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elections

35-for-35: 2001 – “Subdivision” by Ani DiFranco

November 19, 2016 by krisis

general_ani-difranco-by-danny-clinch-5

My second-favorite shot of Ani, shot by Danny Clinch.

[Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug][/Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug]As occasionally problematic and non-intersectional as Ani DiFranco can be, sometimes her willingness to just say stuff makes for compelling, provocative songs.

Case and point: her song “Subdivision” from 2001’s double-album Revelling/Reckoning, which starts with the line “White people are so scared of black people.”

Despite the bombshell opening line, “Subdivision” is not a song exclusively about racial divides, but about Ani’s beloved home town of Buffalo and her beloved country. Her city has seemingly been left behind by a march of modernity. Here, she wonders if that march is just about having the money and privilege to put more space between ourselves and our fears. Maybe if we’re far enough away we no longer have to confront them.

Except: when we’ve forgotten, buried, or sublimated all that we’ve been running away from, how will we know when it is stil driving our biases?

I had a sense of foreboding when I picked “Subdivision” as my song from 2001 as I prepared for this campaign last month. I’d be posting it just 10 days after the election. I wondered how its message would play in a post-election America, the same country we lived in the day before the election but potentially seen through a new lens. What would it say about a world where Hillary Clinton won the election? What about a world where Donald Trump won? Would it be equally true in both?

Now we know the outcome, and I ask that you simply listen and take from it whatever message you hear. That first line will always stand out for me, but in this redefined world it is teaching me something different than it was a few weeks ago.

Subdivision
by Ani DiFranco

White people are so scared of black people
They bulldoze out to the country
And put up houses on little loop-dee-loop streets
And while america gets its heart cut right out of its chest
The Berlin wall still runs down main street
Separating east side from west

And nothing is stirring, not even a mouse
In the boarded-up stores and the broken-down houses
So they hang colorful banners off all the street lamps
Just to prove they got no manners
No mercy and no sense

[Read more…] about 35-for-35: 2001 – “Subdivision” by Ani DiFranco

Filed Under: elections, Song of the Day Tagged With: 35-for-35, Ani DiFranco

actual facts about becoming the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party

June 7, 2016 by krisis

US_states_by_the_delegates_Democratic_Party_2016

States by Democratic primary delegate count. Note that some territories with binding delegates have been omitted.

We need to talk about the Democratic nomination process.

Last night, the Associated Press and many other outlets made the call to announce that Hillary Clinton is the “presumptive nominee” for president by the Democrats.

This was bad, unethical journalism even though Clinton is in all likelihood going to become the presumptive nominee by next week. However, “going to become” and “is” are two different things. (More on that from Paste.)

At the same time, yesterday social media influencers (primarily Sanders supporters) released an image of “Real Math” that seems to disprove that anyone can become the presumptive nominee before the Democratic National Convention on July 25th. This image doesn’t include the context of factors affecting said math. It is intentionally misleading in an effort to rile up Sanders supporters and Clinton foes.

From my perspective, it seems that three things are presently objectively true, with a fourth that is subjectively true for me. I am summarizing them below not to change your mind, but to try to engage transparently and reasonably with the information that’s available to me right now. I urge you to look at whole picture, and not solely what any single biased source (me included) may or may not be reporting.

Here we go! [Read more…] about actual facts about becoming the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party

Filed Under: elections Tagged With: Barry Sanders, Delegates, Democrats, DNC, Hillary Clinton, Primaries

Don’t let your vote go uncounted in PA!

September 7, 2012 by krisis

Here’s a public service announcement from the awesome folks at Skeleton Balls comics, because the only election result that will truly make me happy this November is knowing that every one of my friends and readers took the opportunity to vote.

If you aren’t already aware, Pennsylvania recently passed Voter ID law that is effectively a cynical act of voter suppression targeting lower income residents and young people. And, let me speak from experience here, it is an awful feeling to show up to cast your vote and be told you are unable to submit a ballot. Please don’t let that happen to you.

Art and valuable info by Skeleton Balls Comics.

For more information on the Voter ID requirements in PA, see the VotesPA website. They also have a handy polling place look-up tool! Pertinent: Even if you don’t have ID, you cannot be denied your right to vote – you should still be allowed to cast a provisional ballot.

