This is a series of posts written on my personal blog regarding the 2008 presidential race. I have been blogging since the beginning of March. One of my main themes on my blog is this race. I am a strident Obama supporter. What you will find herein is my struggles with anxiety and my moments of deep pondering. I have periods of elation and prophetic hopes for wins in states like Pennsylvania (I was wrong about that one–but who knows what would have happened without Obama’s accurate, but unpalatable comments right before that vote.) I decided to order the posts from beginning to end, unlike how blogs normally publish. This way you can see where I was and how I evolved in parrallel linearity to the way the race has progressed. I apologize that these posts are not yet categorized and more easily navigable. My expertise with blogging is not terribly advanced and this is the only way I can find to keep these past posts discreet from present and future posts. But, it will hopefully provide interesting reading and background that will give you a sense of who I am, why I support Obama, and if you would like to vote Liz Woodruff for National Obama Delegate! (Well, this is a campaign right?) I think we can all agree that June 3rd was a real great day, and June 7th, when Hillary finally said, “You Go Barack” we could exhale. A good part of my desire to go to Denver was based on the fear that Clinton would still be vying for the nomination in August, and I am convinced I can persuade delegates to switch. I think I am still skilled and passionate enought to represent Idaho and help avoid some sort of late in the game coupe. She said “suspended” not “ended” folks. So lets be careful. But also lets look to the future! It is so bright and a new hope is preparing to ring!
MARCH
Does Anyone Want to Play? I am Having a Political Crisis!
How do I maintain an energetic commitment to this process when it is relentlessly continuing forward unresolved? I have been wrapped around this effort. I am waning in terms of stamina.
Posted by T at 10:58 PM 0 comments
Anxiety is what I have tonight. When people at work enthusiastically brought up this race to me in the a.m. I had a total gag reflex. I said, please lets not talk about it–it makes me sick.
I was surprised by my response. I totally said it, but everyone thought it as way over the top…the truth is that’s how I feel. Sick about this. It is a feeling based on powerlessness. What can I do? At one point in this campaign I had the realization that Obama did need focus and energy. So I built an alter, lit candles, put powerful and noble animals and even a race car on it. Not in a religious worship way but in an invoking interconnectedness and support way.
All of this sounds ridiculous, but then I remind myself that I studied the subject of embodied political interconnected consciousness for three years in grad school. I believe that subjects have embodied responses to political systems. Disease of the body is reflected in the dis-ease of the nation (or Patria, which gets at the notion of blood and lineage, which is a central component of our physical understandings as well). In any case the point: I was sick because of the detox that is occurring through an intensive and involved political process…WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF SOMETHING BIG. my instinct to build an alter is all about tapping into a larger politICal conteXt which maybe even touChes at the Mystical notion of democracy.
I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT IF OBAmA IS ELECTED HE WILL SOMEHOW MAGICALLY TRANSFORM THIS NATION. I believe he would lead this nation into a new political plane in which we are inspired to confront the impending challenges this country is facing. I believe we have been waiting for –to use a geological term– an earthquake in our political landscape. It’s shaken up. I am terrified that for some reason, the resolution of the dialectical contradiction will be blocked…o.k., so now I’ve revealed I’m a Marxist and that explains why I love Obama’s historical significance. Marx bases his primary premises on a notion expressed in “Theses on Feuerbach” : people make and are made by materiality. The idea that Obama can fix this nation is farfetched. The idea that he can hep this nation heal itself is not.
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it” (Marx,www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm)
But this dis-ease is deep. It has infected our cells it has grown like a cancer–war, violence, exploitation…all symptomatic of a greater imbalance…of course we must act to enact change. Of course no matter what we are in for a trial…but history is made and makes our own choosing.
So I called 13 people in Texas in the last 20 minutes of work tonight…CNN is reporting it too close to call right now. There is a choice and it is fundamental and it will be instrumental.
Visiting with a friend tonight and he said…”We don’t need Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton while we wait for Jeb to get ready to Run! Enough of the Binarchy! End the Binarchy!
I couldn’t agree more. And I remain so overwhelmed by this situation. A false choice is being created in which the candidates can either go negative or lose the nomination.
No, to be principled Obama must not fall into a negative campaign.
The other day a co-worker and friend asked me “Would you rather have Clinton or McCain as President or Obama go negative?” Of course I chose the latter option….No. I would not rather have Clinton or McCain. If it came down to that then Yes, Obama may go negative…But if this is truly transformational politics there is a pathway around this binary opposition. If he is a transformational figure he will walk that path. Is that what must sustain me now? Hope?
