Let's pass a hat for the poor, poor investment bankers

This article from the New York Times is endlessly frustrating. Basically, it's trying to make a case for the massive salaries Wall Street Types make and denouncing the idea of Obama's proposed $500,000 salary cap. The most frustrating bits of the article for your reading pleasure:

"Sure, the solution may seem simple: move to Brooklyn or Hoboken, put the children in public schools and buy a MetroCard. But more than a few of the New York-based financial executives who would have their pay limited are men (and they are almost invariably men) whose identities are entwined with living a certain way in a certain neighborhood west of Third Avenue: a life of private schools, summer houses and charity galas that only a seven-figure income can stretch to cover."

Here we're taking it as a given that these MEN have a God-given right to live that extravagant lifestyle... sure, I'm not going to say it's not their right to, but in light of what they've done to the economy, I think they can stand a little frugality, too. Also, prices will only stay that high as long as the market can bear it, surely. So wouldn't it be good for everyone for the number of people who can afford that lifestyle to dwindle and drive prices down? I know, I know, then the RABBLE would get in.

"The work in the gym pays off when one must don a formal gown for a charity gala. “Going to those parties,” said David Patrick Columbia, who is the editor of the New York Social Diary (newyorksocialdiary.com), “a woman can spend $10,000 or $15,000 on a dress. If she goes to three or four of those a year, she’s not going to wear the same dress.” Total cost for three gowns: about $35,000."

I guess it goes without saying that the man in these couples is inevitably going to be buying the dress for his wife or girlfriend who is busy hanging out with society types and working on charities and is obviously not earning a living. This brings me to my biggest gripe with this article and with the whole system behind it. These Big Wall Street Men are allowed by our society to expect this kind of coddled existence, including a big pay check to pay for all these completely unnecessary things and it is just accepted as the state of affairs that one of these things is a trophy wife of varying intellect who doesn't work and doesn't contribute to the exorbitant bills their lifestyle kicks up. How is this shit still going on? Don't these people realize that if both people in the couple were earning $500,000, then they'd be back up to their precious seven figures and then they'd maybe have a good reason to hire a nanny? Ugh. I hate investment banking/bankers/the society that still allows this kind of shit.

Good words

"From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry."

Ahh... Jane Austen via Hollywood.

Liveblogging the Inauguration

9:10 PM: Jason Wu, apparently...

8:32 PM: THERE IT IS! The dress! It's light yellow? Cream? Maybe ruffly? In any case, its details don't stand up amazingly well to harsh onstage lighting.

4:11 PM: "Tell us Soledad O'Brien... Michelle was walking in those high heels. What is that like?" Ugh.

2:52 PM: So, it was Teddy.

2:44 PM: Good grief... Wolf just called Nancy Pelosi Dianne Feinstein. So, since toasts are still going on, the collapsed Senator must be okay.

2:43 PM: Oh, shit. Maybe it was Ted Kennedy instead?

2:42 PM: A Senator collapsed in the Statuary Hall lunch. We don't know who, yet. Maybe Robert Byrd.

2:38 PM: It's The Moment on CNN! The "Synth!" Kind of cool, but utterly useless on TV. I imagine in person it would be cooler.

2:30 PM: This is entirely unrelated, but this commercial made me inexplicably happy. Link to video.

2:25 PM: CNN has finally noticed whitehouse.gov. That took long enough.

2:19 PM: In case you missed THE HAT, here's video.

2:14 PM: I'm just looking at the new whitehouse.gov and I've got to say the agenda points are inspiring. Also, on The Blog there are a ton of posts from 12:01 PM, the first minute they could post on behalf of President Obama. Very happy-making.

2:06 PM: Also, what the hell is up wiht CNN prattling on constantly about Reagan?

2:02 PM: A note: Yes, it is remarkable that a black man has been elected president. But perhaps more important is that it is this particular black man. What if it were a war-mongering, neocon, bad man and not this specific, intelligent, young, progressive, fabulous man?

Also, unrelatedly, I hate when journalists interview college students and say "What was the ... coolest ... part of this for you?" Ugh. How condescending and disingenuous.

1:54 PM: Was Bush's daughter actually wearing leggings and a metallic mini? Because it kind of looked like it when she was just boarding un-Air Force 1.

1:49 PM: OOH! More CNN exclusive technology! SATELLITE PHOTOS FROM SPACE! A 3D photo compilation of the President at the moment of his address! Woo! Sad no hologram, though. I do respect CNN for getting Q to work for them.

1:39 PM: Alice Walker had advice for the President:

"We are used to seeing men in the White House become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: it is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is only what so many people in the world really want."

Full quote at Jezebel.

1:35 PM: CNN has Colin Powell right now. I don't respect all the decisions he's ever made, but I am still really pleased and grateful that he so eloquently and forcefully endorsed Obama.

1:30 PM: 1. Anderson Cooper just had to correct himself from saying "Barack Obama" to saying "President Obama."
2. I still can't *quite* believe that Obama got elected. It's almost too good to be true.

1:28 PM: Vice President Joseph R Biden and Dr. Biden! (It's terrible that I didn't know she was a Dr., probably.)

1:27 PM: Aww... bipartisan seating chart at the Congress lunch. Rahm Emanuel seated with the McCains!

1:13 PM: Sullivan's whole post "Hello to all this" is really good and hits the nail on the head. Also, it has full text of the address.

1:11 PM: This photo, via Andrew Sullivan, is great on a lot of fronts.
1. Lincoln Bible. Looks pretty good. Bound in red velvet, silver metal frame, heavily gilded edges, I've heard.
2. Look at those gorgeous gloves!
3. Obama's ring is cool!

1:09 PM: There's Al! I love that big meaty Tennessean.

1:05 PM: Facebook status update roundup time:
"every time cnn says "former president bush" it makes me happier."
"Has the whitehouse.gov site changed design? I quite like it."
"Awesomeness reigns at last."
"[X] is gettting back to Bar Study. Seems like a let down. But the Pres would want me to be responsible!"
"[X] is finally proud to be an American."
"[X] is transfixed by the sense of history happening around her this day."

1:03 PM: Obama signing nomination papers! He looks so little in that big chair! Also, according to Wolf Blitzer, his penmanship is excellent and has "a little flourish."

1:02 PM: Jeebus. Can fox news not get over Clinton? He's NOT slimy!

12:58 PM: Photos via Jezebel:
Gothic: Dick Cheney
Chipper: Bill
Frackin' Cylon: John McCain

12:56 PM: Not to spoil the happy tone of the day, I'm a little pissed that they're delaying Hillary's confirmation for a day. WTF gives? She's going to get confirmed anyway...

12:55 PM: Of the Bidens and Obamas standing together watching the old regime depart, wjh says, "they are wearing the german colors together!!"

12:52 PM: Michelle fashion update: the gauzy bits are actually ties on the jacket - repeat - the jacket ties in the front. AND a scarf underneath. All impeccably matched to the brocadey fabric of the dress and jacket. They're calling it "maize-colored," but it's almost mustard-y and a little metallic. Also, I've decided that it is elaborate beading at the neck, not a necklace.

