Survivor and the Changing Face of the Country

Yes, I am going to make another post about reality TV.... Ron and I haven't had much time to watch anything together, but he has Survivor downloaded, and we finally got around to starting this season. For those of you who don't watch the show, each season is structured a bit differently. Often, tribes are picked on the first day, but this season, they were "prepicked". They also did something else I don't remember seeing before (although I have not watched all of them). They had the tribes each vote for a leader, just based on appearance and without knowing anything about the people. They didn't even know their names! People had to write down descriptions instead. The players come from all over the country and from many different backgrounds, so I was pretty surprised (in a good way) with the results. First tribe, Russel gets voted as leader:
Not just a black man. A black man with dreadlocks.

Then in the next tribe, Jaison almost wins:

I have no idea when this was filmed in relation to the election, but I have to wonder if there is any connection. Things like this make me think we are headed in the right direction. There were even a few female "names" written down. Would be nice if they were just as likely to get elected, but I have been surprised once.... Where are we headed?

Oh, and for those of you who DO watch the show, no spoilers. We have only watched the first two episodes. :)

What a Day!

An amazing day for our country. An amazing day for the world. I wish I was an eloquent writer and had the words (or the time) to write out how meaningful this day is. I think it is so big that I can't even wrap my mind around it! Welcome to the Oval Office Mr. President. I can't wait to see what the next four years have in store for us!

Wow, he really won!!!!

It still seems surreal. Even though so many people were predicting a landslide, it had to really happen to be believed! So now we have our first "black" president. Is that annoying to anybody else? Isn't he half "white"? Doesn't that make him as much a white president as a black president? I said that to Ron, and he said, "Yes, but we have had lots of white presidents before." Yes, of course it is huge that we have a "person of color" at president! Oh wait, I don't really like that label either. Don't we all have some color to us? And what ever happened to African American? Or did that get too long for the reporters to say when they had to use it so frequently? :rolleyes: I don't know.... I think all these labels are lame, but I suppose people do need a way to identify their heritage. And it is no doubt this is amazing and noteworthy. To be honest, it *is* even more amazing how close he is to his African descent. I never imagined our first nonwhite president would be somebody with a parent not born in this country! Speaking of which, there were some GREAT pictures from around the world. So enough ranting about labels. I want to save some of these images forever!

Some of Obama's relatives celebrating.
I loved all the ones of his step grandmother. She looks like such a wisewoman!
I think this is my favorite though.
Cool!
And this one is kindof odd. Is that Gandhi? Not sure what he is implying here - some type of mind meld?
It is encouraging to see such a wonderful response from around the world. Obama has his hands full for sure with our financial crisis, but I think it is going to be fascinating to see what this presidency will mean for our foreign relations. And indeed, it really does restore faith in the idea that you can be whoever you want to be in this country!

This is it folks!

My blog is behind as usual, and I have other stuff saved that will end up predating this post, but I was so touched by this man's writing I wanted it here on election day. Many people are predicting a landslide, but I am still nervous. I told my husband from the start I think we will see people coming out to the polls who normally don't, and I think this article captures why. I hope I will know I was right by this time tomorrow.

My wife made me canvass for Obama; here's what I learned

This election is not about major policies. It's about hope.

By Jonathan Curley

from the November 3, 2008 edition

Charlotte, N.C. - There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better "ground game" and superior campaign organization.

I had the chance to view that organization up close this month when I canvassed for him. I'm not sure I learned much about his chances, but I learned a lot about myself and about this election.

Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again.

I encouraged my son to join the military. I was proud of him in Afghanistan, and happy when he came home, and angry when he was recalled because of the invasion of Iraq. I'm white, 55, I live in the South and I'm definitely going to get a bigger tax bill if Obama wins.

I am the dreaded swing voter.

So you can imagine my surprise when my wife suggested we spend a Saturday morning canvassing for Obama. I have never canvassed for any candidate. But I did, of course, what most middle-aged married men do: what I was told.

At the Obama headquarters, we stood in a group to receive our instructions. I wasn't the oldest, but close, and the youngest was maybe in high school. I watched a campaign organizer match up a young black man who looked to be college age with a white guy about my age to canvas together. It should not have been a big thing, but the beauty of the image did not escape me.

Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this predominantly black neighborhood.

We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, "Who is it?"

"We're from the Obama campaign," we'd answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch to talk.

Grandmothers kept one hand on their grandchildren and made sure they had all the information they needed for their son or daughter to vote for the first time.

Young people came to the door rubbing sleep from their eyes to find out where they could vote early, to make sure their vote got counted.

We knocked on every door we could find and checked off every name on our list. We did our job, but Obama may not have been the one who got the most out of the day's work.

I learned in just those three hours that this election is not about what we think of as the "big things."

It's not about taxes. I'm pretty sure mine are going to go up no matter who is elected.

It's not about foreign policy. I think we'll figure out a way to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan no matter which party controls the White House, mostly because the people who live there don't want us there anymore.

I don't see either of the candidates as having all the answers.

I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.

My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me.

Jonathan Curley is a banker. He voted for George H.W. Bush twice and George W. Bush once.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

This is one of the most well written pieces on racism I have ever seen. What a scary election year this is. I have thought that before, but wow, this is a whole new ballpark. On the one hand, how amazing that there will be a woman or an African American in the white house. On the other hand... I didn't think it would be possible for me to be so against a woman in politics.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”


White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.


And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…


White privilege is, in short, the problem.