waiting game

i was interviewed about the election live on the radio late this afternoon, during the afternoon drive shift. it was fun. i could get used to that. i have now announced to all of trekantsområde that i am considering seeking danish citizenship if romney wins.

we just had to turn off the television again and i had to close huff post, msnbc and nytimes. i can't take any more. i just want it to be over with. fittingly, i'm reading jon ronson's them - a book about extremists and conspiracy theorists.

however, i'm sure i'll turn it all back on in an hour or so. i am both repelled and attracted. hopeful and in despair. but mostly rather sick to my stomach. it's just a waiting game now.

holding my breath until wednesday

reflecting on the election tomorrow. i'll be glad when it's over and i haven't even "enjoyed" the brunt of it, being at the distance as i am. i just spent an hour looking at the requirements for danish citizenship, just in case. it's difficult, but would undoubtedly be worth it if the worst happens tomorrow.

and if you haven't already sussed out what i think the worst would be, i think the rude pundit has said it much better than i could. me, i'm just sitting around, sick to my stomach at the thought.

i have voted and sent it weeks ago. now all i can do is wait and hold my breath. and i hope i don't have to kiss my passport goodbye.

molly likes michelle

despite my distance from the US, i am keenly interested in the american election. i read extensively online and in our daily newspaper and we get the daily show with only one day's delay. i'll admit my viewpoint is filtered through the brilliance of jon stewart and his team. but that's mostly because it fits my political leanings anyway. liberal political leanings which have only been strengthened by 14 years of living in europe.

i have closely followed both last week's republican convention and this week's democratic one. it strikes me that there is a marked difference. last week's felt far more mean-spirited, but i will admit that the democrats have a hard time overcoming the bleak economic picture. it has been a hard slog, overcoming the mess that obama was handed by the dangerous war-mongering buffoonery of the bush administration (which people seem to forget), and admittedly, things aren't there yet.

molly and i watched both michelle obama's speech and bill clinton's speech in their entirety today. molly really liked michelle. and so did i. i found what she had to say beyond reproach and have been pleasantly surprised to see that there has been little criticism of her (at least from what i could find online). bill showed, once again, his particular brand of authentic charisma. he really is something. i loved the shots of chelsea sitting next to steve jobs' widow (interesting to see what that was about), looking proudly on at her father. he struck the right notes - he was honest, but real and convincing. and who else could make you listen, riveted, as he talked about medicare block grants? seriously, that man is a gifted speaker.

but honestly, i worry about the political rhetoric in the US. it seems so filled with hate these days. so polarized and extreme. things that don't seem like they are relevant issues - rape, abortion, gay marriage - to whether a person is qualified to be the president take up the forefront. my impression is that the democrats are at least trying to talk about the economy and the future in a more hopeful way, rather than spending time on lies (see Paul Ryan's speech), misrepresentations (again, Paul Ryan) and issues (see that asshole from Missouri) that are irrelevant.

but i think what's contributing to making this election seem like the worst, most vitriolic one ever is actually facebook. i'm simply astounded at some of my facebook friends. i mean, i knew a few of them watched fox news, but i wasn't clear on how much they believed it and how filled with hate they seem to be. and i simply don't understand it. how one can be in a same-sex relationship and work for the government and still be rabidly against the democratic platform i am at a loss to understand. and don't even get me started on those who simply cannot possibly afford to be republicans...

but bill's speech put the thoughts i was beginning to have about changing my passport (for all of my complaints about denmark, at least i don't ever feel i have to be ashamed of it and i've felt ashamed of america on more than one occasion recently as i watched or read the news (or the olympic coverage)) out of my head for now. but time will tell, i guess. and in the meantime, all i can do is vote (as many times as i can - that being the advantage of being registered to vote in chicago). 

i hope you will too. and when you do, i hope it will be for the good guys. because they're not yet done cleaning up the mess bush left.

we did it!!!!

i've been busy all morning with my comference, but when i had the chance, i sneaked a look at huffington post on my iPhone and had to restrain a victory whoop! i seriously got goosebumps over my entire body when i read "president-elect obama," and tears in my eyes as i sat in the hotel lobby just now and read this:

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."

i am so thankful that i don't have to write any more posts about sarah palin! :-) we really did it!!! let's hope that the energy that swept him to victory will enable all of us to pull the country (and the world) out of the mess it's been left in by 8 years of bush's mismanagement. it seems that hope has arrived!

