Trekceratops

It's been an exicting couple months to say the least. 

The lastest news obviously being that we now have a kick-ass President-Elect whom I pray will take care of business and not completely destroy the hope and faith he's instilled in the Democrats, Independants and Republicans who have given him this unprecendented opportunity. Fingers crossed that with our new leader we can come together and change the way the U.S. is peceived throughout the world. 

That said, I think we're all still riding on the awesomeness of this past week. I still get giddy whenever I walk through our foyer and happen to glance to my right and see the ginormous Obama poster my roommate brought back from New Hampshire after canvassing the past couple of weekends. (I was so proud of her, by the way -- I wish I had made the time to do that.) And last Thursday, at The Decemberists concert I attended with Ryan at The Orpheum, the excitement of the prospect of next four years could not have been any more tangible.

Granted musicians often tend to be pretty liberal-minded, and Boston is one of the more liberal cities in the U.S., but knowing these two pieces of information didn't make the experience any less incredible. First off, I have to say that the concert rocked simply because of the musicality of The Decemberists. I have Ryan to thank for being introduced to them; he put "Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect" on a CD he made me before we even started dating. However, I have to admit, I was slow to warm on the rest of their music, probably because they employ bizarre rock instruments such as the accordian, upright string bass, and various organs. It usually takes me a few listens before I start loving music that strongly diverges from the mainstream. Pretty much every concert I go to, I ask Ryan to prepare me with a CD for me to cram in my listening so I don't feel completely stupid standing there being the only obvious non- or new-fan.

This time was no different, but due to having an absolutely ridiculous week last week, I just didn't have an opportunity to listen to the CD all the way through even once. What I came to realize while standing amongst all the hardcore fans, however, was that this concert was different than many I'd been to in the past. It didn't seem to matter that I didn't know all the words to their songs; what seemed to prevail was a love for the community atmosphere they created, rather than a competition over who were the most devoted fans. Their songs have an unbelievable lyrical component to them, which leaves fans wanting to listen to how the story is told even more than singing along. I've witnessed lead singers trying to get crowds involved by setting up a rivalry between which side is louder -- the left or the right -- but never have I encountered a leader like Colin Meloy, who decreed, "In the spirit of the past couple of days, I will not point out who's louder -- the floor or the balcony -- but rather say, 'let's all work together to be as loud as we can!'" And that inspirational, yet simple message carried the theme of their entire concert. 

I think my favorite moment, however, was probably when they brought on stage a life-size cardboard cut out of Obama. The crowd went absolutely wild, shouting, "Yes We Can!", a chant that spontaneously erupted between and during songs the crowd perceived as particularly inspirational. The best part, though, was when Jenny Conlee reached out life-sized "Obama" to the first row, who grabbed him and ended up crowd-surfing him up and down the entire floor for about 20 minutes. There are no other words to describe that moment aside from just "Awesome."

It's been so exciting to witness such a world-changing event, which has infiltrated and infused almost every aspect of my life with hope. While I scoff at my mother when she gives advice in the context of, "Well, what would Obama do?", there is a funny kind of truth to the value of thinking about what he would do in a particular situation. He didn't always take the highest road (after all, he's only human in the cut-throat world of politics), but he damned near tried to. And with much better success than any unlikely candidate has done in the past. And, without further ado, my new tongue-in-cheek motto for 2009: WWOD, or "What Would Obama Do."

Ryan and I have a serious concert schedule coming up to distract us from all the work we have on our plates. Check it out:

- Tues, 9/23 (last night): Tokyo Police Club, Angels & Airwaves (blah), Weezer
- Fri, 9/26: Ben Folds
- Sat, 9/27: Dear Leader
- Mon, 10/6: Fleet Foxes
- Fri, 10/24: Fugiya & Miyagi

And actually, that's it. It seems like a lot more on our shared calendar, probably because we have shows on there that we're not going to... We kept a few as placeholders and then decided not to get tickets because we didn't want to go super nuts on lack of downtime.

