In their song are days to come (a Harlem celebration)

[ron_drummond]

I am temporarily resident in the City that has voted for Barack Obama by a wider margin than any other city in America -- with the possible exception of Chicago. Tonight it was a joy to wander among the growing crowds in Times Square as the first results came in from CNN on giant screens there; to negotiate the well-dressed press at the New York

Comments

[singingnettle]

What a great experience.

[ron_drummond]

Thanks, Susan -- it surely was!

I just cross-posted this to TalkingPointsMemo, where those so inclined can click on the "Recommend This" button to raise its profile there.

[sphinx_n_herhat]

And here is your rhapsody -- with such a lovely event to spin off from. I was wondering what the reaction was like in other cities. There was spontaneous partying in the streets here. People were literally dancing at the intersection of Broadway and John. And if the Scandinavian-descended Seattleites can be carrying on in such a fashion then I figured it must be going on lots of other places. You were probably in one of the best.

[ron_drummond]

Thanks, Carolyn. I thought of that after I posted it -- that just maybe it had attained the level of rhapsody that you had encouraged me to write. I was delighted that you came upon it so soon thereafter, pleased too to hear of dancing in Capitol intersections -- I saw a two-minute clip of Pike Place celebrants on cnn.com.

[joculum]

We could only watch the celebrations at Ebenezer Baptist Church and the King Center on television, but a small, amazed, appropriately multiethnic group of us were watching a small television on the sidewalk outside a photography gallery exhibiting Michael David Murphy's documentary photographs from Obama's campaign (inside was reserved for performance art and video). The spontaneous fireworks displays from the surrounding neighborhoods and the enthusiastic stream of horn-honking carloads of Obama enthusiasts passing by made our little coterie feel as much part of a dispersed community celebration as if we had been at the traditional gathering place of Manuel's Tavern, which was essentially filled to capacity by six p.m.

[ron_drummond]

Lovely! It really seems like spontaneous dancing in the streets broke out almost everywhere.

[randy_byers]

I watched it with Denys at home, and when MSNBC showed the crowds in Harlem, I looked for you. What a wonderful place to be on a wonderful night in America.

[farmgirl1146]

Wonderful. Thanks for writing about this.
I shed a few tears of happiness, too.