sure our country would really do it. This time if he wins, I'll just feel relieved. But right now I'm jittery, and hoping those state polls Nate Silver has been using were accurate and we're not going to get a Bradley effect dose of hidden racism.
Something that hasn't changed for the past few election cycles: I want John King's magic map. (Yes, I know it's called a smart board. But 'magic map' is more fun.)
That rule about no politics and religion at the dinner table never applied to my family. Politics and current events were and are often the default discussion subject. When I was in pre-school I was singing old union songs, and added '60s protest folk/folk-rock songs a few years later. The only baby or bridal shower I've been to that I enjoyed was a few hours of some of the women in my family eating fancy cheese and talking politics. The first election I could vote in was 2000, my first year at Smith, and I stayed up all night glued to my computer and that tracker. (So I didn't have the experience some did of going to bed with Al Gore president and waking up to Bush.) Four years ago the night Barack Obama won the nomination my dad called me when I was on the bus on the way home from work, because it was so historic. When Obama won the election I started crying, because up to that moment I wasn't sure our country would really do it. This time if he wins, I'll just feel relieved. But right now I'm jittery, and hoping those state polls Nate Silver has been using were accurate and we're not going to get a Bradley effect dose of hidden racism.
Something that hasn't changed for the past few election cycles: I want John King's magic map. (Yes, I know it's called a smart board. But 'magic map' is more fun.)