One more thing. Because I can't let a post go by without talking politics, I have three great pieces of news:

1) President Bush is giving his presidential address tonight.
2) I set up a forum for my family at www.weepleforum.com, which I am *very* excited about. The Handel clan was starting to get into snippy political discussions with one another over email, so I took the reigns and created a forum for them to discuss their political preferences (among other things) at their leisure.
3) Project Runway is on tonight. Ok, so that has nothing to do with politics, but I'm excited about it nonetheless.

OK, Weebly updated my account while I was in the middle of creating this post, so I'm going to go check out what these cool new features are. Later!

I was just driving back from PT, after an unusually horrible day, and as I approached at the stoplight on Oxford, prior to turning right on Sacramento, found myself stuck behind this school bus. "Oh, great," I thought. "I totally forgot it's like 3:30 so kids are running rampant -- and that means with those big, flashy, retractable school bus stop signs (which, by the way, aren't at all fair, especially when kids aren't crossing the street), I can count on adding a good extra 10 minutes onto the rest of my commute." I was less than thrilled.

As I scowled at the back of the school bus, I noticed a few elementary school-aged girls looking back at me and waving... so I waved back. "Cute," I thought. After all, I used to do the same thing. Except they kept waving and smiling, and it became a little awkward. "How long do I keep looking at them? I can't look elsewhere because I have to make sure I don't miss the light turning green and risk being honked at from behind..." Good thing I had my sunglasses on and didn't have to make serious eye contact. A few more awkward waves went by before I realized wait! -- they were motioning something to me! I watched as one of them started spelling something out with her hands in her own made-up version of sign language.... "O" ... something .... next looks like backwards lowercase "a" .... then a two-handed curled "m" .... and another backwards lowercase "a" ... No waaaay. Was this pack of elementary school girls really spelling out "Obama" and then giving me the "thumbs up" sign? I gave them a thumbs up back, but I think some of them doubted that I understood, so they kept spelling out "Obama" and giving me excited waves, until one of the bigger girls motioned to a car parked to the right of us with a big Obama sign in the window and gave me a huge smile and thumbs up ... to which I responded with a series of nods and a double-thumbs up, all presidential-style. The kids were ecstatic, making lots of "O's" with their hands and waving with big toothy grins. As the stoplight changed from red to green, we went our separate ways, but I definitely gave them a big old wave as they took off down Oxford.

Unbelievable. It's amazing kids like them whose futures are at stake -- and who are also changing the world, one stoplight at a time.

Sometimes the littlest things can turn our days around.

Okay, so it's been a few days since I've written, but in all honesty, it's because I've been totally and completely consumed by the latest political drama. First of all, that's insane, coming from me -- I'm usually the first person to yawn when "political issues" come up and the last person to the polls on election day. Yes, I perform my civic duty, but I do it lazily with input from my mom (who, let's be honest, drives the politics in my family) and my boyfriend, who's the smartest person alive.

The past few months, however, have stirred a curiosity completely out of left field for me.  Studying in the Bowdoin bubble for the four precious college years, I'd grown ... how do I put this ... out of the loop a little bit on current affairs. Basically, I'd been more consumed with the social lives of my friends and family and where Bowdoin stood in the college rankings than where my country ranked in foreign affairs (even after 9/11 - shame on me!). I even studied abroad in the most benign foreign country possible (with the exception of maybe Canada). Not that my friends in Australia didn't have opinions on politics -- actually, on the contrary. On more than one occasion, my friends in Melbourne informed me, without my solicitation, that they "would lose all respect for the U.S. if Bush were re-elected." Clearly not wanting to be associated with the country severing ties with allies across the world, I'd mumble, "oh yeah, you & me both."

But, since I started living on my own and, courtesy of the boy, being exposed to how easy it really is to get this type of information sent to me via RSS and over NPR (as opposed to seeking it out... it's true, my political apathy is pathetic, I'll admit it), I've forced myself to become more aware of the world. I've grown tired of being "the last to know" and just sharing opinions based upon hearsay. I'm tired of hearing the stupid things people say and not having a solid, founded argument to refute blanket statements and seemingly ignorant viewpoints. 

