The year was 1980. I was living in Washington DC, working as an au paire for a family headed by a Democratic pollster, a Dungeness-crab-loving Jew raised in San Francisco. He was fascinated by the fact that his young live-in nanny, a junk-food-loving Baptist raised in Missouri, was a registered Republican, and I remember answering pollster-type questions [...]
On Tuesday night my heart swelled with pride and I cried as I watched Barack Obama’s victory speech in Grant Park. Earlier that day, I had canvassed voters, walking from house to house in the rain to make sure that supporters had gotten to the polls before they closed. The Obama volunteers didn’t want people [...]
I’ve been in a 50th state state of mind this week. On Monday, Malcolm had to bring in an authentic Hawaiian dessert to share with his 6th grade Visa (world cultures) class, currently reading about Pearl Harbor. I’ll spare you details of the 3 grocery trips and endless stirring over low heat to make a [...]
As I watched the debate last night I kept asking myself: What is it about Sarah Palin that incites such vitriol in women? Among her own demographic (working Moms), she is probably one of the most hated people in this country. Yet she is not a BAD person; and in any other situation, we may [...]
Last night Joe Biden held a rally at the local apple orchard about two miles from our house. We were on the fence about going, only because I was headed out to California this morning and didn’t know what kind of stress monster I would be at 4:30 in the afternoon. But there was a [...]
The winds of change are blowing strong. This election season, the people of this country will put into office either the first African-American president or the first beauty queen, grandmother, moose killing creationist woman vice president. It is an exciting time to be an American. And while we have come so very far on a [...]
