Finally, Sarah Palin!

I fell off the blogosphere for quite a while and thus have only been consuming, not contributing to, the several million words per day devoted to the Alaska governor. In the primaries I voted for Senator Clinton, a smart, articulate, savvy female. (Yes, she had baggage, which included Bill, but I was excited to vote for her.) Far from being a PUMA, though, I then became an Obama fan. When I first heard of Sarah Palin -- when McCain nominated her -- I was not, however, tempted to support her just because she has the same internal plumbing I do.

Some reasons not to support her were obvious right away:
* First, she's a Republican, which as far as I'm concerned pretty much makes her a man in drag.
* Second, she's anti-choice.
* Third, she put on, for the campaign, an exaggerated folksy accent which is entirely absent in her old broadcast footage. I can code-switch with the best of them, but when a candidate changes in this way to this extent, it says "I don't respect the American public" loud and clear.

And on further acquaintance, other reasons quickly manifested themselves:

* She's a total wingnut.

* She can read a teleprompter (which IS a skill) but cannot create sentences.

* Her campaign deliberately appealed to lowest common denominator fears.

And now -- will she go away? Will she become a broadcaster for Faux News? Will she be -- as hinted at by her product placement at the RepubGovs meeting today -- the new face of the GOP? Or will the Republicans be, rightly, embarrassed by her? 

It's a bit like watching a train wreck; I desperately want never to see or hear her again, and yet I can't immediately dial or surf away from the stories about her.  I cringe when I hear her tortured syntax, but ... schadenfreude lives.  

A more serious discussion of the same topic by Andrew Sullivan, cited on Salon, today. At least I'm not alone.

Veterans' Day

I have somewhat mixed feelings about Veterans' Day. My dad and uncles served in WWII; my brother and husband narrowly escaped serving in Vietnam. Since I'm female and was 'way too old by the time our military became all-volunteer, I never thought seriously about whether I would be drafted or choose to serve.  If I had children, would I want them to volunteer? Probably not, I confess.

I respect those who have served their country in the military -- and those who serve in other ways, though military service is the most all-consuming and often the most dangerous. But I know that many veterans have mixed feelings about their own military memories and about how their service is seen by others. How could you NOT have nightmares about marching into a concentration camp, near the end of WWII? How could you NOT wonder about the men you perhaps killed? I respect the humanity of those mixed feelings, too. But I don't always -- particularly in the last few years -- respect the motives of those who send our military into action.  The common flag-waving rhetoric of "protecting America" does not recognize the complexity of soldiers' bravery, loyalty, and yes doubts, nor the machinations of those who command them.     

We are now losing the WWII generation, men and women, daily. My dad is gone. My mother who waited for him and wrote V-mail is gone. My in-laws are gone. Men of that generation were not expected to talk about their feelings, so they came home (the ones who did) and got on with things in their own ways. They didn't tell war stories with any relish.  My dad only talked about the war very late in his life, and then usually fairly "safe" stories.

I learned today that there is ONE surviving Lumbee WWII veteran; I'm hoping that one of my classes can do an oral history project, interviewing Robeson County vets. We maintain ourselves through our stories; we need to listen to what these men and women have to say to us, if they are ready to say it.

Post-Election Wahoo

Man oh man -- it's been an intense few months, during which I have (obviously) not been blogging. A quick catch-up:  I did NOT have my students write blogs, in part b/c we've had some technology meltdowns on my campus -- long rant barely restrained here.  I HAVE been, as usual, insanely busy this fall, perhaps even more insanely busy than usual.  I had been told that the pace is stepped up, rather than down, post-tenure, and that seems to be correct, but, all things considered, things are going well. Spouse & I traveled to two weddings this fall, one in Wisconsin and one in Maryland, so that added some catching-up time as well.  I DID follow the '08 elections fairly obsessively and worked the polls on election day.

And WOW. In the month before November 4th I was reading Salon and CNN online all the friggin' time, afraid to be too optimistic; the Rethuglicans could always pull a fast one. Even the night of the 4th, it just didn't seem real.  (It almost still doesn't.) But I am so so SO excited and happy about Obama's election.  Nah, he's not "the one" (or "that one") or a miracle worker or even King Arthur. But I'm so proud of us.  And so glad that we once again have a President who is SMART. Graceful. Articulate. Worthy of our respect. 

*sigh*  Life is good.