12:50 PM: Obama walking Bush out of the Capitol now. Obama's face says, "Ciao, sucker!" Bidens/Cheneys looking much more cordial. Oh, and Jill Biden's gorgeous red coat makes my knees weak.

12:49 PM: Ohhhh, Roberts screwed up the oath, not Obama. Probably an elaborate Bush-camp ploy to make the inauguration unconstitutional.

12:45 PM: Michelle's suit is by Isabel Toledo. Cuban-American designer who headed up Anne Klein for a couple years. The suit is really pretty - lovely textured fabric and the color is gorgeous on her, but not on almost anyone else. I also like the gauzy bits around the neck (attached? a separate scarf?). Note: both Michelle and Laura Bush are wearing suits with long jackets (same length of the shift underneath) and no lapels. Almost funnel necked in LB's case.

12:43 PM: Cute picture of Sasha and Malia.

12:40 PM: Back to the important things: is that thing at the top of Michelle's dress a necklace or some elaborate beading on the dress itself?

12:38 PM: Biden just took a picture for Malia! Awwww....

12:37 PM: "When black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, and when the red man can get ahead, man."

12:36 PM: "Tanks will be beaten into tractors"

12:35 PM: Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery's benediction is pretty great. We will "turn to each other and not on each other ... we will make choices on love and not hate, on inclusion and not exclusion, on tolerance and not intolerance."

12:31 PM: Obama's face has changed since he took the oath... kind of a transformative moment, I guess. He looks less nervous, more self-assured in his (HIS!) power, now. He looks very calm, whereas while he took the oath and just before, his face was a little shaky, his chin wrinkling a little to contain overflowing emotion.

12:30 PM: Edifices is not an easy word to say.

12:29 PM: Elizabeth Alexander is on message: things to repair, children in school, power of language, curiosity beyond our own borders.

12:27 PM: What a damn good speech. And I'm happy to report that Bush looks sheepish. Cheney is wearing a fedora and managed to stand up for a handshake. By the way, how gothic is it (to steal my sister's word) that he showed up in a wheelchair? My first thought was, "What, now that he's off the hook we can actually see how weak he is?"

12:25 PM: "In this winter of our hardship..." He's literate! And articulate!

12:23 PM: Oooh good rhetoric: "These things are old. These things are true."

12:22 PM: Katrina reference followed up by an economic reference. Good parenting, all good things. It's an Aaron Sorkin inspired "Ask not..."

12:20 PM: "We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

12:19 PM: "We will not apologize for our way of life and we will not waver in its defense." Kind of hawkish, but sounds nicer coming from someone who has really benefited from the good parts of our way of life. I.e. that our country makes room for things like constitutional amendments and the civil rights movement. It's not another oil-fat straight old white man vowing to fight the little guy.

12:18 PM: Has it occurred to you all that we can be happy about reading the news now? Bush can't do any more harm!

12:17 PM: "Founding fathers?" Didn't he used to say Founding Parents?

12:16 PM: Economic regulation! Yay!

12:14 PM: Science! Renewable energy! Education! Hooray!

12:13 PM: A mention of American innovation and inventiveness. "We must begin the work of remaking America." I've missed his rhetoric over the last couple months.

12:13 PM: "They saw America as greater than the sum of our individual ambitions."

12:11 PM: "Greatness is never a given. It must be earned."

12:10 PM: "The time has come to set aside childish things."

12:09 PM: So very happy. "Less measurable, but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across the country." "The challenges are real and they are many. They will not be met easily, but know this, America, they will be met."

12:07 PM: For all you geeks out there, I thought I'd share the text of the last inauguration we were all happy about:

"I, Laura Roslin, do now avow and affirm that I take the office of President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, without any moral reservation or mental evasion that I will protect and defend the articles of colonization with every fiber of my being."

Compare to:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

12:06 PM: Hell, yeah. Little bumpy in the recitation, but I think we can put that down to emotion.

12:02 PM: No Oath, yet, but congrats, President Obama.

11:59 AM: JOHN WILLIAMS? When they first announced Itzhak Perlman and Anthony McGill (clarinet), I was hoping for some Presidential klezmer.

11:58 AM: Joooooooooe!

11:57 AM: They'd better make it snappy. Obama becomes pres at noon, oath or no.

11:56 AM: Here's a good article about past Inaugural prayers.

11:54 AM: I never much liked "My Country 'tis of Thee" before. Maybe politics just needed a little soul...

11:52 AM: Is the Lord's Prayer traditional at these things?

11:50 AM: That water carafe next to Obama is a Crate & Barrel design.

11:49 AM: "You are loving to everyone you have made." That's surprisingly inclusive.

11:48 AM: Bracing for Rick Warren - only a smattering of applause... very little. Is that because it's Rick Warren, or because people don't clap for a prayer?

11:47 AM: "Real and necessary change." "Renewed call to greatness."

11:45: Dianne Feinstein. "Peaceful transition of power" mentioned for about the 73rd time today. It is pretty awesome, of course.

11:42 AM: All the bigshots walking out now. Obama with assorted Congress leaders (yay Nancy!). As a sidenote: "Hail to the chief" was composed circa 1821, based on some verses from "The Lady in the Lake" by Sir Walter Scott. It was made the President's official theme tune in 1954.

11:41 AM: He's using the Lincoln Bible - it apparently hasn't been used *since* Lincoln's inauguration... not bad.

11:36 AM: Also: Michelle O's gloves! Olive leather!

11:27 AM: Could Aretha Franklin be any cooler? What a killer hat.

11:22 AM: Wow. There's a moving van at the White House even now. Kind of awesome.

11:06 AM: "That will be the last time they play 'Hail to the Chief' for Bush."

10:15 AM: Guess who isn't President anymore!!

Mental Health Break

That's what Lucy looks like, plowing around in the snow. Here's a still photo for comedy value:

First Foray into Fine Cooking

In keeping with my maybe resolution, I'm trying one recipe (at least) from this issue of Fine Cooking. This month I'm trying out Roast Pork Replay. The idea is that you "Cook once, eat twice." This does seem to be a misnomer, as the leftover recipes still require a bit of thought and effort, but still the principle is a good one.

This recipe appeals because 1. I love a roast, 2. I love pork, 3. Pork shoulders are CHEAP and stretch quite far, 4. I'm looking forward to the Pork Ragu and Polenta leftovers.

It is daunting, though, on two fronts: 1. I am very impatient with cooking (as with knitting). 2. This is by far the largest hunk of meat I've ever tackled.

So, last night I wielded my butcher knife ("ChrisSY! Bring me the big knife!" - 5 Points if you can identify the film) and removed the skin from an unsettlingly large hunk of meat (I had the butcher de-bone the sucker). While doing so, I wondered whether my 5 quart saucepan would be big enough - roasting pan (wedding present) hasn't arrived yet, but alas, the meat won't wait. (It turned out that the pan is *just* big enough for the meat and hopefully the veg that gets added to it later on.) After the skinning, and testing of pan size, I massaged the meat with a hefty dose of salt and pepper and put it to bed in the fridge for the night.

