November 7, 2016 11:30 pm
Tomorrow is the day we all never actually thought would happen. For over a year now, we have watched this election unfold. Even though I support one candidate more than the other, I could not fully support either one. I knew I would have to vote for someone I thought would make a bad President for the sole reason that I thought the other candidate would make an even worse President. And yet, I think I was waiting for some miraculous intervention that would take care of this mess for us. But here we are. We were not lucky enough for a miraculous intervention. Polls open in a few hours. May the odds be ever in our favor.
November 8, 2016 7:20 am
People are flocking to the polls. I don't have practicum teaching today because my school is a poll site. I considered going in anyway to get a few hours and do some lesson planning, but I don't want anywhere near that madness. I can't even think about the future of the nation and the future of my students at the same time. Too much anxiety ensues when you put those precious futures together.
November 8, 2016 5:30 pm
I just got back from class and the drama has already started. I'm signing off facebook until next week. I think it's interesting how so many friends preached the importance of remaining classy and loving through this madness. Those same friends are now carrying out heated debates through facebook comments and spewing hatred toward their loved ones who think differently. Everyone has always had a different opinion on everything. I often wonder why people think a presidential election with such drastic opinions and childish candidates will unite the nation. How can people not see that this is actually dividing us even more?
November 8, 2016 7:20 pm
Thank goodness it is my friend and roommate's birthday. I get to go have some steak and good company amid the madness. I'm turning off the TV to indulge myself in some Texas Roadhouse rolls. I'm sure the election will still be on TV when I arrive back home.
November 8, 2016 10:30 pm
Her birthday was filled with some good ol' country line dancing, good food, and good friends who couldn't shut up about the election, and I am not innocent of it myself. It's an addicting conversation. It was on almost every TV in the restaurant. No one was talking about their life. Everyone was talking about who they voted for and why and what their exit plan was to leave the country when their candidate didn't win. I wanted to participate in the conversation because I wanted to have a good time. But I knew the second I opened my mouth with my own opinion, I would be stuck yelling with those who agreed and debating with those who did not. I just took a deep breath and ate my bread.
November 8, 2016 11:22 pm
My roommates and I are gathered on the couch. We are trying to find the good and the bad, but somehow we keep coming back to a whole lot of bad. We are fortunate enough to not be scared like so many of our other friends, but we are just human enough to be disappointed. Not necessarily in the candidate who is taking the lead, but in this entire election itself. The sentence most used in our apartment tonight: "This is just not how this election was supposed to go."
November 9, 2016 12:30 am
My roommates are asleep so I am alone watching now. I need to go to bed. I can't believe I'm sitting here as if this is going to get any better.
November 9, 2016 3:46 am
I woke up for medicine and water because my throat hurts. I am tempted to check in on the results. I turn my phone off instead.
November 9, 2016 6:30 am
I logged onto facebook. That was a mistake. I'm going back to sleep.
November 9, 2016 1:33 pm
Have any of you seen Hamilton: The Musical? There's a lyric regarding the election of 1800 that I can't shake from my head. Jefferson or Burr; we know it's lose/lose... Jefferson or Burr; but if you had to choose...
That's where we are. A lose/lose election, and yet, we're forced to choose.
Am I happy with the way this turned out? Not really. Would I have been happy if the other candidate won? Not really. I haven't been on my personal facebook page at all since this morning, and won't (at least until the end of the week). I was naïve to think that this would all die down after the election. We aren't going to stop thrusting opinions on others and we aren't going to stop spewing hatred simply because one has been elected. Oh no, this will carry on for the next four years. Lucky us, huh?
However, the goal of my blog was to remain a positive environment. So here are two of my favorite quotes from both of our candidates.
Without passion you don't have energy, and without energy you have nothing. Nothing in this world has been accomplished without passion.
-Donald Trump
To all the little girls watching... Never doubt that you are valuable and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world.
-Hillary Clinton
I have said before that there is one thing I will never share about myself: the person I voted for in a presidential election. Why? Because I believe in fighting for the stances and issues and beliefs I find most important. I believe in standing for what is right. I will tell you what I think about every topic on the political agenda. From there, you could probably guess which candidate will be filled in on my ballot if it is that important to you, but I will never specifically say their name. Why? Because if you disagree with me, you will try to change my mind (even though I am just as stubborn, if not more stubborn, than you are). And if you agree with me, you will act as though you've found your soul mate; the one kindred spirit on this earth that you can share everything with.
I don't believe in taking sides. I believe in love. I believe in kindness, and positivity, and hope.
So here's what we're gonna do. The results are in. Congratulations America, it's a boy. There is nothing we can do to change it if we wanted a girl, and no reason to flaunt it if we've prayed years for a boy. Some of us are happy, some of us a terrified, and some of us just want to forget the whole thing ever happened. Let's go back to the primaries. No, let's go back before that. Let's just start over, okay?
We can't do that. So we're going to wake up each morning, make our coffee strong, and love like we've never loved before. The world is going to need a light, and it's going to have to come from us.
Joy can be found in the darkest of times, if only we remember to turn on the light.
This little light of mine? I'm gonna let it shine. I'm gonna take this light around the world and I'm gonna let it shine. I won't let anyone blow it out; I'm gonna let it shine. Every day, every night; I'm gonna let it shine.
The future of this country (and this world), is not solely dependent on who we elect as President. Is our leadership important? Of course. But it depends on us, too. So keep on pressing on, my confident, beautiful love warriors. The world will need us now more than ever.