I have realized what it is…it is the power of recognition. Of knowing you have been seen, felt, sensed in all your complexity. That is where the depth of this sensation comes from… Not so scary. Full of possibility (ies)?
So there is good news…Today I descended into a nicely lit basement to spend 8 hours with approximately 35 folks…all involved in running for elected office with a conservation based slant. We did not go outside…but other than that it was exciting…and this is why…are you ready?
There are many wonderful candidates running to oppose the majority in this upcoming election cycle that are DEMOCRATS! Yay! These folks from all over the state have lots of support, ambition and enthusiasm and are opposing sitting Repubs for all sorts of seats–including legislative senatorial and representative seats. This is a dream come true!
There is a gentleman from Driggs who is younger, clearly bright and talented and eager…there is a gentleman from the Carpenter’s Union who is amazingly likeable, and grounded in terms of advocating for the working class, there are several intelligent women, well-spoken and determined that are planning ambitious and change oriented campaigns…and there is new blood flowing throughout Ada County, as well as returning incumbents thathave already learned how to do good work within the frame of the legislature. This is a very exciting time.
The best part (really I know I am demented a bit because of my choice for best part)the whole day with great trainers from Oregon and lots of excellent info, still the best part of the day was when I heard Obama had won Wyoming. BIG SIGH…Then I knew that it will be o.k.
I love Wyoming. Such gorgeous land, wind blown rock formations. So many implications too, that sweet baby and her mama in the accident there…the boy pulled behind the truck…dick cheney and his cronism…
FLASH
The Tetons
Horses
Plains
Lakes
Peaks…Snow capped crisp air…
Obama won Wyoming Today
BLUE GIRLS RED STATES
Belief, A hope, a Dream –An Idea
I lived in Philly. Mostly to escape Jersey, but also because it is a great East Coast “BIG” little city.
The city sits between two rivers: The Deleware and the Schuylkill. The streets can be broad and cold, amidst the tall steel and mirrored skyscrapers. But it is also old. As old as this conception of the nation we have implicit allegiance to. The idea of the American “Nation” was born in Philadelphia–or at least was manifested there.
So the streets can be tiny, with old homes and brick roadways. Who once walked these paths? For what purpose? Were they running or walking?
Today a city littered in art. Murals and Mosaics, glittering of glass on a main walk, down a tiny corner. See your face in the wall as the mirror looks back at you–now transformed into a flower amidst pink and green.
I mean, Pennsylvania will go to Obama.
I know this of this city. I ran its streets with a big dog and a baby in a jogger–all of us strapped to John Kerry signs in ‘04. That was a different choice, but just as obvious.
I drove half-way cross that state with that same baby –took 3 hours both ways, and got real close to Kerry-and he was simply an alternative. Real Big balloon didn’t fit in the car, had to say bye-bye and cried the whole way home.
The city went dark when we lost in ‘04, a deep malaise. I know, have a belief, a hope, a dream–this idea–
Philly will got to Barack
PA will go for Obama
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
थिस इस माय देलेगते पोस्ट I am a feminist. I have spent a large part of my adult life learning about, and fighting for women’s issues. When I realized the Democratic Party would face a decision between the first woman nominee and the first African American nominee I was stunned into momentary indecision. I felt torn and confused. I was afraid it would tear our party apart to make such a choice. Moreover, I was not sure who I would choose. Over time I watched debates, read articles, investigated on the internet and paid close attention to candidates speeches. Suddenly the decision became obvious and undeniable to me. I am a feminist, and as a feminist the candidate that I support is Barack Obama. Feminism is not about gender. It is not limited in scope to sex. Feminism is about a perspective, it is about hearing those marginalized based on race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. It is about moving away from a place of privilege to a place of lived experience, and it is about a politics of transformation–of action not reaction. These ideals are encompassed in the Obama candidacy. For the first time in my political memory I feel inspired and hopeful. There has been a lot of talk about the pragmatism of Hilary Clinton–Now is not a time for a pragmatic reactive response that are caught in the same Bush-Clinton dialectic we have lived for the last 15 plus years. Now is the moment to embrace what seems immaterial, but is really the potential fuel for a new dawn in American Politics. I am a determined supporter of Barack Obama, I feel that we are at a juncture where we can shift the political landscape if we establish effective consensus. I am certain I will be able to establish that consensus at the State Convention. I understand the paradox we face, and having journeyed through it I know I can advocate for the choice that will bring real and meaningful change. My mother was a delegate to the national convention in 1972. She recently told me that she believes when we are most in need of real leadership it will rise up. She knew Barack Obama was coming. We have faced many years of disappointment and frustration. It is now time for the recognition that in Barack Obama we have the kind of visionary leadership we need at this critical political moment. This chance will not come again and I am determined to effectively affect this change in whatever way I can. Our party will not be torn apart. We can all come together and embody the ideals of a President Obama.
