Disclaimer: the following contains educated young women engaging in the political process and may actively excite or threaten you. Tea Partiers advised to exercise extreme caution.
One of the things teachers must come to terms with is how much time you spend learning from your students, even though you're under the illusion it's the other way around. For me, one of those many moments came in Buenos Aires a few months back; in typical fashion, we'd abandoned the book and the class started debating political systems in different countries. While the process in Argentina felt familiar-- three branches of government, democratically elected President for four year terms-- one thing my students said came as a surprise. Voting in Argentina is mandatory, everyone has to vote, period.
After they explained this to me, I described my experience voting in the 2008 election-- the story of standing in Grant Park in downtown Chicago, barely feeling the November wind as we waited for the results; the happy cry that erupted from thousands at once, being whirled off my feet in a bear-hug by a perfect stranger, and squeezing Rachel's hand as we broke down in sobs. "You guys, it was unbelievable...the whole country was watching," I told them. One of my students smiled sadly and firmly corrected, "Teacher, the whole world. We pay attention, what Americans choose affects our lives. Do Americans realize...do they think about it?"
I sat there, slightly shell-shocked as she went on, "Is it true that only about half of Americans vote? When they have that...responsibility to the world? How is it possible?"
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Grant Park, 2008 with LC and Rachel. We were a collective emotional mess, and I regret nothing. Except the bangs. Yikes.
As I rode the bus home after teaching that day, I realized I'd never be able to think about voting again without hearing the echo of those questions. They've haunted me throughout this election season and I came back to the States determined to pay better attention and think more globally this time around.
Fortunately, upon my arrival at grad school I found myself living with a group of people who are not only interested in the political world at home and abroad, but think voting should be spelled P-A-R-T-Y! A number of us registered and cast ballots here in Vermont, but since we come from all over the country and the world, absentee ballots were the name of the game. Becky, while a permanent resident here since the age of eight, is legally an Irish citizen and not able to vote in US elections, but that didn't seem to dampen her enthusiasm. See if you can spot her-- kind of like, 'Where's Waldo?' Only really, really easy.
And so, up and down the hall, absentee ballots were cast from swing state to shining swing state--
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From Wisconsin, where the cheese comes from...
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...to the plains of Iowa.
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From the rolling hills of Virginia...
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And even like this...
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One of the things teachers must come to terms with is how much time you spend learning from your students, even though you're under the illusion it's the other way around. For me, one of those many moments came in Buenos Aires a few months back; in typical fashion, we'd abandoned the book and the class started debating political systems in different countries. While the process in Argentina felt familiar-- three branches of government, democratically elected President for four year terms-- one thing my students said came as a surprise. Voting in Argentina is mandatory, everyone has to vote, period.
After they explained this to me, I described my experience voting in the 2008 election-- the story of standing in Grant Park in downtown Chicago, barely feeling the November wind as we waited for the results; the happy cry that erupted from thousands at once, being whirled off my feet in a bear-hug by a perfect stranger, and squeezing Rachel's hand as we broke down in sobs. "You guys, it was unbelievable...the whole country was watching," I told them. One of my students smiled sadly and firmly corrected, "Teacher, the whole world. We pay attention, what Americans choose affects our lives. Do Americans realize...do they think about it?"
I sat there, slightly shell-shocked as she went on, "Is it true that only about half of Americans vote? When they have that...responsibility to the world? How is it possible?"
As I rode the bus home after teaching that day, I realized I'd never be able to think about voting again without hearing the echo of those questions. They've haunted me throughout this election season and I came back to the States determined to pay better attention and think more globally this time around.
Fortunately, upon my arrival at grad school I found myself living with a group of people who are not only interested in the political world at home and abroad, but think voting should be spelled P-A-R-T-Y! A number of us registered and cast ballots here in Vermont, but since we come from all over the country and the world, absentee ballots were the name of the game. Becky, while a permanent resident here since the age of eight, is legally an Irish citizen and not able to vote in US elections, but that didn't seem to dampen her enthusiasm. See if you can spot her-- kind of like, 'Where's Waldo?' Only really, really easy.
And so, up and down the hall, absentee ballots were cast from swing state to shining swing state--
...to the great State of Ohio. (*'great' designation made with no personal bias whatsoever.)
And the small-- but mighty (#whatup4electoralvotes)-- New Hampshire.
The beauty of living in the International Center is that you have an opportunity to constantly engage in conversations from lots of different perspectives. I couldn't help but think back to Argentina as I watched how (even on the tiniest campus imaginable) young people from all over the world came together to reflect on the election-- to ask questions, debate ideas and express ongoing fascination with just how shiny Joe Biden's teeth are.
International Center debate parties! We watched every one together and only neglected our homework about half the time...
Support all the way from Japan.
The promises have been made, the jokes have been worn out, and the debates have been....debated. Last time, I wrote about realizing the true importance of having a choice. Exercising that choice feels even better than talking about it.
Go vote, 'nuff said.
Love from,
Kerk
Update: In the final election results, every single swing state the IC2 ladies voted in ended up going blue. This made us go like this:
And this:
And even like this...
Joe Biten wants YOU to call Ohio cuz it's way past my bedtime and I still have a paper to write...
We've humbly accepted our influence and vowed to use our collective power responsibly in the future. Which means good things for the future of marriage equality, civil rights and plastic dinosaurs. America!