And so, that brings me to Palin. I've followed both the DNC and RNC pretty closely the past couple of weeks with my roommate Molly, and have been absolutely fascinated. At first, I just wanted to hear where Obama was at on issues, so I'd have something to say when people brought up politics. (I knew I was a democrat, but I couldn't have told you why I was voting for Obama.) Basically, I didn't want to sound like a societal idiot. And, to be honest, after reading about the match-up, I wasn't overly concerned with the prospect of McCain in office -- if he stayed true to his "maverick" roots. (Love those buzz words.) But, upon the selection of Sarah Palin as the VP choice for the Republican ticket, all of a sudden it's like a match has lit up inside me. A whole new Pandora's Box of the political world has got me scouring my Google Reader, staying up late watching CNN and Larry King Live, and staying in on Saturday nights watching, "McCain -- Revealed!"  (Sad, but true story. P.S. did you know McCain was a total babe when he was younger?!)

I've never been one to promote Women's Lib, but I find I've taken serious offense to Sarah Palin as the Republican VP candidate. The way I see it, instead of having a real female role-model on the ticket (of which there were plenty to choose!), John McCain had to pick the least-experienced, and most controversial candidate, just to placate the Christian Right.  I could be incredibly proud to have a woman running for such an important position, but instead I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed because she's hypocritical, nasty, lame and a liar -- and the furthest thing from a good role-model: woman or man. Allow me to pontificate.

Hypocritical: Giving a speech in Texas right after having your water breaks, and then flying 13 hours to have a high-risk baby prematurely in your local hospital is *not* an indication of womanly toughness; it's an indication of selfishness and creating a dangerous and potentially fatal environment for a child in utero. How convenient for her "pro-life" decision. Oh, and don't tell people your kids are "off-limits" if you spend the first 20 minutes of your acceptance speech talking your family up, and then parade them around on stage after you're done!

Nasty: Ooh the way her lips snarle condescendingly right before she zings Obama with some "Community Organizer" jab... makes me want to drop kick her in the babymaker. Seriously though -- as if people are dumb enough to believe that being a community organizer in Chicago was a) his only job experience "leading" and b) a cake walk. The experience debate shouldn't even be a factor here, and yet... I just don't understand where this ignorance is bred from.

Liar: She "opposed the Bridge to Nowhere? Thanks but no thanks?" I mean, is this woman serious? It absolutely blows my mind that she can lie so blantly about opposing that bridge when we all know (we *do* read the news, Sarah!) that she supported it before she didn't support it.

Lame: She talks a lot of smack when she doesn't have people asking her real questions about real issues. How about an interview, Ms. Palin? Or are you too afraid your hair might get tosseled, revealing those hideous devil horns we know you're sporting underneath those poofy Miss Alaskan up-dos.

And, my favorite part about the McCain-Palin campaign? They are so lame they couldn't even come up with a slogan of their own -- instead, they had to steal ours: "CHANGE." That might be the most infuriating of all ... between their "Drill baby drill" chants, Republicans can't even take a moment to realize how their party has pulled a full 180 on them, right before their eyes.

I'm almost completely serious.

But it doesn't take long to realize she qualifies after catching her interview on Larry King Live last night after the DNC. You couldn't possibly script something like this.

On Obama. Just kidding. But I do love that video. (Yes, I am VERY late in admitting that.) "Hey B ... pick up ... it's me ..."

And, if that's not enough, check out the Giuliani Girls vs. the Obama Girls. Damn, if the girl singing this doesn't get a record deal, then there's something seriously wrong with this world. "Guiliani girl stop fussing, at least Obama didn't marry his cousin."

I mean, these songs are so damn CATCHY! How could you *not* have a crush on Obama after watching these?  And finally, the greatly-anticipated "Dear Hillary, please stop the attacks, Love Obama":

"Sometimes I think you have a crush on McCain" ... "Obama-nation" ... I mean, whoever wrote these lyrics is GENIUS.

Another fun-filled night with my roommate Molly. The fun never stops in 6 Belmont.

Lizzie makes a good point in her comment on the last post; so therefore I felt it was my duty to call her evidence to light.

Sorry, Molly:

Thanks to my great roommate Molly, I now have some (very) basic photoshop skills to get me off the ground. Last night during the Dem National Convention, between speeches and tears, she patiently showed me how to put together the banner you see above. It almost looks like I know what I'm doing!

Molly's come a long way over the past year, as you can plainly see. What a great-looking girl!