In Which I Have Mixed Feelings
So, as I waited in line at my local polling place yesterday morning, along with a representative cross-section of my very diverse neighborhood, I started composing in my head a paean to my neighborhood's diversity, which I planned on posting under the subject "in Which I Vote in Real America". My plan was to talk about all the people standing in line, all so different, none of them bearing the puerile signifiers Sarah Palin and her demagogic ilk associate with authentic American-ness - ostentatious flag pins or flag-themed clothing, NASCAR paraphernalia, and so on, but all energized to vote and willing to wait hours to exercise their right. I'd have mentioned the elderly interracial couple up at the front of the line - real Americans. The tall, chisel-featured white guy with jeans, sketchers, and100-dollar Julius Caesar haircut all screaming "actor!" - real American. The heavyset,shaven-headed African-American guy with a big hoop of gold dangling piratically from his earlobe - real American. The industry-thin Latina in the Manolos and a cashmere sweater that probably cost more than any two items from my wardrobe talking on her cell phone while simultaneously texting on her Blackberry - real American. The androgynous-looking black woman in chrome-edged sunglasses and a faux-hawk - real American. The pudgy white programmer in a Phtobucket long-sleeve t-shirt - real American. The twenty-something Middle Eastern-looking guy with the black hoodie pulled up over his head and five days of stubble on his cheeks - real American. The older black lady who slipped off the curb and hit her head, but refused to get out of her place in line despite everybody's expressions of concern - real American. The young Latina poll worker who escorted her to the front of the line so she could cast her vote and then sit down somewhere while the ambulance arrived - real American. The Armenian EMT who showed up and was told "she's the one at the second voting booth on the left" and didn't miss a beat - real American. The elderly black man who came out of the polling place and proclaimed loudly to nobody in particular "I never thought it'd happen in my lifetime!" with such a joy and delight that it brought a lump to my throat - that was a real American.
I don't think there was a single one of them who wouldn't have looked out of place at a Sarah Palin rally. Not a single one that would meet Bible Spice's blinkered, crabbed, know-nothing image of real Americans. But they were all in line to vote, waiting patiently, chatting cheerfully with each other, exercising their rights as citizens. Real Americans. Take that, Sarah Palin. And the Obama electoral landslde as a chaser.
Well, that's what I was going to post. Then i went to my school's GSA election results viewing party, and sat with a growing sense of dread and dismay as the results for Prop. 8 started rolling in. My worst fears were confirmed this morning. So on the one hand I'm not feeling as good as I did yesterday morning. But on the other, as I keep telling myself and the kids who I teach who shake their heads and ask "why"?, voters under 30 were against Prop 8 by a 2-1 margin. The tide of history is on the side of equality, and they'll have the job of removing this stain of bigotry from our state's highest law. It might not happen this decade, but I'm confident that I won't be moved to exclaim like my neighbor at the polls that I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime.
And that's something.
I don't think there was a single one of them who wouldn't have looked out of place at a Sarah Palin rally. Not a single one that would meet Bible Spice's blinkered, crabbed, know-nothing image of real Americans. But they were all in line to vote, waiting patiently, chatting cheerfully with each other, exercising their rights as citizens. Real Americans. Take that, Sarah Palin. And the Obama electoral landslde as a chaser.
Well, that's what I was going to post. Then i went to my school's GSA election results viewing party, and sat with a growing sense of dread and dismay as the results for Prop. 8 started rolling in. My worst fears were confirmed this morning. So on the one hand I'm not feeling as good as I did yesterday morning. But on the other, as I keep telling myself and the kids who I teach who shake their heads and ask "why"?, voters under 30 were against Prop 8 by a 2-1 margin. The tide of history is on the side of equality, and they'll have the job of removing this stain of bigotry from our state's highest law. It might not happen this decade, but I'm confident that I won't be moved to exclaim like my neighbor at the polls that I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime.
And that's something.