Sit down…this is a long one.
It was a beautiful, clear day in Los Angeles on November 4th, 2008. We’d had some rain, so the sky was bright blue with magnificent, white, fluffy clouds that make you want to ride a magic carpet up there. Here is the photo I took right outside my house…
I walked around the corner and waited for a mere 30 minutes to cast my votes. As I walked away from my polling place, hopeful and eager, I got a little choked up at the thought of casting my vote for a candidate that I actually believe in. Ever since I first voted I’ve simply voted for the lesser of two mediocre evils and I feel so proud to have been able to choose someone who is shattering my generation’s rampant apathy. (Actually, I might have voted for Bill Clinton as an incumbent. I have a vague memory of filling out my first ballot as an absentee California voter in my sorority’s dining room. Kirsten, could this be true?) In any case, this is the first election where I was really informed and had opinions based on my own beliefs and ideals. I felt the weather was perfect for the kind of day it turned out to be. Yes, my guy won and it was sweet!
The bitter turn took place at about 10pm after teaching my last class of the day. I turned on NPR only to find that Proposition 8 was winning. I was surprised. Everyone I know, almost, was voting NO. When I arrived to a computer I immediately checked in on the county by county results. It was true…most of my dear state was Green, including my home county of Los Angeles. Let me restate that. My HOME counties up North (San Francisco and Contra Costa) were Yellow. My current county was Green. Because many votes had not yet been counted, I ended the evening hoping that I would wake up and the margin would flip, but, alas, it remained 52% Yes on Prop 8. In California!? *sigh*
On the evening of November 5th, at about 8:45 we heard some faint yelling?, chanting?, PROTESTING! We figured out that is was the Prop 8 rally moving East on Sunset Blvd. As they drew closer and closer to RJ’s house, we took off running down the street to join them. The demonstration was peaceful, except for the loud chanting of “What do we want? EQUAL RIGHTS. When do we want it? NOW!”. We marched around Hollywood for about 2 hours before RJ and I returned home at about 11pm. When we got home and turned on the news, the reporters were trying very hard to spin the protest as violent, but for the record, I was standing about 20 feet from the “violence” and it was what I would call non-violence. One idiot did decide it was a good idea to jump on top of a police car, so of course, he was arrested, but I do not call that violence. We all actually sat down in the street in front of the police blockade to show that we came in peace. Just before I left the demonstration, a second group of enthusiastic protesters joined us at the intersection of Hollywood & Highland. Suddenly the group doubled in size and we celebrated the solidarity. Here is my amateur video of the two groups coming together. I’m no filmmaker, but it will give you an idea:
And here are some photos of the protest in action…
Have you ever seen me with such a stern face? I was a little fired up!
I am certain that not everyone who reads this post (I know you’re here, reading silently) will agree with my position here, but this cause is very near to my heart because I have numerous loved ones that this proposition discriminates against.
Now, several days after the results of the election I am happy and sad and frustrated and hopeful. Hence, it was a bittersweet election day in my home state of California.
We took one awesome step towards change, and now we have several more to go. Hooray for Obama! Good luck, dear Sir, you’ve inherited a major mess, but I believe in you and this country with all my heart…
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In my condo building we do not have those fabulous blue bins in which to put all my glass bottles, aluminum cans, mixed paper, etc, for recycling. This has always caused my crazy, Northern California, recycle-minded self some stress. I hoard all my recyclables in bags around the kitchen and when I am overflowing I take them to the recycle place for my $3.00. And I don’t do it for the $3.00 ~ in fact, if the line is too long I leave with someone who has collected a lot more than me. It’s annoying only because I don’t really have room for a lot of recycling and so it gets cluttered in the little nook by my fridge and so I trip over cans and bottles more often than is necessary.