esprit de l'escalier

Goodbye Wonder Bread

With a great amount of sadness, I read yesterday on Columbus Underground about how the Wonder Bread factory in Columbus is closing. I'm sorry for the workers and for Columbus to lose an icon.

Anyone who grew up in the area knows the factory because of it's huge neon sign and the wonderful yeasty bread smell that emanates from it. You can see and smell it from the highway. I always thought I was lucky to grow up in a town with a bread factory, as opposed to a tire factory.

When I was a kid, there was a yearly summer festival at the little 1950s strip center down the street from my house. The parking lot would be partially closed, there would be games, Elsie the Cow (or some bovine stand-in), and a guy dressed as a bag of Wonder Bread, handing out miniature loaves of squishy bread.

BWA-HA-HA!

Illinois might have two successive governors convicted of corruption.  It was only a matter of time until G-Rod got caught doing something.  

This is what the Chicagoist says: "This thing is...amazing. We wish we could curl up on the sofa in front of the fire and under a blanket and live with this thing like it was a Danielle Steel novel. It's just. That. Good."

Follow the link to read their favorite excerpts of the 76 page document.  Mine?  That he is/was interested in running for president.  HA!

Thanks, Blago, for reminding me why I was happy to leave Illinois when I did.  (Sorry friends there.)

Time to quell the monsters

I am overjoyed about Tuesday night and wish I could have been in Grant Park for the electricity that I heard about secondhand.

Besides the joy I am feeling, I'm also exhausted, from school, work and travel - not to mention the thought of all that lies ahead of us. All I have energy for is to share this blog post, from Nobel Prize-winning Paul Krugman.

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.

And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

Amen.

My third presidential election as a voter

And I hope it goes better than the last two. I got up early and went to vote with my Dad. It seems like the whole village decided to vote as soon as they could today. Even lots of Denison students were up early, casting their ballots. I probably would have had a shorter wait if I had slept in. Oh well!

My fingers are crossed and my heart is hopeful! Our country needs a leader for the future and not the past!

Here are some shots from around the house this morning. Remember to vote!

Two political thoughts

I was, of course, excited about the Colin Powell endorsement, especially by the eloquence (and length) he gave to his explanation. The part that I keep thinking about, though, is the part where he discusses how "Muslim" (or "Arab") has become a bad word in the political sphere, and how no one seems to have a problem with that. He told a story about a photo of a young soldier's grave, with his mother crying, and how that American citizen was of the Muslim faith and how nasty this political cycle has become.

The only other person I had heard give pause about this discriminatory practice was Ben Affleck this past Friday on Bill Maher's show. 

When I first heard that clip where the woman who asked McCain about Obama being an Arab (as joked about here) I was concerned by the non-response of McCain.  And I thought of Seinfeld episode where a reporter thinks that Jerry and George are gay.  Where was the, "But not that there's anything wrong with it!"  Instead the opposite of "Arab" was a "good family man."  There isn't anything wrong with being an Arab or of the Muslim faith. 

As Powell said it:

"Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, 'What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?' The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.' This is not the way we should be doing it in America."

My other thought has to do with the recent list of newspaper endorsements Obama and McCain have gotten (almost a 3 to 1 margin for Obama).  Besides the number of conservative papers that have endorsed Obama, I found it curious that McCain has not (yet at least) gotten endorsements from either Arizona or Alaska.  Obama has five from Illinois (including the Trib), and none from Delaware, but is carrying an Idaho paper.  (Palin went to school, partially at least, in Idaho.)  It's possibly that this could be proved wrong as more endorsements come in, but we're two weeks away from November 4th and no papers in McCain's home state have given any endorsements.

Those who do not study the past...

I'm tired today and am staying home to watch the debate. Can I thank the universe again for creating a person like Jon Stewart? Because he has gotten me through some very troubling times.

How creepy is this head to head the brilliant folks at the Daily Show created?

Have a good weekend!

This is beginning to smell

McCain skipped out on Letterman to go see Katie Couric, and Dave was pissed. Watch below. 

Mildly hysterical today

I'm not sure what got into me this afternoon, but I was talking with my friend at work about politics. Since I've been gone a week, we needed to catch up about McCain's VP choice, but for some reason my emotions were just raw. I got a little upset, more than I should have gotten while at work and more than I needed to with my friend. But it happened and suddenly I was tearing up and railing about my fears.  Luckily it was almost time to go home, and I got in touch with my friend Sharon, and she let me be incoherent to her.

All of this made me think about the emails I sent out the days after the last two presidential elections.  The second I reprinted here, about two years ago, and is about Federalist X and I feel more poignantly now what I wrote then, especially about the balances of power.

I'm not going to pour out my incoherent thoughts, because I don't think doing so would make me feel any better.  Instead I'm going to point you to some pieces friends have sent me.

