how this could possibly have happened
we arrive home in the dark to colder skies, and an onslaught of rain. the night we left Madison, we drove through chicago and out into the plains of Indiana. we drove and drove, pushing on into the wee hours of the morning, switching through the stations as the reception changed, not wishing to miss an instant of what seemed like such a profound time in history. i suppose many peoples' time here feels historically profound. we finally slept and woke to the dismal, terrifying?, news that george w. bush had won. we didn't really escape the gravity of what had happened all day, and drove much of it in silence, stunned by the passing of events. it was absolutely sobering. i would write more at the moment, but i'm still feeling quiet. a sense of despair overtakes me. i am dumbfounded {staggering about} wondering how this could possibly have happened. what now, i say, what now?
Posted by jeff pitcher at November 5, 2004 06:29 PM
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Hey Jeff, nice blog. I'm hoping that Americans such as yourself can sort this mess out. All the best.
Posted by: Dan at November 6, 2004 04:54 AM
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA!!!!
Posted by: some guy at November 6, 2004 09:52 AM
jeff,
your thoughts echo those of many. i cannot tell you how many people have come into the bakeshop expressing the very same sense of despair that you feel. from young hipsters who angrily disagree with bush's definition of morals to a man who must have been nearly eighty years old emphatically telling me that bush is not his president. i have heard the words 'mourning' and 'grieving' countless times over the past few days.
we do mourn. we do grieve. but now we must heal.
i think all we can do now is send an abundance of positive energy out into the universe. through art and love and kindness and respect for each other's similarities as well as each other's differences.
perhaps, if we are lucky, that is what happens now.
Posted by: jennifer at November 6, 2004 11:06 PM
two cents from Neil Gaiman:
"Half-way through Election Day, feeling stressed-out and irritated, I decided to take my own advice (from a speech earlier this year):
As a solution to various problems you may encounter upon the way, let me suggest this: Make Good Art.
It's very simple. But it seems to work. Life fallen apart? Make good art. True love ran off with the milkman? Make good art. Bank foreclosing? Make good art."
So off we go.
Posted by: Dave at November 7, 2004 12:11 PM
Jeff,
It's wrenching to let ourselves care this much. But some really, really beautiful words from a friend here in town gave me an anchor when I felt like floating away with the despair of what the world - ahem, the US - is coming to:
"we need to reach out, to put our words and our paintings and our music out there, our values and our beliefs, and keep spreading them, person by person, until we change the hearts of the nation—away from the greed and fear that now controls everything, and towards a new enlightenment. We’ve had enlightenments in the past in this nation, but they take years to build, and have no maps or well-defined paths.
But retreating now is impossible. It’s our country too. If you believe in God, it’s your God too.
Do what you can. And then do a little more."
If ever there was a time that well-chosen words had comforted me, this is definitely it.
helen
Posted by: Helen at November 8, 2004 07:50 AM
beautiful words you both qoute helen and dave. beautiful. often, the time when the positivity and light are most difficult to see, is the time when we need them most.
Posted by: jefferson pitcher at November 8, 2004 08:35 AM