FEMINIST LESSON #1 There are different kinds of feminism. Over the cycle of the election between Obama and Clinton feminists have been referred to countless times. There have been myriad assertions regarding what it means to be a feminist, how feminists feel about Hilary, and what feminists are saying about her treatment as a candidate. Feminists have become (yet again) a coagulated group–the distinctions between schools and histories of feminism gone by the wayside. Lucky for you, I am a “master and artist” of feminism. No, this is not a joke, I have an MA in Women’s and Gender Studies. I was on my way to receiving my doctorate in this field before I got so troubled by the practice of academic feminism within the frame of a complex theoretical apparatus bent on progressive activism and the subsequent painful contradiction of these two things, that I ran like my hair was on fire far away. I am not giving this background to brag, by the way. Believe me, if anything my feminist training is something I have learned to hide as the thickness of my skin has decreased. But, it is time for a quick lesson in feminism. Please seethis site for a layout of the multiple types of feminism. Like most history, they are described within a linear progression (although some effort is made to show overlaps). But let me give the basics. Liberal feminism is one of the first manifestations. The tenet: Women are equal to men and should be treated as such. Folks like Betty Friedan in the early 60’s made this assertion. NOW is a direct descendant of this feminist approach. Radical Feminism has its roots in Marxism. The tenet: It’s not the workers–it’s the women who will cause the revolution. Part of that revolution includes the disintegration of heterosexism. Lots of lesbian feminists work from here. The revolution will include the elimination of reproductive sex. The re-working of sexual relations(via a revolution similar to the one Marx identified for work relations) is the way to transform women’s social position. Then, we have cultural feminists. The tenet: Create a culture of women–valorize femininity, valorize sex between women, valorize pregnancy and birth. Valorize anything and everything woman oriented. VALUE WOMEN. Then, there are eco-feminists, marxist feminists, psychoanalytic feminists….it goes on and on. I would challenge you to locate the kind of feminism being asserted in defense of Hilary’s candidacy. It seems to me that if anything, we are seeing liberal feminism: Get a woman into an office normally held by a man. WE WIN. My feminism? Well, I’m a Marxist, but I am also a post-modern thinker. So I combine a lot of things to articulate what feminism means to me. Yes, sexual relations create cultural paradigms that lead to discourses of femininity that explain the oppression of “women”. BUT ALSO–and this is critical–SEX IS DESCRIPTIVE –GENDER IS CULTURALLY DETERMINED. In other words, there is no such thing as “woman.” There are female sexes, male sexes, and multiple combinations of the two, identifiable through which set of sexed body parts one has(There are at least 5 sexes) . “Woman” is cultural artifice. So, feminism is not about advocating for one gender over the other. That premise (most visible in the assertion that women or feminists should by default support Clinton) is based on a culturally constructed, and thus problematic set of assumptions. (If we are calling into question culture as patriarchal, how can we adopt the constructed version of woman it has presented us with?) Thus, feminism is a perspective. A praxis (the link of theory and action). To be a feminist is to: Recognize the need for social transformation in all aspects of the cultural locales (or hot points) where oppression (of any kind) takes place. Subjugation based on race, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation etc. becomes feminist work. As a matter of fact, I view the feminist frame, as on par, only with environmentalism as a philosophical approach that can encompass the multi-faceted aspects of a call to revolution that we need to upset the insidious and overt discourses that lead to any type of marginalization of a people for the interests of a few. Capitalism, patriarchy, racism. These are institutions that must be undone. Feminists work towards actions that will result in the progressive de-stabilization of these paradigms, and move towards open possibilities for a different future. As a feminist, as I have stated before, I support Barack Obama as the feminist candidate. Of course gender is at play in this contest. Of course race is at play, and of course class is at play. Oh, and sexual orientation, and religious affiliation. All of those cultural discourses are important. But as a feminist I look for the candidate that attempts to resolve and transcend those discourses that shut-down possibilities and create further divisions. Name them, change them. Do not sit with them and propagate them, and allow a cultural paradigm of dualism to determine your choice of candidates! As a feminist, I vote for the person who is willing to talk openly about all of these issues and then tell me a vision for the future that, while not creating homogenized unity, will still allow for hybrid combinations of subjectivity without the confines of static identity. To say that, as a woman, I must support the female candidate makes sense in terms of a historical shift. Yet it is just as impactfull, from my feminist perspective, to have an African-American president. Especially, since the female candidate remains committed to social networks mired in practices of marginalization. To assert otherwise is to discipline feminism with the patriarchal frame it claims to oppose. Barack Obama has proven his commitment to peace, resolving race relations, calling into question economic exploitation, and involving citizens in true democratic practices through the elimination of special interests. LOOKS LIKE FEMINISM TO ME.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
STORY OF A SUDDEN CLASH
I got in an argument while tabling today. Actually, I tabled yesterday, but had a volunteer today, and as soon as I showed up to pack our stuff, I started talking to this gentleman about power sources. He shared his view that coal should remain the source of fuel in West Virginia, and I concurred. He talked about the vagaries of nuclear power, and I concurred. He critiqued hydroelectric, and natural gas. Again, I enthusiastically concurred.
