Hacksaw sold separately
I have a confession to make. I usually oppose any Christmas advertising, decorations, or music until at least Thanksgiving. One holiday at a time, people. But this year, I’m feeling a bit more indulgent. It’s actually not bothering me that Sears is already running ads for Christmas sales. It’s not even bothering me that one of the local stations is exclusively running Christmas music from now until December 26. You know, you can’t appreciate an all-American, disgustingly commercialized, three-month Christmas until you spend one somewhere else.
Gingerbread and gluhwein on the centuries-old cobbled Marienplatz, while a 5-piece brass ensemble serenades me from an ornate stone balcony? Okay, if you’re into that sort of thing. But where are the inflatable reindeer? Where are the 7500-Watt, 80-string Christmas light frescoes that keep an entire neighborhood sleepless from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day?
Where is the kitsch?
So now that I’m having my first stateside Christmas in two years, I am going to make an exception. Just this once, just for one Christmas, I’m not going to complain about the cliche, the tacky, the absurd, the inflatable. Don’t worry, I’m experiencing nostalgia, not a personality transplant. By next year, everything will be back to normal and I’ll be resenting celebrity Christmas albums like my good ol’ self.
But since Christmas starts in November this year, and in honor of the first snow of the year, I post this NYT story:
Packages You Won’t Need a Saw to Open
Excuse me, I need to go put “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” on a continuous loop in my bedroom.
Vote Early, Vote Often?
I voted on Monday. It was glorious. It was transformative. It was the very pinnacle of my existence…
Ohio is an early voting state, so you can go to your local Board of Elections and vote anytime in the month or so before Election Day. I walked to the courthouse, I stood in line, I displayed ID and proof of address, I pushed some buttons for democracy, I scored a “I Voted” sticker and I went on my merry way.
So imagine my confusion today when I opened my mailbox and found an absentee ballot I never asked for. It looks legit, my address is right, both the mailing and return envelopes say ‘Official Election Mail’, and the Board of Elections address is, to my knowledge, accurate, but there’s just no damn reason for me to have an absentee ballot at all. It’s postmarked Monday, which is the day I voted.
I’m trying to call the Wood County Board of Elections, but I keep getting busy signals, which doesn’t surprise me considering the volume of early voters this year. Is it a clerical error? Is someone trying to sabotage my vote, hoping I’ll be confused, fill it out, disqualify myself, and unwittingly perpetrate voter fraud?
Now I sound like a conspiracy theorist. But I’m living in Ohio, a battleground state with a history of voting shenanigans. Also, I live east of main street, in a student neighborhood that leans Obama, in a year with historic student and early voting turnout, both groups that trend democratic. So maybe a little paranoia is called for. Anyway, updates forthcoming, once I talk to the Board of Elections.
This is my first presidential election, and I am not going to let anyone disenfranchise me, damnit!
Knock it off.
Feast or famine, huh? Not to inundate you with my political rantings, but I just read an article and my roomie isn’t back yet for me to rant to.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/opinion/12rich.html?hp
Basically, amid all the new William Ayers references, accusations of “paling around with terrorists”, etc. that are in ample supply at McCain-Palin campaign stops these days (particularly at Palin ones), there have been an alarming number of incidents where people in the crowds, some of them in Wisconsin, I’m ashamed to say, shout things like “terrorist” and “kill him”, and there have been racial epithets shouted at black journalists covering the events.
McCain did, to his credit, issue statements saying that voters shouldn’t fear an Obama presidency, that he’s not really a terrorist, etc. So at least McCain has responded. But they’re sending mixed messages, to put it very charitably, and they’re playing with fire. This is Pandora’s box and the republican party needs to lower the lid very carefully, NOW. Every time an audience member shouts something overtly racist, inflammatory, and threatening, the candidate should firmly denounce the sentiment, on the spot. I expect no less from someone who wants to lead my country, and I would expect the same thing of Barack Obama if their positions were reversed.
The battleground town that wasn’t
It’s fall break! Theoretically I’m working on term papers. Working on term papers looks a lot more like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with West Wing in the background, cooking, and obsessively checking political coverage, but I’m working on it! If I get stuff done today, I’ll reward myself by watching one of the movies I checked out for the break–I’m thinking Cabaret.
To go back to the debate on Tuesday, I’m going to have to stick to my conclusion that it wasn’t enough to help McCain and probably was enough to help Obama with the undecideds. I can tell you that it was a hit on campus. The university projected the debate in the union ballroom, where a festive atmosphere–and obama stickers–reigned. There were some McCain people though, enough for the student body to wage a friendly applause war.