the twilight of mcpalin

it's long past sunset on election day where i am and i thought this picture, taken of the sun setting over manila bay this evening, was a good metaphor for the dark hours ahead of the mcpalin campaign. we are surely in the twilight of their negative, counter-productive, no-ideas, anti-intellectual, moose hunting, QVC pork knife-selling, massacre of the constitution and everything it stands for (alas, if only sarah palin had read it (and understood it), it would surely have been a lot less amusing).

let's all raise a glass to the waning hours of this election...

i think we're really gonna make it...i just can't really bear to watch.

tweeting on the blog

quick post...just watched obama vote on BBC...tears in my eyes, tho' he appeared to copy off michelle at some points...maybe his white side threatened to take over. ;-)

thought for the day

happy voting today, to one and all!

 

like watching beavis & butthead

i've just been chatting with amanda and we've been discussing that feeling we get these days whenever we see the latest antics from sarah palin. whether it's falling hook line and sinker for canadian comedians posing as sarkozy (seriously, did she REALLY think that sarkozy would be calling her?) or claiming the first amendment is to protect a politician's right to say stupid shit without media scrutiny. or claiming obama is a communist. as amanda said, it's like watching the olympics and the girl falls off the balance beam and you can't watch anymore because you know she'll do it again. for me, it's the feeling i get watching mr. bean or beavis & butthead...an uncomfortable, fist-clenching, squirmy, can't-sit-still feeling.

i have the same feeling about watching actual election returns tomorrow. it's been such a long, mad road and i have such a feeling of dread about it. from where i sit, i have an excuse...i'm in a time zone that makes it slightly inconvenient to watch the returns. plus, i'm really busy tomorrow, so i can probably escape watching. because it's no doubt going to be uncomfortable, fist-clenching and squirmy.  i hope i'm wrong, but i will not trust these clowns and their banana republic-esque voting irregularities until it's all over.

speaking of banana republic, i've learned that one has opened in greenbelt 5, so perhaps i'll check that out tomorrow evening, rather than torturing myself with election returns.

what are you going to do? be glued to the t.v. or trying to stay far away until it's all over?

p.s. this was my 400th post. we all expected so much more....

that does it...

canadians take the piss with sarah palin and surprisingly (or not), she doesn't have a clue! i wish i could say something nice about her, but the only thing i can think of is that she's hilarious.

one more thing on grateful friday

i'm grateful for the ability to vote in this important election despite having permanent residence in another country (which no doubt makes me a fake american):

although i've already sent the ballot that was sent to me via email, i got the real, official one in the mail yesterday and i'm sending it too, just in case. i remember when i moved to chicago, i always joked that i was looking forward to voting as many times as i wanted to. :-) so this time around, i'm taking no chances. better safe than sorry!

of train wrecks, halloween and gratitude

only a few more days left of my daily linking to the latest campaign news. tangobaby actually directed me to today's first link...an article by the director of a 2005 sundance film festival film called why we fight, and an early encounter with mccain's now derailing straight talk express. very thoughtful and well-written, read it if you have the time.

last night, the daily show with obama was on here in denmark, only one day after original broadcast--that's pretty cool, because until about a week ago, the daily shows were about a week behind (i suppose to give time to the subtitle people). it's on at 11:40 p.m., but both husband and i stayed up to watch it. glad we did, as there was more than the clip that had been available online. barack obama takes political speech to a whole new level...returning it to something you can believe in and with an underlying assumption that the audience consists of thoughtful, intelligent people. it made me realize that that's been missing for a long time now. at least 8 years, and as much as i like bill clinton, perhaps even longer than that. it is like we have our kennedy, although i will admit that in the early 90s, i felt that way about bill clinton and his campaign video a town called hope , done by those designing women people--i loved that and had the same goosebumps and tears in my eyes i had watching obama's infomercial yesterday.

one more link, you must check this blog that i just discovered. FANTASTIC! (thanks to magpie on twitter!)

* * *

but, i can't wax philosophical all day. i have to prepare for 20 2nd graders to descend on us at 5 p.m. for a halloween party! the house has to be decorated, the pumpkin tops cut open (they're going to start off by carving pumpkins, tho' i am uncertain that giving sharp objects to 20 2nd graders is a good idea), warm beverages simmering on the stove, food and snacks prepared for the hungry masses, apples tied to a string for fun and games, i have to be in my modified morticia addams costume (i got a black & purple wig instead of black & grey).  last night, we carved a couple of pumpkins to get ready:

and sabin worked on her halloween costume:

it is a spider web-y ghost costume of her own invention.