Then, the conversation turned. We started talking presidential politics, I don’t remember how we bridged there, but he said he was voting for…”McCain” and I said “What? Why?” and he said
“Cuz I’m not gonna vote for a nigger or a chick”
At which point, I moved behind the table and said I couldn’t talk to him any longer. (Probably should have kept my cool a bit more. In college, I had a friend who made posters that said “CONFRONT YOUR RACIST ATTITUDES” and plastered them across campus. I always think of that, and I know I have racist attitudes, but I try to recognize them, and change them. I was super surprised by his sudden shift in vernacular. I really felt like he had done a “violence” to all of us. One that could not be tolerated. I created a boundary, perhaps a bit of an overreaction but it was instantaneous).
He got mad, I think he called me a bitch. Said I was judging him for his words, and couldn’t handle a disagreement. I explained that I thought his word choice was over the top racist and sexist. He basically said that was stupid, that words have power and they should be used. He said the president is the King and that a woman can’t be president and that a black man will get killed by someone in Mississippi if he becomes president. I said it was ridiculous to let fear of someone getting killed stop you from voting for them. He said he wasn’t afraid of that, but that it is what would happen. Said the democrats should get a real candidate.
I said I disagreed. That I couldn’t get up in the morning if I viewed the world that way. I asked if he’d seen Obama’s speeches. He laughed and hissed “SPEECHES!” other people write their speeches! Come on!”
And then there was the gap, the rift, the crevasse…What if he’s right? What if this is a manufactured scam? What if I don’t really matter, if he doesn’t really matter? What if we don’t have any ‘power’?”
He walked away shaking his head.
I asked my volunteer what he thought (after requesting he not mention the exchange to my boss). He said he thought the guy was ignorant, but that a lot of people feel that way about a electing a black man or a woman”. So does that mean its not them who are ignorant, but rather, it’s me?”
I got up and danced. I felt the rhythm and the joy. So maybe that is where my hope comes from. Maybe it is naive. But it keeps me goin’.
–MY ARCHITECTURE OF HOPE– I have been pondering over the last post I wrote. I feel like I left it in a half-roll-over. What is it about dancing that becomes the glue of my hope? How can that be the answer that sustains me as I stare into the abyss of apathy and cynicism? There are 2 ways I am answering this question (for myself this is still in process).
- As usual, I go to my roots, the theories that have informed my praxis. If I take a “postmodern” look at the message that we all are being duped by an overarching power system and have no ability to change that macro-context which overlays all of our lives, then I remember that to attribute such consciousness to dominant systems of power which seem to have a monotonous mindset and homogenous method of execution which is based on misinformation and exclusion in order to secure interests most often tied to resource acquirement in the form of monetary gain is a tragic distortion which only further contributes to my disempowerment. In other words, “Why go there?” Why not see these systems for what they are? A series of bureaucratic results and effects that have been manipulated and misused, but nevertheless remain maleable? I get why folks see the system as impenetrable, I get the suspicion. Sometimes I worry about this. I worry that I am wrong, it is a twisted web that has wrapped around everything. But there is still energy in me, I am not completely trapped. Perhaps my mind is poisoned to some degree. I am also an automotron. But too, I have moments of clarity and action, I shift my consciousness, I watch lights go on in others. There is still a pulse here. That means there is still room for network (s) to be reconfigured. There is no way that in this society of excessive production, especially in terms of new cyber spaces, and old sustainable gardens, that we cannot find places for transformative work (s). We must find places for transformative works.
- Dancing. I have written before about transcendence and immanence. How that dichotomy traps us in a relation to the “body” that sees it as distinct from the
- mind. Dancing is the most wholistic place I have found for the synthesis of this dichotomy. There is story, there is movement, there is feeling– both emotive and corporeal–and that feeling spreads to the “audience.” Especially in African Dance, the voyeurism of “watching” is lost. You cannot help but tap you toes, feel your hips sway, notice the way your heartbeat is part of the orchestra. And so in that wholism, I am “beyond” the stickiest parts of the web. Dare I say I am free, and in that freedom , I show others their own? From here we have platforms. We have plaster. We have a foundation. From here we can create shifts.
