Hanging Chads

I have spent a lot of time evaluating ballots today on Star Tribune.com. You can take the Senate Ballot Challenge, too. Some of them are totally normal-looking, to me at least. It's clear who they meant to select, even if coloring inside the bubble isn't their strength. But, what I've really noticed here is that folks really screwed up their ballots and then turned them in. Like, you can't circle "Norm Coleman," then draw an X through it and fill the dots next to both Dean Barkley and Al Franken. That's just silly and, to be honest, looks to be more of a crazy problem with crazy Coleman crazy voters. So, here is my PSA for today-- if you mess up while voting, please just ask for another ballot and try not to screw that one up. I know it is state-by-state, but in Wisconsin you get up to three ballots to figure out what you're doing. Or, you know, let each of your personalities vote once and then arm wrestle each other for whose vote to count.

Just say "yes."

Customer Service Agent: I'd be happy to assist you, first I need to verify some information.
Me: Ok.
CSA: Are you still living at ________?
Me: Yep.
CSA: And is your phone number still ______?
Me: Yes.
CSA: And your email address is "Sara H. Erlinder at yahoo.com"?
Me:.....um....yes.

Consumer Update

Every so often I like to update you, my loyal readers, on things that I've bought and how they are working out.

1. Gillette Alluring Avocado Shave Gel. If you, like me, think that this will smell like Avocado instead of super-sweet melony crap like every other women's shave gel... well, then you, like me, would be just plain wrong.

2. The iPhone. I bought it about a month ago. I love it so much, it's like my new best friend. You know, like the kind of best friend you pay a lot of money for and then are very worried about getting wet. We play games together, it reminds me to do things and can answer any question in pinch. A true pal.

3. Kemp's 100 Calorie Ice Cream Bars. I can't find a link to them. They are delicious and tiny. And have 7 grams of fat in each tiny little one. I feel a little duped. Quantity over quality, people.

4. Haircut. Got this one today, it was desperately needed. I don't think it's a Madison-is-cheap thing, I think this place is stuck in the 90s or something. It's an Aveda salon, they rub my head with oils and do a good job cutting my hair... for $35. I kind of realized lately I've been letting myself go... ratty hair, ill-fitting jeans, oftentimes some kind of stain on my shirt. Time to get it together, sister.

5. Ticket to Nashville in April for "the house" plus Erin. Will be awesome. Want to stay at the Gaylord Opryland. Also want to wear cowgirl boots and will need tight jeans by the trip.

6. Airfare change from American so I won't spend xmas eve eve in Miami on the way back from the DR... it was $147 to fix my stupidity in scheduling. I have been stupid in much more expensive ways.

"I'm Still Hoping for a New Day Every 24 Hours"

That's a quote from one of the Restorative Justice class participants I saw graduate from the program on Monday at Columbia Correctional Institution. There was a lot that was really cool about it-- not only did the official diploma holders and speeches and so on mean a lot to a bunch of guys in maximum security prison, many of who have never successfully completed anything in their lives... but it was also cool that the reverend who runs the program brought all of these parishioners from his church to watch. Most of them had never been in a prison before, and now their experience was moving, uplifting, eloquent and replete with cake! MLKJ was quoted no fewer than 7 times and a really lovely allegory (it's all over the internet, like here) was told in the graduation speeches.

I hate prison. I hate the idea of it and I hate what it does to people. Going to prison is exhausting, even for me, just for the day. I find myself thinking about people who are in prison while I am going about doing other things... they are just still right there. It's interesting and depressing to see the different stages of acceptance and growth inmates have. I am not sure what I would do. At lunch on Monday, one of the social workers from the prison told us going to prison is her worst nightmare. She claimed she would kill herself before going to prison. I have been doing this small job since last spring, responding to inmate research requests from the federal supermax. Read about what it's like to be there. Twenty three hours a days in a cell alone. One hour of exercise. No contact with other people. I can't even imagine. I've responded to letters and had regular correspondence with some pretty illustrious guys over there... famous in the world of crime and "terror." This semester since now I am on a flatrate instead of an hourly payscale, I have found myself getting annoyed with some of the requests... I got one the other day, though, that jarred me out of being annoyed. I had provided this guy some divorce materials for Colorado, forms he could fill out and file himself. He wrote back, thanking me profusely and asking for a couple of other things. He included a copy of a form letter from the Colorado Bar... he had asked for referrals and they gave him an sheet of websites and phone numbers. Well, he mentioned, he doesn't have access to the internet. Or a phone. So could I just go to the website and tell him if there is a mailing address and what it is. "We are only allowed to send letters." Today I sent four letters to four different guys who, according to an old New York Times article were convicted together, two are cousins... I wondered if they even knew the others were there also? Did they all find me separately? How would they tell each other to write to me?

Anyway... most prisons are nothing like that. I am continually impressed by the brotherhood among inmates and how many help one another out. So I saw that on Monday, as well. Even though I missed out on the cake.

