Projections
There was a party last night, where a dozen or so of my fellow students crowded around a tiny, borrowed television set. Some of us are the always-barefoot, the long-haired, dread-locked, the hecklers. It seemed a little bit artificial to be waiting for the projections of election results on television, especially since we had to borrow a television. None of us own one, but that was only our excuse for being together. More importantly, we were waiting to know about out future.
My mind wandered. History is a text, one with as many authors as participants. I thought about what role, if any, a vote has in the composition of that text. Or, is it that we are all too interested in writing our biographies to think fairly about writing in a different text, with a different way about it. Is history really just the average of our biographies. What kind of authorship was my vote anyway? Did it count? I have yet to see the person I have voted for go to office.
Nearly all the people I read have had their own something to say about Election Day. In a post called “Ouch”, at least, I think its a post about Election Day. Mark Bernstein says
Ouch
That could have gone better.Time to roll up our sleeves. There is much to do.
Thanks for your optimism Mark. I needed to hear it. I left that party early, before the fists flew through the dorm room wall, before the results of Ohio’s election were determined. I saw Larry King, too old to be up so late, and showing it, the poor man — still asking sharp questions, though few and far between, I saw his face and I felt tired myself. After all, I have homework to do.
History can put constraints on whatever path you may wish the plot of your biography to take. Dr. Jill Walker posts “Disappointment”
I spent so much time hoping Kerry would win that I forgot to consider what the world would be like with four more years of Bush. Really, I mean.
I guess I forgot to consider that too. It just so happens that the last few months of my college career will occur during the transition between terms, and its starting to look like these will be two terms shared by the same president. What does this mean with regard to the start of my life after college?