This morning (10:30) I pulled it out and according to the recipe, let it sit around for an hour and a half before pre-heating (only 300? Slooooooow roasting...) and popping it in the oven.

Here's a before shot. (Apologies to vegetarians and the squeamish.)

1:57 PM UPDATE: After an hour and a half or so in the oven, the pork is largely unchanged, save the fat beginning to curl up and melt off. Hopefully this process keeps the pork moist? I'm very suspicious of this roasting-without-liquid process, but I trust the Magazine.

3:12 PM UPDATE: There's now a big pool of fat around the bottom of the meat... still a LOT of it on top. I hope that will all melt off in the next, what, hour? It's smelling splendid.

3:46 PM UPDATE: I've just checked the meat again. (See above comment about impatience.) It is progressing. More fat coming off. I did the first fork check and it's tender in some spots, VERY dry and tough in some spots, troublesomely. Also, fat poured out of some spots when I forked them. Lots of fat. Maybe this meal isn't the healthiest?

6:14 PM UPDATE: Well, it's done and looking delicious. Right now it's loosely tented in aluminum foil and "resting" while I cook potatoes for mashing and wait to be able to skim fat off the juices. Can't wait to dig in. Photos to come.

8:24 PM UPDATE: WOW. That was a good meal. Very simple, rustic one might say. But thoroughly satisfying. Lots of good pork fat-ty goodness and the juices became delicious - just water and white wine and lots of garlic and onions and a very few carrots and MAGIC. Pictures below.
Figure 1. The whole platter of goodness.
Figure 2. One full plate. Mashed potatoes, peas, and pork.

Feet upon feet of snow = time for baking

Yesterday, inspired by deep-seated boredom and the approximately two feet of snow (and higher drifts) that have piled up around the house, I decided it was time to do away with some leftover bananas and a heavy dose of malaise by baking. I took another swipe at this banana bread recipe. This time, I used real eggs, a hand-me-down Kitchen Aid stand mixer (thanks mom!), more vanilla and twice as many bananas than the recipe called for, and walnuts. The results were very, very tasty. Banana bread having been accomplished, I decided I wasn't satisfied yet. I decided to make pizzas for an early, delicious dinner. I used Joanne Weir's recipe for crust (from Wine Country Cooking), which worked out DELICIOUSLY. I messed up the first step (the yeast/water/flour mixing part), but it worked beautifully anyway. Here's the dough before shot:I was worried about how small the dough was before rising (it did NOT look like enough for two 10-11" pizzas as I had been promised), but in an hour it had almost tripled in size! It was a light, fluffy, almost frothy dough, which resulted in puffy, crunchy, perfect crust. Crunchy under the sauce and toppings, but it had enough body that munching on the crusts afterward was pleasant. I wish I had reserved some sauce for dipping.

Speaking of sauce and toppings... while the dough was rising, I assembled toppings (with Dan's able help).There you see (clockwise from top left), 1. the wine I was drinking, 2. green peppers and zucchini, 3. red sauce (I whipped this up from some canned crushed tomatoes, lots of rough-chopped garlic, dried thyme, salt and pepper, and a generous dose of cayenne for kick), 4. mushrooms, sauteed with salt and pepper to release the juices, 5. rough-chopped broccoli, 6. rosemary prociutto, chopped, 7. goat cheese, 8. fake pesto I made from that basil in a tube stuff (kind of gross, but effective), some garlic paste (ditto), salt, and pine nuts (whole), 9. Ricotta. We then assembled these toppings into these two pizzas:1. (top) Veggies with spicy red sauce (broccoli, zucchini, 1/3 of the mushrooms, and green peppers, dusted with shredded mozzarella, topped with lots of good pecorino romano).

2. (bottom) The piece of resistance (as Dan and I have started saying): Green Pizza. (fake pesto base, LOTS of mushrooms, rosemary prociutto, clumps of goat cheese, and dollops of ricotta). It was Ridiculously Tasty. I heartily recommend this recipe, but maybe with real pesto instead of the fake stuff. But keep the whole pine nuts. They're delicious.

Clip Show

It's been a slow-blogging season, but I'm back now, packed with new resolutions and resolve to do everything better and more this year. Not realistic, but optimistic, you've got to admit. Winter has settled in on Watertown and I find myself buried under snow as well as much-procrastinated work. Here are some highlights:

Before Christmas, I baked these:
Apricot and Nut Cookies with Amaretto Icing. Delicious and Not Too Sweet!

This is what I did on my Christmas Vacation:Then we came back to town and showed Boston off to Dan's mum and aunt:
While we were gazing at Boston (from the Top of the Hub), we drank lovely cocktails and looked at the lovely orchid on our table:Finally, Lucy is dismayed by the snow. It sticks to her. These are what Dan refers to as chesticles:

This is what a feminist looks like

Oh, Hillary.

Read this and tell me she isn't great.

A Maybe Resolution?

My mom gave me a subscription to Fine Cooking magazine for Christmas. Maybe I'll try one recipe from each issue? Just for starters?

To Do before 12/19

It's the lead-up to going home for Christmas and the Wedding! Crunch time to-do list (in no particular order):

1. Get on top of grading a little bit
2. Read for meeting on Wednesday
3. Pull together Wedding accessories
4. Get together Christmas presents
5. Finish shopping for Christmas presents
6. Underwear shopping
7. Return stuff to Gap
8. Pack: don't forget DF's shirt and tie, cameras, batteries, wedding accessories
   
9. Fill out paperwork at the Core office (12/15)
10. Pay bills/rent
11. Buy Guest Book
    

Faux toes

Fig. 1. This is Lucy on a travel day. She was having a problem with static electricity.


Fig. 2. Dan and Lucy in Chicago O'Hare Airport.

Fig. 3. Dan and I had our fourth anniversary. I made curry and blood orange martinis. Lucy wanted in on it.

Fig. 4. The African violet in my office finally bloomed again.

R.I.P. Bettie Page

I have a real soft spot for Bettie Page, and she died yesterday. I also love that she was not only a massive, gorgeous sex object, but also articulate and charming. She said, "I want to be remembered as I was when I was young and in my golden times. . . . I want to be remembered as the woman who changed people's perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form."

Thinking about Drinking

It's always a bit puzzling to me that I have such a hard time defining something that I so clearly identify as, but an article on New York Magazine .com and a response on Jezebel made me stop and think about what constitutes a Feminist in a pretty remarkable way today. I'm by no means close to an answer myself, but the following really bothered me. A few choice quotes from "Should Gender Equality Extend to Drinking."

"My point here is that the closing of the gender gap isn’t about men—needing to compete with men or wanting to feel like men. It’s about women going after the things they want and feeling that alcohol, variously, can help them. If men come into the picture at all, it’s only because what women sometimes want is sex, the final frontier of gender equality..."

This quote sounds a little unrealistic when read side-by-side with the next one, about the author's friend Kate, who works in the hyper-masculine investment banking fast-track:

Going out with them meant drinking, usually heavy drinking, which suited Kate’s mind-set at the time. “I felt like I deserved it,” she says. “I realized I can work crazy hours, I can work just like anyone else, so I can party just like anyone else.” Soon she had an agenda: If she could finish her work by 2 a.m., she would grab a guy from the office—“I had no girlfriends, it’s such a male- dominated industry”—and they’d hurry to a bar, order a few rounds of shots, and try to catch up with the people who were already drunk. “I drank almost every day,” she says. “But I thought it was normal because I was always going out, and when you’re out, everyone else is drinking.”