If you read nothing else, read Frank Rich's piece from Sunday's NYT.  He's been on a roll lately.  He goes on to talk about how McCain's trademark haste would prove problematic in the White House, but this early paragraph hits as to what I'm truly angry about.

We still don’t know a lot about Palin except that she’s better at delivering a speech than McCain and that she defends her own pregnant daughter’s right to privacy even as she would have the government intrude to police the reproductive choices of all other women. Most of the rest of the biography supplied by her and the McCain camp is fiction.

My friend Sharon sent me a NYT blog post by Judith Warner that touches again on Palin, the GOP's disdain for the citizenry of this land and America's obsession with "connecting" with the candidate.  Below, another quote I liked.

Thanks to the level of general esteem that greeted her ascent to the podium, it seems we’ve all got to celebrate the fact that America’s Hottest Governor (Princess of the Fur Rendezvous 1983, Miss Wasilla 1984) could speak at all.

Could there be a more thoroughgoing humiliation for America’s women?

Finally, my ever politically astute friend Aimee, who wrote her thesis in college about women in politics, sent me Anna Quindlen's piece on the GOP' "finding" feminism, of course when it's convenient.  She starts off with a killer GB Shaw quote, "Hypocrisy is only bad when it is improperly used."
Again, a quote.

This would all have been entertaining if it were not such rank hypocrisy. These are people who have inveighed against affirmative action, a version of which undoubtedly played a part in this selection. These are people who inveighed against personal attacks on their new nominee when the wingnuts of their own party elevated such attacks to a fine art by accusing Hillary Rodham Clinton of fictitious misdeeds ranging from treason to murder. To try to suggest Sarah Palin might garner the Hillary Clinton vote, that one woman is just the same as another, that biology trumps ideology, is the ultimate evidence of true sexism, and I hope Senator Clinton will travel the country and say so.

I'm tired of the hypocrisy and the lies, and it has already been a long campaign season.  Tomorrow I promise some Montana stories.

No way, no how, no McCain

It's raining today and I decided to take the day off of work, even though I'm taking off Friday and all of next week to go to Montana and Idaho to visit my sister and friends.  I have to finish a paper for my Dresden class that's due, a paper I've been avoiding.

The last couple of nights I have been staying up too late to watch some amazing speeches at the Democratic National Convention.  I couldn't believe Teddy Kennedy - he looked and sounded better than I ever expected - and his speech had such an energizing, fighting tone.  Michelle Obama's speech was outstanding.  She is such an inspiring woman and I am so excited to have her as first lady.  And last night Hillary Clinton knocked her speech out of the park. I thought she got off to a slow start, but man when she hit her stride, she was amazing.  Her quote of Harriet Tubman was brilliant.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If they're shouting after you, keep going.
Don't ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.
Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

I've never watched the conventions straight like this before and I am excited.  My mother said that when she was younger her family would always follow both.  We reminisced about her mother, who was a political junkie, and talked about how excited she would be with this convention.  Hillary and Michelle would have both made her proud.

Anyhow, I'm curious to see how Bill Clinton, with his wounded ego, will handle his speech tonight. 

(Oh, and do you think I can get, "No way, no how, no McCain" on a button?)

Soggy thoughts on what I want to be when I grow up

Today started off a bit soggy. It started raining yesterday evening and did not stop until this evening. Thus my trip to the polls early this morning was fairly wet, and my galoshes got a work out. I found something amusing with voting today. It must be that Ohioans aren't used to voting in primary elections, because I saw two people have mini tantrums about having to choose one ballot over another. I think it's because they were Republican and only wanted to vote on the Democratic ticket for president. Frankly I didn't have a lot of sympathy.

I am currently coming off the giddiness that follows public speaking. I just gave my final presentation for my "Where Do I Fit?" class, in which I had to describe what kind of planner I want to be when I get done with my master's program. We had to have one slide with an image that would serve as our inspiration. I chose this photo of the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall in Shanghai. When I saw it, I thought about the mass of humanity that would be living in such a dense urban area, and how nature and community could possibly be balanced. My interests in planning are related to design, community and sustainable living. In a perfect world I'd be able combine these three interests in a job to make urban living better in America in places like Columbus, Ohio. I'd also like to be able to write about it. (Have I told you how Dwell magazine influenced two major life decisions last year, including getting a master's in urban planning? I'd love to be published by them one day.)

I'm writing about this now partially to start forming more coherent thoughts for myself (and my final paper for that class). It's funny how this assignment has been both difficult and easy. I know what sparks my interests and passions, but it's hard to consolidate those interests into goals. Part of the assignment entails writing a "perfect future resume" - which I haven't yet started. It's exciting and scary to dream, especially when there are real life implications (even if they are good implications).

Anyhow, sorry for the navel gazing, though that's what this space is often for. I just got two rolls of film back today and have some great photos to share this week. Stay tuned! (Below is a shot of the main drag in town, taken Sunday during our short bit of beautiful weather.)