Knowing that we would soon have a new president, I found the park even more beautiful than usual. For a few minutes, it didn't matter to me that the president-elect had been a weak (and sometimes creepy) candidate, that he and his closest allies seemed more concerned with extending olive branches to the opposition than supporting the policies that mattered most to the residents of the (majority Black) cities -- Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Atlanta -- who had basically saved his candidacy and, possibly, the country. At least Trump was gone, even if the institutional structure of his presidency remained dangerously intact. At least Trump was gone. It was worth repeating, over and over. I've been reading about running mantras lately, and it occurred to me that that it might be time to replace my usual standby -- 'fast, easy, light, strong' -- with 'fuck Trump, enjoy life in North Korea.' Or maybe not: I don't want him 'living rent free' in my head more than a second longer than necessary.
I thought about my friend Scott, who like me has long suffered from what we've long called the 'November blues.' I remember when we coined the term, senior year in high school, on a frosty, wet night in Michigan. We were both lethargic and depressed for no particular reason -- we were still too young to realize that life is the cause -- and attributed our condition to November, when -- at least back then -- it was too cold to be fall, but not cold enough to be winter, when the days were shorter than seemed possible, and when there was basically nothing to look forward to (making it worse than February, when spring is not too far away). It seemed like an important discovery to our teen selves, and we've continued to reference the idea over the ensuing decades, particularly on those elections nights that have turned out worse than we had hoped.
My hope, once the celebration ends, is that people understand exactly what's at stake in January in Georgia, that this election is effectively a referendum on democratizing the Senate and other institutions the Republicans have used to impose minority rule.
Intermission: For this week's intermission, I wrote and recorded a song called 'November Blues.'
Production Notes: A few readers wrote to tell me that despite their appreciation for my mumblecore/shoegaze aesthetic, they felt my vocals could be a bit louder, so for this one I tried pushing them up a bit :) Let me know what you think in the comments (unless you hate it!).
Lately I'm a picture of needles and a pin//I'm tired as a newspaper trend.
LET'S ALL BEAT THE NOVEMBER BLUES.
Comments