The part of this that bothers me is the "I had no girlfriends" and the fact that she felt like she had to go out [drinking] with "the guys" to be accepted and get ahead in her career of choice. No, none of that is explicitly stated in the article, but yes, that is the (not very hidden) subtext of this particular drinking anecdote. I think PilgrimSoul put it best in her response (on Jezebel.com) to this passage:

Also maybe ambitious young women drink more because the frontiers for ambitious young women are pretty depressing. You all know me as a bit hardcore now, but before I ended up in the "high-end" job I'm in now I thought workplace sexism was something of a myth. I thought, hey, I will never find myself in discussions where superiors are joking about prostitutes or making awkward and ill-timed remarks about what I'm wearing or people at my same level are telling me to answer the fucking phone for them because clearly by virtue of my possession of ovaries I want nothing more than to be their assistant. I never though that I would be convinced, as I am now, that, "I will always be the bitch in the corner who doesn't find your hall-soccer-playing, chest-beating masculinity impressive or something to emulate." I thought, I will never see an acquaintance hired and fired by a person who claims to care about gender equality while simultaneously justifying said firing by way of the phrase, "I tried to tame a mustang." About all of this I was, however, wrong.

So I'm not really going to fault ambitious young women for drinking, nosiree, I am not.

And then there's this one:

For the bulk of history, women have skewed toward the teetotaler end of the spectrum; not until the middle of the last century did a burgeoning relationship with alcohol coincide with Second Wave feminism and a general impulse to close the gender gap across the board. “As women ‘immigrated’ into the culture that was once unique to men,” says Grucza, “they picked up a lot of the same mores and attitudes and behaviors and ideas about what is socially acceptable that men had previously held. We call this acculturation—people adopt the drinking attitude and behaviors of the dominant culture.” Which explains why researchers have found that women in the demographic closest to being dominant (young, white, middle-class, educated) are leading the charge in terms of increased alcohol consumption. The trend is so pronounced that in Britain, home to the Bridget Joneses of the world, public-health officials launched an ad campaign picturing a grizzled man in drag (or a very mannish woman) with the caption: “If you drink like a man, you might end up looking like one.” But no public-service announcement is likely to turn back this tide, especially among the very young.

This, too, seems to undercut the notion that the increase in women's drinking is not about men. The quote about acculturation also underlines the assumption (apparently un-challenged) that male culture is still the dominant culture. The other thing that bothers me about this article in general is the comparison of women drinking more (as much as men) to any of the other feminist-driven gender-gap-closing projects of the past. i.e. "I want the right to vote" is roughly equivalent to "Another scotch, please." If we are meant to worry as much as this article tells us to about the negative repercussions of drinking, is it also telling us that our other progressive leanings are subtly dangerous as well? (This reminds me of a much-beloved teacher I had in high school who said the fall of all great empires was foreshadowed/caused by the merging of roles between men and women in a given society. In other words, the narrowing of the gender gap in our country must presage the great Fall of our Civilization. In other words, stay down and stop wearing pants, ladies!)

Also, about the ad mentioned in the quote above [see horrific image, above], why does Britain (home of famed "Effed Feminism" find it so deplorable that England's fair roses are drinking more now? Why is there a public service announcement-style campaign targeting women drinking and not one about men drinking? Even if you say that yes, Britain does have plenty of anti-drinking-in-general ads, the fact that they think women need their own, personal (beauty-standard-motivated) ad campaign (not health-related, mind you, because women -- and society in general -- only care about their looks and not the state of their livers) excludes them from mainstream society. It's just a new stripe of separate but equal, in my opinion.

And finally, this article takes a pretty heavy-handed swing at my favorite website out there:

This conversation is from a posted IM exchange (with tidied punctuation) between two editors at Jezebel.com, a Website that is an avatar of a certain of-the-moment brand of feminism appealing to women too young to remember the heyday of Ms. magazine. Jezebel is very pro-alcohol.

Jezebel is not pro-alcohol. The Jezzies talk a lot about alcohol. But they also talk a lot about health concerns, sex, careers, Feminism, and the economy, entertainment and politics, politics as entertainment, etc etc etc. What Jezebel provides, (beyond a non-judgmental (in most cases, but notably not in the case of this article's comments), supportive, progressive, feminist community at a time when I feel a good feminist is hard to find) is a forum for women to discuss what happens in women's lives. For all their immodest disclosure about bodily fluids and sexual encounters as well as bad credit and shitty jobs, why should they not talk about the cocktails they enjoy and the hangovers they suffer? It is a full disclosure website and I, for one, find it refreshing in a time when post-feminism seems to have ushered back into style some more traditional feminine (anti-feminIST) values.

To take a part of Jezebel Jessica Grose's quote out of context “You know, the whole point of Third Wave feminism is that individual choice should not be judged." While I don't know if that's the whole point of 3rd wave feminism (I've yet to find a definition of the Third Wave that doesn't grate on me), I do applaud the sentiment that we are not here to judge other people's actions or choices. At the same time, though, when a woman tells me that she's choosing to be a stay-at-home mom, my inner Second Waver gags a little, which the Third Waver in me wouldn't be allowed to do. (I also thought it was a tragedy when Charlotte quit her job to get pregnant.) I guess what bothered me most about this discussion was some of the comments on Jezebel... so many of the women there were saying some really retro/misogynistic things about women drinking being sluts and using standard conservative scare tactics about getting trashed/getting STDs. It was just so negative and unproductive, not like Jezebel usually. All of these women, the ones saying "Yes, drink!" and the ones saying, "A feminist models herself on the Virgin Mary" were all flying the flag of feminism. So what is a feminist these days? Is it someone who feels she has the choice to do whatever she pleases or someone who bristles at other women choosing more traditional roles because their very progressive feminist values tell them it's okay to not want to be CEO? Does considering myself a feminist give me the right to question other people's decisions? Or is it specifically anti-feminist to judge, no matter what your motivation is?

In the interest of clearing up any confusion, I drink, not heavily, but regularly (I am getting a Ph.D., as you know, and the article drives home the point - mentioning it twice - that the more educated a woman is, the more she drinks -- ergo, less education = better for women in general, since drinking is so bad?), I do not think that drinking is feminist, but I think that women feeling like they have the choice to and that it's not specifically forbidden them is a sign of progress. (Also, many of the more inflammatory comments on the Jezebel post have since been deleted based on the rules of Jezebel posting etiquette.)

It's my birfday.

I looked back at the blogs in search of something interesting I wrote on my birthdays past, but apparently I'm not very inspired on my birthday. I'm a great proponent of New Years' posts, though. This is what I found.

2007: a Boring meme
2006: the same Boring meme
2005: nothing inspiring

Huh. I thought I had posted resolutions before...

