OBAMA!

Dearest readers, I feel so very exalted & humbled to be witness to this once-in-a-century election. Last night. Oh. My. God.

Pix speak more voluminously than mere words, so here's my Election Day 2008 photo album with a few helpful captions.



First off, here's a ( blurry, I know) shot from an Obama phone bank event at Four Barrels Cafe in SF where David & I went on election eve to do our part to help get the vote out.


Fast forward to election day. Lines snake down the block, votes are cast, the precincts close, the election is called for Obama, McCain graciously concedes, Obama speaks eloquently, our tears are shed, and we hit the street--Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission district to be exact...


Car horns honk, we high-five passers-by, we shout our exuberance, and at 19th & Valencia a spontaneous combustion of a party begins to ignite...

The crowd grows on the sidewalk until suddenly, without any cue we all surge into the intersection, and leap and shout rejoicing this moment in the street as seen/ heard in the above video...

My homies are tired, but I forge onward to see what other pandemonium is afoot. I don't have far to go...

At 16th & Guerrero another Obama bash is raging ( or perhaps it's a continuation of the same bash...). It's quite a scene.



Then I get a call from Dianne Nola & we decide to check out the scene at the official Obama Victory Party at the St Francis downtown. I hop on BART & soon we are at the Union Square hotel where we run into DOLORATA's frontwoman, Katie Colpitts.

Eventually I end up passing by the 19th & Valencia party which is still rocking hard at 1:30 am. Throughout my long journey this election night amongst these crowds there are chants of "yes we can!" and "OBAMA!" and "U.S.A" and when I roll into bed in the wee hours I can't help but reflect upon this astonishing invention of those clever founding folks of the late 18th century, something smart designed to defy tyranny that remains infinitely perfectable--this democracy just might, it might, with earnest striving blast through all manner of barriers that bar the actual act of humanity's actualization, and inasmuch as we could sink down into the pits of primordial drool, we could also zoom up higher than has been yet achieved. Yeah, I know, though mostly happy as hell tonight, one can't be in denial: some sad seeds of discrimination were, alas, sown and grew an unhealthy ( and soon to be mighty litiginous) harvest with that Proposition 8 business passing, but I dunno, that's going to be overcome, watch! Cuz, I do feel, nonetheless, something new, something unfamiliar. Aah--I know. Hope.