Go see Milk!

It's a great movie! My daughter and just got back from seeing Gus Van Sant's movie "Milk" this afternoon, along with several hundred other people who crowded into the theater with us. It's a faithful and lively depiction of what happened 30 years ago. I wrote earlier about my memories of that time.

Want to know something about how the film was made, about the extras, how Castro Street was remade in its own image, (and the SF gossip and backbiting--yes, I remember that too)Mariva has a wonderful post about being an extra in the movie has a huge set of links.

The uncanny parallels with the fight against Prop 6 which drives much of the movie, and the recent success of Prop 8 in California mean that we don't just see a biopic about someone who died a long time ago; we see both the progress and the struggles still being waged. This moving speech by the Republican Mayor of San Diego, Jerry Sanders, is a testament to the power of change. He is visibly struggling to maintain his composure as he comes out as the parent who wants his daughter and her partner to have equal protection under the law.

Go see it. Sean Penn inhabits the role. I didn't see him at all on the screen, not like Nicole Kidman's Virginia Woolf where I was always aware of her NOSE.

Dreams made flesh

TED has a YouTube channel and a blog. But I got this via email from an extraordinary dancer named Florencia Tacetti, who teaches tango here in the Twin Cities. Thank you, Florencia!

From the video description:
"Pilobolus dance company members Otis Cook and Jennifer Macavinta perform the sensuous duet "Symbiosis." Does it trace the birth of a human relationship, or the co-evolution of a pair of symbiotic species? That's left for you to decide. Gorgeous, organic choreography blurs the boundaries between the two performers, who use the body's own geometry to lift, move and combine. The music, recorded by the Kronos Quartet on Nonesuch Records, is a compilation of works: "God Music" from Black Angels by George Crumb, "Fratres" by Arvo Pärt, and "Morango ... Almost a Tango" by Thomas Oboe Lee."
From the comments: "The director for "symbiosis" was Michael Tracy in collaboration with Otis Cook (in the video) and Renee Jaworski."

Winter larder

I haven't been the host for Thanksgiving for years, because I'm always going to one branch of the family or another, or to a friend's orphan potluck extravaganza. But after we got home from Bemidji, I got the urge to stock the pantry and cook, so we made the rounds of our favorite purveyors today (Produce Exchange, the Wedge) and I cooked up:
sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry relish, roasted root vegetables (turnips, parsnips, carrots)a big pot of chili and another big pot of lentil stew to freeze. There's a big bowl of fresh fruit, and some salmon to broil tomorrow.
I do not own a crockpot, but perhaps I should get one and try out some of these recipes at A Year of CrockPotting, if only because I love these sites where people dedicate themselves to doing something every day. I've already posted about Roger Ebert's suggestions about how to cook things other than rice in my rice cooker, but I think a pot roast is more suited to ye olde crockpot. I have a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life but I know that for the next month I'm going to be sprinting to the semester finish line, so I may need to save it for the plane to SF. Laying in supplies so we have some healthy food to eat makes me feel prepared.

Undoing misogyny and sexism: two men speak out

Richard Rodríguez writes at Salon on "Why Churches Fear Gay Marriage" and I think he nails it. Remember, homophobia is a weapon of sexism? It's the changing role of women and the family that are the threats to patriarchal power, and gay families are the scapegoat for those challenges over women and children as property. (via Blabbeando)

Nezua at the Unapologetic Mexican also writes about the ways that misogynist ideas of masculinity are crippling for heterosexual men as well as everyone else in this post, "!Oye! I Contain Muxitudes"
It begins así:

"CRUCIAL COMPONENT to undoing misogyny and sexism is revealing to men that we are sold an illusion. The “man” they would have us be is an unnatural and dangerous one. It is a fanged, bereaved, lie. It is the shifting shape of oppression with a wolfskin slung over its eyes. It is a shroud."

But here's something to make me feel optimistic: Al Giordano on the appointment of Melody Barnes by Obama to a key role in coordinating the work of domestic policy agencies. Here's a sample of how she thinks in an opinion piece she wrote "What a Progreessive President Might Say" as a counterpoint to a Bush State of the Union speech. Read it. It's lovely!