Anyway, I'm posting new-birth-year resolutions, since I've decided in recent years that January 1 is kind of arbitrary and generally disappointing. Please bear in mind that this list reflects a small measure of anticipatory holiday funk-ness and the attending need for cheer.

1. I'm smart, so I'm going to start doing smart work more smartly.
2. I have friends, so I'm going to see my friends more often and keep in touch with the ones who aren't handy.
3. I actually have it pretty good, so I'm going to be a little more aware of that and thankful for it.
4. Short-term: I will enjoy the rest of the wedding planning a lot and I will also enjoy my wedding.
   
5. I will attempt to be healthier.
6. I will attempt to be happier.
7. I will read for pleasure regularly.
8. I will do things other than go to work and watch TV.
9. I will cook more interesting things.
10. I will be creative.

That's the short list, anyway.

Happy birthday me. Now back to grading tests.

Holidays again

It's getting to be Holiday time again, and though this one promises to be different from any other so far (Wedding, anyone?), the same thoughts I always have have already started running through my work-weary brain. Nostalgia for holidays past with pets past running around Christmas Trees past, the residual memory of the smell of a particular dish that we'll never eat again, precisely, the wish that some family members were still with us and that some disagreements had never happened. All this is bundled together with the hope of good things to come, of new families evolving out of the old one, and with the hope that these holidays will be different, but will also be exactly the same as all the others.

These thoughts are all hitting me at a time when I actually do have a little free time on my hands and when I am beginning to feel old creative urges that I haven't indulged in at least a couple of years. It may be time to create again and to try to get myself back to a happy, productive energy that also allows me that creative outlet. I'm taking film home. I'm envisioning a collection of still lifes (lives?) taken around my house. Maybe also some scenic shots, but I want to do something a little more rigorously artistic. Whatever that means.

Writing is what I always wanted to do, but I worry about the influence of all this academia. Clearly, A.S. Byatt manages all right. I just need to find that balance (does it only come with rejecting, wholesale, the theories we're meant to internalize here?) and then find a story. And time and space in which to write.

Tomorrow it's the long trip home, flying in to Chicago with its serpentine suburban culs de sac, then proceeding South over the neatly parceled patchwork of rural Indiana. This time it will be in grey-greens, beiges, and browns, very different from the gold and green of the summer.

(written in the Barker Center; internal soundtrack: Joni Mitchell. You know the one.)

To-Do 24.11-26.11

• Make Vet Appointment for Lucy (for Tuesday or Wednesday) Tuesday at 4
  
Look into haircut for Lucy Tuesday at 10:30

• Call for cab on Thursday at 4 AM
• Get together NOAs for travelling purposes
• Buy/Mail that thing I have to mail
• Read Appleton
• Grade
• Pack for home (clothes to wear, outfit for shower on Saturday, Dan's wedding clothes, Lucy things, book to read, Wedding stuff)
• Talk to parents about wedding stuff: photography, music, embroidery stuff
• Clean out fridge
• A little laundry -Not going to happen.
  
• Dinner with K: tonight at 6
• Dinner with Emi: Wednesday at 4
  
• CVS run: band-aids, cotton balls, lip stuff, etc.
• Start Christmas list
• Start Christmas shopping

Muppety goodness

If you're in a bad mood, this is the ultimate antidote.

Apple Cider Martini

Delicious - my own recipe

3 Parts Vanilla Vodka
5 Parts Apple Cider
1 Part Spiced Rum
dash cinnamon
1 tsp brown sugar

Shake with ice and serve with one maraschino cherry

When 1 Part = 1 Oz this recipe yields two generous cocktails.

The Clip Show, Part The Second

Warning: The following will only be funny to German speakers.

Imbissbudendeutsch für fortgeschrittene

Deutsch für Nazis

Die Deutsche Kochschau

The Clip Show, Part The Third

There has been a rash lately of suggestions for economical good eating. A result, obviously, of the economy going down the toilet. These struck me as good (and they're the only ones that I managed to save the links for).

This article has good tips on cooking "for one," but their tips also work for cooking "for two," if you both work and don't eat a lot of leftovers.

This is a great suggestion on how to make one chicken last three (or more) meals.

The Clip Show, Part The Fourth

This is an awesome graphic comparing the first 100 Days in Office of all the presidents since FDR. They've pulled famous quotes from inauguration speeches ("The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"; "Ask not what your country can do for you..."; "A thousand points of light"), violent moments (JFK assassination, Reagan shooting, etc.), and major policy moves (the pardon of draft dodgers, Emergency Banking Act, etc.). It's really fascinating to see where lots was happening and who didn't get jack done (Nixon and - oddly - JFK, I'm looking at you) and to imagine how the days between January 20 and April 30, 2009 will look. (Also to think about the 100 Days of Action - fun project.)

The Clip Show, Part The First

This very amusing post from Jezebel makes me think about my ideal morning routine. The difference between me and these other women is that I don't have the fantasy of massive productivity in the morning. I do, however, have the fantasy of a life in which I can sleep late, spend time with my mans in the evening and stay up reaaal late at night. So here, in Jezebel fashion, is my ideal routine.

Ideal:
10:00 - Roll out of bed, walk Lucy while coffee is cooking. Eat leisurely breakfast of yogurt and granola while reading the internets. At work by 12. Home from work at 6, eat delicious dinner, watch amusing TV OR go out to fabulous club or bar with fabulous friends who can also sleep late. Alternatively, resume work for a couple hours around 11 or midnight, then go to sleep.

Actual:
Alarm goes off at 6:53. Snooze until about 7:15, at which point my mans and I begin the morning firedrill of fast showers, no breakfast, abbreviated dog-walk, and half-running to the bus. Somewhere between 7:55 and 8:05, get on the bus. At work by 8:45. Prepare for and teach class til 10, at which point I procrastinate until it's time for a leisurely lunch with my fabulous colleague. Then more procrastination until I go home around 5. Ready for sleeping by 6, but drag myself through dinner and doze while my mans watches TV and moans at me for sleeping.

This is really really awesome

Look at these election maps!

Strange thought

Isn't it odd to think that some places in the country are as sad and negative about the future as we are happy about it? Bizarre, but apparently 48% of us are probably a little dejected right about now.

Transition

NYTimes has an informative article about the Obama transition team. Very exciting! I would LOVE Lugar for State and think Dean could be exciting for Health/Human Services, though I'd prefer Hillary.

BREAKING: INDIANA FOR OBAMA

They called it! Woohoo!

Political Junkies: Looking forward

The next big thing is to see who Obama taps to be in his cabinet/to help out in his administration. CNN has a good list of names that have been floated as possibilities. My money is on McCain getting something and maybe Gore. I hope Clinton accepts something, though she's also good in the Senate and says she doesn't want anything else.

Key Seats to look out for:

• Secretary of the Treasury
• Secretary of State (obviously)
• Secretary of Defense
• And I'll be curious about his pick for Homeland Security, though I think that will be less relevant under Obama and our current economy than it has been in the last 8 years
  

Also, waiting to hear if any of the elder Supreme Court Justices step down immediately after Bush leaves - I'm looking at Stevens (he's 88). Next oldest is Ginsburg at 75, but she hasn't been there all that long. I'm interested to see if any of them were just holding on to see if the next president is relatively safe, appointment-wise.