Obama Fever. Yes, I still have it.

Barack Obama seems to be a really good dad. I love that. And I love those girls. Look at these (and these) pictures and love them, too.

Here's Something Exciting

It's happening!

A Couple of Things Since the Election

1. Saturday I took the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. It sucked. Here's hoping I passed so that I don't have to do anything that sucky until the Bar. I think I am plenty ethical. Plus, you pass in any state if you're like 2/3 ethical, I can totally do that.

2. I applied for an application with www.change.gov. It's like fate or kismet... I need a job. And my country needs me. And I love Barack Obama. Here's hoping I am ethical enough to work for him.

3. My newest hobby is surfing youtube for things to make me cry.
Recently:



Less Recently, but have watched it no less than 12 times and gotten misty each time. Also sing it in the car:


And then of course:


Lauren likes to get all mushy, too. She has a lot of these over there, as well.

This is Really Quite Lovely

I luv Minneapolis.


The article is nice, too.
MichaelMoore.com has a bunch of other beautiful linked videos.

Taking it to the streets!

OK, so what was the best part?

Was it literally dancing in the streets?

Was it drinking champagne and crying?

Was it running into a french-canadian acquaintance who embraced me and said, "thank you?"

Ok, how about the smile and tingle each time the radio says "President-elect Obama?"

Or maybe hugging and hi-fiving strangers?

Or maybe talking to loved ones far away, every so completely joyous?

This has been an awesome 18 hours or so. I've had an election-hangover all day. Kind of fuzzy and unsure what happens next. And feeling like spending money and being decadent and thinking about the future....

And I loved Obama's acceptance speech and the emphasis on this not being the end of things, instead the beginning. Which is true. But right now we still need a couple more days of ICANTEVENBELIEVEITOHMYGOD!!!!!!!!

And, let's be honest, probably a lot more crying.

Also, turns out I'm still really white.

Welcome Home!

Remember to Vote and Ethical Dilemma

I know 2 people personally who are voting for McCain. Not bad... One of them is from Illinois, in Wisconsin at school with me and asked yesterday where to vote early.

Ethical dilemma!

Keep your nasty old John McCain vote away from me! I told her, "Illinois."

"Ha, ha, but really?"

Um.... so I told her.

I feel overwhelmed and scared and excited. The NYTimes.com has a feature, asking voters to describe how they feel in one word- my first one this morning was "aflutter." I can't concentrate on anything, I am pretty sure by this afternoon-- and definitely by the time I have my first beer after class tonight-- my word will be "hotmess."



Also, looks like McCain himself made the right choice:

I'm Endorsing Obama and Crying All the Time

Ok, I mean, duh, right? I have endorsed Obama for President since 2004. There is a moment stuck in my mind and it comes up whenever I think of Barack Obama. Election night, 2004 in the old apartment in Brooklyn. Erica and Daniel are watching coverage on TV and I just can't handle it anymore, so I am in bed, listening to NPR. They report from the living room that Kerry has conceded Florida... and I start crying. NPR announces Obama has won in Illinois, making him the third black senator since reconstruction. And that was when I started wailing. Not only were were looking down the road of another 4 years of George Bush... but howfuckedupisthewholefuckingcountryanywayohmygod.

I've been getting really emotional about the election recently. I voted yesterday and started crying while connecting the arrow next to the Obama/Biden ticket.



Perhaps it was that I had waiting in line for 2 hours... but I think maybe the Hope has gotten to me. And not really hope for the country or hope that things could be better, but hope that it's my place after all. By far the hardest thing in 2004 was feeling like I could see so clearly how badly things were going, what a schmuck G.W. is, and then the country voted (and even if not all the votes were counted) many, many (most) of them voted for Bush. I felt so alienated from my country and just kind of afloat. Now, the idea that most people could vote for Obama... well, obviously it makes me cry. But for partially very selfish reasons-- it means my home is a place I want to be.

I cried about the election a second time yesterday. After voting, I was driving to get some Halloween supplies and passed a man standing on the side of the road, wearing Obama gear with a giant handmade sign that read, "VOTE!" I honked and gave him the thumbs up and we shared a milisecond of smiles.

And then I started crying again...

This time, I think, because it has also been so touching and inspiring how people have gotten into this election and taken ownership of the process and the candidate. Every election I've been able to vote in has been a disappointment... but all these people, they have that Hope, too. And they're making their own signs and spending Friday afternoon standing on a street corner.

There is a lot I can identify with in this article. Until about a week ago, I couldn't let myself go- we've been so devastated before. I can't let my hopes rise to have another 2004.. but maybe that's been this "hope" thing the whole time. And I don't want to live in fear or be a victim of the political process in my own country. Apparently, neither do others-- and so this is what has been so exciting about this election.

And, also... YAY! There will be crying on Tuesday night no matter what (Charlie, be warned). Here's to the happy kind!