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Well, I just got back from driving my three pro-Kerry roommates to the polls. None of them have ever voted before and I could tell that for the most part, they were pretty excited about it. See, I voted in SD because I consider myself a South Dakotan, and volunteered for Daschle all summer - and I've always considered someone I've met and volunteered for to have his political career somehow intertwined with my life.
I have a total of 5 roommates, including myself, two of which have said they're voting for Bush. One of those voting for Bush knows absolutely nothing about.. well, anything it seems. The other I think is just doing it to piss us off (or, at least it appears that way.)
Anyway, I woke up this morning and something felt different. I didn't feel confident about today, I didn't feel depressed about today, I didn't really feel anything out of the ordinary... Besides feeling just.. Different. I came home from staying at my girlfriends and walked upstairs, turned on the shower (it takes awhile to get hot) and came back to my room. One of my roommates that I know supports Kerry said that he was nervous for today. I said "yeah, I know man. I guess we'll see.." I found this somewhat odd, seeing as he had never really said anything that politically motivated to me before, besides the random "Bush is a douche." Or something of that nature.
I got in the shower, and then drove my way up to campus and decided I'd drive by my polling place. I got another twinge of this different feeling, I'll refer to it from this point on simply as 'the feeling.'
When I got on campus, everything around me exuded the feeling. As I walked to my class I kept seeing people who would somehow catch a glimpse of my eye, even though I was pretty much in my own world, and would somehow know that they were having the feeling as well. I got to class, sat down, and watched people walk by. Everyone it seemed was wearing Kerry/Edwards stuff: stickers, pins, bumperstickers stuck to their shirts, hats, and of course shirts. I myself was wearing my K/E shirt, along with a pin.
In my Psych. class the teacher mentioned that we should vote, and it doesn't matter to her who you vote for.. Then.. She stopped. She looked around, and say "you know, it DOES matter who you vote for." She's never really given her political stance away, so I didn't exactly think it was for K/E. She then started her lecture on child psych. and their understanding of abstract issues. She stopped again and said, "My.. Daughter.. she's 8, and she asked me what the difference between liberal and conservative was. I told her it was complicated, but she insisted that she know." She went on "I said, 'well, liberals care about people and the enviroment, they are for conserving energy and recycling!' I thought I had hit it on the head fairly well, without going to much further into the definition of a liberal. I started to say conservative when she said 'That doesn't make sense, conservatives must conserve right? Listen to their name?!' I said 'no hon, they don't.'"
And she just stopped, and went on with her lecture. It felt like the whole time she was almost posessed to say this, she looked uncomfortable talking about her personal politics in front of the class--but yet she went on.
My other classes were completely uneventful, and then I walked out into the courtyard and saw several hundred people going to class. I saw at least a quarter of them with K/E paraphanelia on. I saw one girl with a B/C sticker on.
I came home, I walked upstairs and checked the news. I ran downstairs and said, "alright guys, I'll drive you to vote - I know where the polling place is at for us."
We got into the car, and they all same day registered and voted. They all just voted for President. I guess I wanted them to vote for a few other people, but it wasn't my place and two of them don't really know the issues. They just know the Bush is not a good guy. They just know that they don't want him in office anymore. They just know that they CAN vote, and that they DID vote, and that they felt better for doing it (at least I assume.)
As we were walking out to the car, my roommate who had told me he was nervous this morning said "Shit. I feel like I've done my part for my country today."
On the drive home he kept talking about how the country is at stake right now, and that he's nervous for us and so on. About 20 minutes ago he ran into my room, saying that he knows another person that would vote Kerry but isn't registered. I explained to him what to do, how to do it, and where to go. Printing him directions to get to the polling place.
Anyway, I've felt in a daze all day, this feeling is like a drug. But.. it's a good daze.. I don't know.
Oh, by the way: Minnesota State University is a lock for K/E.
I'm not sure why I wrote this, but it felt good - I hope you MN peeps will put up with a liberal outcast from SD who tends to babble.
PS: ignore spelling errors, I didn't bother looking at what I had typed after ;)
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