"Lizard People" voter comes forward!

A follow-up on the story of the Lizard People ballot in the Senate recount: I was driving to work and heard on MPR that the man who had written in "Lizard People" on his ballot has come forward, in part because he was fascinated by all the fuss.

Davenport, a contractor who lives in Bemidji, Minn., says that's why he finally decided to come clean.

"I mean, it was on 'Hardball,' and there was serious discussion about it, it's ridiculous. If Lizard People, in plural, is written in on the ballot, I don't think it should be taken seriously, whatsover, and this animosity is just wonderful," said Davenport.

To prove he did it, Davenport provided Minnesota Public Radio with biographical information that matched public records. He also provided a handwriting sample. But there is ultimately no way to know for sure that the ballot really was his. But he says everyone who knows him personally could see it really was.

"The handwriting is mine, hands down. Even my dad saw it, and he's like that is your handwriting, there is no doubt about it. I think it would be pretty easy to, with my handwriting sample, to prove it was mine," said Davenport.

David Brauer picked up on the story on his blog, and MnIndy also picks up the story. Brauer used a picture of the Gorn captain (seen above) from Star Trek to illustrate his post: "The Gorn are a warp-capable bipedal species," we learn from the Star Trek Wiki.

"Please Read the Letter"

Krista mentioned on Twitter that "Please Read the Letter" by rock legend Robert Plant and bluegrass star Alison Krause was her current earworm. I'd never heard the song, so I went looking. I had no idea that they had made a record (I still have to call it that, not CD) together last year, called Raising Sand. They talk about working together in this little video. The song "Gone, Gone, Gone" was a country hit. I love getting a glimpse of two musicians who come from different worlds but who connect through "roots music." The awesome producer T-Bone Burnett put together a collection of songs that shows off the way their voices meld together.
Here's a live version:
Here's the CD recording with lyrics. And here is the Plant/Page version. I'm going to have to get both, I can tell!

Remembering George Moscone and Harvey Milk

I have seen the preview for the Gus Van Sant film Milk, starring Sean Penn as murdered San Francisco politician and gay activist Harvey Milk. The likeness to Milk is uncanny, and it has brought back many memories to all of us from San Francisco who are old enough to remember those events.

San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and the city's Mayor, George Moscone were assassinated on November 27, 1978. Thirty years ago, I was 21 and a senior at UC Berkeley, working at a donut shop early mornings before classes. Someone came running in breathless, with the news that Moscone and Milk had just been murdered by Dan White. My visceral reaction is probably what people felt who were adults when Martin Luther King, RFK or JFK, or Malcolm X were murdered. For me, these were the leaders of my town's alliance of politicians who were working for change, and their assassination was frightening and felt personal, an attack on those who represented me and people like me. I left work and went on campus for class, and then to a Talking Heads show at noon on Lower Sproul Plaza. The first song they played was Psycho Killer. Did they know?

We watched the national news that night with this report. In those days, George Moscone was better known, as a native San Franciscan who had come up through the Democratic party ranks with a cohort of political allies. He opened city politics up to people who were not part of the moneyed old guard who promoted an aggressive development agenda (which Diane Feinstein would carry out when she became mayor), but his allies did not hold a majority on the SF Board of Supervisors, so the political conflicts were bitter. Days before the assassinations, the news had broken about the Jonestown massacre in Guyana (Jim Jones had been active in SF politics before he fled with his People's Temple followers because of accusations of corruption). Randy Shilts' book The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk tells both the story of the person and of the movement, the coalitions, the incredible changes that were taking place at the time. Apparently, another film is in production based on this book. If both films are as good as the "dueling biopics" about Truman Capote, that will be great. Will they freeze Harvey Milk as "St. Harvey" gay icon? or reminds us of Harvey Milk the canny coalition builder, stubborn ballsy activist, who saw his work as part of a larger struggle? Milk the advocate of rent control, union rights, police reform? One of my vivid memories of the aftermath of the killings (because we can't forget that the MAYOR of the city was also murdered, not just Milk) was the gloating of the San Francisco police, the t-shirts, the police riot. This wasn't just a lone crazy who suffered from depression; this was a politically motivated killing, egged on by a culture of homophobia and reactionary hatred of "hippies" and all the changes they (we) stood for. Dan White served five years of a seven-year sentence for two political murders.