RIP Wilson; Post-election link show

• As I mentioned yesterday, our Pet Wild Turkey died yesterday. Today my dad is interviewed in our hometown paper.
  
• Thanks WJH (in HH) for pointing the Spiegel.de headline out to me: "Die Wiederauferstehung des amerikanischen Traums" (Translated - The Resurrection of the American Dream).
• Die Zeit is predictably less euphoric with "Obamas schweres Erbe" (Obama's difficult/heavy inheritance) and vaguely politically-incorrect with "Der weiß-schwarze Präsident" (The white-black President).
• Die Süddeutsche weighs in with "Amerika hat sich neu erfunden" (America has reinvented itself)
• Britain seems to be happy to be out from under the weight of Bush: "President Obama: Change has come" and "Live Blog: The start of a New Era"
• Jezebel does a pretty great round-up of columnists' reactions.
• Also, the NYtimes Blogs have an article about post-election depression. We're apparently all supposed to be depressed and have an excess of time on our hands now that the election is over. But REAL political junkies know that politics is never over! Why should we not be this interested and engaged all the time? I know, there's a lull now, but soon we'll be hearing about Obama's cabinet and early policy ideas. We'll start to think about how the new Congress is going to look and we'll start digesting the ballot issues that passed and didn't. There's ALWAYS something political to be a junkie about, so people worried about withdrawal should keep their pants on.
  

Anyway, Indiana still isn't officially called, but it looks like Obama just nosed McCain out, which is good. CA is upsetting me about Prop 8, which also isn't yet called, but doesn't look good. My heart goes out to all my Californians.

It is interesting to see that even during all the euphoria of the last twelve hours, some people are already shifting the tone to consider how exactly Obama is going to carry out his promises, fix the war, and save the flailing economy. The overwhelming sense seems to be that getting elected was the "easy part" and now he's really going to have to "work hard." I just hope he takes a week off first.

• Jezebel's gallery of beautiful people in Grant Park got me all sniffly.
  

Liveblogging the returns

I'm too excited for much intelligent discussion today, but I want to chronicle some things. Here goes my first Election Day chronicle/liveblog.

Useful links: IN (cnn), FL (cnn), MO (cnn)

• Aaand Indiana seems to be officially blue, miraculously. Even if no one's calling it, I'm AWFULLY proud of my home state.
  
• 12:17 AM: Thanks from BarackObama.com. I genuinely hope and pray that all this change we've heard about really happens. Seems likely. And this Victory Speech must have been written or helped along by the West Wing dudes. Could it be more moving? And more inspiring? And more hope-provoking? I love that this man won and that we won't have to have a government powered along by fear for eight more years. I'm so tired of being told how afraid I should feel and am looking forward to someone who might tell me what I can look forward to instead. Bless him and his beautiful family and Biden and his family. And all our new Senators and Representatives. It's all very promising for our party and for our country. (I think this election has redeemed that word - not thanks to McCain, but thanks to Obama, who has made it possible for me to be optimistic again. Thank YOU Barack and Joe. Good job everyone for voting!
  
• 12:14 AM: Also, Senate is at 56 for the Dems now. Yay!
  
• 12:13 AM: It's also kind of cool to see Oprah acting like a normal human and basking in Obama's speech like the rest of them. I wish I were in Chicago.
  
• 12:12 AM: On another topic: CA is denying both Prop 8 and Prop 4, thank goodness.
  
• "For those whose support I have yet to earn: I hear your voices and I need your help."
• "This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance to make that change."
• AND I hate that I haven't been working for him. Must make that up somehow.
  
• Also, maybe shadows of him becoming more liberal as he takes office?
  
• LOVE Obama. What a good speech already. But seriously, good riddance to Palin. And yay, shout-out to Michelle! She's so classy and great. And he bought his girls a puppy!!
  

• The above screengrab is VERY gratifying.

• fivethirtyeight is predictably happy
  
• Great photo of Barack on the guardian right now: http://www.guardian.co.uk/america
  
• For comparison's sake: Clinton got 370 electoral votes in 1992, 379 in 1996.
  
• I'd like to kindly remind you all that BUSH is finally FINALLY a lame duck! Officially! 11 weeks til the Inaguration! Also, Sarah Palin can crawl back into the hole she came out of. And her daughter has a prayer of a normal-ish life with her baby.
  
• McCain concession speech? Already? Hooray! But BOOOOOOOO for stupid McCainiacs for booing Obama. So declasse.
  
• CNN CALLS THE ELECTION! Time for Champers!
  
• INDIANA IS BLUE THIS MOMENT! AND FOX IS CALLING VA FOR OBAMA!!
  
• Also, human life from conception amendment failing in CO!
  
• Abortion ban in SD fails! Hooray! Thanks to Blume for the update on this vote.
• CNN calls NM for Obama which gives him 207! 63 to go! CA has 55!
• I've just learned that my sister's posse has broken out the bubbly. We're still sitting on ours.
• Will I Am Hologram! Keerazy! I like him.
  
• Vanderburgh County is officially Democratic! Friendly territory again!
• Al Franken is leading in early returns.
• Also Senate standing at 54 for the Dems.
  
• Correction: In IN - McCain 49.5%-Obama 49.4%. OY. 8,000 votes difference.
• 10:22 PM: Looks like Question 2 is strong in MA. Stoners rejoice.
  
• 10:22 PM: Lucy's too nervous (tired) too look.
• 10:19 PM: IN all but tied. 13,000 votes difference. 49.7% McCain-49.2% Obama.
  
• 10:03 PM: More foolhardiness?
  
• 10:01 PM: Switching over to Comedy Central where Jon Stewart (!) and Stephen Colbert (!!) are doing a live (!!!) special!!!
• 9:59 PM: Foolhardiness at this point?
  
• 9:56 PM: Also RIP gay marriage in FL.
• 9:49 PM: I'd like to interrupt out broadcast to say R.I.P. Wilson (a.k.a. Rodan). The wild turkey that lived in my parents' yard (slept on their garage roof every night) for two and a half years was hit by a car this morning. Area children are devastated and the press is covering his memorial service tomorrow morning.
• 9:46 PM: CNN more or less just called the election without calling the election. I'm thinking about that bottle of bubbly, but not until Obama wins a couple more states. It also just dawned on me that Indiana might be taking so long reporting results because they're taking the time to count absentee votes. It's promising. Probably still won't happen, but still. I'm proud of my home state even if they don't go blue. What great strides have been made there!
  
• 9:26 PM: They just called Ohio for Obama!!
• 9:14 PM: I'm starting to feel a little more optimistic.
• 9:06 PM: Also, it looks like a Democratic Senate Majority! Hooray!
• 9:05 PM: It is a GOOD day to be an American. So far, anyway.
  
• 9:00 PM: Even Fox News sounds Democratic tonight. Yay! Other races to be excited about: Franken in MN, Shaheen in NH, ballot measures in MA. BTW, we didn't repeal the income tax in IN.
  
