Our Far Flung Correspondents......
A note from a most-of-the-time Cachaguan who is also an as-little-time-as-possible Ohioan....Joyous. Used completely without permission after I found myself getting a little teary after reading it. That is what an entire day of billing will do for you.
Dear Mike,
Just read your blog. Wish I could have been there to celebrate Juan's first vote with Pat, Amanda and all the Cachagua gang at the voting place.
Meanwhile, your displaced Cachagua friend Joyce here, was an Ohio Voter Rights Official, a thing designated by our state attorney general. There were lots of us, not just me. I had five precincts in a gym in Willowick, in a Catholic Church that had an insert in their bulletin about how to vote. I am a Pro-Choice/Pro-Life Catholic. Think about it....why be so narrow. ALL of life is sacred, not just the fetuses. Also sacred are Juan, Dave who rocks on the store porch, Liz, Pauline and Peyton, our brothers and sisters of color and single moms. Also women who have had to exercise their right to choose.
I began the day at the predawn hour of 5:45am where I found cars parked and waiting for the polls to open at 6:30am. Every manner of human came through the door. The poor poll workers could not leave. I went home for lunch. The guy in charge of changing the tapes on the machines and "repairing" the machines was a Republican rover named Matt. Whenever he was "working" on a machine, I pulled up a chair and smiled. He snarled at me "Who are you working for? Who is paying you?" I sweetly replied, "The state attorney general". (I thought that sounded mighty grand) I and my cohort stayed til the last seal was in place on the machines and the ballot boxes. We phoned in the results to the Democratic headquarters so there would be no slip twixt the cup and the lip taking the results to city hall. Oddly enough, Matt's precinct was overwhelmingly for McCain while the other four were for Obama. Hmmmm. Glad it wasn't worse.
My favorite moments of the day were the African-American families who came in dressed in their best, with scrubbed children, for this historic moment. I wanted to hug them all but couldn't so I just sent them loving looks that I hope telegraphed well into their hearts.
At the end of the long day, I came home to David and our dog Nora. We curled up on the sofa together and cried tears of joy through Obama's acceptance speech.
God bless America. We have to do every little thing we can, from sea to shining sea. We do have the audacity to hope.
See you in January. Love, Joyous
Dear Mike,
Just read your blog. Wish I could have been there to celebrate Juan's first vote with Pat, Amanda and all the Cachagua gang at the voting place.
Meanwhile, your displaced Cachagua friend Joyce here, was an Ohio Voter Rights Official, a thing designated by our state attorney general. There were lots of us, not just me. I had five precincts in a gym in Willowick, in a Catholic Church that had an insert in their bulletin about how to vote. I am a Pro-Choice/Pro-Life Catholic. Think about it....why be so narrow. ALL of life is sacred, not just the fetuses. Also sacred are Juan, Dave who rocks on the store porch, Liz, Pauline and Peyton, our brothers and sisters of color and single moms. Also women who have had to exercise their right to choose.
I began the day at the predawn hour of 5:45am where I found cars parked and waiting for the polls to open at 6:30am. Every manner of human came through the door. The poor poll workers could not leave. I went home for lunch. The guy in charge of changing the tapes on the machines and "repairing" the machines was a Republican rover named Matt. Whenever he was "working" on a machine, I pulled up a chair and smiled. He snarled at me "Who are you working for? Who is paying you?" I sweetly replied, "The state attorney general". (I thought that sounded mighty grand) I and my cohort stayed til the last seal was in place on the machines and the ballot boxes. We phoned in the results to the Democratic headquarters so there would be no slip twixt the cup and the lip taking the results to city hall. Oddly enough, Matt's precinct was overwhelmingly for McCain while the other four were for Obama. Hmmmm. Glad it wasn't worse.
My favorite moments of the day were the African-American families who came in dressed in their best, with scrubbed children, for this historic moment. I wanted to hug them all but couldn't so I just sent them loving looks that I hope telegraphed well into their hearts.
At the end of the long day, I came home to David and our dog Nora. We curled up on the sofa together and cried tears of joy through Obama's acceptance speech.
God bless America. We have to do every little thing we can, from sea to shining sea. We do have the audacity to hope.
See you in January. Love, Joyous
posted by Txacoli at 6:41 PM
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