I composed a post in my head on the way to work while listening to reports on last night's election results in the U.S. As with most times I hear Obama speak, I get the chills and tear up. (This by the way seems to make my mother craaazy. She seems to hate the idea that we would look up to a politician with sincere hope in his leadership. She's not a cynical person, but during the campaign leading up to this election, she has seemed resentful about the fact that so many of us are not cynical.) But my post was about last night's spontaneous outpouring of good will about race. I can't believe I just said those words all in a row: outpouring of good will about race. It was an unexpected joy last night to witness the joy of black America in the election of a black man. Looking back, it is a wonderful thing that Obama ixnayed the aceray subject so early on. It prevented us from making race a negative issue, for now all we have is pride in ourselves for our own risk-taking, and exuberance in the good fortune of our neighbors and the long-awaited arrival of boundlessness for their children. I hadn't realized last night, in the presence of new possibility, what that absence must have felt like for them.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Oh say can you see?
a.k.a. Jose, can you see? A herald of things to come. 
I composed a post in my head on the way to work while listening to reports on last night's election results in the U.S. As with most times I hear Obama speak, I get the chills and tear up. (This by the way seems to make my mother craaazy. She seems to hate the idea that we would look up to a politician with sincere hope in his leadership. She's not a cynical person, but during the campaign leading up to this election, she has seemed resentful about the fact that so many of us are not cynical.) But my post was about last night's spontaneous outpouring of good will about race. I can't believe I just said those words all in a row: outpouring of good will about race. It was an unexpected joy last night to witness the joy of black America in the election of a black man. Looking back, it is a wonderful thing that Obama ixnayed the aceray subject so early on. It prevented us from making race a negative issue, for now all we have is pride in ourselves for our own risk-taking, and exuberance in the good fortune of our neighbors and the long-awaited arrival of boundlessness for their children. I hadn't realized last night, in the presence of new possibility, what that absence must have felt like for them.
I composed a post in my head on the way to work while listening to reports on last night's election results in the U.S. As with most times I hear Obama speak, I get the chills and tear up. (This by the way seems to make my mother craaazy. She seems to hate the idea that we would look up to a politician with sincere hope in his leadership. She's not a cynical person, but during the campaign leading up to this election, she has seemed resentful about the fact that so many of us are not cynical.) But my post was about last night's spontaneous outpouring of good will about race. I can't believe I just said those words all in a row: outpouring of good will about race. It was an unexpected joy last night to witness the joy of black America in the election of a black man. Looking back, it is a wonderful thing that Obama ixnayed the aceray subject so early on. It prevented us from making race a negative issue, for now all we have is pride in ourselves for our own risk-taking, and exuberance in the good fortune of our neighbors and the long-awaited arrival of boundlessness for their children. I hadn't realized last night, in the presence of new possibility, what that absence must have felt like for them.
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