These, I suppose, are the architectural components of my hope. I like this better than sitting at the bottom of the fracture. My survival instinct requires finding the pathway, whether up, around, or through that leads away from the abyss.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
No, it has not taken me so long to write due to the PA results. Despite all indications (and my initial desire) I have not been hiding under the bed in a fetal position. I am only slightly embarrassed by my blind faith in his ability to win the state. My realization that he would not win Pennsylvania came in stages: STAGE 1: I am at my sister’s house to celebrate my nephews birth. (He’s 7). We both keep returning to her computer and pressing “refresh” on the CNN page. Nothing, nothing, nothing. My brother-in-law soon calls, “They called it! Clinton takes Pennsylvania!” ” She what? What percentage of the vote is reporting?” “Eight-percent!” Now I am at the computer staring hopelessly at the check mark next to Clinton’s name. “Eight-percent?!” What the?! Are you kidding me?!” My voice has raised in level significantly “How can they call it at 8%?!” What are you thinking?!” I yell at the helpless computer screen. “Lizzy”, my sister says calmly…”they can’t hear you.” STAGE 2: It is after dance now, we just had a session of dancing blind-folded for 20 minutes. It was thrilling and liberating at the same time it was disorienting and confining. I am assured that my assertions around the lack of voyeurism in African Dance have now been taken to their highest level. I am magnetized to the drums. Then a vision comes: Obama is rising, Clinton leans off to the side, her face smiling, her arms open and generous, he beams. STAGE 3: We leave the building. My friend Becky gets in her car while I chat with a fellow dancer in the twilight. “Clinton is giving her victoy speech” she says as she backs out of her spot. I put my fingers in my years, mimmicking the behavior of the 5-year-old boys we both have. “I can’t hear you, la la la” I say. We laugh, cause it feels better than crying. STAGE 4. I am home now, getting boys to bath and bed. NPR is blaring. Obama’s speech is coming. Now. I stand in the kitchen waiting. Holding my breath. What will he say? The crowd is roaring. He is there. He begins to speak. I am doing dishes, putsing around. Next thing I know I am on my knees in the living-room. My jaw has dropped. He is not attacking Clinton, he is not (just) laying the groundwork for the next states. He is not talking about himself. He is talking about the country. He is naming the terminal state of our current context. He is talking, again about urgency. He is pointing to this moment. And the finger does not then move to himself. I imagine his hands opening to all of us. He is telling the people to act, he is asking them to make a difference. He is calling to the grass-roots. This political moment is seized, not for victory, but for a call to action, a call to rise beyond petty games, to take a serious look, to find a pathway forward. The children are dripping wet. Pajamas go on right next to the speakers. Listen, I whisper. It’s Obama. This is important. Canyon stops fussing. “OBAMA” he chants. And the boys tune-in they hear these words of empowerment. We did not lose, we can’t lose in a context where the politics have become about a movement and not just one man. I no longer feel defeated. Why should I? He certainly doesn’t sound defeated, he sounds diligent, he sounds determined. Hope needs challenge, challenge requires endurance. Suddenly my hope is magnified, like the sunlight through a looking glass it has sparked, ignited, I see it catch, FIRE.
Posted by T at 6:27 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Hope Applied and Sent all the Way to PA
Well, today could be the day. And I am applying the hope I hold to the primary in PA. I love Pennsylvania, it is a great East Coast state. It is unique for the diversity it contains in terms of geographical spaces and multiplicities of subject positions. The western part of the state is split between working class blue-collar mindsets and wealthy developers and business folks. The center reaches to the margins of each of the east/west continuums. Little communities of agriculture and industry. Of course, I love Philly. A city of history so rich you can taste it in the coffee. Diversity is the defining feature of this city, and I believe that bodes well for Obama. I remember the morning in November of 2004 when I bundled River up and we walked just two blocks south to vote for John Kerry. I see myself there today. Casting a vote for Obama. I remain hopeful that the people I knew in my time there are indicative of the larger populous (intelligent, progressive, savvy of the media exploitation of political systems). I can see the students at U Penn and Temple University spurring a movement, a wave of young people stepping out of the margins and defying the polls, voting for change and transformation. I hold this hope and send it all the way to my sister-in-law who will catch it and apply it. Tomorrow we will see. Today I envision the vote, I see the decisive action that will give us Obama as the Democratic Nominee and next President of the United States.
