ad astra!

Winter has returned to Michigan…

I was totally unprepared for it last week, and I’m not talking about how I didn’t have a snow brush in my car or the winter windshield washer fluid: I hadn’t mentally prepared for the cold and the snow and the shit…

I think a lot of it has to do with the loss of the rhythm my life once had, which was school… there’s no other calendar other than the usual calendar to add to the days. There used to be midterms and exams and stuff like that (as far back as high school there were extra seasons—marching band, fall play, winter musical, christmas concert, stuff like that) but now it’s just work and sleep. It kind of sucks, and in a way it kind of makes me sad for school.

What I do like about winter is getting up in the morning and seeing the world outside with a fresh coat of white snow. There’s just something about the quality of that light that I really love.

Of course I hate the brushing and the scraping and the being cold that follows, but I guess it’s okay. Hardly a fair trade for a few seconds of beauty before I remember I’ve gotta go warm up and brush off the car.

***

Also, not really much going on. Been seeing a lot of Glenn this past month and a half but I feel like I need a break from that.

Probably time for some introspection.

Also, I’m broke until the 1st of the year or so, which sucks. And I hate the holidays. (If everyone hates the holidays, why don’t we just get rid of ‘em??)

Paper Crane Empire

Originally uploaded by Paul Pellerito.

Tonight with Josh’s and Glenn’s help I learned how to make paper cranes. So I made a bunch. Next I’m making a tyrannosaurus.
I also made origami.paulpellerito.com
cuz it sounds cool.

This is actually pretty… nice

Don’t be mistaken—I know that a President cannot change an entire nation; even an entire congress cannot change an entire nation. A nation changes together-slowly-but together—in fits and starts. Hopefully November 4, 2008 will be the historic day not when that change was realized but when the potential for change was acknowledge by a majority of the citizens in this country.

But that change can only come from the citizens who filled in the bubbles, pushed the levers or touched a screen today.

The motion of that lever must be carried through—it is that momentum that will carry this country forward from this new beginning, and it must be carried through by each and every one of us.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change…We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.

Yes we can heal this nation.

Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

And so tomorrow… we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea –
Yes.
We.
Can.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer… It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It’s the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

***

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there… And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand…

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can.

“I, Barack Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

I’m moving this here from the side bar to keep for posterity (cuz it’s stilly) but the polls close in less than an hour. Remember, you have the right to vote if you’re in line at the time the polls close.

as you enter the gym to vote…

Originally uploaded by ehousley.

I found this as I was flickring through the US Election 2008 flickr group. It kinda has me a little choked up right now.

Today I voted for an African American man for President of the United States. And while race was an issue for some people in this election, from January on I found myself not really giving much thought to the the color of Obama’s skin, but the content of his character.

Obama was my first and only choice for President this year, going all the way back to 2004. What an amazing race it’s been, what an amazing nation we’re finally becoming.

…And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi – from every mountainside.

Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring – when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children – black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics – will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

There’s this guy I know in New York. He was on CNN today talking about the poster he made.
Congrats, Ron! I haven’t found any video yet, but there’s a transcript:

Now, let’s go back to that picture that I have talked about. We introduced this topic yesterday on the social networks, on Twitter and MySpace and Face — and the reaction was phenomenal.

We waited a day to do the story. This is coming to us from the Grey Group. They put this together. They have billboards in New York. It is already in newspapers around the country. We jumped on it yesterday, and it is, if nothing else, a conversation piece, one that happens to be very timely, given what is going on in this country right now.

We have got a panel to talk about this. They are Ron Ceballos. He’s actually the creator who put this poster together. He’s joining us there. Ron, give us a smile.

RON CEBALLOS, ART DIRECTOR, GREY: Hey, how you doing?

SANCHEZ: Good. Let’s go to Marc Morial, too. He is with the Urban League.

MARC MORIAL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE: Hey, Rick. How are you?

SANCHEZ: He’s going to be joining us as part of this conversation.

I am kind of going to turn this over to the folks who have been watching this with us. This is almost like a mini-controversy that developed over the last couple of days. I also want to let our viewers know that from time to time we are going to be showing you pictures during this conversation of the lines and the voting process all over the country. But let’s go to Twitter. Let me start with this. This is KMiley. She is watching right now. She sent us this. “If McCain was black, everyone would howl about his divorce and graduating at the bottom of his class.”

Marc, let me start with you. Is there a different standard here? And is that part of the conversation in America?

MORIAL: That is interesting, because differential standards have been part of the conversation in America, but perhaps this is an election because of the meltdown and the seriousness of our economic problems that, for many Americans, they have stepped beyond predominant consideration of race in how they vote today.

So, it will be interesting to see as the returns come in how far we have come. I think perhaps this may be a turning point for us.

SANCHEZ: Here is another one, it says, from Pepsi: “As others have said, Obama is as much black as he is white. In my case, that is not an issue.”

Is he right? Are we making more of this than we should be making? Ron, to you.

CEBALLOS: I think, really, the focus now should lie on the issues, as opposed to whether he is black or white. Of course, you know, it is a very important issue that he is black, and that he would be our first president, but really that should not be the focus.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: That is why you made this poster. Is that right?

CEBALLOS: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: That is the point that you were trying to make, correct?

CEBALLOS: Indeed, very much so. We wanted to draw attention to the issue that this race is not about being black or white, but, really, it’s about the issues.

SANCHEZ: But it brings people right to the table with their thoughts about this very topic. Let me show you this one. This one came in. Womanist Musings just sent this. She says: “You speak as though a black nominee would even be possible from the racist GOP party.”

Now, that is obviously a very heated opinion and a very heated comment. Most people would argue that, if they would had put Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice on the Republican ticket, they would actually do very well, because it has as much to do with ideology as it does skin color on both sides. Am I wrong, gentlemen?

MORIAL: Let me answer this I think it is interesting to talk about what-ifs, to talk about hypothetical. I think what we see is art. And art is a way to comment on politics. But this is a serious election. The fact of the matter is, is that Barack Obama is an African-American, but Barack Obama is also a person whose has appealed to a broad swathe of the American public.

And I believe that what this says is that, in the future, the way in which elections are waged is who can put the broadest coalitions together, who has the broadest appeal, not the narrowest appeal, not just an appeal based on race or based on ideology or based on wedge issues. That is why perhaps this election is a turning point.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: But your race has to do with who you are. Sometimes, it can affect your ideology.

“Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people’s lives. It’s about advancing the cause of peace and justice in our country and the world. Politcs is about doing well for the people.” —Paul Wellstone

J.O. sends this lil batch of cuteness along… as respite from all the Election brouhaha.

Paper Trail

Originally uploaded by Paul Pellerito.

I voted today, like millions of other Americans!

After four years of waiting it was nice to finally be able to fill out that circle. It’s a little circle, but it represents so much hope, so much optimism, and maybe—just maybe—that little circle will help me (and much of the rest of the country) overcome the cynicism that’s plagued us all for eight years.

Otherwise, it’s just going to get worst.

This is actually… kinda funny