• 8:53 PM: They're talking on CNN about when McCain "made his last stand" and absolutely acting like Obama's going to win. Very encouraging. Here's a roundup: 538.com shows Obama looking okay in VA, but better in FL. IN still too close to call. Okay. We lost Posey County. No surprise there, but the Dems did make a strong showing there. No progress in Vanderburgh and no word yet on Warrick. Generally calling ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI, NJ, DE, MD, and IL for Obama for a total of 102 electoral votes. PA looking good which would give him 123. 147 to go.
  
• 8:49 PM: I love that Carville is on his cell phone while he's on CNN.
  
• 8:43 PM: HOOOOOOOOOOOLY CRAP Obama is leading 53-47 in Vanderburgh county! 35% reporting!
  
• 8:39 PM: Perry county is official! 60-40 Obama! 100% reporting! Also, CNN is calling PA for Obama. Huzzah!
  
• 8:35 PM: Okay, Posey County's not out of the woods yet, but there's only 70 votes difference right now. That's encouraging.
  
• 8:29 PM: Also this, which Dan found for me. VERY encouraging.
  

  "Democrats are cheered by early numbers showing that Obama holds a healthy lead in Vigo County, a place that one Dem described to us as "the most reliable bellwether county in the country."

  "Vigo has only been wrong on president twice since 1892," this Dem enthuses."

• 8:29 PM: NYTimes has a nifty county map for the whole country with results being posted all the time. It's on the front page right now, but I can't find a good link for it.
  
• OH looking good.
  
• Just heard on CNN - "It's a bad year to be a Republican!"
  
• POSEY FREAKING COUNTY! That's Hostettler country! And it's bright, beautiful blue!! 51%-48%! HOORAY!
  
• I am worried about Virginia. But Florida's looking pretty good.
  
• 8:03 PM: O. also carried Spencer and Perry counties! Amazing! I don't know that we can write off Warrick and Vanderburgh just yet.
  
• 8:00 PM: CNN projecting ME, CT, IL, DE, MD, DC, NJ, MA. That leaves Obama with 77 to McCain's 34. AL, FL, MS, MI, NH, and PA just closed.
  
• 7:49 PM: Sad that Mitch Effing Daniels won Governor in IN again. Not surprised, though. Also, county-by-county coverage of IN here. Also, still no results from Vanderburgh county.
• 7:44 PM: Another photo. There is something WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE. How can you call a state with 0% of precincts reporting? I understand that Vermont is safe, but SERIOUSLY.
• 7:43 PM: I've added a warm-fuzzy photo of my (non-voter eligible) hubby and our puppy at my polling place.
• AND VIGO COUNTY! Also known as why both of my congressional candidates lost! Also known as a Republican stronghold! Also known as a bunch of blue collar factory type worker (and farmers) terrified of losing their jobs! (538.com agrees with me that this is a good sign!)
  
• ALSO Dubois County is leaning Obama! That's a deep Republican/Evangelical area!
• Good good good. IN - 12% reporting and McCain is up. BUT Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Gary are all still MIA. THIS IS GOOD. Also, there's a strip of area along the southern border with IL that is SERIOUSLY conservative territory - but the economy, I would bet, has scared them into voting Obama. Very good sign for IN. Wonder how Terre Haute's doing?
  
• The good old Courier & Press is covering Evansville's voting. Here.
• W. T. Eff. with the silly silly "beaming in" on CNN? SO FOOLISH.
• I am PISSED. OFF. that CNN is already making projections. Sure, VT and KY are pretty safe, but did they not learn ANYTHING from the last two elections? Especially 2000? GAH!
  
• Can't believe O. is ahead in IN for the moment. Gives me hope! I do feel a LOT of guilt for not voting in IN this time... But, still there's the absentee ballot conundrum. One of my students is from IN and her ballot got lost, so I wouldn't wnat to feel disenfranchised in that way. It was nice to vote in person for once and know for certain my vote was going to count, even if MA is a foregone conclusion. Many many props to my political buddies in IN for getting out the vote for Obama!
  
• More from 538. Hooray for early voting!
  

  31,268,357 voters have cast votes early in America, which represents 25.3% of the total of all ballots cast in 2004. Nobody doubts we are headed for an absolute record turnout in this election.

• 31,268,357 voters have cast votes early in America, which represents 25.3% of the total of all ballots cast in 2004. Nobody doubts we are headed for an absolute record turnout in this election.
• Pork Chops and stuffing are in the oven. Mashed potatoes waiting to be consumed. Just beginning to watch CNN... "the BEST political team" on TV. (I think Wolf Blitzer is going to give himself a stroke every time he says "BEST." He kind of spits a little.
• 5:25 PM: And now I'm going to start our election night dinner. Unlike McCain and Palin, I like me some Pork. Chops.
  
• 5:20 PM: Nate Silver's (of 538.com) hour-by-hour guide to the returns. Says Silver of my home state:

  The responsible thing to do would be for the networks to hold off until at least 7 PM to project Indiana, when polls have closed in Gary and the northwestern part of the state just across the border from Chicago—where Obama hopes to rack up huge margins among black and working-class voters. If for some reason the state is called before 7 PM for John McCain, that probably means we're in for a long night. If, on the other hand, the state is called for Obama in the first hour after the polls close, that could indicate that the force of Obama's field operation has been underestimated, and that McCain is in for a catastrophically poor evening.

• 5:15 PM: After a little disco nap in preparation for tonight, I'm back at it. Two things from Andrew Sullivan - 1. Even the haters are sure O's going to win. 2. Obama > Kerry.

Election Day sputterings

• 3:23 PM: 538.com is making me happy/nervous.
  
• 2:52 PM: This is Ab. Surd. Joe the Plumber plungers as accessories for election day?!
  
• 2:47 PM: Long live people like Jennifer Brunner.
• 2:46 PM: This also sums up something that I'm worried about. Scary, but upbeat.
  
• 2:39 PM: Well, this is sweet. Stolen from Roya's Facebook status.
  
• 2:30 PM: Continuously updated - Voter suppression (and other problems) in action: NYTimes reports:
  "The Ohio Republican Party re-filed a lawsuit it previously dropped against the Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, claiming that she has not done enough to ensure that provisional ballots are counted properly and uniformly in all counties across the state.

  Ohio State University law professor Edward Foley, an election law specialist, said the lawsuit was a placeholder to be used by the Republicans to challenge the final results if the outcome in Ohio is close, using the Bush v. Gore decision by the Supreme Court in 2000."

• 2:27 PM: This is really cool: the NYTimes Election wordtrain. Shows you how people are feeling.
  

• 2:24 PM: More ballot problems - Soggy ballots. No problems where I voted (Watertown, MA). No electronic machines - optical scan ballots and the weather was dry and fair.
  
• cnn.com: things looking grim for McCain. But who knows.
  
• Here are pictures of people standing in line to vote.
• 2:16 PM: I voted and feel good about it. There's a warm feeling of civic pride that follows finally voting in person, amidst old ladies and little kids having an election day bake sale to raise money for the fifth grade. Also, this is crazy. Tim Robbins getting arrested at his polling place? Wild.
  
