speechless.
i guess that's the reason why i haven't posted anything about the election yet. i kinda felt depressed all of yesterday and it all had to do with kerry (and by extension bush). i've done some thinking about why i was so heavily invested in him and his campaign, hell i may even have promted some friends to do the same. and the things i could come up with were that i identified strongly with him. he was a rising star - someone who came from nowhere in the primaries... a 'no-hoper'. it was all dean - that's all the media and some friends of mine overseas were talking about. and then dean bombed. to be knocked out by john forbes kerry (delightfully ironic, isn't it - that whole jfk thing?). picking john edwards as his running mate didn't look like the best case scenario, but (a) there was no-one else worth their salt, (b) they're very very good firends and (c) i think he thought edwards would capture some of the middle-class workers' votes (which it seems he did). but back to the whole identifying with kerry thing. i think i somehow connect with his past and his standing in society. obviously i'm not saying that i'm part of the american bourgeoisie, but i think i understand where he was coming from and believed in pretty much the same stuff he believed in. i wasn't one of those 'well, i'll pick anyone as long as it isn't bush' fans of kerry. it seems he had a lot of those too. i do hope he stays in the news for the next couple of years, as he'll be in the senate until 2008 :) which kinda makes me happy. at his concession speech in boston, while he thanked his supporters, someone from the audience shouted 'we still got your back'. kerry replied 'thank you, man. and i assure you – you watch – i'll still have yours.' now that kind of leadership makes me happy. who besides mbeki in south africa is as good a leader (if not better). leadership doesn't get created. you've got it or you don't. and i know that kerry will be an extra-ordinary leader in various capacities in the years to come. its not over yet. (read john kerry's bio and find out some more about a role model of mine, if you want).
in terms of reality- grahamstown. south africa. let's get back to my life for a moment :) i've got just over two weeks before i've handed it in. the portfolio. an entire year's worth of work. and i'm on track believe it or not. i refuse to pull another one of my last minute stunts. i think that's one of the (useful) things i've learnt over the past four years... anyway, no huge life-changing shift at the end of this year. pretty sure most of you know that already. back for a year of teaching. no more (and i'm sure you realise that when i say that i mean it). i'm just too damn smart to get stuck in this town (city?). the strange thing about next year is that i'll actually be living three houses away from where i've stayed for the last two years. strange. but i guess, it was bound to happen in a town as small as this. another funny thing is that i probably would've found it much more difficult to stay if i didn't have a car (that i can (and do) use to race to port elizabeth) - almost weekly of late :)
other than plans for next year... life's going along very well. some friends are saying that i'm gushing fairly often when i speak about life... but hey, i won't argue.
going home at the end of the month - when the freelance work ends (somethings got to pay the bills). finally figured out what i'm going to do with myself for seven weeks: probably stay up in kimberley for a week or so, need to fix things on my car. then up to jozi to visit a whole bunch of people. back to kimberley for family christmas. who knows about new year? and finally off to durban quickly (maybe back to jozi as well, we'll see) and back to grahamstown in mid-january... yes, work starts early.
what made my day today: so many things. heard some very very good news today. but more about that sometime later. maybe.
---
i'll leave you with a piece written by dan gillmor from the san jose mercury news (i met him at highway africa last year, incidentally):
four more years:
kerry has conceded, properly so. and now we're onto the next four years.
the republicans have an even stronger congressional majority. they have shown how gladly ruthless they can be in using their power. bush and his allies have never believed in compromise. they have even less incentive to govern from the middle now, even though the nation remains bitterly divided.
there's no secret about what's coming. we don't have that excuse this time.
here comes more fiscal recklessness - as we widen the chasm between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else, cementing a plutocracy into our national fiber, we'll pay our national bills on the treasury bill credit card for the next few years. many economists expect a brazil-like financial crisis to hit the u.s. before the end of the decade. if we muddle our way though the near term, we'll still have left our kids with the bill.
here comes an expansion of the american empire abroad, a fueling of fear and loathing elsewhere on the globe. this is also unsustainable in the end. empire breeds disrespect.
our civil liberties will shrink drastically. this president and his top allies in congress fully support just one amendment in the bill of rights, the second amendment's right to bear arms. say goodbye to abortion rights in most states. roe v. wade will fall after this president pushes three or four scalia and thomas legal clones onto the supreme court. say hello, meanwhile, to a much more intrusive blending of church and state.
the environment? we'll be nostalgic for ronald reagan's time in office.
this is not sour grapes. this is reality.