* * *

 i've been wanting to do a grateful friday posting for awhile now, inspired by del at serenity now, but am usually all worn out by friday and don't have it in me or am on some kind of rant. however, today i will do it!  here is a list of the things i'm grateful for at this very moment:

1. i'm headed for manila tomorrow for a week of interesting meetings and catching up with old friends and i'm staying at my favorite hotel in the whole world.
2. i'm almost done with my VAT statement for Q3. (ugh!)
3. and i have only one invoice left to create.
4. next i get to bake cupcakes.
5. that i have a wonderful husband who i have engaging conversations with every single day.
6. realizing that we've already managed to establish traditions with sabin--she insisted on the ritual pleasure of roasting pumpkin seeds last night when we carved the pumpkins. i had actually forgotten about doing that, but she remembered and said, "but mom, we ALWAYS roast pumpkin seeds with that yummy salt." 
7. a steaming mug of fragrant tea.
8. that i'm sitting in a space where all kinds of materials for creativity are within reach--pens, pretty papers, my camera. (i don't have time for any of that today, but i love knowing it's here.)

what are you grateful for this friday?

it gave me goosebumps!

i was a little bit worried when i heard that the obama campaign had bought 30 minute spots on the networks and cable channels. i wondered if it would be overkill. i needn't have worried. i sat this morning at my computer and watched it with goosebumps and occasional tears in my eyes. there is just such a contrast between the hope and positivity of obama and the vitriol and negativity of mcpalin. obama presents his ideas and his plans, everything i hear from the opponents is not about what they intend to do, but about how bad what obama is going to do is. they don't seem to have ideas and obama has nothing BUT ideas. but don't take my word for it, watch it for yourself:



and don't forget to have a look at obama's appearance on jon stewart. he's funny and totally able to laugh at himself. brilliant.  and one last link, if you didn't see michelle obama's appearance on leno, you've gotta watch it, even if, like me, you're not a leno fan. she's gonna make an awesome first lady--she's smart, gracious, humble and funny. we couldn't wish for more!

P.S.  if you'd like to let out a cheer, go read "the mandatory rejection of sarah palin" by bob cesca. so, so spot on.

have you seen this?

in the lounge in oslo, laughing my ass off with headphones:

things can only get better

going to bed early seems to make me get up early. not sure i'm so keen on that...but it did give me time to check up on my election obsession before getting ready for work.  and this piece warmed my heart--9000 people brave pissing down rain in pennsylvania to see barack obama. john mccain canceled a rally at the same time, citing the weather. it may also have been that no one had shown up due to lack of interest.

the cracks are really starting to show in the mcpalin campaign.  mitt romney, who has apparently been living under a rock, acknowledges that there is now a "very real possibility of an obama presidency." that's been apparent for some time, my friends (to quote mr. mccain). one of mccain's advisors has actually called our sarah a "wack job"and others are beginning to admit publicly that they were shocked at how little she knew. it's clear she's trying to save herself a political future, going increasingly "maverick" on the campaign trail, tho' these fruit fly comments aren't going to help. let's hope she doesn't succeed and goes back to alaska to her refurbished governor's mansion with her tail between her legs. sadly, she probably lacks the good sense to do this. and sadly, she won't have all her pretty new clothes to wear in the prettied up governor's mansion. that is, if we actually believe they will go to charity. i can see it now: a sotheby's auction of palin memorabilia.

i'm not sure what i feel about the 30-minute ad the obama campaign is going to air--it seems like a bit much--but i am definitely looking forward to seeing obama on the daily show!

time for my day to begin...things can only get better, right?

monday links and ramblings

i've expended a lot energy, not to mention time, being outraged about sarah palin, but will admit that it's cooling. not least after reading this article about how all of her antics should make us laugh, not cry. is this whole thing just because we crave entertainment? of course, we should remember that she's most definitely not harmless, but we must admit that it's been pretty entertaining.



at first i wondered how i would survive until election day and now i'm wondering what i'll do to fill the void when the election is over. although we don't yet know the result, i suppose i already feel anticlimactic because i've voted and sent off my ballot. not to mention that i vote in illinois, which is a pretty sure bet obama state. i've done my part and i know you'll all do yours.