MAY
Finally, the presidential race hinges on an ISSUE! What a novelty. Really, I mean I was so used to evaluating the candidates friends and neighbors as well an analyzing and spinning their descriptions of society, that I had basically given up hope that we would have a real look at policy. I have not been paying attention lately. I am swamped in lots of things, and I could devote way too much energy that I don’t have to spare to this and so I haven’t. It was such a sweet sound to hear the NPR report tonight about Hillary and John, getting reamed by economists for proposing a summer cut of the gas tax. Hillary dismissed their thoughtful, detailed and collaborative condemnation of her proposal as “elitist”. Never mind that part of their analysis pointed out that it is the gas companies that would benefit from the cut. Could somebody please help me, or rather her with the definition of “elitist.” The misuse of descriptive terms really bothers me here. But the rest of it makes me so happy, because we needed a blatant unveiling of the poor politics being deployed by some of the candidates. I can almost see the policy meeting: “Well, lets offer em’ something they’ll like. What are people freakin’ about? Oh, yeah fuel! Hey lets offer a cut in the fuel tax so people can feel like their consumption doesn’t have to go down. Lets use their fear of dwindling resources to create a political advantage!” Obama doesn’t roll that way. Sure he has unsavory policy positions (for instance he is pro-nuclear) but his approach to coming to these positions is not based on fear, it is based on –well–HOPE and in instances like this that distinction is palpable. Tonight I also listened to “On Point” on NPR. The topic was the “Global Food Crisis”. Did you know that their is a food shortage in Haiti and Peru? In the former their have been food riots. The “On Point” commentator called the audio of the riots the “sound of hunger.” It is shocking and not at all surprising. The way our global food system is ordered does not favor the democratic distribution of food. Large conglomerations in places like Ecuador mean that food does not stay close to its source. Resources are used for the production of mass quantities of food for export. Large quantities of grain feed cattle in the “first-world” (or rather, the hegemonically positioned exertion of economic and territorial sovereignty that has led to a hierarchy of nation-states with unequal distribution of purchasing power which we call the “first world”). Fuel prices are a contributing factor of course, in terms of food transportation. There are global food riots! Stretching to Malaysia. How did we (maybe you did, so how did I) not know this. When will it be undeniable based on a localized experience of shortages? Could it really be that far away? Again, this is why I support Obama. We are entering into a period of severe challenges to the lives we have known. Our government has lost credibility (did you hear about how Bush insulted India?) and normalized systems of distribution are beginning to show symptomatic signs of immanent failure. Who do I want to lead us through this? A person with vision and the ability to create collaboration. A person willing to open to the people and listen to their voices and ask them to matter and make a difference. Because that is what we will need to do.
GUEST COMMENTARY BY AN ANONYMOUS FRIEND
This is an e-mail that C received from a friend he works with in The Next Generation Project. This is a group of young environmentalists (25-35) asked by none other than Terry Tempest Williams to work for one year collaboratively to chart a path for a new generation of environmentalism. These twelve get together in beautiful locations, and share anecdotes from their work, write profusely, and support each other in manifesting solutions to the problems they confront in their work. Needless to say I have remained totally jealous that its not me who gets to go on these retreats, but the benefit has been I am networked in to some great young thinkers. Point being: There is a primary today, there is no way to link you to this and the author prefers anonymity. But it is an interesting read. ************************************ Remembering Robert Kennedy ”The cover story for the June 2008 edition of Vanity Fair is called “The Last Good Campaign,” an excerpt from Thurston Clarke’s new book The Last Campaign: Robert F Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America. What struck me about this excerpt was that in reading it I found myself drawn to what Bobby had to say. I found that he excited a deep feeling in my heart, a connection, the way so many people are able to touch me, but so few politicians these days. On this journey to the core, to tell the core story, I have been peeling away layers of polling, attempting to breathe between buzzes on the Blackberry, trying to find pause in a world where the internet has replaced the fax machine, cell phones have usurped land lines, and ego deems anything short of an immediate response too little, too late; to believe again in change. How did Bobby Kennedy break through — then, and now? Bobby decided to run for President of the United States of America because he wanted to end the war in Vietnam. He knew that ending the war in Vietnam was the right thing to do and he knew that he would have to be President to do it. He bucked his party, his own brother’s successor, and party insiders, but he knew it was the right thing to do. “I’m sleeping well for the first time in months. