tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2551475931867032399.post4016378179126212008..comments2009-11-13T10:02:58.398-08:00Comments on Overeducated Waitress: Obama can't save America. But maybe America can.Sarah Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06606816256545162024noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2551475931867032399.post-82311755560932730722008-12-11T20:10:00.000-08:002008-12-11T20:10:00.000-08:00Sarah,This is such a beautiful and insightful opin...Sarah,<BR/><BR/>This is such a beautiful and insightful opinion piece. It encapsulates all of my mixed emotions about the election.<BR/><BR/>I remember when I was last in Seattle on November 5 (still feeling shell-shocked about Prop 8) I saw the cover of the Stranger, which loudly proclaimed "Yes We Did!" At the time I couldn't quite put my finger on why that headline bothered me so much. It finally hit me a couple weeks later: "Yes We Did" is the progressive movement's version of the "Mission Accomplished" banner on that aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. It's a call to complacency.<BR/><BR/>Naomi Klein is right. If "Yes We Can" means nothing more than casting your vote for one elected official and then feeling smug about it, then it is as meaningless a slogan as "Just Do It."<BR/><BR/>Hope is a two-edged sword. As Todd has reminded me, it is one of the most acquiescent emotions ("Hope for the Best"). But I believe that hope can also be an act of defiance. When Harvey Milk gave his famous "Hope Speech" on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall in 1978, he was not speaking of a naive hope. His was a hope tempered by the bitterness of defeat and daily oppression.<BR/><BR/>It is in this sense that I am hopeful. Not because the prognostications look good or because the world is a sunny place. But because cynicism leads to inaction just as surely as self-satisfaction does.<BR/><BR/>SethSethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03340667334712485152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2551475931867032399.post-27325232573354625292008-11-30T09:48:00.000-08:002008-11-30T09:48:00.000-08:00afternoon love,Rainy sunday afternoon in the city ...afternoon love,<BR/>Rainy sunday afternoon in the city that never sleeps. Found myself obsessing about you and decided to read your words that reveal that the corrective lenses prescribed by the media and government funded school books weren’t corrective after all. Obama signs still decorate apartment facades. Albert the psychologist you will have to meet mentioned to me that manhattan was depressed for about eight months, and Obama's victory shifted our environment. hopefully it continues to get better from east to the west.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08629699501300773716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2551475931867032399.post-8448178873434129332008-11-17T09:49:00.000-08:002008-11-17T09:49:00.000-08:00Why does Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours remind ...Why does Signed Sealed Delivered I'm Yours remind you of election night? Random! Please fill me in on the connection.<BR/><BR/>I talked to Andrea yesterday and she told me she was in a bad car accident a while back. Poor girl! Have you seen her lately? Is she doing ok? She sounded pretty upset when I talked to her.<BR/><BR/>Uggg. I am hating this week and next week and the week after. I am completely swamped with papers and presentations. Are you possibly available to proofread this week? It would be greatly appreciated.<BR/><BR/>How is Fluffy? I bet she's enjoying the cooler weather...Sharkfinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09295158661542588338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2551475931867032399.post-67517429362124117532008-11-17T09:47:00.000-08:002008-11-17T09:47:00.000-08:00this is ross from heather and ross,Heather turned ...this is ross from heather and ross,<BR/>Heather turned me onto your blog, she has always told me you are a writer, but your writing is something else to accually read! im impressed. <BR/><BR/>Anyway rarely do i come across opinion pieces in newspapers, radio, or internet, that I feel comfortable with. However Sarah, you've written something deep, something complete.<BR/><BR/>"I love my country. I love its stories, I love its landscapes, I love some of its ideals, I love so many of its people. We have potential! But we also have genocide, slavery, internment, the dubious legacy of being the only nation to use the atomic bomb against another country. We shut out Jews trying to flee the repression that would become the Holocaust. We have Vietnam, Iran-Contra, inaction during the Rwandan genocide."<BR/><BR/>You get right to the complexity of being American today, great love and great sadness and embarrassment. Seldom do both feeling show up in one piece of writing, and i think rarely are we honest enough to pursue them. <BR/><BR/>Barak Obama is an exceptional person, these are exceptional times, like you have written just maybe Americans are exceptional as well.<BR/><BR/><BR/>"I am a student of American History.<BR/>Which means I am cynical.<BR/>And hopeful."rosserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10791740240272560507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2551475931867032399.post-54162862788689077102008-11-14T20:22:00.000-08:002008-11-14T20:22:00.000-08:00Ohhhhh Love, I've been dwelling for days on what t...Ohhhhh Love, <BR/>I've been dwelling for days on what to say to this... Trying to come up with some sort of snappy, equally articulate response to how well you've summed it all up... But I can't, so I won't. Just know that uhhh... I agree, in my less-politically informed way.<BR/><BR/>Additionally, I don't know how your picture got on that blog comment thing. I didn't put it there. My only guess is it was already on there from some past blog thing or something. At least it's a pic you like, no?<BR/><BR/>Oh, and how do you make kale tacos? Do tell.<BR/><BR/>Oh, and, my family's going for a homemade Christmas this year, so I need to pick your brain for ideas for simple homemade gifts that I a: don't have to spend a lot of $$ on and b. are quick, easy and filled with love. Any ideas?<BR/><BR/>I love you. Hope things are going well. We need a long catch-up session but I don't know when that'll happen, so for now, just know that you're on my mind all the time...<BR/><BR/>xoxoxoxoxo!<BR/>eSharkfinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09295158661542588338noreply@blogger.com