Slice of Life Tuesdays

I

Thanks for sharing this comic, Stacey.

Just one week ago I was walking around this apartment, stopping by the kitchen for something, anything to munch on, to feed my fears. We were down to last hours of a very long campaign. I began at one place hoping for Al Gore to try again, but finally  moved to Hillary, half heartedly,  and finally found my way to Obama and then I had the time to get to know him as he made his way to the nomination and finally to the last day as a candidate.

At 6:00 PM we turned on CNN and ate great Chinese food in front of the TV and I stayed rooted.  I was planning to wait for victory before I had a drink but I needed something to be calmer, and I was a bit calmer.

Slowly the polls closed gradually and I clicked from CNN to PBC, toNBC to CNBC, to CBS, to ABC and yes, even to FOX and back to CNN again and the cycle continued and the time passed slowly.  Tuvia, by 9 needed a change of scenery.  He had two options: a gathering with the Grassroots Dems for Obama or the traditional celebration on Rt. 303 with Rockland County Democrats.  Now my choice with have been the Hippie Grassrooters, but Tuvia preferred the Rockland traditionals.  I was happy to just stay home and keep clicking back and forth, so I gave in to Tuvia.

We arrived at the gathering and entered to quiet.  People were just beginning to gather.  TV’s were running in the main room with refreshments around the sides. We sat down near the front but couldn’t hear the TV’s.  So we were sitting together with no information.  We arrived too early.  Finally Tuvia agreed to leave.  Without the grassroots address, we returned home.  I slipped back into my pj’s grabbed the remote and returned to my clicking.  Now the map was fuller.  Lots of blue on the map, some red too but we were making progress. I was breathing better now.

After two arduous, depressing evenings with W., I was prepared for a longer wait but by 11:01 NBC casually, without fanfare plastered a slide across the TV screen: BARACK OBAMA, 44th President of the United States.

I danced, Tuvia grinned and together we moved into the bedroom to share the last two speeches: first McCain and then Barack in Grant Park, Chicago.

It was an evening that I want to hold with me.  The next morning I returned to a hippie shop in Nyack for a new Obama button.  I found a perfect one with a photo of Obama and  just the word HOPE and that’s what I hold close to me, HOPE, that’s all and that’s enough for now.

Bonnie

A very special week.

A NEW PRESIDENT-ELECT!

After three months of presidential campaign uncertainty, Barack Obama became our 44th President.

We woke up yesterday and YES, YES HE IS the President Elect. So slowly we are adjusting the conversations. Who will he choose to help him run the country? Now we can enjoy listening to the president again. It’s been a long time coming for me. I’ve gotten to tuning Bush out. It’s so good to care again.

We are off to the Inauguration in January. Pictures to follow…

I have share a great post from Becca’s describing Obama’s election moment in Grant Park. It’s what I wanted to write but she’s captured it. Enjoy!

Week One: NaNoWriMo

As for writing, my novel this month, I am up to date at this moment. We are coming to the end of the first week one and I have 9600 words and counting. I am luxuriating in the need for words, for details, so I’ve been slowing down to put meat on my characters. Two main characters: one I know well, based on me and one I once knew and she’s the challenge. Actually everything about this is a challenge, a stimulating challenge.

So far I’ve been working solo with some sharing here and with a few online buddies, but I’m thinking a face-to-face session being planned for Tuesday might be fun. It’ just great to be able to write this here on the computer. Some people still write with a pen and a yellow pen. Bravo, but the computer opened up my writing life. As a lefty, I had no writing stamina, but here, I can get my ideas down as I create them.

NWP off to San Antonio

As we move closer to San Antonio and the National Writing Project’s annual convention I am presenting two workshops with members of other sites. We have been meeting virtually using email, Google Docs, and conference calls and it’s been great.

I hope the workshop participants enjoy the presentations as much as we are enjoying the rich collaborations.

DOVER INSERVICE

And my Digital Storytelling workshop is going well. We have completed 4 of 6 sessions and the group of 4 is a true group! More important than learning the web tool, Photo Story 3, seems to be the rich conversation about the texts and their connection to the photos.

It’s been a long ride to this moment in time. Just one year ago, I remember holding my breath, hoping that Al Gore would still take the plunge and run again. HIllary looked like a shoe-in but I was still hesitating, unable to really get excited about her. I missed Bill, and Hillary had the same last name but just didn’t convince me. I don’t remember what I thought about Barack then.

I held onto Al for months, but even after his Noble Prize, there was no talk from him, about a run. I began to watch the early debates featuring the string of Democratic hopefuls and I liked Joe Biden, Bill Richardson and yes, Hillary.

Gradually the pack thinned out and for the New York Primary I threw my support to Hillary and I did like her, but I wondered still about her authenticity. She sounded great, but would she stand behind her words? Smart and experienced, but was she desperate to get to back into the White House? And then Bill went out on the campaign trail as her bull dog and his role as bad cop seemed inappropriate.

Barack started looking better to me. It was a hard fight. Yes, the Clintons came to the table with a genuine passion for the rights of minorities, but the threat of a Black man threw them off and Bill went too far and forced Ted Kennedy’s hand to break of his neutrality and throw his support to Barack, and that was probably the turning point. I listened to Caroline as did many others and I thought about her father and my beginnings in politics with him and I started to turn.

Finally in March, when Tuvia and I were back in Israel, we sat together in our hotel room and watched Barack’s speech on race on You Tube and that was the moment for us. I had never heard a political speech like that, taking on the race issue head on.

I was on board and the campaign took on a new dimension for me now that I had a candidate to believe in. I do believe that Barack Obama will make us look better in the eyes of the world community and will work hard to create an agenda that will fit with what I believe in and want to see in America.

What a climax last night as Barack took the stage to accept the nomination officially in front of 75,000 supporters. He left me breathless as he stood up to all the naysayers. Tuvia and I had moved away from all the commentators on Tuesday night, switching to CSPAN for an pure view of convention to hear all the voices, without reporters, desperate and bored, chatting about nothing.

It was a great moment as we held hands, drank diet coke and listened to Barack, poised and brilliant bring his case to us. We are on board.

John McCain, BRING IT ON!!