early and often
... vote; early, often, as Al Capone (or was it Mayor Daley) used to say..... 4 years ago, and probably every presidential primary season I can remember, the race was more or less decided by the time it got to NY (Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry), and who(m?)ever I voted for in the primary didn't have a chance to win (how many of those times did I vote for Jackson (Jesse, not Jeffy) or myself?). But this year, oddly enough, it isn't lesser of two evils - imagine that, voting for a serious contender for president, and not only is there a choice of ONE that's not evil, but two - good grief. Anyway, I shouldn't be awake, but sleeplessness, work anxiety, and whatever else, got me on the computer, looking at news reports, listening to music. I gotta tell you, I can be very cynical about politics, and can make a very good argument about how my vote doesn't count (which I firmly believe, but won't bore you with), but I am fascinated by it all. Sometimes the "game", and sometimes the ideas.... and listening to music, somehow my mind drifted to those stories you see/hear on the news about people in foreign countires waiting for hours to vote, walking hours to vote, dodging bullets, ferchrisakes, and all I have to do is walk about 2 blocks from here, have no I.D., just rely on my signature, and smile at the elderly ladies and eager young men staffing the place, and have a private moment in a public place, in a booth. A booth where I don't have to keep shoving quarters in (just wanted to see if you were paying attention)... sorry, hard for me to be too too serious... and I think about what other people, in my own country, and in others, have gone through just to be able to do this simple thing, and for a moment, it feels important, and I want to be part of it, the physical act of letting this steel machine in front of me know I am participating, as meaningless as it might feel later.... but now it feels like I'm part of my community, and I'm always glad I've done it.... did I mention I really should be sleeping.... how 'bout a tune? -