I want to connect my memories to more stories of what actually happened, before I see the movie and it reshapes those fragments and feelings. The GLBT Historical Society site is one place to start, as it contributed archival materials to the film, and also reports on the premiere and gives a link roundup of SF reactions. The Bay Guardian has a special issue. The San Francisco Chronicle also has a collection of links, including this photo gallery

The documentary filmThe Times of Harvey Milk (1984) won an Oscar. Using archival footage and interviews with friends, neighbors and colleagues, it situates Milk in the stories and conflicts of the times, not just his work as a gay activist, but his partnerships with a new coaltion of change agents in San Francisco politics. A kind soul has posted clips on YouTube is you want to see the documentary before seeing the feature film.

Duffy Jennings, one of the SF Chronicle reporters who was on the scene, also reminds us of George Moscone's legacy:

Moscone had his critics, some with good reason, but he loved San Francisco, a passion I share as a fellow native. An entire generation of San Franciscans today knows little about him other than the convention center bears his name.

He fought against racism and for civil rights, against downtown power brokers and for neighborhoods. He opened the doors of City Hall and the seats of power to people from all walks of life, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. As deservedly iconic and significant as Harvey Milk has become to the gay community, it was Moscone who broke down the barriers.

His was a remarkable story in its own right. Perhaps on one of these anniversaries, Hollywood will give us a movie titled "Moscone."

For more on Harvey Milk and the Castro Street neighborhood the way it was in the seventies, visit these pages: Uncle Donald's Castro Street
UPDATED: a first-hand account by Lesbians against Police Violence

Lizard People FTW!

The recount for the Minnesota Senate seat is underway. MPR posted some images of the ballots about which decisions are to be made, and readers got to weigh in with their opinions. A popular image is of the ballot marked "Lizard People." Instead of filling in the bubble, as you can see here, some people drew circles, made checks, underlined, or...just did something else like write "Lizard People" wherever you could enter a write-in candidate. Because Minnesota law decrees that it is the duty of the recounters to submit all ambiguous (or challenged) ballots to the scrutiny of the Canvasing Board for final determination, someone will have to decide if this ballot from Beltrami county should be counted for Al Franken, or "Lizard People." So far (as of Friday Nov 21 at 4:24 PM) the "MPR voters" have indicated their desire that this vote should count for Franken, but 9% (a total of 9392 our of 110098) this this ballot should go to "Lizard People."

And thus, says Paul Schmelzer, a new internet meme is born!

There is now a Twitter account for fakelizardpeople. If, after the recount is over, the votes are tied, the race will be decided by a coin toss.



Just for fun, here is the cutest lizard video I've seen, recently posted at Cute Overload

The magical pot

Today, I brought lunch to work in my Zojirushi Mr. Bento lunch carrier extraordinaire. I had some leftover roasted Cornish game hen, from a local producer, steamed green beans (ditto) and a wonderful Honeycrisp apple.

Yes, I have Zojirushi my Rice Cooker, the simplest model available. So does Roger Ebert, film critic and blogger extraordinaire. I love love love his paean to the Pot, as he calls it, and his exhortation to us all to get on it: "The Pot and How to Use It" As a bonus, Ebert posts this wonderful short film made by students in which the Rice Cooker plays the crucial role of "magical agent" (a la Vladimir Propp's ideas in The Morphology of the Folk-Tale)

My reintroduction to physics

Last night, my daughter asked me for help with her Foundations of Science homework. She had to define and apply some very basic physics concepts. I did not study physics in high school, although I did do advanced math and biology. In college I thought I would major in Physiology (I don't even think they have a major called Physiology any more) and took the science majors versions of Calculus, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Biology, and Physiology. I enjoyed them and did well. At the same time, I was happily completing the requirements for a Comparative Literature major. Why did I end up not finishing a science major too? The adviser told me I had too many credits, and I took Physics. ARgh! I think I got a B (which for me was crash and burn) and I'm sure I memorized all the definitions and equations, but I didn't really "get it" enough to make the lab anything but brutal. Who knows, if I had taken physics earlier, I might have ended up being a science nerd instead of a book nerd.



