Hurrah!
Tuesday night, I was busy in my dark, window-less office, tutoring students for an upcoming midterm. I was getting over a could, nursing myself back to good health. While students worked on practice problems, I ran back and forth frantically between them and the computer, refreshing politico's website and looking for signs that the election might go Obama's way. In truth, I knew it would. I've spent the last 3 weeks reading fivethirtyeight.com feverishly and scouring any and all statistical evidence of how the election my turn out. Nonetheless, knowing something is going to happen and actually witnessing it happen are two different things. Finally, around 9:30 the last student left. My office mate and I gathered around the computer about the time they reported Ohio as an Obama win. I called up Joe; he was at a bar in Adams Morgan, The Reef, not more than a 30 minute walk from my office. So I put on my coat and headed out into the cold, rainy night.
When I finally arrived at the bar; I found Joe and a group of friends huddled around a computer, hitting refresh. A huge flat screen TV was on; everyone was watching the countdown and everyone was in a festive mood. This is DC. We voted 93% to elect Obama for president. If you live in DC, chances are pretty damn good that you are either poor and black, or young, white, and very well educated. In other words, this is Obama country.
It was moments later that they called Virginia for Obama. The bar went crazy. Everyone was shouting and raising their beers in the air for toasts. In the bottom right corner of the TV screen was a countdown till polls closed on the West coast. 2:01 it said. Seconds later they called the election for Obama and the roof came off the house. People spilled out of the bar and into 18th street. They were *literally* dancing in the street, and they shut down the entire road for a good 2 or 3 hours in celebration. The champaign corks came off; the bar tenders did a shot together. Everyone was happy! Even at 1 in the morning as I walked back to my place, people were out on what are typically the most desolate streets, shouting "Obama!!", hollering up and down the street, honking car horns, and giving each other high fives as we passed. One guy shouted as I passed, "enjoy the moment! Smoke all your best doogie!"
I went home. Wrote an e-mail to Lu. Went to bed. Woke up 5 hours later to teach. The bike ride to school never felt so rewarding, like a breath of fresh air. Finally.
When I finally arrived at the bar; I found Joe and a group of friends huddled around a computer, hitting refresh. A huge flat screen TV was on; everyone was watching the countdown and everyone was in a festive mood. This is DC. We voted 93% to elect Obama for president. If you live in DC, chances are pretty damn good that you are either poor and black, or young, white, and very well educated. In other words, this is Obama country.
It was moments later that they called Virginia for Obama. The bar went crazy. Everyone was shouting and raising their beers in the air for toasts. In the bottom right corner of the TV screen was a countdown till polls closed on the West coast. 2:01 it said. Seconds later they called the election for Obama and the roof came off the house. People spilled out of the bar and into 18th street. They were *literally* dancing in the street, and they shut down the entire road for a good 2 or 3 hours in celebration. The champaign corks came off; the bar tenders did a shot together. Everyone was happy! Even at 1 in the morning as I walked back to my place, people were out on what are typically the most desolate streets, shouting "Obama!!", hollering up and down the street, honking car horns, and giving each other high fives as we passed. One guy shouted as I passed, "enjoy the moment! Smoke all your best doogie!"
I went home. Wrote an e-mail to Lu. Went to bed. Woke up 5 hours later to teach. The bike ride to school never felt so rewarding, like a breath of fresh air. Finally.