Fool

I'm a fool. I needed to take a break... so what do I do? I visit some of my favorite blogs. Well, I just read an entry discussing voter disenchantment. I know that feeling. I voted this year with a heavy heart. I felt like there weren't options, but that I had to vote the party line just to take a stand.

I decided to look up the Barak Obama 2004 DNC address. This speech has a special significance to me because he mentions my hometown. My mom was one of those factory workers who was displaced when the plant moved to Mexico. In the past four years, I've seen a vibrant town disintegrate. I remember in 2001, there were signs all over for roofers, builders, contractors because people were maintaining, upgrading, beautifying their homes (many of them over 100 years old). I recently went back home and many of the houses in the same area are dilapidated and up for sale for prices that would give you a heart attack. I looked around and couldn't believe this was the place that I learned to be a critical thinker, the place where I learned the value of hard work, the place that I learned that communities can still work together even if they're of different racial, political or religious groups. How can this be the same place? This is a place that seems devoid of hope. Perhaps de-industrialization is the wave of the future, but it certainly has its downside.

Now that I'm a sloppy mess... I should get back to work.