In retrospect, I see now that if I had had ANY kind of introduction to physics at the high school level, as my daughter is having now, it wouldn't have been such a surprise when I took the class in college. I was also reminded last night of how my particular learning style needs a different approach than the dry traditional approach of all my science classes in college, except for Physiology I in which our professor, Richard M Eakin, dressed up as famous scientists and acted out his lectures about their most important ideas. There were probably 500 students in that class, and we were mesmerized. We loved it, and we learned. (The series was filmed and archived here as Great Scientists Speak Again)

Equality for all

My family is a rainbow family!

Shop local during the recession

As I was driving home, I heard a story on MPR about how some predict that Wal-mart and Costco are going to do well this Christmas because of the recession. That ticked me off. I will continue to buy from local artists or businesses so that what tiny fraction of the wealth I have to spread around goes to people who live here or make things here.

Coming up after Thanksgiving is the No Coast Craft '08 Craft-0-Rama, Friday Dec 5 and Sat Dec 6, 9-5, at the Midtown Global Market. On Sat. at 2 there will be a team competition called the Craft-a-thon! There will be four-person teams and their challenge will be to take the material given them and "upcycle" them into something on the spot. I may have to go just for that. It's free to browse, and of course there are all the yummy things one can eat at the market, especially the sweet and savory pastries at The Salty Tart.

The Craft-o-Rama vendors are listed here. I like these tote bags made from recycled vinyl billboards at Drive-By Bags, especially a yellow one. One of the artists who will be featured is Amy Rice. I love her work and I'm seriously thinking of buying something, although the big pieces really aren't in my budget; I'm hoping she has some smaller prints at the event. We saw a show of hers at Cafe Barbette and fell in love with her stenciled paintings on wood and metal.

When he said "Change" he really meant it!

Woke up this morning and blam! discovered that MNSpeak and The Rake Magazine (online) have merged into Secrets of the City. Hmmm. Change, scary! They have to work out a few glitches, but seem to be open to suggestions from the regular users. I'm more like a regular lurker, but until they get their comment features back in shape it may be harder to lurk.

My favorite geeks

My favorite TV show right now is not Dancing With the Stars, which I've found quite disappointing this season: it's The Big Bang Theory, a comedy about four super-geeks and their neighbor Penny. It's hilarious in part because it reminds me so much of people I know (including me). The four friends are the type to play Klingon Boggle, are so engrossed in playing Halo that they ignore invitations by beautiful women, all want to dress up as The Flash on Halloween, and try to resolve their disputes by playing Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock. Sheldon is played by Jim Parsons; when Sheldon smiles, which he only does on one episode, he bears a striking resemblance to Jose Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain's Prime Minister. His roommate, Leonard, is played by the guy who was Darlene's boyfriend David on Rosanne, and Sara Gilbert has a role in the show, too.

Join the Impact!

Because of work today, I wasn't able to go to two different events: a talk by one of my very favorite writers, Sameul R. Delany, and the protests that were organized today in all fifty states about the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which institutionalizes bigotry by amending the state constitution to prevent same-sex marriage, although the State Supreme Court ruled that it should be legal, and over 50,000 couples got married in California between that ruling and November 4. The Mormon Church and the Catholic Church have been working together for over 11 years to prevent the legalization of gay marriage, and pumped millions of dollars and volunteers into the effort to pass Prop 8. Regardless of what your feelings may be about whether or not marriage should be the top civil rights issue for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people when there are so many other problems to face, this mobilization of bigotry on the same day that an African-American was elected president, has wounded and angered many gay people and their allies, families, and friends. JoinTheImpact.
Behind all the legal arguments, there are the heartbreaking stories of couples who have suffered because they do not have the legal protections of marriage.