ABC did a student panel afterwards, though I was a little disappointed by that segment. I didn’t really feel like it was representative of BG. The state of Ohio is evenly divided, the town of BG is somewhat divided, but the student body isn’t. Obama signs and stickers and buttons outnumber McCain paraphenalia, I don’t know, 5 to 1, and this is not historically a very politically active campus. I think it’s good that Charlie Gibson talked to Obama supporters, McCain supporters, and undecideds, but he shouldn’t have implied that we’re a 50-50 split. We aren’t.
Still, that’s my only real criticism, and I’m glad that ABC came here to talk to us at all. Maybe now when people at home ask me where Bowling Green is, I can say “the college where Charlie Gibson co-anchored the presidential debate” and not “that college that Madison slaughtered in football two years ago.”
Other thoughts– jeez, it’s almost election day! As long as that primary season was, there’s something nice about having a short general election season. I’m going to go in and vote sometime next week, once I read up on the local ballot initiatives. Obama’s in Toledo on Monday! I have class and no car 
And now I have to rant to you about the word “elite.” We usually hear it in political discourse as an epithet; “media elites”, “academic elites”, etc. Elite comes from elire, to elect. So…the word orginally referred meant those chosen for higher office. The definition has broadened to mean “the best of anything considered collectively. Elite gymnasts, elite chefs, elite football players (we’ve got a whole league of ‘em ) and yes, the elite of the journalism industry. For someone to be a “media elite” actually means that they are the best of their profession, not that they think they’re better than everybody outside their profession.
Now let’s talk about “elite” versus “elitist.” Elite just means the best. And there’s nothing wrong with being talented! Elite is a superlative, “elitism” is a system of privilege (THAT is a problem, because it tends to look a whole lot like classism), and people tend to conflate the two. I prefer to say classism to avoid misunderstandings. Politicians rarely use it, though, because anything with the word “class’ in it is a political land mine, since we live in a class-less society, right? RIGHT? Yeah, right.
Anyway, it ticks me off when people, especially politicians, brand other people as “elitist.” First of all, most people are, to some extent, classist. People overwhelmingly live with and marry people of similar socioeconomic backgrounds. And politicians tend to come from privilege –not always–but fairly often. The people crying “elitist” are frequently part of an elite themselves, and they’re hoping we won’t notice. Does some commentator with a six-figure salary really have any business calling me elitist because I go to college and read the New York Times? I have student loans, I can’t afford to be elitist.
Ranting complete.
So, I’m tired, I had a midterm and a presentation for today, and I will have more to say about the BGSU debate extravaganza later. But I do have a few comments to make. Who won? I’m biased, but I think Obama did well. I don’t think McCain made any big gaffes, but he needed something big and my gut says that wasn’t it. My gut also says that BG is going blue.
Charlie Gibson: pretty cool. I was standing along the ropeline before the nightly news broadcast, and he came out from the bus or wherever he was, with photographers running alongside, and he ducked under the ropeline right next to me. We were all screaming like fools and he said, “We’re coming to report a 500-point drop in the Dow and you’re applauding??” I almost got on tv a few times, if you’ve seen the interview on the ropeline with the couple in orange windbreakers, I’m right behind them and two feet to the left.
Not too much crowd misbehavior. The local ABC people said on their broadcast that the whole thing had a ‘rock concert” feel to it.
Obama was the only one to mention education. I really hope they spend some time on it in the last debate, it’s gotten about a minute and a half altogether so far.
Obama wants to double the Peace Corps. That’s my guy.
They both could have done better with the “What don’t you know, and how will you learn it?” question at the end.
Tom Brokaw was a good moderator. Both candidates ignored the time limits, and he kept them somewhat in check while making a few good-natured cracks at their expense.
McCain referred to the audience as “my friends” approximately eleven times.
I’m glad that we didn’t have to hear about Ayers or Keating. Issues, please.
Can’t wait to see this week’s SNL!!!!
Live from BG…it’s debate night!
Just a reminder– watch tonight’s debate coverage on ABC, see my campus on national tv!
i’ve spent much of the morning stalking the ABC news bus.
Don’t get mad. Get registered.
These posters have been showing up all over campus within the last week or so. You can also get your hands on pocket-sized ones if you know who to ask. I’ve been using mine as a bookmark, which is probably not the intended purpose, but heck, I’m already registered.
This may be an appropriate time to point out just how good a job the Obama campaign has done at reaching college-age voters. I’m not sure that McCain knows we even exist. When you’re a candidate and you give up on your youth, your youth gives up on you pretty fast as well.
Speaking of college-age voters, ABC’s Great American Battleground Bus Tour will be setting up camp in BG next week. Charles Gibson will be co-anchoring the national debate coverage from the BGSU campus starting at 6:30 pm eastern time, and broadcasting BGSU students’ reactions after the debate ends at 10:30.
Unfalconbelievable.
A month to election day–Ohio is an early voting state, which means that theoretically I could vote today, if I wanted. I’m trying to decide whether to vote early to escape the lines, or vote on Election Day for the ambiance.
