I cannot believe I have to go to work
I have to go to work today. You cannot begin to believe how annoyed I am about this. I only work three days a week, right now, for ten hours, and what are the chances I have to work during the inauguration. (Day job resumes normal hours next week.)
On the upside, I'm going someplace that will be broadcasting the whole thing live someplace I can get to, and I'll be shocked if any of us do anything other than watch while it's on.
During the debates, we kept getting students sidling up to us sheepishly asking for headphones so they could watch the debate on the DL on the computers. It was adorable. They looked like we might kick them out for watching the debate instead of doing homework. If they'd been slightly less desperate to see the debates, slightly less afraid that we might say no, they might have noticed that on the computers where we were? We had the debates on.
But the fact that they wanted to see them, needed to see them, that badly, made me tear up. That was change at work.
I set my alarm for am instead of pm and woke up in a panic, thinking I'd missed it. Apparently, my internal clock wouldn't allow that to happen, and I woke up seriously ten minutes before the footage of them all leaving the White House came on. I pretty much started crying before the Marines saluted, so I'll be wearing my glasses to work today (which I almost never do) because I'm clearly going to be crying all day long, and my contacts don't like it when I cry in them.
Yesterday was a slightly less good day.
It appears that I'm just not ever going to get any event related to this day (which I've been waiting for since pretty much the morning after the 2004 election--because, fool that I was, I thought we'd win that one) that isn't marred by something.
And the something was that NPR and HBO failed to cover the invocation by the Right Rev. Gene Robinson.
If you haven't been following that issue, some of us were slightly miffed that Obama chose to invite Rick "Homosexuality is Like Bestiality and Incest" Warren, pastor of Saddleback (Mega)Church (within spitting distance of where I live, by the way, making it that much more offensive to me) to give the prayer at the inauguration.
On some level, I get why Obama did that. He is going for the whole bipartisan, big tent thing, and he's got to do that because he's president of all of us. Unlike many LGBT rights supporters, I wasn't ready to crucify him for that choice.
(and yes, I still need to do the big post on religion and LGBT issues, but I can't today)
But when the Obama campaign (and we know it was them now) scheduled Robinson for 2:25 pm on Sunday, so that they would give his speech before HBO coverage start, they righteously pissed me off.
I voted for Obama. I'm still crying to see this happen, but like waking up amazed that my country had voted for not only a black man, but a smart geeky black man, for POTUS, but knowing that my state wrote discrimination against me into my constitution--so that I couldn't just enjoy the good for one frakkin' day without also remembering the anger-making--I was even more pissed off.
It's sort of like ladyjax says about the Dyke March. All we want is one friggin' day out of the other 365. Not even a whole day--just one night that's woman only space. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Can my country not fuck the GLBT shit up on just one weekend out of every four? Seriously! One damned weekend. ONE!
I mean, yes. It's a sign of progress that the inaugural concert featured the Gay Men's Chorus. But they, like the other choruses, weren't described by name, so YET AGAIN the homophobes of the world are able to pretend that we don't exist.
If you missed Robinson's speech, which UNLESS YOU WENT LOOKING FOR IT, you did since, the Obama campaign said they made a scheduling mistake, you missed a prayer that also made me weep. I'll link to the only video copy of it that has surfaced so you can see it.
Yesterday, a bunch of other people posted a link to Jay Smooth (who, if you're not following his blog, Illdoctrine, well, you're really missing out) talking about Ten Other Things Martin Luther King Jr. Said. (The first person I saw link to it was chr0me_kitten, to give credit where credit is due). And What King had to say about forgiveness has been ringing in my mind today.
So I am trying to forgive the Obama campaign for slighting Gene Robinson. He has. He was on NPR yesterday talking about it. That may be why he's a bishop and I'm just a still-cynical, still feeling betrayed lapsed Catholic.
And part of me clearly has. Because the image of the Little Rock Nine and the Tuskegee Airmen being in Washington to witness this makes me tear up just thinking about it. When they get to video footage of it, there's probably going to be open mouthed sobbing.
(I would also pay big money to be able to see the White House residence staff--everyone from the chief usher down to the lowliest whatever the lowliest is--see the Obamas move into the White House after centuries of there being black folks waiting on white First Families. )
I'm also more than a little amused that Grambling's band is in the parade. (Along with that ridiculous institution of the high school girls who look like grown up toilet paper doll covers come to life, the Azalea Trail Maids.)
But I also want to bitch slap the next commentator who says that King's dream has been realized. Because it hasn't. We've taken a giant step forward, no doubt. And I celebrate that deeply.
However, Obama's election is not going to single-handedly fix racism, or classism, or any of the other deep structural faultlines that run through our society. No doubt, his election is a great thing.
Since Michelle Obama can't say it anymore, I will. Watching my country elect Barack Obama has made me proud, really deeply proud, to be an American for the first time in a long time. Definitely the first time in my adult life. Watching my students deeply care about politics for the first time in my teaching career--esp. here, where the schools I work at are more diverse in just about every way, than any institution I attended, makes me proud.
But we're not done. This is just the beginning. There's so much work left to do. Jay Smooth, I think, quoted Chuck D something to that effect in one of his other videos. Voting is like brushing your teeth. It's the start of it, but it's not the end of the work. It's just how you start the day.
By the way, cat owners should watch that video, just for the amusing bits about his cat moving around on the bed behind him.
I keep hearing that line from Angels in America run through my head--the very last line at the end of part 1: The great work begins.
So I guess, in that respect, it's fitting I'll be at work today, despite my allegedly utterly flexible and utterly undemanding schedule.
The great work begins, indeed.
(As a total aside, it turns out the Bushes woke up in the White House this morning. By the time the festivities are over, the last of their personal items will be removed, the Obamas' items will be moved in, down to the clothes in the drawers in closets. In five hours, the White House residence staff will change everything over. This happens every election. Mind boggling.)