i hope, but doubt, that the democrats re-discover enough of their collective spine to block the most extreme moves. if they do it'll be a change for a party that stands for so little these days.
people say there are two americas. i think there are at least three.
one is bush's america: an amalgam of the extreme christian "conservatives," corporate interests and the builders of the burgeoning national-security state.
another is the democratic "left": wedded to the old, discredited politics in a time that demands creative thinking.
i suspect there's a third america: members of an increasingly radical middle that will become more obvious in the next few years, tolerant of those who are different and aware that the big problems of our times are being ignored - or made worse - by those in power today.
that third america needs a candidate. or, maybe, a new party.
and something i found just now on lawrence lessig's blog:
i’m going to spend time these next few days looking for the america in my heart. it may be a while before i see it anywhere else.
in terms of reality- grahamstown. south africa. let's get back to my life for a moment :) i've got just over two weeks before i've handed it in. the portfolio. an entire year's worth of work. and i'm on track believe it or not. i refuse to pull another one of my last minute stunts. i think that's one of the (useful) things i've learnt over the past four years... anyway, no huge life-changing shift at the end of this year. pretty sure most of you know that already. back for a year of teaching. no more (and i'm sure you realise that when i say that i mean it). i'm just too damn smart to get stuck in this town (city?). the strange thing about next year is that i'll actually be living three houses away from where i've stayed for the last two years. strange. but i guess, it was bound to happen in a town as small as this. another funny thing is that i probably would've found it much more difficult to stay if i didn't have a car (that i can (and do) use to race to port elizabeth) - almost weekly of late :)
other than plans for next year... life's going along very well. some friends are saying that i'm gushing fairly often when i speak about life... but hey, i won't argue.
going home at the end of the month - when the freelance work ends (somethings got to pay the bills). finally figured out what i'm going to do with myself for seven weeks: probably stay up in kimberley for a week or so, need to fix things on my car. then up to jozi to visit a whole bunch of people. back to kimberley for family christmas. who knows about new year? and finally off to durban quickly (maybe back to jozi as well, we'll see) and back to grahamstown in mid-january... yes, work starts early.
what made my day today: so many things. heard some very very good news today. but more about that sometime later. maybe.
* now listening to: that same aircon, and some fellow designers hacking away at their respective keyboards.
---
i'll leave you with a piece written by dan gillmor from the san jose mercury news (i met him at highway africa last year, incidentally):
four more years:
kerry has conceded, properly so. and now we're onto the next four years.
the republicans have an even stronger congressional majority. they have shown how gladly ruthless they can be in using their power. bush and his allies have never believed in compromise. they have even less incentive to govern from the middle now, even though the nation remains bitterly divided.
there's no secret about what's coming. we don't have that excuse this time.
here comes more fiscal recklessness - as we widen the chasm between the ultra-wealthy and everyone else, cementing a plutocracy into our national fiber, we'll pay our national bills on the treasury bill credit card for the next few years. many economists expect a brazil-like financial crisis to hit the u.s. before the end of the decade. if we muddle our way though the near term, we'll still have left our kids with the bill.
here comes an expansion of the american empire abroad, a fueling of fear and loathing elsewhere on the globe. this is also unsustainable in the end. empire breeds disrespect.
our civil liberties will shrink drastically. this president and his top allies in congress fully support just one amendment in the bill of rights, the second amendment's right to bear arms. say goodbye to abortion rights in most states. roe v. wade will fall after this president pushes three or four scalia and thomas legal clones onto the supreme court. say hello, meanwhile, to a much more intrusive blending of church and state.
the environment? we'll be nostalgic for ronald reagan's time in office.
this is not sour grapes. this is reality.
i hope, but doubt, that the democrats re-discover enough of their collective spine to block the most extreme moves. if they do it'll be a change for a party that stands for so little these days.
people say there are two americas. i think there are at least three.
one is bush's america: an amalgam of the extreme christian "conservatives," corporate interests and the builders of the burgeoning national-security state.
another is the democratic "left": wedded to the old, discredited politics in a time that demands creative thinking.
i suspect there's a third america: members of an increasingly radical middle that will become more obvious in the next few years, tolerant of those who are different and aware that the big problems of our times are being ignored - or made worse - by those in power today.
that third america needs a candidate. or, maybe, a new party.
and something i found just now on lawrence lessig's blog:
i’m going to spend time these next few days looking for the america in my heart. it may be a while before i see it anywhere else.
posted by BOb at
23:12
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