Today, demonstrations took place in about all over the country, in cities big and small: at this post on Pam's House Blend, read the comments for great stories about many of these places! In spite of what seems to have been universally bad weather, there were large turnouts. For more news, go to the Join The Impact! site

An Obama Regional Field Director's campaign diary

(via Micah Sifry Tweet)
An Obama campaign field organizer from California is sharing her diary about the experience at Daily Kos. She was a volunteer with the Obama campaign before August when she was asked to take on the responsibility of being the Bay Area Regional Field Director.

From where I stand now, having lived that job more profoundly than any professional role I ever held, I understand that e-mail as a demarcation. The woman who received it doesn't really exist anymore. This was the beginning of 96 unforgettable days that literally changed my life.

I can't wait to read the next installments!

Braces coming off!

Someone who lives at my house is happy because the braces are coming OFF! first half today, and last half in a week. Woo Hoo!
Here's how Ryan Higa celebrated on YouTube (you wouldn't believe how many people have posted happy videos about getting their braces off!


Milk Crisis by The Go! Team, and they are based in Brighton, England. Part of the song is in Japanese.

Closing Guantanamo?

That Rachel Maddow, she's one smart cookie!

Change toward Latin America?

Speculation on the Obama cabinet and appointments will replace the campaign as hot topic for the next two months. Latin Americans, like the rest of the world, hope for change. But what is an Obama/Biden policy with respect to Latin America likely to be?

Here is what they (the Obama/Biden transition team) say on their website.
Some clues about changes in a policy with respect to Cuba are discussed in this article: easing of travel and remittance restrictions, negotiations over lifting the embargo and the release of political prisoners in Cuba, are some of the important points. Sorting out the intricacies of Cuban, Cuban-American, and Washington discourse can be a royal pain, but it's clear that some kind of change will come; the question is what and how fast.

This blog by "boz" follows Latin American politics, and before the vote, he posted to discuss some of the more nuts and bolts issues for diplomacy toward the region: who will be appointed to specific positions with power or influence over our policy in the region? Boz has now updated this post at TPM with a list of the positions that could be re-staffed or filled. It's a reminder that the President not only sets policy, but makes appointments that affect how the policy is (or is not) carried out.

Friday, yay!

LOL!
Poor Obamaholics are going through campaign withdrawal (via the Onion).



Survived a curriculum committee meeting, a faculty meeting, and managed to eat lunch! Now I'm going to cruise the Twitter updates because I'm finding that it's a great place to get news, like my customized RSS feed.

First stop: kottke.org where he has some "Obama bits and loose ends" including an amazing video made with all the newspaper front page announcements of Obama's victory . Cool work!

"The O-list" (via MnIndy) is the New Republic's list of thirty people who will influence Obama or be part of his inner circle. Its a fascinating story of how the Obama campaign succeeded in creating its own center of power:

Simply put, the president-elect has led a revolution within the Democratic Party, replacing an establishment long dominated by Clintonites--and, more recently, by progressive bloggers and billionaires--with a new establishment, one constructed in his own ubiquitous image. This list represents our attempt at making sense of the new hierarchy--your guide to the men and women who will dominate progressive politics in the Age of Obama.

Consider the source for spin, but the analysis looks juicy!

How do we get the official Change.Gov site to meet up with with Change.org? Change.groovg?

Must end with schadenfruedelicious Palin jokes, via Mock,Paper, Scissors: Letterman's top 10

What next?

Obama/Biden transition team's website is up~ Change.gov is going to be the direct-to-the public face of the next phase until inauguration. The Obama campaign team has used new media effectively to fundraise, organize and communicate. But we took him at his word: Yes, we can. Emphasis on the WE!


The Pointer Sisters (Oakland!) sing that great Alain Touissant song "Yes we can can!" Gaylord Birch on the drums is ah-MAZE-ing!

Al Giordano of The Field and Micah Sifry are joining a group tonight, including the team from 538.org (my heroes!), at DePaul University in Chicago to talk about "The Shaping of the Presidency"--that is, what do people do next if we want this to be a social movement, and not just another presidency? Stay tuned!

Behind the scenes on the campaign trail

Newsweek had reporters behind the scenes throughout the campaign, on the condition that they wait until after the elections to publish. Here is the "Secrets of the Campaign"series, with some wonderful glimpses of the people: the candidates, their staff, their supporters, the decisions they made, their spats and celebratons. There will be seven parts in all; parts 1-4 are up now. Very worth reading!

