Participation on Fark

Conservatives are already whinging, using the retort "well, we listened to you for eight years."

Here's my reply to them, under my "elemenopy" username there:

Here's the irony - the stuff we complained about? We were right about, for the most part. We went into Iraq under false pretenses. We failed to get bin Laden. The "No Child Left Behind" act was not funded, and schools are ridding themselves of music, sports, and other activities that help develop children's minds beyond teaching to a test.

You did not listen to our concerns. Our concerns were brushed off and we were called terrorists, traitors, and anti-American. Since you refused to work with us, we worked together - community organizing, if you will - to change the direction of this country.

Now, we'll welcome you to work with us and find compromises. You'll find that despite some hard feelings, many of us want to work together. And if you don't feel you can work with us to improve our great nation, you're welcome to wait it out, do your own community organizing, and vote another candidate into office.

And we, unlike you, won't mock you or your candidate for doing so.

Your call.

Thread: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=3997520

CONGRATULATIONS TO BARACK OBAMA

The black cloud is lifting, and I feel wonderful. Redeemed, even, as I watch Freepers scream they're running away to Canada (how... ironic). I pray that the Republican party, as it currently stands, evaporates. I pray that the Republican party regains its roots of actually being a party of small government and fiscal conservatism, and that it casts off the leadership by the terrifying "religious right."

I do believe the Republican party has a future. But not as it is now - it needs return to its TRUE values.

In the meantime, the energy of this nation is tremendous right now - so many people are excited, and people have hope for the future... an emotion that has been kept blanketed by screams of "traitor" or "unamerican" or "unpatriotic" since 2001. We move forward together, and I'm proud again to be an American.


Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Rhode Island Voting Report

I came, I saw, I voted. And if you're a U.S. citizen, you should today as well.

Rhode Island polls are open from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. With our work/commute schedules, we always go first thing, as the polling place is right around the corner from our house.

We arrived at 7:10. Short wait - people had definitely been there for the door opening, as there were a stack of the ballot privacy folders on top of the optical reader already (signifying that people had already cast ballots, for those of you not familiar with them). Rhode Island votes the basic way - pen and paper, draw a line to connect the head and tail of an arrow toward the person you're voting for.

There were six different candidates, plus a write-in line, on our ballot for President. I voted straight Democratic Party ticket, plus yes on both of our budget concerns - we have bridges crumbling (notably... I-95, which now has a severe weight limit on it) that need to be fixed. I pay taxes for civilization - and fixing crumbling infrastructure is a big part of that.

I'm glad I'm done, I did my part. Now I just have to sit back and watch the results. While yes, it looks good for Obama, I've learned never to take anything for granted with some portions of American society.

And I'm damn proud to 1) have survived the nightmare of George W. Bush, and 2) voted for Obama. The last dark eight years are almost over.

Thank Gods.

UK Trip Recap - Journal Entry 14 October 2008

I'll be typing up my handwritten journal entries over the next few days for my trip recap. Weird spellings and broken trains of thought are from the journal - I figure I might as well be a purist in this and just use the immediate reactions I had. :)

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14 October 2008
Stratford-Upon-Avon

We returned just a few minutes ago from seeing Hamlet at the RSC. Absolutely fabulous! And contrary to my husband's teasing, I didn't stare only at David Tennant the entire time - the entire cast was fantastic (!!).

But still the fangirl in me is all thrilled that I have now seen David perform - in person - and... and now also have seen Patrick Stewart perform on stage, which I've dreamed about since my early teens.

It's hard to believe that the original catalyst for our entire trip - seeing Hamlet - is now past us. It was so worth every penny (pound?).

The almost entirely blank set, save the mirrors and reflective stage, were used in such an interesting way, and right from the start! In the first full scene, the guards and Horatio are on watch, seeing the ghost of Old Hamlet, and rather than having stage spotlights, the actors provided lights themselves, bouncing the beams of slashlights off of the stage surface into the face of one of the others - very clever!

As much as I loved David and Patrick (more on that in a moment), I think Polonius stole the show. I don't remember him beng the slightly absent-minded, tangent-loving old man from reading or watching previous versions. But here I felt he was oddly endearing, not so slimy as int he Mel Gibson version as I remember. Oh, how he made the audience laugh!

Laertes looked so familiar. His program bio had nothign I'd remember, though - I shall have to look him up on IMDB when I get home.

