I feel bad that I haven't posted any thoughts about the Obama victory, but in a way I haven't even given myself a chance to feel it. When it was announced I was busy trying to wrangle Jackson out of his clothes and into bed, and even then he couldn't stop yammering. "McCain is stupid," he said while the man was on TV, conceding in Phoenix. Jack put a stop to that kind of talk, so Jackson sat down and started to listen to McCain. "This is a good speech. But he's too old to be president." Pause for breath before: "Mom, who do you think would win in a battle, 100 HP Dialga or 100 HP Torterra?"
Is there a cabinet position involving Pokemon strategy and counterintelligence? For I feel I am qualified for this position.
I took the dogs for their last walk of election night and the neighborhood was totally silent. Nobody celebrating. I felt really cut off from what could have, should have been a night of tremendous joy. Republican neighbors. Whee.
Because of the yoga schedule I've adopted the last couple of months, I don't read any more. Instead of taking half an hour before bed to catch up on New Yorkers or whatever book has worked its way to the top of the pile, I conk out in Jackson's bed at 8:30 p.m. I wake up around 9:30, get some water, go to my bed, and conk out again until the alarm goes off at 4:45. This schedule has left me energized and focused some days and incredibly bitchy other days, but I'm gradually starting to smooth out. (HA! says Jack.)
The point is, I read for about 60 seconds a day now, whatever's on the back of the toilet, which right now happens to be the November Esquire. We've had the thing for three weeks and I'm on page 36, which contains this amazing thought:
"Whether we want to watch the McCain or Obama show ultimately comes down to which of their loyalty narratives we can swallow. McCain's very body is a stooped symbol of his enormous sacrifices and his compulsion to "stay the course." Obama comes from the other side of the story, having recovered from a father who abandoned him, an often absent mother, and the racial betrayal inherent in America's history. The basic choice is between a renewed but hypocritical promise of total loyalty or the proven ability to live with its failure. So. Whom do you trust?"