This segment on how the Obama campaign successfully used New Media is fascinating:

To the casual visitor, the New Media department at Obama headquarters seemed at once ultrahip and painfully earnest, a touchy-feely, emo sort of place where people talk about saving their souls and use lefty academic jargon like "agency." One reporter described the sentiment toward the candidate as a sort of "Lincoln 2.0." The frat brothers over in Communications liked to joke about whether the geeks in New Media were still virgins.

When it came to what they actually did, however, the nerds of New Media were cold realists. "We never do something just because it's cool," the campaign's official blogger, Sam Graham-Felsen, told a NEWSWEEK reporter. "We're always nerdily getting something out of it." He showed off the Obama '08 iPhone application. With its deep Obama blues, correct fonts and glassy graphics, it looked like an electronic bauble for the well-heeled voter. Closer inspection revealed a sophisticated data-mining operation. Tap the top button, "call friends," and the software would take a peek at your phonebook and rearrange it in the order that the campaign was targeting states, so that friends who had, say, Colorado or Virginia area codes would appear at the top. With another tap, the Obama supporter could report back essential data for a voter canvass ("left message," "not interested," "already voted," etc.). It all went into a giant database for Election Day.

Early that summer, the campaign made the unorthodox decision to announce its vice presidential pick via text messages sent directly to supporters. It wasn't just a trick to do something flashy with technology and attract media attention. The point was to collect voters' cell-phone numbers for later contact during voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts. Thanks to the promotion, the campaign's list of cell-phone numbers increased several-fold to more than 1 million. (Among the registrees: one Beau Biden, son of Joe.)

"I don't care about online energy and enthusiasm just for the sake of online energy and enthusiasm," said Chris Hughes, head of New Media's social networking. "It's about making money, making phone calls, embedding video or having video forwarded to friends." There was nothing starry-eyed about Hughes, who had been the Harvard roommate and later partner of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and made his first millions before he was 24. His goal was to make old techniques—like call centers and getting polling information to voters—more efficient. "When computer applications really take off, they take something people have always done and just make it easier for them to do it," he said. "And maybe bigger."

During the primaries, the sight was familiar at vast Obama rallies. Before the candidate appeared, a campaign official would come onstage to urge audience members to pull out their cell phones to call or text their friends and neighbors. By the thousands, people of all ages would spread the electronic word—and dollars and votes would follow. Joe Rospars, the director of Obama's New Media, noted, "We didn't invent the idea of our supporters calling one another. We just made it a lot easier." Rospars had written a blog for the Howard Dean campaign in 2004. Under Rospars, the Obama campaign had basically perfected Dean's 1.0 tactics with an important twist. Dean was all about creating a national network, but in Iowa he failed to build a true grass-roots campaign. In Obamaland, where the sayings of Saul Alinsky resonated ("think globally, act locally"), the emphasis was local—neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend, family to family. Joe Trippi, the unorthodox political genius who created the Dean Internet juggernaut, often said that if the Dean campaign was like the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, then Obama was the Apollo program—in other words, in one cycle skipping over commercial aviation, jet travel and supersonic transport to go straight to the moon. (Asked about this analogy, Rospars replied evenly, "Not really, if you consider that Kitty Hawk was a successful flight, as compared to something that blew up on the f–––ing launchpad.")

The power of the Obama operation could be measured: doubling the turnout at the Iowa caucuses, raising twice as much money as any other candidate in history, organizing volunteers by the millions. (In Florida alone: 65 offices, paid staff of 350, active e-mail list of 650,000, 25,000 volunteers on any weekend day.) The ultimate test would come Nov. 4. In the meantime, there were indications of a great storm brewing. At the end of August, as Hurricane Gustav threatened the coast of Texas, the Obama campaign called the Red Cross to say it would be routing donations to it via the Red Cross home page. Get your servers ready—our guys can be pretty nuts, Team Obama said. Sure, sure, whatever, the Red Cross responded. We've been through 9/11, Katrina, we can handle it. The surge of Obama dollars crashed the Red Cross Web site in less than 15 minutes.