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but at least I’m at peace with myself.” Bobby’s first campaign speech happened to be in the conservative State of Kansas. He was very worried because if the speech went badly, his campaign would likely not get off the ground. If it went well, he could ride the momentum to some primary wins and have a serious shot at securing the nomination. “Do you think they’ll boo him?” Ethel asked. “Will they hate him?” She never posed the next question, the one that was probably running through the minds of others accompanying Robert Kennedy to Kansas that afternoon: “Will they kill him?” Yet on that stage, not knowing how the audience would react, with his campaign on the line, Bobby stood in front of the audience and he told his story. He spoke from his heart. He said, “I am also glad to come to the home state of another great Kansan, who wrote, ‘If our colleges and universities do not breed men who riot, who rebel, who attack life with all their youthful vision and vigor then there is something wrong with our colleges. The more riots that come on college campuses, the better the world for tomorrow.’ ” Kennedy continued, saying, “[White] is an honored man today; but when he lived and when he wrote, he was often reviled as an extremist—or worse—on your campus and across this nation. For he spoke as he believed. He did not conceal his concern in comforting words; he did not delude his readers or himself with false hope or with illusion. It is in this spirit that I wish to talk to you today.” This is what people love about Senator Obama; it’s what I love about Senator Obama (most of the time). Listen to his speeches. One can hear when he is listening to polling, political insiders, advisers and high donors, and when he is saying what he believes is right. I can imagine these moments of authenticity are scary for all those people spending all that time and money working to get him elected. But it is this authenticity alone that resonates with people, that respects what people want in a politician, that has inspired so many people to switch party registration, that has launched a movement, that transcends. One need only see the video put together by Will I Am to feel it, the power of those words, “Yes, we can.” Perhaps in the words of the heart we find connection. In the moments of connection we find faith; a faith that so many people feel void of these days. My only advice to Barack Obama? (I thought you’d never ask.) Throw your Blackberry out the window and go with it. You already know what to do.”
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
I COULD JUST KISS JOHN EDWARDS
And it is not because he has good (and expensive) hair. When my co-worker said, “Edwards endorsed…guess who?” it took a second to register. Then, it hit, “Did you just say Edwards endorsed?! Who?!” “I said, guess!” “Obama!?” Then ensued whooping and hollering while giggling that would be impossible to convey in written form accurately here. Which is a bit unfortunate, cause I have thus far held my overexuberance in check rather well…and well, that pushed me over the edge. FINALLY!I remember watching Edwards step out of the race months ago in my old office. Sunny winter day. And I wanted him to endorse, and I wished he would. And then I gave up. I really had forgotten how adamant the feeling was for me that if he endorsed Obama would be securely positioned. So today, I remembered all at once while finding out and then whooped. The real issue?–Besides my definately distracting behavior?–The office generally leans towards Clinton, I think anyways, because of her energy policy. This is legitimate given the organization but I believe Obama will democratize energy. When he does, people will not choose nuclear. I haven’t even seen the video of Obama and Edwards, but will find it on you tube next. Also, in the office, then West Virginia results came up in conversation and I called them “racists” and was deservedly scolded for my simplicity by a co-worker. The only one to tell me I was wrong about West Virginians. And I respect this man a lot. He has promised to share more details later. But then I talked to my sister who watched John Stewart interview W. Virginians (Real ones) and guess what…they didn’t want any more Hussein, and we shouldn’t have a muslim president. No one said racism is simple. It is complex and hidden, that is why it is so insidious in the form it most currently manifests. A toxic mix of ignorance, misinformation, and need to protect what is known, leads to results like that one. Maybe that is the imperfection of democracy–the biases that are the imperfections of humanity. In any case…I could really kiss that guy… This is my soundtrack at the moment in the chance you have not yet heard her, even one, this link is worth it.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Last week my horoscope in the Boise Weekly was particularly thought provoking. I am an addict of BW horoscopes. Basically, on Wednesday I hit the first dispenser I can, flip to the back page and read the Sagitarius segment immediately. Truly, I find very little else readable in the Weekly, besides of course, Nathaniel Hoffman’s free-lance stuff. My distaste for the Weekly has continually been accentuated by Ted Rall, whose veiled racist comments about Barack Obama send me over the edge at least once a month. Last week the title of his piece was “Obama: The Other White Meat” and while the title itself was profoundly offensive, I found his lack of origin for the title within the piece describing how he thought Obama should’ve thrown himself in front of the train running over Reverend Wright to lack substance and insight. His repeated attacks on Obama are so suspect that I am close to writing yet another LTE to the Weekly begging them, again, to remove Rall’s writing. But they never publish my letters, and they haven’t removed Rall yet, so back to my horoscope.
