A Huge Sigh Of Wonder

[liralen]

I have to admit that being a minority, I never really... really, really believed I'd see the member of a racial minority elected president in my lifetime.

But... I'm so glad I have.

Even if it made me cry buckets. Yeesh.

I mean... I didn't vote for him simply because of that. I voted for him because he knows what he doesn't know. He asks and listens. And that... that's more important to me than all the pretty rhetoric, the specific stances, the history, or even the experience or lack thereof. The attitude alone was what swayed me.

It's astonishing to see Colorado turn blue. To have the old guard turned out on their ear. It'll be interesting to see if the changes make a real difference, I'll hope, but, as usual, not really expect it and, hopefully, I'll also be pleasantly surprised.

And, yeah, having the whole crowd of 500,000 chant, "Yes we can." made me cry buckets too. And, yeah, I'll admit that I'm glad that when I go out of the country, now, that I won't have to be quite so embarrassed to be an American anymore.



Took most of today off to do errands around Boulder with John and go to Food Share with him, to pick up food for the OUR center. Crates of salad, cucumbers, and NesQuik Strawberry Milk Shakes for the day shelter. The folks that really have no where at all to stay can't carry much food around with them, either, so high calorie things with at least some nutritional value is better than nothing.

I also bought some Cotman watercolors for painting, too, as the local art stores are having sales on their paints, 25% off, so not the all-natural mineral colors; but definitely the standard colors my mom taught me to look for. So that'll be interesting as I run out of the cheaper paints.

I may switch sooner rather than later. I painted a more Chinese-style iris or two today, and really worked hard at black and white orchids again. I think I'm gradually getting the hang of how to do the multi-shaded blossoms. The Flat Irons made me really start thinking about painting things that are right in front of me. If I really want to do mountains... well, there they are.

So I had a really slow day writing, but Stark was great and shared some time with me, and we got a bit more done on that, too. I'll do better tomorrow, and the plane ride should be fun.

TS: 354
RP with Stark: 689
day's total: 699
Running total: 7442

Comments

[morgainelefae.livejournal.com]

ahh, yes- as a gay gypsy half-jew, i also felt that deep, gut-wrenching awe at the idea that we've finally reached this point. it's also not the reason i voted for him, but it's certainly a sweet side-effect of his getting elected. wow, i'm still teary. *hugs you*

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. *hugs you solidly*

It is astonishing how deeply I felt that when they were introduced as the future First Family and it was so *obvious* that they were black. It just... hadn't struck me nearly as hard before that.

*hugs you back*

[sarakate.livejournal.com]

That's what I woke up thinking about this morning: those two little black girls, who are going to be living in the White House, because their daddy is the PRESIDENT. Damn, that feels good.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

It *does*!! Isn't that amazing?

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

I thought of you when they announced Colorado. We've never discussed politics so I wondered how you felt about it. I'm glad to know we have that in common too. :D

Tonight is a good night.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

A very, very good night.

Yeah...

I'm glad we share that, too. And we and most of the member of our church were really working hard for the blue... *laughs*

God, I'm so astonished to see Colorado go blue, it just... wow. We were a swing state, and everyone worked like mad to try and get it to go our way.

Amusingly enough, I'm nearly more ecstatic about Musgrave getting kicked OUT here as a senator than I am even about the presidential results. She was so... AGH... on a local basis that I just wanted to kick her myself.

Anyway... yes. :-) Tonight is a very, very good night.

[beckyb.livejournal.com]

Driving home, before polls had even closed, I just had this sense of wounds healing, all across the country. Of possibilities opening up. It really is much more clear that anyone can grow up to be president. Although, I'm listening to people calling into CSPAN and it's pretty depressing.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

I agree about feeling that odd sense of healing across everyone I could see and know...

It certainly worked on some part of my heart.

Heh. I won't listen to CSPAN then.

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I'm not even American and we were watching with absolute delight. So happy and so emotional and so hopeful.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*dances about* I'm so glad. And I'm so glad that we Americans made it such a decisive victory on his part... it's good to have the choice be obvious to us as well. *laughs* And to show others we're not quite that stupid as to do what we did four years ago AGAIN.

thank you!!!

[blackwingedboy.livejournal.com]

We were a soggy mess too :) Much love to our Colorado family.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Hee. Much love to you, too!

[tallcedars.livejournal.com]

More tears of joy (and relief) here. *hugs*

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*hugs happily*

[tagryn]

I'm happy that you're happy.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Thank you, very much. I'll hope it's a good start for a lot more work, still.