My vote counted.

I loved taking this picture!

The day after the election

In the last several months, I have been moved and comforted by the stories I have been able to read because of blogs and online media. Sometimes they were the posts of the bloggers, other times they were the comments buried in a long contentious thread. They made me hope and believe that this election could not just bring new people to power, but make a difference to all of us. The connections, friendships, partnerships, collaborations, witnessing and shared strife and celebration are what will enable us to move, to act, to create the change we need and want. Some of the most important changes were in the hearts and minds of people who decided to vote for a democrat or a black man, or just to vote for the first time. Thank you, everyone who worked so hard to make this possible.
Dancing in the streets!

Back in 2001, I signed onto the MoveOn.org mailing list. Here is what MoveOn.org was able to do as a mobilizing force in the last several years. Here's their "It could happen to you" ad about "your brain on hope."

Nezua's words always move me, and this post is particularly powerful.

Jeff Chang reminds us of the extraordinary efforts to register and mobilize voters through the hip hop movement.

What does the press around the world have to say? Check it out at Watching America. And here are some fabulous pictures, courtesy of Huffington Post!

Professor Zero turns us on to this fabulous version of "This Land is Your Land" by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.

Sing it!

I have a sense of physical relief, of cleansing, of spiritual renewal. I want to sing!!!
Here are some songs. This one is in honor of his Irish ancestors.


He inspired, but we responded. It's about us, now.

Very inspirational AmpFiddler Sly and Robbie "Black House"
The Mighty Sparrow! gives us "Barack the Magnificent"

A comprehensive Obama playlist here

I voted!

I had the idea that I would get up super-early to be first in line, but that was unrealistic--I'm not a morning person. Then I thought I'd go with my daughter after school. But I couldn't wait, and after I dropped her off, I went back to my polling place. There was a line, but the folks who work there are wonderful; they were out making sure that the same-day registrants were in one line, and people like me who were already registered could go to a different line. I'd say there were a few hundred waiting to register, but it was moving fast and everyone seemed patient and happy. Inside, my section of the alphabet had the shortest line, so I got my ballot right away. I took pictures of my votes! and then waited in another line to put the ballot into the machine. On the way out, I ran into my new downstairs neighbors, who were registering at their new address. They are in their early twenties, and so were a lot of people in the line. I think the whole thing took me less than half an hour. Now I'm walking around at the University and everywhere I see little red "I voted" stickers! Go, kids! Show those pundits who sneer at the younger voters for not turning out that they will be WRONG this time!

One more day!!!

Yesterday my wonderful family threw a surprise birthday party for me. I was completely surprised and I loved it! It made me feel grounded and whole again after weeks of pre-election nerves and anxiety. I'll post some pictures and stories about it later, but right now I have to grade papers and catch up with work. Unfortunately all the excitement and chocolate cake seem to have brought on a sore throat/cold, but I'm hoping it will be a short illness.

I'll also compulsively be checking up for coverage of the last day of this historic campaign. The Minnesota Independant, or MNIndy, has been doing a fantastic job of covering the local stories that the Star Tribune is refusing to cover (so sad that our papers has gone down the tubes in such a spectacular fashion). Check there for the stories of the Madia, Tinklenberg and Franken campaigns.

Here is a great story about hope from the Christian Science Monitor by an unlikely Obama canvasser. I am really loving the stories that people are telling online about their personal transformations as a result of being involved as citizens. It makes me feel so hopeful!

Two Virginians, Ethel Kennedy and RFK's son Max, talk about their support for Obama. My mother admired RFK very much, so I know she'd be interested in how his family sees Obama in relation to their history.

Minnesotan now writing about the media for the NY Times, David Carr, talks about the way the New Media has changed this election. He points out that traditional media, such as broadcast news, still plays a major role, but that they are adapting to the multiple channels of dissemination online, and that there are many alternate ways for people to get news, such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc, that we are just beginning to understand. I find this so exciting!

OK, time to get back to work.

Punaise! Palin se fait avoir.

