Obama Nation

Well, it's over. Now what?

Today was my favorite kind of teaching day. Plans went out the window, paper deadlines got extended, I got to see the sparkle in 120 pairs of eyes, and some truly cool folks sidled a little closer to adulthood. I was surprised and thrilled at how many of them felt changed by the process.

Over the past few weeks, I've written about how I sometimes feel out of touch with my students -- that the 18 year difference in our ages actually FEELS like there's a whole person in between me and them. Not today. Today, either they took a giant leap towards becoming adults, or I floated backwards and became enamoured once again in the mystique that is voting.

They were full of talk today. One thing a decade of teaching has taught me is that when they are on a roll, that's when the true learning occurs. I don't turn discussion back to our papers. Kwame Appiah will be there in the morning. They talked about the importance of technology in the new administration. They discussed the role they felt they could play in politics now. When I asked them the Republican question, "Do you feel you were manipulated by the Obama campaign?" (I've heard that the "flash" and "bells and whistles" of the Obama campaign were there only to woo the unsophisticated new voters) they responded with wisdom beyond their years, in my opinion. One student simply said, "Obama's campaign didn't manipulate me. It approached me in my terms. I was listening and I responded."

One even likened it to the process of reverse autoethnography and transculturation (when two cultures meet up and one explains itself to the other using the others' language). Am I in the presence of some smart cookies or what?

Living with Ed is on, and this has been a long day. We have a new President and he has enough work ahead of him for both of us and quite a few of you as well. So I leave you with my final thought last night --

(To Barack Obama): Well, you did it. You've been given your shot. You have brought us together, and we are behind you. We need you. So, please, please, please.....

don't fuck it up.