* * *

lest you guys think all i do is read about politics, i hereby offer some of the other, totally non-political things i've been reading:

1. will we eventually download books from amazon directly into our brains? this is a discussion that husband and i have very often...where evolution will lead humans and whether the internet is in fact the stirrings of the next life form?

ok, i looked around and realized that's pretty much the only non-political, non-work-related article i've read of late. man, it's bad. i will be glad to have my brain back when this election is over, so i can fill it much more stimulating things...like why madonna and guy ritchie are splitting!?

* * *

the mailman just came and brought me this and this:

tangobaby's fabulous chinatown book!

and a beautiful print

and two of those little moo cards

(NOW i know what they are, even if i still don't know what it stands for!)

thank you, tangobaby, madame president!

* * *

and because it was a rainy, dreary weekend, made for staying indoors and baking organic chickens and squash and making warming curries, and because this blog has become way too much politics and way too little inspiration, i hereby share the weekend's creativity:

working with mathilde (husband's middle daughter), we made two pillows for her bedroom, using some cute japanese matrioshka fabric (the fabric is japanese, not the matrioshki, they're russian) from etsy (which can't be linked to at the moment due to scheduled maintenance) and a couple of lush anna maria horner fabrics.

and i'm working on a small lap quilt, made entirely of anna maria horner fabrics:

i got the top done and will reward myself today with a trip to get the batting and backing fabric, if i finish the writing i need to get done (and which is fast becoming urgent, which may be just what i need to be able to finish it). but yes, i've reached the point where i have to threaten myself and then promise rewards. i'm clearly a bad parent.

on that note, i'm off to write...it's the same piece i've been struggling with for the past several weeks. i think i'm struggling because i actually care too much about it and want to get it just right. do you ever have things you do that with? and if so, how do you get out of it! i'm open to any and all good advice! because i've written about ten different versions of this thing and none of them are right and thus far, i've been unable to combine them into something i can live with. but, today, i shall succeed!!!

mediocrity rules

well, it looks increasingly like mediocrity will not in fact rule, which is quite a relief, but of course, it's never over 'til it's over.  judith warner has a very interesting piece in today's NYT on that ever-worrying topic of sarah palin as the ultimate feminist. she suggests that palin and not hillary clinton offered the political breakthrough moment for women in this year--because "mediocrity is the privilege of those who have arrived." hillary is and always was the consummate over-achiever--sarah palin, a person who happened to be in the right place at the right time and now apparently even has the right wardrobe. (because if you have a look at this, you'll see she definitely DIDN'T have the right wardrobe before.)

and there ARE just people who you shake your head at and wonder how they've attained the position they've attained. i worked with one in my previous job. the boy was nice enough, but quite simply rubbish at his job. he's still in that job and i just heard that he's getting another promotion. it's a fact that everyone around him--his employees, his peers, his customers--everyone but his boss--sees him for what he is--an utter and complete mediocrity. but, because he's mostly harmless, he ends up rising. if you're a weak manager, it's easy to promote other weaklings and fun to hold down the strong and those weak sucks totally benefit from that.

but, i do have faith and i think that sarah palin is evidence, that those mediocrities eventually rise too far and then they crash and crash hard. it's really quite nice of sarah palin to take down mccain, who likely would have continued along the bush trajectory. because i've said for years that mccain was the one republican i could think of who i could vote for. thanks to her, that is no longer true.

perhaps this whole thing will give the republicans pause. they'll have to think about whether the direction they've gone in over the past 8 years is the right one. they'll have to think about whether it's ok that those right of the right loonies who used to be their fringe have now become their center. and that introspection can no doubt only be good for everyone (assuming republicans are capable of introspection--which is currently taking the form of the "blame game," big and bad and the election isn't even over). because regardless of which answer they come up with--we are a bunch of religious, right-wing, shoot-to-kill lunatics or we are fiscal conservatives who believe government should stay out of the people's way (a lot of good that did recently)--the democrats can only look good these days.

but now, i'm going back to my sewing projects, because i have to do something constructive in these times that feel so full of destructive rhetoric.

hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

p.s. i have a new political blogsite to add to my list of regular visits which include the huffington post and andrew sullivan's daily dish, it's called the daily beast and you all probably knew about it, but i didn't until today (thanks sis!).

i voted today!

after a horrible panic due to the fact that i hadn't yet received my absentee ballot (and i had been patiently waiting, thinking it would come), i got in touch with the chicago election commission and found out they hadn't received my request! arrgh! the good news was, it wasn't too late and because they have great service, i actually was able to request and receive a ballot via email, all in one day! i've filled it out and sent it, so it's on its way! i would have been devastated after all of this, not to be able to vote.