This is too good not to post here. John Stewart makes me laugh about things that really aren’t that funny, but I still need to be able to process. Plus, I share his taste for whiskey…and use it nearly as liberally. You can thread this post to my KISS JOHN EDWARDS post if you are someone who likes context.
Last week my horoscope in the Boise Weekly was particularly thought provoking. I am an addict of BW horoscopes. Basically, on Wednesday I hit the first dispenser I can, flip to the back page and read the Sagitarius segment immediately. Truly, I find very little else readable in the Weekly, besides of course, Nathaniel Hoffman’s free-lance stuff. My distaste for the Weekly has continually been accentuated by Ted Rall, whose veiled racist comments about Barack Obama send me over the edge at least once a month. Last week the title of his piece was “Obama: The Other White Meat” and while the title itself was profoundly offensive, I found his lack of origin for the title within the piece describing how he thought Obama should’ve thrown himself in front of the train running over Reverend Wright to lack substance and insight. His repeated attacks on Obama are so suspect that I am close to writing yet another LTE to the Weekly begging them, again, to remove Rall’s writing. But they never publish my letters, and they haven’t removed Rall yet, so back to my horoscope.
Obsessive Compulsive That’s Me
Uh, the Damien Marley on Austin City Limits link is working now. Did I mention that both the interview and video are worth watching? I just get this way, when I really like something.
What I find fascinating about John McCain is both his full corporeal experience and also the excavation of his body–the segmented cutting and removal of his flesh. He had both shoulders broken when he was a prisoner of war, he is thus unable to lift his arms above his shoulders. He used to smoke so much that he has had many tumors removed from his colon and prostate. The press is citing his heart rate and blood pressure, giving taxonomical evaluations of his embodied inflictions and status. I want to ask: What does it mean about us as a culture if we elect this state of health as president? What does it mean if we elect the apparent vigor of Barack Obama?–The female oriented body of Hilary Clinton, with all its reproductive history and reminder of that difference? McCain is a former prisoner of war. In lingo with a friend over work to be done I unreflectively and coldly referred to the upcoming, Memorial Day holiday as that “damn” holiday. It was only upon reflection after a co-worker sent around a memorial acknowledging that which is memorialized on this day that I realized it was a damn holiday only in terms of what it meant for the sacrifices that are embedded in all nations–in the name of this idea of nation–in the name of this idea of nation there are those that hold a national identity. They are bodies of flesh and blood and spirited remembrances of those who came before–of the ancestors. We hold that past in our genes, even as the selves that are born today encompass a different enfleshed matrix. Bodies for a new millennium. And on Memorial Day we acknowledge the suffering of those bodies (past and present) affected in war through death and suffering and permanent scars like those embedded in and on John McCain. Post-traumatic stress disorder, drug abuse, traumatic brain injury, amputation. A listing of how war segments sovereignty of the self and the nation. The body is a stress processing machine. A body like that of John McCain reveals the stress of our culture without subtlety. His stiff movements and slightly distorted profile are a reminder in the visual realm of his history, and that gnarlednesss is, in a strange way, appealing. Look what this body has survived, look how it has sustained. But to me, it is also a reminder of the dis-ease of this nation. Of a body with a belief system centered on defense and “prosperity” of a vision of invested interests as a commanding force, with little said about the realities of Katrina, the Iraq war, the state of the economy. Honestly, it seems to me that John McCain is a genuine man, but the genuine place he holds scares me. There is something toxified in this being, there is something that repels me. I got to be really close to Barack Obama. I stood in the front row when he rallied in Boise, the appearance of one of his security guards that stood by me will be forever etched in my brain–his clear-sightedness, his singular mission. Obama was slightly powdered. Really–maybe because of the lighting they powdered him. But other than that he was slim and strong. He was straight and rooted and so comfortable in his skin. He came down to the crowd and shook the hand of the boy in front of me. His hand, long fingers, defined musculature dangled in front of me for a fraction of a second–I seized the opportunity and shook that hand–electrifying. And the children. Today I saw a news piece with a video of a baby being asked who the next president would be. John McCain? No. Hilary Clinton? –”Go Barack Obama!” Squeels the baby. That’s how Canyon sounds too. Both boys whisper and sometimes shout his name. I find them mesmerized when he flashes across the screen. I am not sure. I am persuaded by the body of hybridity. I am compelled by the transcontinentalness of this potentially presidential body. That is as far as I can go analyzing that corporeality for now. McCain is more blatant. He is more endemic of something. Something I am compelled to watch as the election progresses as his embodiedness experiences the rigors of electability. On the news right now they are talking about the medical care always accompanying the president. To assure us there is a specialized maintenance team to stabilize this body. Because when it is threatened, we lose our-selves?
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