I like dthat the scene in Gertrude's bedroom (and yes, I'm lazy and not referencing the exact scene numbers) wasn't as overtly sexual as I've seen it interpreted before. The hints are still there - a strong undercurrent. But the raw anger expressed instead made a lot of sense... it seemed very "true."

Seeing Patrick Stewart perform has been a dream of mine since I was 13 or 14. I learned of him through Star Trek, of course, but while I was a teenager, he also performed a one-man version of A Christmas Carol on stage, and I desperately wanted to go (but never dared ask Mom for tickets - she'd think I was very weird).

His presence on stage is amazing - his voice just booms from the stage, and his diction is so clear. He played both the ghost of Old Hamlet and the King in this production, and I think the combination worked perfectly. It was an absolute treat, and I'm so happy to have one of those longtime goals fulfilled.

And onto another goal - THE goal that brought us here - to see David Tennant in Hamlet I think Russell T. Davies has it right in his Production Notes in Doctor Who Magazine - I can say I was there. Hamlet. RSC 2008.

Absolutely thrilled. to. bits. Beginning to end, I saw Hamlet. Yes, my more annoying fangirl mind broke through fromt ime to time, but I saw Hamlet. He was a destroyed man in mourning. he was mad. He was hysterically funny. I stand amazed - David acts with every ounce of his being. His body movements, his facial expressions, his words - all are perfect.

And like I said - I am amazed.

One particular point got me - after Hamlet has broken from Horatio and the guards to follow the Ghost and hear its tale, he has a soliloquy on stage -and he was staring right at me. Now, I know he wasn't actually looking at me - I was merely in the way of his focal point. But for one small moment - many lines, in fact, I was breathlessly still because David was staring at me, and for that time, i felt like it was only me in the theatre. Just amazing.

I am in awwe. And osm eof me can't believe that it's now over. At least... Hamlet is. Tomorrow is Love's Labour's Lost. :)

One thing I'm very thankfully about - Maria and Michelle had originally planned on goign to the theatre door after the performance to get autographs. I wasn't keen - over the months I've heard the horror stories, so I wanted to stay away. While yes, I'd love to have David's autograph, I'd much prefer to send him a small note via his agent to compliment him, but still give him at least the portion of privacy that I can provide.

Michelle was chatting with two ladies who work for the RSC, and from what they said,t he poor guy has just been bombarded. So I was happy when Michelle and Maria decided not to go. We stayed for the curtain calls (only a few people standing - perhaps standing O's are not British proper?), and then headed for a pint, wandering into the dark Stratford night, where the streets were dead silent within a half-hour after the play.

More thoughts tomorrow - it's now 1:20 a.m.... must sleep!

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More recap stuff tomorrow, once I get some photos uploaded! :)

A freeverse and quite possibly pathetically sappy open letter to my husband…

Can you believe it’s been a year?

I love you so much, and I don’t say it as often as I should. I try, instead, to show you how I love you through my actions, through those small grasps on your thumb that you get amused by, or the gentle squeezes once in a while, doing household chores, or through chili and turkey and other food experiments that seem to be successful. You eat them, anyway... so if they are truly awful, I'm glad you're not brusing my cooking trial too much. :)

You make me feel like the luckiest woman on Earth, Erich. Knowing that at the end of difficult days I’ll be returning to a home that’s loving and secure and, messes aside, a completely healthy relationship is something I know not all women (or men) get to experience. I know I’m far from perfect as a human being, yet you’re always telling me that within our little family circle, I am. (I still don’t believe you, of course… but I think that’s mostly to prevent myself from getting an overinflated ego).

And actually, I think I am the luckiest woman on Earth. I have you.

You remind me to laugh at myself, you encourage me to always improve myself, and you watch amusingly as I go through fandom addictions just like I am amused at yours. We’re so frighteningly alike in so many ways, yet different enough that we can challenge and complement each other. I hope that I am as good a wife to you as you are a husband to me.

While growing up, I was convinced that I’d never find someone because I was just so geeky and atypical. I never was into the girly stuff at all – no Barbies, hated makeup, could care less about fashion or hairstyles, despised all of the fangirl b.s. (for the most part, anyway). I preferred sci-fi, computers, dirt bikes, losing myself in books and scraping my knees as I went exploring the sandstone cliffs near the house. And even now, as you know, I’m not all that keen on being girly most of the time. To find a guy that not only tolerates that but loves so many of the things that I enjoy – I am truly blessed.

Happy first anniversary, hon. I love you and am thankful every day that we’re together.