Less than a month to go before I make the big, drastic change in my life and move out to Colorado in order to "find myself" like any cliche 20-something. But all of this means leaving North Carolina behind. Although I'm not as sad about leaving here as I was about leaving New Mexico, there are definitely some things I will miss about this place. So in no particular order, here they are:
1. The presence of actual SEASONS here...the startlingly vibrant fall colors, especially against the backdrop of a cloudy, leaden-sky October day; the rich greens of spring, with shades I never even knew existed in the natural world.
2. Watching football with Matt/Kellie on Sundays, laughing about how awful the Eagles are and drinking beers.
3. Cosmic Cantina burritos
4. Sneaking off to the student lounge with Katy so we can eat lunch and talk about people we don't like without anyone bothering us
5. Mall trips/week night TV shows with Jenn
6. 50 cent beers at The Deep End, giant He's Not Here beers, dancing at East End
7. Being 2.5 hours from the beach
Wow, that was really hard to think of things, which makes me kind of sad. The easier list is definitely things I WILL NOT miss about the Research Triangle:
1. Pretentious, elitist assholes at UNC
2. Pretentious, elitist assholes at almost every bar in Chapel Hill/Durham
3. A complete lack of single men
4. A complete lack of good Mexican food
5. Humidity and my hair's reaction to it
6. The traffic on Highway 54 every single freakin' day
7. Getting stuck next to people with B.O. on the bus
8. The "biblical" rain storms that make it impossible to drive
9. Sitting through boring seminars at school
That list took about 30 seconds. Yikes. Well, no matter what I will not miss about NC, this place definitely took me to a place I needed to be in my life. I've met some great people and have acquired some truly awesome memories. And I got a degree out of it...which I may not use, but at least I got some good skills, I guess.
21 days!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
From Russia, with love
Reflections on elections past:
1988-my mom let me in the voting booth with her so I could pull down the lever of the voting machine, helping to vote against Dukakis in Pennsylvania. Even then I had a thrill about politics, but it mainly resulted from hearing the noise the machine made when I pulled the lever.
1992-Oak Ridge Elementary held a mock election with all of us being able to vote for Bush, Clinton, or Perot. Guess who this young'un voted for? Ross freakin' Perot. I was already an Independent in 3rd grade, apparently. I also did not watch the news, apparently.
1996-Now in middle school, I remember staying up and watching the election returns, knowing Dole was facing a crushing defeat. Even then I was thrilled about calling states and the analysis, the awakenings of the political nerd I would later become.
2000-I hated Gore, but I didn't know much about Bush. I remember the agonizing wait on Florida, the pregnant and dimpled chads, the mentions of "strategery" and "lock boxes." If only I had known then what our country was headed for. It all felt so hopeless after Bush was finally declared the winner, and I remember thinking it was a sign of trouble to come.
2004-my first election I could vote in, and I could have CARED LESS. I didn't like Kerry OR Bush, but at least Kerry afforded me the opportunity to briefly touch John Cusack when he campaigned at NMSU.
2008-I was glued to the returns all night, screaming with excitement when they called the election (which you could tell they were dying to do after OH and PA went to Obama, but weren't allowed to), tears in my eyes watching the speech President-elect Obama made in front of tens of thousands in Chicago. I poured my heart and soul into this election, the first one I ever really cared about. I sat, enraptured, as Obama spoke at UNC during the primaries. I read every political website, every blogpost, and watched every news broadcast, and for the first time when they called that election, I actually felt so fucking proud to be in this country. After being ashamed for eight years, I was beaming with pride. We broke the color barrier. And we all broke it down together, uniting 62 MILLION strong to vote for Obama.
I think that this generation is largely responsible. My parents were raised by parents who were still harboring racism and resentment, but me and my fellow youth more often than not were raised by parents who preached tolerance and acceptance of everyone, regardless of color or religion. To me, I couldn't even comprehend why people wouldn't vote for someone because his skin was a different color. And finally, most of America realized how ridiculous that was too. We can finally say we are a post-racial nation. I'm so proud to be a part of that, and to have witnessed this great moment in history.
Of course, my only hope now is that Obama follows through and fixes things. We all knew that whoever won would face a shithole of a country. We all knew that this person was going to have to have the kind of leadership exhibited by Lincoln in the Civil War and Roosevelt in the Depression. I really think Obama is that kind of leader, and he is smart enough to surround himself with the people who can HELP him be that leader. So Godspeed, Barack.
One worry--Russia is the only country who gave us a giant middle finger when they would not congratulate Obama and instead, as Putin sat with a terrifyingly stony face in the audience, the president of Russia talked about how they pretty much still hate us for the whole Georgia thing. I really worry about Russia, more so than most countries. Could there be another Cold War? I always thought I was lucky to have been so young when the first one ended, I never knew the fear associated with nuclear arms proliferation. But will this, rather than Al-Queda, be our next big threat? I don't know, but I hope we have the right people in office now to deal with it.
1988-my mom let me in the voting booth with her so I could pull down the lever of the voting machine, helping to vote against Dukakis in Pennsylvania. Even then I had a thrill about politics, but it mainly resulted from hearing the noise the machine made when I pulled the lever.