• 12:52 PM: This is kind of funny/scary. Hasn't happened since 1824, but what would happen if the Electoral College were tied?! Looks good for Obama.
  
• 12:45 PM: I have purchased provisions for tonight and am going to vote in a few minutes. For now, though: this is amusing.
  
• 10:56 AM: Andrew Sullivan is collecting good voter stories. This one and this one are particularly nice.
  
• 10:44 AM: Karl Rove is calling it a landslide for Obama. (That's the first time I've ever been thankful for anything he's said.)
  
• 10:33 AM: Great image from Jezebel.com See over there -->
• 10:30 AM: A much needed admonishment about the evils of exit polls from the dudes over at fivethirtyeight.com
  
• 10:28 AM: From an email from my friend the (Indiana) City Councilman:

  What a GREAT campaign...There were 45 cars at my precinct at 0600... 42 more than last Fall.

• 10:25 AM: fivethirtyeight.com is giving McCain a whopping 1.9% chance of winning! Woo!
  
• 10:19 AM: cnn.com

"Monday evening's CNN national Poll of Polls -- incorporating our new CNN survey, as well as new tracking numbers from Gallup and Hotline taken October 3-5 -- shows Obama leading McCain by 6 points -- at 49 to 43 percent.
President Bush may be part of the reason why Obama's making gains. Only 24 percent of those polled approve of Bush's job as president, an all-time low for a CNN survey.

"Bush has now tied Richard Nixon's worst rating ever, taken in a poll just before he resigned in 1974, and is only 2 points higher than the worst presidential approval rating in history, Harry Truman's 22 percent mark in February 1952," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland."

• 10:12 AM: Great. Voting machines breaking down in VA. Maybe a delayed poll closing as a result? Also some places have switched to paper ballots - more hanging chads! Great news in a Tossup state. Oy.
• 10:08 AM: This is kind of fun. You can make your own election map. Like an Oscar ballot. Mine came out (optimistically) with Obama at 342 electoral votes and McCain at 189.
• 10:06 AM: A good graphic from the NYTimes: Poll closing times for Key states.10:05 AM: Awww... that's cute.
• 6 AM: New Hampshire village Dixvile Notch (with 21 people voting) goes BLUE. CNN.com

Love/Hate

I love this election and I hate this election. To be more accurate, I don't really HATE it... I think I'm suffering some election fatigue - not in the sense that I just want it to be over as if I were bored, but in the sense that I'm exhausted by the anxiety I'm feeling about it. Now, only 24 hours (and change) away from a result and I'm still obsessively looking at polls and reading the news and hoping for some definitive sign of who's going to win. But no. There's are positive profiles of both Obama and McCain in the NYTimes today, so no help there. fivethirtyeight.com is still showing very positive numbers for Obama, but there's the fear that too much comfort will jinx it. Both candidates are "confident" they will win, but of course that can't be. I VERY clearly know who I want to win, but there are still (24 hours out!) undecided voters in states that could swing the whole thing! And I still get all worked up thinking about the supreme court eight years ago making me (and Al and all our good Dem friends) cry about the Electoral College (is it outmoded or not?), and I completely freak out about vote flipping in electronic voting machines, but I also don't want to hear about hanging chads, either. What if I go in and the computer registers my vote the wrong way? Getting it corrected makes my personal ballot look suspicious. Luckily (or not) I'm in a state where it's unlikely to matter, but I'm sad to not be voting in my home state, which for the first time since 1964 is tilting toward the light blue. It's a very stressful time.

But, it's also a really exciting time. I always said that if Hillary got the nomination, I would quit what I was doing and work for her. That didn't happen and I was disappointed for a long time. But now, I'm wishing I had quit a couple months ago and worked for the Obama camp. It's really exciting to feel the political juices get going again and to want to be involved again (even if too little, too late). The 2004 election left me really depressed for a really long time and I even stopped reading the news until the 2008 campaigns started spooling up. But even then for a long time I was only reading out of fear - what crazy candidate will the GOP dig up? Will the Dems find someone exciting and electable? It feels like I'm thawing out after almost eight years of numb apathy and despair that things couldn't get any better.

In this election I love a lot of things. I love so much that so many people (on both sides) are engaged in the campaigns. Obama's effort to get young people involved has also been simply inspiring and I'm sincerely hoping it will result in a LOT of young people turning out to vote. In fact, I hope (and believe) voter turnout in general this year will be really high. I guess that's the good thing that has come out of the Bush administration. It became very clear in 2000 and 2004 just how much just a few votes count when the situation is right. I also think it's wonderful that people are starting to see that this decision actually does make a difference, even in their own lives. There has been a sense in the past that every candidate is just looking out for Number 1 and that they are all similar. Even I (shamefully) complained that Bush and Gore were saying the same things and running on the same platforms (save Gore's continued interest in the environment, which didn't seem as urgent then, somehow). And that continues to be a problem - in fighting for the same undecided voters, both candidates find themselves forced to tone down their positions for fear of alienating anyone on any single issue. But that's the case with a two party system, I suppose.

The other thing that I love about this election is that even some jaded politicians and reporters are getting caught up in the hope of things getting better. I think it's relatively safe to say that no matter who gets elected, things can't get much worse. I don't personally believe that McCain will dramatically change the direction our country is going in (down the toilet), but I also don't believe he's as stupid as Bush. I do believe that Obama has the desire and courage to try to stop the bad things and to start some new good things, and it looks like the Congress may be shifting in a direction that will help him (and at least forestall McCain a bit, should he get elected, God forbid). I love the enthusiasm that has come about as a result of the feeling that our country is teetering on a precipice and I sincerely hope that tomorrow doesn't crush us all again. If we have another disappointment in this election, I fear that my political engagement will sputter and die for good. Or, will at least be transplanted to another country - one where I won't be able to vote, but where I will be able to get away from this one.

But back to the positive. There is a sense that history is being made in the way that there wasn't even with Gore/Bush back in the day. Then I think we (Dems) were too cocky that that election was just a formality that had to be put up with before we could continue the happy reign of the Clinton years. In 2004, I feel like there was a general political anaesthesia in place which made voter turnout dip and which made everyone believe that Bush was inevitable. Much as I wanted to see him defeated, I didn't really believe he could be and I didn't lift a finger to stop his reelection. But this time it's different. In the media there's a lot of talk about the history books and both campaigns seem conscious of the potential historical heft of their campaigns (this is also clearly influenced by the historic nature of both campaigns) and both seem aware of the potential for changing the trajectory of the nation.

The thing I like most, though is the fact that it's possible to feel about this campaign. Politics is always emotional, but the emotions in these campaigns have seemed especially potent and palpable. Obama's passion comes across in his calm intensity and McCain's has come across (somewhat less positively) in his sarcasm and huffiness. But they both really want this. There's no apathy anywhere in this campaign, which is novel and encouraging. I really want the election to go well and for the first time in a LONG time, I feel like it just might.

If it doesn't, you might have to scrape me off the walls and ceiling. But I do have hope and believe in the potential of this country to recognize it's time for a real CHANGE.

Happy non-academe

Why don't more American fashion magazines mix it up with different fonts on their front covers?