In Which I Reveal My Love for This City (and This Country)

Although I certainly have nothing to add about the election that hasn't already been said by others far more eloquent than me, if I didn't say a few words about what it felt like to live here when BARACK OBAMA WAS ELECTED LAST NIGHT (just writing that out makes me all teary-eyed), this journal of my life in San Francisco would be seriously lacking. If anything, this entry is for Future Me, when I am living in a red state, wearing mom jeans, and driving a station wagon (oh god, I hope this isn't really a picture of Future Me!).

On Sunday, while talking to my mom (who lives in Kansas) about very important matters such as our very poor eating habits over the weekend, and our resolve to eat better the rest of the week, I made the comment that I probably would be breaking the diet on Tuesday.

"Why? Why would you break it Tuesday?" my mom asked, confusedly.

"Um, because of the election?" I responded, thinking: HOW COULD YOU NOT BE SO PUMPED ABOUT THE ELECTION? "There are tons of parties…and I know I'll be drinking a lot…to celebrate, you know. I guess things are different out here…"

"Hmmmph," Mom said suspiciously. "Why are you going to election parties? Well, whatever. I'll be watching the results from my house."

On Monday, I read a couple of apathetic postings about the election from Kansas "Friends" on Facebook. One said how hard it is to make a decision on who to vote for (alluding that the presidential choices sucked this year), and the other flat out admitted that she didn't like either of the candidates. Though I do realize that conservatives exist (all four of my parental units are Republicans), I still had hope that the massive outpouring of support for Obama and the unprecedented hatred of W. extended to the majority of people my age, even if they DID still live in Kansas. Reading these apathetic thoughts led me to believe that once again, as in 2004, I really didn't understand how the rest of the country thought, because San Francisco is such a bubble.

On Tuesday afternoon, Cody talked to his little brother, who is registered to vote in Kansas, but just couldn't be bothered to go out and actually do it.

On Tuesday night, when Barack Obama won his historic landslide victory and the tears poured down my face as I watched African-Americans crying and celebrating in a southern Baptist church on MSNBC, a spontaneous party raged outside on the streets of San Francisco, with people yelling and whooping from their windows, screaming and dancing on the sidewalks, and passing cars honking their horns repeatedly.

I have never felt so much hope, so much promise, and so much unity in this country. The years I lived in Kansas, I always felt different and unhappy, and even when I voted in California in 2004, the fact that the majority of the country voted the same way Kansas did depressed me. Finally, I live in a place and a country where I do not need to feel ashamed or secretive about my views. I know this is only one moment (which is admittedly tempered by the passing of Proposition 8), but it's a moment that I will savor for a long, long time.