On the upside, I'm going someplace that will be broadcasting the whole thing live someplace I can get to, and I'll be shocked if any of us do anything other than watch while it's on.
During the debates, we kept getting students sidling up to us sheepishly asking for headphones so they could watch the debate on the DL on the computers. It was adorable. They looked like we might kick them out for watching the debate instead of doing homework. If they'd been slightly less desperate to see the debates, slightly less afraid that we might say no, they might have noticed that on the computers where we were? We had the debates on.
But the fact that they wanted to see them, needed to see them, that badly, made me tear up. That was change at work.
I set my alarm for am instead of pm and woke up in a panic, thinking I'd missed it. Apparently, my internal clock wouldn't allow that to happen, and I woke up seriously ten minutes before the footage of them all leaving the White House came on. I pretty much started crying before the Marines saluted, so I'll be wearing my glasses to work today (which I almost never do) because I'm clearly going to be crying all day long, and my contacts don't like it when I cry in them.
Yesterday was a slightly less good day.
It appears that I'm just not ever going to get any event related to this day (which I've been waiting for since pretty much the morning after the 2004 election--because, fool that I was, I thought we'd win that one) that isn't marred by something.
And the something was that NPR and HBO failed to cover the invocation by the Right Rev. Gene Robinson.
If you haven't been following that issue, some of us were slightly miffed that Obama chose to invite Rick "Homosexuality is Like Bestiality and Incest" Warren, pastor of Saddleback (Mega)Church (within spitting distance of where I live, by the way, making it that much more offensive to me) to give the prayer at the inauguration.
On some level, I get why Obama did that. He is going for the whole bipartisan, big tent thing, and he's got to do that because he's president of all of us. Unlike many LGBT rights supporters, I wasn't ready to crucify him for that choice.
(and yes, I still need to do the big post on religion and LGBT issues, but I can't today)
But when the Obama campaign (and we know it was them now) scheduled Robinson for 2:25 pm on Sunday, so that they would give his speech before HBO coverage start, they righteously pissed me off.
I voted for Obama. I'm still crying to see this happen, but like waking up amazed that my country had voted for not only a black man, but a smart geeky black man, for POTUS, but knowing that my state wrote discrimination against me into my constitution--so that I couldn't just enjoy the good for one frakkin' day without also remembering the anger-making--I was even more pissed off.
It's sort of like ladyjax says about the Dyke March. All we want is one friggin' day out of the other 365. Not even a whole day--just one night that's woman only space. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Can my country not fuck the GLBT shit up on just one weekend out of every four? Seriously! One damned weekend. ONE!
I mean, yes. It's a sign of progress that the inaugural concert featured the Gay Men's Chorus. But they, like the other choruses, weren't described by name, so YET AGAIN the homophobes of the world are able to pretend that we don't exist.
If you missed Robinson's speech, which UNLESS YOU WENT LOOKING FOR IT, you did since, the Obama campaign said they made a scheduling mistake, you missed a prayer that also made me weep. I'll link to the only video copy of it that has surfaced so you can see it.
Yesterday, a bunch of other people posted a link to Jay Smooth (who, if you're not following his blog, Illdoctrine, well, you're really missing out) talking about Ten Other Things Martin Luther King Jr. Said. (The first person I saw link to it was chr0me_kitten, to give credit where credit is due). And What King had to say about forgiveness has been ringing in my mind today.
So I am trying to forgive the Obama campaign for slighting Gene Robinson. He has. He was on NPR yesterday talking about it. That may be why he's a bishop and I'm just a still-cynical, still feeling betrayed lapsed Catholic.
And part of me clearly has. Because the image of the Little Rock Nine and the Tuskegee Airmen being in Washington to witness this makes me tear up just thinking about it. When they get to video footage of it, there's probably going to be open mouthed sobbing.
(I would also pay big money to be able to see the White House residence staff--everyone from the chief usher down to the lowliest whatever the lowliest is--see the Obamas move into the White House after centuries of there being black folks waiting on white First Families. )
I'm also more than a little amused that Grambling's band is in the parade. (Along with that ridiculous institution of the high school girls who look like grown up toilet paper doll covers come to life, the Azalea Trail Maids.)
But I also want to bitch slap the next commentator who says that King's dream has been realized. Because it hasn't. We've taken a giant step forward, no doubt. And I celebrate that deeply.
However, Obama's election is not going to single-handedly fix racism, or classism, or any of the other deep structural faultlines that run through our society. No doubt, his election is a great thing.
Since Michelle Obama can't say it anymore, I will. Watching my country elect Barack Obama has made me proud, really deeply proud, to be an American for the first time in a long time. Definitely the first time in my adult life. Watching my students deeply care about politics for the first time in my teaching career--esp. here, where the schools I work at are more diverse in just about every way, than any institution I attended, makes me proud.
But we're not done. This is just the beginning. There's so much work left to do. Jay Smooth, I think, quoted Chuck D something to that effect in one of his other videos. Voting is like brushing your teeth. It's the start of it, but it's not the end of the work. It's just how you start the day.
By the way, cat owners should watch that video, just for the amusing bits about his cat moving around on the bed behind him.
I keep hearing that line from Angels in America run through my head--the very last line at the end of part 1: The great work begins.
So I guess, in that respect, it's fitting I'll be at work today, despite my allegedly utterly flexible and utterly undemanding schedule.
The great work begins, indeed.
(As a total aside, it turns out the Bushes woke up in the White House this morning. By the time the festivities are over, the last of their personal items will be removed, the Obamas' items will be moved in, down to the clothes in the drawers in closets. In five hours, the White House residence staff will change everything over. This happens every election. Mind boggling.)