1992-Oak Ridge Elementary held a mock election with all of us being able to vote for Bush, Clinton, or Perot. Guess who this young'un voted for? Ross freakin' Perot. I was already an Independent in 3rd grade, apparently. I also did not watch the news, apparently.
1996-Now in middle school, I remember staying up and watching the election returns, knowing Dole was facing a crushing defeat. Even then I was thrilled about calling states and the analysis, the awakenings of the political nerd I would later become.
2000-I hated Gore, but I didn't know much about Bush. I remember the agonizing wait on Florida, the pregnant and dimpled chads, the mentions of "strategery" and "lock boxes." If only I had known then what our country was headed for. It all felt so hopeless after Bush was finally declared the winner, and I remember thinking it was a sign of trouble to come.
2004-my first election I could vote in, and I could have CARED LESS. I didn't like Kerry OR Bush, but at least Kerry afforded me the opportunity to briefly touch John Cusack when he campaigned at NMSU.
2008-I was glued to the returns all night, screaming with excitement when they called the election (which you could tell they were dying to do after OH and PA went to Obama, but weren't allowed to), tears in my eyes watching the speech President-elect Obama made in front of tens of thousands in Chicago. I poured my heart and soul into this election, the first one I ever really cared about. I sat, enraptured, as Obama spoke at UNC during the primaries. I read every political website, every blogpost, and watched every news broadcast, and for the first time when they called that election, I actually felt so fucking proud to be in this country. After being ashamed for eight years, I was beaming with pride. We broke the color barrier. And we all broke it down together, uniting 62 MILLION strong to vote for Obama.
I think that this generation is largely responsible. My parents were raised by parents who were still harboring racism and resentment, but me and my fellow youth more often than not were raised by parents who preached tolerance and acceptance of everyone, regardless of color or religion. To me, I couldn't even comprehend why people wouldn't vote for someone because his skin was a different color. And finally, most of America realized how ridiculous that was too. We can finally say we are a post-racial nation. I'm so proud to be a part of that, and to have witnessed this great moment in history.
Of course, my only hope now is that Obama follows through and fixes things. We all knew that whoever won would face a shithole of a country. We all knew that this person was going to have to have the kind of leadership exhibited by Lincoln in the Civil War and Roosevelt in the Depression. I really think Obama is that kind of leader, and he is smart enough to surround himself with the people who can HELP him be that leader. So Godspeed, Barack.
One worry--Russia is the only country who gave us a giant middle finger when they would not congratulate Obama and instead, as Putin sat with a terrifyingly stony face in the audience, the president of Russia talked about how they pretty much still hate us for the whole Georgia thing. I really worry about Russia, more so than most countries. Could there be another Cold War? I always thought I was lucky to have been so young when the first one ended, I never knew the fear associated with nuclear arms proliferation. But will this, rather than Al-Queda, be our next big threat? I don't know, but I hope we have the right people in office now to deal with it.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Born in the USA
Today, it all comes down to this. Election Day. TWO YEARS in the making. And I think I've been stressing about it since the primaries started. I just can't believe by the end of the day (hopefully) it will all be over and either 53% of the country will be walking on air or 44% of the country will be thanking God for miracles.
It's obviously an historic election. Everyone knows that. We will have the oldest president or the first black president. We will have a crazy female VP or a VP who has been in Delaware for the past few decades and lived to tell about it. I'm just glad America finally seems to be getting out of the Dark Ages and may elect a non-Caucasian, non-Protestant male. It's not a female, but hey, one issue at a time.
I just hope people go out and vote; specifically, my age group. We are famous for getting hyped about a candidate and then being too lazy to vote on election day. Oh, the disaffected youth of America. We think our vote doesn't count and no one cares about us, but the reason they don't is because we don't vote. Everyone helps out senior citizens because THEY VOTE. My fellow 18-29 year olds need to get off their asses and go over to the polling place if they haven't already.
Whatever happens tonight, I just hope people had their voices heard. I hope we unite behind the winner and not let ourselves be divided by hate and violence. I hope we show everyone in the world who will be watching that we can come together for change and do the right thing, and vote for someone who will take our country in the right direction.
But more importantly, I sure as fucking hell don't want Sarah Palin anywhere near the White House or my uterus.
It's obviously an historic election. Everyone knows that. We will have the oldest president or the first black president. We will have a crazy female VP or a VP who has been in Delaware for the past few decades and lived to tell about it. I'm just glad America finally seems to be getting out of the Dark Ages and may elect a non-Caucasian, non-Protestant male. It's not a female, but hey, one issue at a time.
I just hope people go out and vote; specifically, my age group. We are famous for getting hyped about a candidate and then being too lazy to vote on election day. Oh, the disaffected youth of America. We think our vote doesn't count and no one cares about us, but the reason they don't is because we don't vote. Everyone helps out senior citizens because THEY VOTE. My fellow 18-29 year olds need to get off their asses and go over to the polling place if they haven't already.
Whatever happens tonight, I just hope people had their voices heard. I hope we unite behind the winner and not let ourselves be divided by hate and violence. I hope we show everyone in the world who will be watching that we can come together for change and do the right thing, and vote for someone who will take our country in the right direction.
But more importantly, I sure as fucking hell don't want Sarah Palin anywhere near the White House or my uterus.
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