today's election quote translated from danish :  "sarah palin has had the same effect on the campaign as  halloween candy. at first, voters got a proper sugar high and afterwards a bellyache."

and looking ahead to 2012, i bring you today's tangobaby campaign button:

and because i adore the campaign button maker :

hope you're having a lovely weekend.

won't you join us?

as part of my ongoing campaign to be tangobaby's secretary of state, i give you today's campaign button:

i am beginning to think i should have nominated myself for vice president since i'm doing so much active campaigning here...hmm.

through another's eyes

i wish you guys could read danish (i can think of only one reader who can and another one who can probably read norwegian, which is really like badly spelled and properly pronounced according to how it's spelled danish). what i actually love about living in denmark during my 3rd american presidential election is reading the coverage of the election in the danish (quality) press.  i would love to link to a whole list of great articles i've read lately (and i no doubt will), but it does seem a bit overwhelming to translate them. so, i will offer a synopsis and share some of the thoughts these great articles have led me to.

berlingske, which is, in my opinion, by far the best danish newspaper (tho' a recent redesign has given it a disturbing feel of one of those free-on-the-train papers) in terms of the writing itself, has a particular reporter in the US. i think i've probably mentioned him before. his name is poul høi and he lives in santa fe. during the first two elections i was here, he was berlingske's man in DC. apparently now he's achieved sufficient seniority and cachet (due to his brilliant writing) to be allowed to do whatever articles strike his fancy and to live in santa fe. not a bad gig, it would seem to me.

in yesterday's paper, he published the first of two articles from wasilla, home of sarah palin. he went there to try to get to the bottom of who she is by seeing where she came from. as i've said before, i have an addiction to writing in the margins of books and this article was so good that i actually had to underline and scribble all over it.

høi's analysis of the country of my birth helps me see it with new eyes. he's lived there about as long as i've lived here, so he has both an inside and an outside perspective. his descriptions are apt and often poetic, setting the scene:

• characterizing a weather change as the sort that demands a wagner overture.
• and wasilla as a town with no city planning, built according to the lowest common denominator--by kiosk owners, for kiosk owners and ruled by kiosk owners.
• walking into the local "mug shot saloon" he felt like the children in the narnia books--as if he'd stepped through a wardrobe, back in time, to a place with nicotine-colored hessian on the wall, populated by people who have seen it all, done it all and given up.
• describing churches being built according to the principles of plastic silverware architecture (engangsbestik-arkitektur).

then, with historical perspective, he reminds us of the divide in the republican party between the goldwater-types and the wallace-types (tho' wallace was a so-called dixiecrat (democrat turned independent), he inspired an entire generation of right of the right republicans). the divide between intellectual and down home (we know this now as the real and the fake america). he talks about sarah palin's mediocre grades (sound familiar?) and her need to move from college to college in order to finally collect a degree in sports journalism. he talks about the teachers who had no recollection of her. he discusses her bizarre anti-intellectualism--if she couldn't be a leader among the educated, she would by god lead the uneducated against the educated. serving on the local city council was her way up the ladder, then she stomped on those who helped her in and ran against them, mobilizing the "wal-mart moms," which worked for her all the way to the governor's mansion (there are apparently a LOT of those in alaska).

in short, høj masterfully weaves together fifty years of history of american politics, cultural analysis and a feel for the present into the conclusion that sarah palin is in actuality a natural and even inevitable conclusion...once republicans admired people like abraham lincoln and winston churchill, today those on the pedestal are joe six-pack and joe the plumber. sarah palin is, like george w. bush before her, simply the embodiment of this zeitgeist.  as poul høj says in his blog entry this week, if you cross lipstick with a pitbull long enough, you eventually do get a pitbull with lipstick.

all of this makes me realize that those of us now fake americans--the ones who bothered to get higher education and a passport--simply must stage a revolt. we've sat back long enough, not really believing that this is where reality was headed and thinking these people were too moronic to bother arguing with.  it's so, so, so important to vote obama. our right to be intellectual or even just to be thinking and thoughtful in our decision-making depends on it. we must show this woman the way back to her wal-mart. if she's going to give back all that valentino anyway, she'll need some new, more affordable clothes.

on the campaign trail

i might have a minor addiction to the campaign button maker. that and i really, really want to be tangobaby 's secretary of state.

actually, i'd be quite ok with ambassador to somewhere fun. like south africa.