In 2004 I went out to vote with my father. We walked up the street to the church that was our polling place and cast votes that I knew would cancel each other out. His for Bush, mine for Kerry. We walked home, happy, but silent.
I didn't feel then a surging sense of anything at all really, when I went to vote. I went because I knew I was "supposed" to, and even though I didn't feel particularly strongly about politics, I knew that was my tiny voice there being registered with millions of others. That was that, and democracy would roll onward.
I didn't understand at the time that it takes effort, that people were on the ground working hard for John Kerry. I mean, I guess I knew there were people out there, but I didn't have any sense of what passions they held for their candidate and how they believed in what they were doing.
Since then I've moved to Illinois, and today I went to fix my registration since I'd moved for the second time in June. The interesting thing was, that there were 3 people ahead of me in line to register to vote.
A line to register to vote? On a Saturday? At a public library? Are you serious?
I was more than happy to wait in that line.
So that was cool. But what I really came here to say is that I am one of those people now that's become passionate about Obama, and in the process I've gotten my brother to get out and get registered, and my mom, who hasn't yet registered, actually brought up Obama on her own the other day on the phone. She likes him. As far as I know, she's never had an opinion one way or the other about her choice of presidents. I am very hopeful I'll be able to persuade her to get out there and register and help turn Georgia blue.
I went to Springfield to see Obama with Biden...but unfortunately the crowd was so huge, and it was so insanely hot that I ended up sitting under a tree with the elderly and the very young because I couldn't take the heat. So I listened to Obama and Biden. I can't believe I drove three hours and stayed in a hotel and put up with an insanely large crowd and then I literally couldn't get a look at him. Oh. I was beyond depressed about that. But I was happy that I'd at least been there, and my boyfriend got some nice pictures of them, which he's yet to crop (insert grumbles). But it was a fantastic event and we came home with all sorts of swag.
I have decided that I am going to enroll in college for a Political Science bachelor's, with a minor in education. I will probably upgrade the minor to a bachelor's later, but for now that is where I am going.
After having watched this campaign blow the lid off the buttoned down style of politics we are all so used to, I can't wait to help people understand what exactly it is that a government does. I can't wait to learn more about what a government does, and how it can and does help people if we can make it work the way it was meant to work. I love watching Obama just deflect and parry and on Thursday night to finally see him hit back, hard. I will always remember where I was the night Obama spoke in that stadium.
I plan on teaching, eventually, high school students social studies/civics, and I am really excited. I have an associate's now in commercial photography, something that I never quite wanted, but it made my parents happy.
I live miles and miles away from them now. And I am going to make myself happy, for once.
I am 26 now, I feel a little old to be going back to school, and I haven't registered yet, but I do have an introduction class at a local college on the 3rd of September.
I had really been feeling down and unhappy about my life in general until I came to this conclusion, as I've watched people I know get into careers they've worked at for years. I wanted something that would make me happy. I really believe I have just found it. I thought long and hard about whether I was just on the Obama kool-aid or not, and I am certain that it's more than just a passing love.
My bookshelf that used to be filled with Anne Rice tomes and roleplaying books has since expanded into another bookshelf filled with books such as "Fire Breathing Liberal" by Robert Wexler "Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them" by Al Franken "Giving" by Bill Clinton and probably the most incredible one of all "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein among others. Most of these I purchased on the recommendation from kossacks.
So much more than Obama has gotten me energized. Iraq, education, big business, oil, global warming, even local politics. I guess I have finally started to see how all of it really does fit together, and we need a lot of people in a lot of areas to get this country on the right track again. I am going to be one of those people.
I also plan on changing jobs. There are a lot of desk job sorts of things open for the county I live in, and that would be a great upgrade to the um...biggest box store in the universe that so many of you hate vehemently...that I work in now and have worked in for nearly 10 years. I got complacent, and enventually I got stuck, and now I know I have got to get on track.
So a great part of my interest and enthusiasm goes to Obama and the curiosity that's been instilled in me from this whole campaign experience, and part of it goes to you, Kossacks, for ripping the lid off all the subjects I never even would have thought about, for watching you rally and raise money and work your collective orange asses off to get your goals accomplished. I think, finally, after having lurked for years, and posting only a few times, I have finally become one of you.
Oh, if anyone has any recommendations for financial aid, I would be very appreciative.