Also, the Pennsylvania Department of Heath is reportly issuing free Birth Certificates, if you need one to get a new PA driver’s license or passport. The webpage only mentions refunds for certifications requested earlier this year, but I think that’s because they’re now for free? Unclear.

Unsure if you are registered already? There’s a simple web look-up tool that will tell you, along with advising on your polling place.

100% turnout, people! Let’s make it happen! The best result of an election is not your favored candidate winning – it is the vast majority of the American people engaging in our electoral process.

Filed Under: elections, news

President Obama

November 5, 2008 by krisis

When I was small I used to watch the news every night. At seven I was probably more educated about congress and presidential politics than I am now.

In the first election I was old enough to chat about – likely Bush Sr. in ’88 – I remember my mother telling me about Ferraro. “In 1984,” she said, “there was a woman on the ticket for the first time ever – Ferraro.” (My mother never uttered her first name that I can recall.) “She would have been Vice President for the Democrats, but they lost to Regan.”

I don’t remember her sounding too upset; I guess everyone liked Regan at least a little bit. But, I do remember the message that followed, whether it was said out loud, maybe in a voting booth, or just implied during our next re-watch of Free To Be You and Me.

It’s important that a woman can be considered for our second highest office. You’re going to grow up to be a white man, and in a way you’re lucky because you can aspire to do anything – even be president. At some point in your life you’re going to have the chance to vote for a woman, or for someone who is black or Asian, or for some other kind of person who usually isn’t given the same opportunities you might have. And, if you vote for them you might have to vote against someone who is more like you, but it’s important for you to support them. Not only because you agree with them, but because of what their election could mean for America.

In a way her message, however she actually conveyed it, changed my whole life. It was the birth of my feminism and the kernel that would become my fierce dedication to civil rights for everyone, no matter how different from me they are. And, it made me become aware that America means something very special and very specific – it means freedom to be and freedom to choose.

For that reason, even in the moments I have been the most critical of America, her message has always inspired me to fight for my country instead of against my country. That distinction has nothing to do with party lines and colored states on a map – it’s about freedom and choice. It’s about the quality of compassion.

Yesterday we elected the first black president of the United States of America. Not just black, but multi-racial. Just like America. Just like the family I have created for myself with Elise.

Tonight I’m already looking forward to America’s future elections. I’m looking forward to presidents who are female, Muslim, gay, Asian, or atheist.

Yesterday we could have elected the first woman vice president. And, though she lost, she may inspire stories told to another generation of little girls and boys who will grow up to love their country not for what it is, but for what it can be.

Tonight I spent some time with my two best friends – a woman who has made her way in a white man’s industry despite discrimination against her and everyone else, and another woman who saw four states tell her she doesn’t share the same rights as her peers because of who she is and who she has chosen to spend the rest of her life with.

Yesterday I cried from when I made that last post until about thirty minutes after the acceptance speech ended. I cried, and it felt good, because I was witnessing the birth of the America my mother promised me I would have a chance to live in. It has arrived blessedly early in my charmed existence.

Tonight I am weary and drained, but still ready to fight for my country, in my way. To fight to make people understand the rights we have and the process we are due. To fight for our freedom to be and to choose.

Today my mother sent me an email that shared its subject with this post’s title. It read:

Peter,

We just made history!!!!!!!

xo
mom

Filed Under: elections, elise, feminism, memories, politics, Year 09 Tagged With: gina, lindsay, mom

!

November 4, 2008 by krisis

I think it’s officially projectable: we’re at a tie on my projection, and even if Obama drops all of the rest of the states (unlikely) he’d win a tie-break Obama has crossed the 270 threshold.

Currently Projected: DE, VT, DC, ME, NH, RI, CT, MD, MN, WI, MA, NJ, MI, IL, NY, PA

Safely Assumed: HI, NM, IA, OR, WA, CA, NC

(9:23 – MSNBC just called OH, which wasn’t on either of my lists, so now it’s really over.)

(9:25 – Every time I start talking I start crying.)

Filed Under: elections, thoughts Tagged With: crying

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