Pour mes amis francophones:

Un des Justiciers Masqués, un duo comique québécois, a réussi a parler avec Sarah Palin pendant presque six minutes avant de lui dire qu'il n'était pas vraiment Nicolas Sarkozy,"Sarah Palin se fait avoir!"

Il y' avait quand même des indications. Par exemple, "my special American adviser Johnny Hallyday, The Prime Minister of Canada Stef Carse, the Prime Minister of Quebec Richard Z. Sirois.

Bon, ben, qu'elle sache pas qui est Johnny Hallyday, ça passe, mais ne pas savior qui est le chef d'état de son pays voisin Canada? Quând même! Faut pas déconner. Sarkozy, lui, avait racroché.

A la fin, j'ai eu pitié quand il a mentioné le porno, et on se rend compte en écoutant qu'elle réagit comme nous réagissons toutes les femmes quand quelqu'un nous a insulté de cette façon, si grossièrement--soit, elle rit mais ne réagit pas tout de suite.

Mais ça m'a vite passé quand je me suis souvenue de ses intentions á propos de l'intégrité de mon corps et de notre pays. Tant pis pour elle.
(merci, gerrit)

Is it research or is it fun? why not both?

Following the trail of serendipity leads to amazing things! (I will be using some of this material in a class next semester.)


Checked out The Chutry Experiment where Prof Chuck Tryon blogs about film and new media, and found a link to an inspired remix showing McCain's links to his political friends (see this video about remixing) "My Friends, the Musical", by an extremely skilled video remixer who posts at the YouTube channel Humanitainment.
I love the way the remix makes its points with verbal and visual puns on "my friends" and a wicked sense of humor.
This link then led me to a site that promotes and houses video remixes, RemixAmerica.org. What a find! not just for the entertaining and thought-provoking remixes, but also becaue the site provides you with the means to make and post your own! I'm going to try it out later. Here is how RemixAmerica describes itself on their About page:

RemixAmerica.org is a multi-partisan, non-profit website that uses digital technology to give everyone the chance to own the words, the music, the images and sounds of America in digital form; to remix those expressions and ideas with their own; and to send the products of our community's creativity out to the world... where others will come back to us and start it all over again...

Poking around, I came across this absolutely superb remix of STYCYD judging and the presidential debates. For those of us who watched STYCD faithfully, it's fun as hell to see the judges comments repurposed this way. What I especially like is that the message the judges give the two candidates is that they have to listen to the audience. It's a great way to show how reality TV, even as a crass money-making operation, also allows for 'talk-back' from the viewers. More to the political point, for those of us who are frustrated at some of Obama's less-than-audacious positions, this vid gives a refreshing critique of his positions on "clean coal" and saber-rattling in Afghanistan. So I checked out the site of the remixer, Rebellious Pixels, and discovered the site of activist, photographer, videographer and busy, busy guy Jonathan McIntosh.
He just posted about his presentation at a New Media conference called Ars Electronica in Austria. (Note to self: listen to the talk!)

His remix playlist, the material he presented in his talk, is here (thanks, Jonathan, for your generosity in posting all this!)

For future reflection: when people take copyrighted footage and repurpose it for parody, political commentary, or just for fun, what are the issues of Fair Use that come up? The Center for Social Media at American University has a blog where people are talking about this and other issues related to this emerging phenomenon of Web 2.0 creativity, citizen journalism and activism, and collective intelligence.

There is a lot to reread and digest. here. A final note: a Google search on McIntosh led me to El Oso's (David Sasaki) work; he was the Latin American editor of Global Voices Online, one of my favorite blog portals, and now he is dedicating himself to outreach through Rising Voices Awesome!

Halloween festivities

We joined our friends with whom we've spent Halloween ever since our kids were very little. The older ones still want to dress up, even though almost all of them are now taller than their parents. There were a lot of trick-or-treaters because the weather was mild, and one came dressed as a voting booth! Too bad I didn't get a picture. But here are a few:

Mello and the Phantom

Athena!

Sorting the haul: "I'll trade you these Starburst for your Snickers."

Lots of folks were out on the streets in costume; I love it!
Rocketboom posted a wonderful video of last year's Halloween parade in NYC